Great posting. Very informative. Thank you, Ralph.
From 1960 to 1978 the KSA issued two definitive series, one depicting The Wadi Hanifa Dam and the Other the Oil-Gas separation Plant.
In the Scott Catalog, these are:
1960: Sc# 211-242,
1963-65: Sc# 258-273
1965-70: Sc# 286-341
1966-78: Sc#393-450
1968-76: Sc#461-484
These offer quite a challenge, first because of the variations in the cartouche which makes identification difficult, (there are two names with design variations: King Saud and King Faisal), and second because of the wide number of stamps with similar and yet different frame- design color combinations, mistakes are likely to be made.
Lastly, availability of the stamps is difficult, and prices vary quite a lot. Nowhere else is the discrepancy between the prices of Mint and Used stamps so huge! It is often by a factor of 10 to 100!
And to collect Saudi Arabia you seem to be competing with a collector pool with large financial ressources, so collecting on a budget is hard, especially if you collect MNH stamps. One would think that the used stamps are easier...but they are not.
I came to the conclusion that collecting Used stamps is much more economical, and is seems to be much more of a challenge too! For some reason, Mint stamps cataloging in the $10-$50 range are widely available, but used stamps, often catalogued-priced at $0.25-$2.50 are almost impossible to find.
I suspect that at some future time, the price differences between Mint and Used will narrow, but for now, if you have the patience, assembling a collection of Used stamps is a still a real challenge, but will not break the bank. And I will gladly sell the M stamps in my possession to replace them by used.
Attached are a few pages from my collection.
A word of caution. Many dealers are unable to differentiate between the stamps and listings are often full of errors. Some will work in your favor but mostly they don't.
Here are two sample pages from my used Collection:
To illustrate my point about price differences between MNH and Used Scott #417, still missing is listed at $42.50 M / $2.25 used Sc# 434 is $47.50 M / $0.35 used etc... and after years of looking, some of these slots remain stubbornly empty of Used samples in my collection and unbudgeted in M form.
rrr....
re: Saudi Arabia Dam and Gas-Oil Plant Series. Collecting tips
Great posting. Very informative. Thank you, Ralph.