This card and stamps arrived from Kuwait yesterday. My first ever card from Kuwait, in spite of having had a son working there for some months.
Work on the tower shown on the card was started before the invasion by Iraq, and was at the time called the Telecommunications Tower. The construction work stopped during the invasion and when it started again, the tower was renamed the Liberation Tower.
The stamps were issued in 2010 and are part of a set commemorating the 50th anniversary of OPEC. Almost all the black outlines and writing you see, should be gold but the scanner refused to show it.
The currency of Kuwait is the dinar, divided into 1000 fils. One dinar is worth over £2 sterling or over $3.50, making it the highest value currency in the world. Therefore it cost in the region of 20p or 35c to send this postcard, which seems next to nothing to me.
This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"
Amazing how something like that could rise out of the desert.
ReplyDeleteThat is cheap for international postage. It costs 98¢ here, and some countries charge much more.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know of a postage chart that lists international rates for various countries? I suppose one could be compiled from the stamps on Postcrossing postcards.
I would surely love to get a postcard from Kuwait.
ReplyDeleteNice Stamp!
Love the change of name to Liberation Tower. Beautiful city!
ReplyDeleteHaving never traveled abroad, I had no idea when I asked my cousin to send me a postcard from every country she visited that it would cost so much. She sent them to me. Poor ignorant me and so generous her!
It is a striking tower and a striking picture. I think the tower was begun before the "Liberation of Kuwait" conflict began. The Invasion of Iraq came some years later. I was wondering about the different postages for cards, too. I thought there was some sort of treaty that fixed it at its current 98 cents. I guess if the country is not a signer to that postal treaty though, it would be different. I really love those stamps!
ReplyDeleteah, Kuwait! now thats a gemstone in one's collection! I do have Kuwait postcards, but not sent from there.
ReplyDeleteThe cancellation is a nice clear one too.
@Odie, it's amazing how they do it but they do have all that oil wealth.
ReplyDelete@Postcardy, I don't believe there is a chart as such but there is postalrates.info which redirects you to each country's post office. Unfortunately then you are into language and conversion rate problems. I guess it would take a lot of work to keep up to date, too.
@Postcard perfect, thanks. :)
@Scrappy Grams, you have a good friend there! :)
@Max, no agreement that I know of. My first hand experience is with the UK and France and France is very much more expensive than the UK for postage, though with the recent increase in the UK that may have changed.
@Ana, yes, quite the rarity. I've been lucky. :)
No postcards from Kuwait from Postcrossing for me, though I did get one from Yemen, and one from the Sultanate of Oman. Maybe I am on the CIA watch list now. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for participating!
Brought back a few memories of a visit I made to Kuwait a few years ago for work. Apart from being stuck at the airport for three and a half hours waiting for my passport to be stamped it was an enjoyable trip. My local Arab hosts could not have done more for me.
ReplyDeleteGlen
That's a fantastic postcard! I have a grand total of - ONE - in my collection :D The cancellation is also neat.
ReplyDeleteTourists to Cambodia are also subjected to padded postal rates. Which makes me sad even if I am not a tourist in this country.
Postcards Crossing
Communications and oil, two things modern society runs on. I like the blue of both the card, stamps and cancellation, probably sums up in my mind the clear blue skies of the middle east. I'm envious of that low postage rate after the UK price hike for international post this month.
ReplyDelete