1372. 🇬🇬 Guernsey Post New Issue Features Notable Local Buildings.

  🇬🇬 The set of 8 stamps to be issued by Guernsey Post on 13 February 2019 which I mentioned in Blog 1367 to commemorate the architect John Wilson were designed by Mark Totty and lithographed by BPost and are depicted below. I think that these stamps would have been much more appealing if they had been printed in colour.

  🇬🇧 New Royal Mail Post and Go stamps will be sold from The Postal Museum in London on 13 February 2019 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the National Postal Museum by Queen Elizabeth II. The stamps will be dispensed from kiosk A001 and will be the Machin Head 50th anniversary stamps (all 6 types) and the Mail Coach design all with an additional inscription applied to them which reads 'The Postal Museum/NPM 50'.

  Royal Mail will also issue the Stamps Classics miniature sheet which was originally released on 15 January 2019 with an additional inscription on 13 February at Spring Stampex 2019 in London. The item will be sold in a limited edition of 6,000. It seemed to me that similar items sold at previous Stampex exhibitions did not prove to be all that popular so I'm surprised that Royal Mail is planning to sell yet another one. Rating:- 0.

  🇲🇾 Pos Malaysia issued the set of 5 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on the subject of Festivals mentioned in Blog 1363 and released on 15 January 2019. Rating:- ****.

1371. 🇬🇧 More Details Of Royal Mail 2019 Programme.

  🇬🇧 Royal Mail has published its new issue programme for 2019 on its website:-

  So, 13 issues and their release dates are indicated along with 2 of those dreaded To Be Confirmed issues in October and November about which I haven't the will nor energy to speculate. But is there really to be no new issue in March? Or is a space held back in March for an issue linked to that which may not be named - an issue tied in some way to BREXIT?

  The Da Vinci issue we know is made up of 12 1st Class rate stamps which feature drawings from the Royal collection which will be displayed in various art galleries around Britain. The featured artwork will be:- The skull sectioned, A sprig of guelder rose, Studies of cats, A star-of-Bethlehem and other plants, The anatomy of the shoulder and foot, The head of Leda, The head of a bearded man, The skeleton, The head of St Philip, A woman in a landscape, A design for an equestrian monument, The fall of light on a face, Leonardo Da Vinci.

  🇮🇲 The Isle Of Man Post Office has come up with a new dodge as a means of producing more stamps for little added cost - issue a set of stamps and then Issue it again using the same designs on machine-vended stamps. This gives you 20 stamps to sell to the completeist collector instead of 10 and so you increase your profits without adding much to design costs particularly if your design is nothing but a simple photograph with a bit of text and a tiny Queen's Head added to it.

   So collectors will be able to buy a set of 10 gummed stamps on 12 February 2019 on the subject of Wildlife of Isle Of Man. The designs are based on the photographs of the local photographer Brian Liggins. The issue was designed by Isle Of Man Advertising and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 14. The cost of the set is £8.25p but additionally the set is reproduced on 10 'Variable Value Definitives' which the Philatelic Bureau is selling in the 52p value for a total cost of £5.20p. The total cost of the set is therefore £13.75p and with a £5.20 booklet of 10 different Self-adhesive stamps and a 'Self-adhesive pane' also sold for £5.20 we reach a final figure of £23.50p.

 Let us not forget too that Isle Of Man Post Office have already issued 2 sets of stamps in January with a total face value of £16.50 so that by mid-February the greedy little philatelic service will hope to have exctracted a grand total of £40 exactly from one-of-everything collectors. Just 10 and a half months to go in 2019. Rating:- 0.

  The stamp featuring a stonechat is said to be the Isle Of Man Post Office's contribution to the 2019 Europa omnibus issue which is on the subject of 'National Birds'.

1370. 🇬🇬🇯🇪 Numerous Post And Go Stamps From Jersey And Guernsey To Be Issued At Stampex.

  🇯🇪 The Jersey Post Post and Go stamps to be issued on 13 February 2019 which were detailed in Blog 1366 are depicted below. These stamps are issued in connection with Spring Stampex 2019 along with The 'Durrell - Saving primates' issue of 6 attractive stamps which are also detailed in Blog 1366. Rating:- 0.

  🇬🇬 Guernsey Post will issue 6 new Post and Go stamps on 13 February 2019 at Spring Stampex 2019 in London when its GG01 machine will dispense the stamps to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Guernsey Old Car Club. The stamps will also be dispensed from kiosk GG02 at Postal Headquarters in St Peterport in Guernsey. This is a very attractive set which marks a notable local anniversary. Rating:- *****.

  🇲🇲 Prior to releasing the single stamp mentioned in Blog 1365 which commemorated Pyantho, the tenth month of the Myanmar calendar on 6 January 2019, Myanmar Post issued a set of 3 stamps to mark the 71st anniversary of Independence on 4 January 2019. The designs seem to depict various local cultural activities. Rating:- *****.

1369. 🇧🇼 New Botswana Big Five Set Reuses Old Designs.

  🇧🇼 Botswana Post has issued a set of 5 stamps and 1 miniature sheet depicting the 'Big Five' mammals which tourists try to see when visiting the country to go on safari. I do not yet know the date of issue. The issue was designed by Wilson Ngami, Jacob Disele and Ditsalupo Mogapi but each picture has been used on a stamp from previous issues (individual sets on lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalo) which seems like a bit of a cheek to me. The set itself however is quite attractive. Rating:- ***.

  🇨🇦 Following on from the 2 issues detailed in Blog 1368 Canada Post has now introduced its Year of The Pig stamps which are due to be released on 18 January 2019. The colourful and pleasing designs, by Albert Ng O.Ont and Jai Paek, feature Zhu Baije, a character from the 16th century Chinese novel, Journey to the West in which the hero is banished from a powerful position in Heaven and is reborn as Pigsy who is half-human and half-pig. The stamps depict Pigsy, one in armour, involving himself in a vast muckrake.

  The set is made up of 2 self-adhesive stamps sold in booklets (10 x P and 6 x $2.65c), 1 miniature sheet containing a single $2.65c value and a second miniature sheet containing the $2.65c value plus a Year of The Dog stamp to mark the transition between the 2 lunar zodiac years.

  What a fun set! Rating:- *****.

1368. 🇨🇦 Canada Post's First Issues Of 2019.

  🇨🇦 Canada Post's first issues of 2019 will be released on 14 January. The first issue will be a new P value depicting a charming photographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. The stamp will be available in booklets of 10 and was designed by Steven Slipp using a photograph by Chris Jackson/Getty Images and lithographed by Lowe Martin. Rating:- *****.

  Also to be issued on 14 January 2019 are a number of items which add to the ongoing From Far And Wide series. All of the new stamps are combined in a gummed miniature sheet which contains 5 x 'P' stamps plus a $1.05c value, a $1.27c, a $1.90c value and a $2.65c. The $1.27, $1.90 and $2.65 values are to be sold self-adhesive each in booklets of 6 while self-adhesive versions of the 'P' stamps are to be sold in booklets of 10 (2 x 5). All values will also be sold in self-adhesive coil format with the 5 'P' stamps in one strip and the other values being sold in their own individual strips. The issue was designed by Stephanie Huot and lithographed by Lowe Martin. Rating:- ****.