Stamps of Nejd: The First Issues (1925)

Nejd was a former sultanate in Central Arabia, which first issued its own stamps in 1925.

Nejd’s capital city Riyadh, later the capital of Saudi Arabia , was captured from the Turks in 1901 by the Prince Ibn Saud, who was to be responsible for founding a new Central Arabian kingdom.

From his home in Nejd, Ibn Saud succeeded in expelling Turks from Central Arabia in 1904, and by 1914 had established himself as Amir of Nejd. He soon quarrelled with the Amir Hussain of Mecca, who ruled the Hejaz, and eventually in a campaign lasting from 1921 to 1925, he overthrew Amir Hussain.

The sultanate’s first stamps, which appeared in March 1925, consisted of various Hejaz and turkish postage and fiscal stamps overprinted in Arabic meaning ‘Nejd Sultanate Post 1943’ Ibn Saud’s entry into Mecca was commemorated by a long Arabic overprint signifying the ‘1943 commemoration of the first pilgrimage under Sultan of Nejd’.