COVER N. 382 - OMAN

Postmark: Oman Post Cargo Services Sur  Sultanate of Oman 06.12.2023

Posted on the 6th December 2023; received on the 9th January 2024

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He who walks so silently that no one hears him nor  his faithful companion, Devil, the wolf, mailed from the Middle East.... in multiples.... Thanks a lot Alex, another country joins the fold!

Strategically located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the Sultanate of Oman, which until 1970, was designated Muscat and Oman is, I read, the  oldest continuously independent state in the Arab world, a fact dating back to 1650, when the Portuguese occupiers, who, after the successful establishment of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama,  had fortified Muscat, turning it into a protection port with a view to supporting Portuguese sea commerce, were expelled, thus ending a presence of almost 150 years in Muscat and other cities of the Sultanat.

An absolute monarchy to this day, its economy is cantered on oil and tourism, as befits the region,

On 20Mar2023, Oman Post issued an eleven stamp set (2x50; 3x100; 2X200; 2x400 baisa; 1 and 3 rial), entitled Ancient Omani Script, of which three can be seen on this cover.

Each stamp carries the name of the main town of one of the eleven Governorates into which the country is administratively divided, written in the ancient script and also in its current form as well as its Latin transliteration,

The very neat and clear bicolour postmark was applied at Sur, the capital of the Ash Sharqiyah South Governorate.