Sudan - Bud's Big Blue

1897 Sudan in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

(From Jim: Bud is well, but has a lot of non philatelic obligations and responsibilities at the moment. With his permission, I will upload  country pages in his complete '69 Big Blue that so far has not been shown. He might add his observations later. Enjoy!)

Jim's Observations

Sudan is home to the ancient Nubian Kingdom of Kush, at the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile.

But the Suez Canal, built in 1869, meant that, in more recent times, the British and French became interested in the area, mainly to assure security of the enterprise.  

And that most definitely affected Sudan.

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, on the southern border of Egypt, and tied by the Nile River and culture to Egypt, was a Condominium of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Egypt from 1899-1956. In reality, the British controlled the Sudan: not least because Egypt was occupied by British forces of various strengths from 1882-1936, and Egypt was a British Protectorate from 1914-1922.

Even after 1936, when the British forces withdrew from Egypt proper, with the exception of the Suez Canal Zone, they maintained their forces in Sudan.

Stamps were introduced in 1897 by overprinting Egyptian stamps of 1884-93.

Then Anglo Egyptian Sudan received their own iconic philatelic design beginning in 1898: the "Camel Post". The design was used as late as 1954.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Sudan 1897-1941, 180 major number descriptions. Of those, 77 are CV <$1-$1+, or 43%. Sudan's stamps are reasonably affordable for the WW classical era collector.

Aside from the first issue, which consists of overprinted Egyptian "Sphinx" stamps, the overriding design over multiple issues for Sudan is the "Camel Post": and handsome it is.

No doubt because Sudan was jointly administered by Great Britain and Egypt, the script is in both English and Arabic.

Besides the usual categories of regular, air post, and postage due, Sudan also offers official stamps ( overprinted and perforated), and army official stamps (overprinted and perforated) categories.

Big Blue '69,  on two pages, has 61 spaces for the stamps of Sudan.  Coverage is 33%.

The 40s editions have the same coverage, except a space is given for the 1903 Scott 28 5m on 5p (CV $10+). 

The perforated stamps found with the Official and Army Official categories are not included. 

The "S G" Official overprinted stamps of 1936+ are not given a space.

Only one stamp with CV $10+ is required for the spaces.

There is the usual (for BB) one space for watermark different stamps.

For more on the stamps themselves, as well as the checklist, click on the link below.

Sudan Blog Post & BB Checklist

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