His Sultanic Highness was born in 1920 and became King of Egypt in 1936 at the age of 16. He had a good run, amassing countless automobiles and treasure, including a red Bentley Mark VI, with coachwork by Figone et Falaschi. He dictated that no other car in the kingdom could be red. Also in the garage was a rare Mercedes Benz, a gift from Hitler.
His lavish lifestyle, along with a corrupt and ineffectual government, continued British occupation, and a failure in the 1948 war with Israel, was to be his downfall. In 1952 a military coup by the Free Officers (Nasser) forced him to abdicate and leave the country.
The next year, in 1953, Farouk stamps of existing designs were printed with three black obliterating bars across his face. At this point, older Farouk stamps, without bars, were declared null and void.
And all his fine toys were divvied up, including the 94-carat Star of the East Diamond, bought from Harry Winston (Harry would get it back eventually, because Farouk never finished paying for it), an American Gold Minted 1933 Double Eagle coin -- with a story behind it every bit as bizarre as King Farouk's, two 1913 Liberty Head nickels -- far rarer than hen's teeth, and countless treasures of all ilk, including stamps. He was a collector, God bless his heart.
He essentially ate himself to death, a friend describing him as a "stomach with a head on it." He prided himself for eating 600 oysters a week. He died in a French restaurant in Rome at the age of 45.
He had some good lines, including: "The whole world is in revolt. Soon there will be only five kings left -- the King of England, the King of Spades, the King of Hearts, the King of diamonds, and the King of Clubs."
This material was gleaned mostly from Wikipedia, so caveat emptor. Example: Wiki describes Farouk as having a huge collection of pornography, but other sources debunk that as greatly exaggerated, and that the nude paintings, etc. were not objectionable.
Retired Ap. Book Mod, Pres Golden Gate Stamp Club, Hi Tech Consultant 07 Feb 2017 12:16:34pm
re: King Farouk We Hate You stamps
King Farouk was a pretty disgusting character but also a passionate stamp collector.
Many of these barred stamps exist with double overprints (most are counterfeited).
King Farouk's stamp collection was sold after he was deposed, and you can still buy items with certificates authenticating them as belonging to him.
On many of his state visits, the countries he visited issued special stamp prints with deliberate errors, and offered them to the king as state visit presents! There are many one time special run sheets with inverted, mis-perforated and erroneous colors in the original King Farouk collection. Not sure if anyone has figured out how to value these? Cinderella like, maybe?
rrr...
Incidentally, the officers who organized the coup were fairly junior, but the figure head of the coup that toppled him was General Naguib in 1954, a very popular senior general. Nasser, one of the leaders of the coup, removed Naguib from power in 1954 and proclaimed himself prime minister. In 1956 he was elected president. a little bit of history...
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"E. Rutherford: All science is either physics or stamp collecting."
As a boy in the 1950s and 60s, I collected stamps, and was quite enthusiastic about it; though not very knowledgeable.
I recall obtaining some "King Farouk's collection" stamps. I recollect that they were Egyptian stamps, with something printed/written on the back of each in gold ink, purported to be infused with 24 karat gold.
I am sure those stamps are still to be found in my old collection, which I resurrected in 2011. I have not as yet come across them since 2011, but they should be there somewhere.
Great tidbits of history there rrr. Must be nice to have a country purposely print out stamp errors for you! The closest I come to being treated like a king is my wife cooking an omelet for me once in a while.
Benque, if you locate your gold text stamps please post a picture here, would love to see them.
Are there any other examples of Leaders/Kings/Queens being obliterated on stamps after they fell out of favor?
After King Faisal of Irag was killed in 1958 and a republic was declared many stamps with his face were overprinted in Arabic with "Iraq Republic".
However, many years later, in 1972 and 1972 a lot of the old King Faisal stamps were overprinted either with bars like this or with a pattern of leaves.
I was sorting some of these at the weekend so it's fun to see this topic come up today.
Retired Ap. Book Mod, Pres Golden Gate Stamp Club, Hi Tech Consultant 08 Feb 2017 12:16:38pm
re: King Farouk We Hate You stamps
Hello Nigel:
Thanks for reminding me. The official stamps with o/p are pretty hard to get, even if their prices are quite low. I have a LOT of gaps i need to fill in the latter 1973 series (Scott O263-O295). The first series with the 3 bars is shown below. As you can tell, I have a few duplicates of these (should anyone need some), but virtually none of the following o/p with the plant motif on the o/p. Why are they so rare?
I have a mystery 3 bars on a 10 fils that I cannot find in my Scott. Does anyone has a clue? Counterfeit or error? The bars seem to be applied on top of a very faint o/p with the plant motif! (o/p on Scott O155...but it turns out O155 never had the plant motif o/p) so I am clueless.
rrr...
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"E. Rutherford: All science is either physics or stamp collecting."
"I have a mystery 3 bars on a 10 fils (o/p on Scott O155) that I cannot find in my Scott. Does anyone has a clue? Counterfeit or error? The bars seem to be applied on top of a very faint o/p with the plant motif!"
I guess it's not Sc #674? Sorry if that's a silly suggestion!
I've had a quick look in SG and it seems to list the same 11 stamps as Scott: 6 postage and 5 official.
As you say, maybe an error or an overenthusiastic forger!
I'm suggesting that, despite what may appear at first, the weak "Official" + leaves overprint has been applied on top of the bars overprint.
In general I try to avoid questions of whether one overprint/cancellation is on top of another as the relative density of the inks can give misleading impressions.
For example, looking at my screen I might think that the bars on the stamps you show are clearly on top of the cancellations, but I don't believe they are.
Not up on my "modern" history, but was King Farouk hated by the general Egyptian populace, or a small clique of political power-seekers?
Was the defacement of the stamps seen universally as a rightful dismissal of him personally, or of the monarchy in general?
Would there have been a cadre of Egyptians who would have seen this as an unconscionable insult to the high office? Were there pockets of supporters who continued to use the non-defaced stamps?
I imagine it would be a contrast to the situation of an "invader" (i.e. Hitler) where there would be little or no resistance to this.
"Would there have been a cadre of Egyptians who would have seen this as an unconscionable insult to the high office? Were there pockets of supporters who continued to use the non-defaced stamps?"
The non-defaced stamps were demonetized & destroyed, etc. They could not be used for postage.
He started out quite popular, but by the time of the military coup in 1952 he was widely condemned by most people -- from Wikipedia: "...for corrupt and ineffectual governance, the continued British occupation, and the Egyptian's army's failure in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War."
He was the last of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty. Though technically his infant son, Fuad II, was the last, as he was declared King, but that was just for show. In 1953, the new revolutionary government abolished the monarchy.
IPDA Chairman, Scaramento Philatelic Society #2112-vice president, ISWWSC #2966, Iran philatelic study circle, US Army Veteran, Grandfather of 6, stamp collector/seller! 14 Sep 2017 11:49:45pm