SUDAN — 1931-1935 AIR MAIL "CAMEL POSTMAN" COMPLETE SERIES

12 Stamps, Mounted Mint, on the Original Album Page

A complete run of one of the most iconic stamp designs in the entire British Commonwealth — the Sudan Air Mail "Camel Postman" series. The image is based on the statue of General Gordon that once stood at the corner of Victoria and Gordon Avenues in Khartoum, here shown in silhouette against the Nile with an aeroplane in flight overhead. The design was sketched by Lady Rugman, wife of the Financial Secretary to the Sudan Government, and produced from a photograph by Mr Hulbert.

12 stamps in mounted mint condition, mounted on the original album page (hand-titled "Sudan Air Mail 1931" by the previous collector), supplied as photographed and packed flat between rigid card for safe transit.

------------------------------------------------------------

WHAT'S ON THE PAGE — 12 STAMPS, COMPLETE SERIES

The principal August 1931 issue (8 values):

  - 5 milliemes (green)

  - 10 milliemes (carmine)

  - 15 milliemes (brown)

  - 2 piastres (orange)

  - 3 piastres (slate)

  - 3½ piastres (purple)

  - 4½ piastres (brown)

  - 5 piastres (ultramarine)

The 1933 supplementary values (2 stamps):

  - 3 milliemes (green) — added to pay the air fee for inland postcards

  - 2½ piastres (blue and violet) — added as a permanent value to pay the air fee on the new service to Rhodesia

The 1935 final additions (2 stamps):

  - 7½ piastres (deep blue-green)

  - 10 piastres (turquoise-blue)

Together this is the complete Camel Postman air mail design as catalogued through to 1935, before the 1937 re-issue with revised perforations took over.

------------------------------------------------------------

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The Sudan Air Mail service began in March 1931 with rates of 2 piastres for letters within the Sudan and Egypt, with supplementary fees for destinations including Great Britain, Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika. The series ran in the same Camel Postman design from 1931 until well after the Second World War, with the original concept retained for the top value even after the 1951 pictorial redesign and beyond Sudan's independence in 1956. As such, the Camel Postman is one of the longest-running and most affectionately collected designs in all of Empire philately.

------------------------------------------------------------

CONDITION

All 12 stamps in mounted mint condition. Stamps presented on the original album page as photographed. Centring, perforations, gum and shades vary across the page as is normal for a classical pre-war mint group nearly a century old. Minor handling marks, light gum disturbance from previous mounting, or minor tone spots consistent with long-term album storage may be present on individual stamps. Please review the photographs carefully, which form part of the description.

------------------------------------------------------------

ABOUT YOUR PHILATELIST — OVER FORTY YEARS A COLLECTOR

Schnauzer Stamp Co. is the philatelic arm of a UK family business. The stamps offered here are described and identified by a working collector of more than forty years' experience, specialising in Great Britain Machins, the British Commonwealth, and classical European material, with Stanley Gibbons catalogues used routinely for verification.

Every lot is photographed in natural light, packed for safe transit, and described honestly — faults disclosed, condition presented fairly, and any uncertainty flagged in the listing rather than hidden in the small print.

If you collect Sudan, Empire airmails, KGV-era Commonwealth or aviation thematics, you are in good company here.

------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------

Schnauzer Stamp Co.

Honest philately. Forty years of collecting. One family business.