247. Latest Botswana News and Tanzania and Mozambique Surcharges

I have just received mail from the Botswana Post Office which contained 2 leaflets about current stamp issues from that country. One leaflet gave information about the 6 value Botswana Myths and Legends set which I have previously described although the leaflet gives no indication of the date of issue. The second leaflet describes and illustrates another set of 6 values which features a "Save Water" campaign. The campaign seems to have taken place in 2012 and the illustrations in the leaflet look as though the stamps have a "2012" imprint in the lower left or right corners but the front of the leaflet says that this is a "2013 Stamp Issue" without being more specific about date of release.

Interestingly the leaflets were mailed in the envelope depicted below which like those used by so many other postal authorities does not have postage stamps applied to it but merely an imprint at the upper right which says "PERMIT MAIL No. 10000 BOTSWANA" and there is an added applied large circular postmark with the inscription "BOTSWANAPOST PHILATELIC BUREAU *13 MAY 2013*:-

From elsewhere in Africa, two 900/- provisional surcharges issued by Tanzania which I obtained from Nigel Haworth who wrote in his latest newsletter and price list that it had taken him some time to obtain this pair of stamps. The two stamps to which the surcharges have been applied are from an old definitive series:-

I have also just managed to obtain some of the various surcharged stamps issued by Mozambique from 1998 onwards. The first, illustrated below, is a surcharge of 17000 MT on the 1000 MT (badminton) value of the 1991 Barcelona Olympic games set.  I have previously illustrated the 17000 MT on 100 MT value (tennis) from the same set which I have in my collection:-

Below is the 2000 MT on 10m "Ricinis Communis" stamp with "2000" added in grey ink.:-

and below there are 2 values from the 1998 Traditional Dwellings set with the *2000 overprint applied - these are the 6000 MT and 10000 MT values - I have previously depicted the 4000 MT value with the same overprint applied to it:-

I will illustrate some more of my recently acquired Mozambique surcharges in the next blog. They are certainly a lot more interesting than recent issues for the country which have emanated from its Lithuania-based philatelic agency and they provide a real challenge to track down. These provisional overprints and surcharges are becoming more and more commonplace where impoverished postal authorities are using up old stock by overprinting it rather than paying for brand new stamps - in recent years we have had such issues, some very rare, from territories as diverse as Fiji, Mozambique, Belize, Tanzania, Tonga, St. Vincent And The Grenadines, Samoa and now, also, Guyana. Modern stamp collecting is every bit as challenging as it was more than a hundred years ago and everything has the possibility to become a philatelic "classic" although I doubt if many of the agency-produced items will ever have that term applied to them.

246. Malaysia So Far in 2013.

The Malaysia Post Office website gives an excellent list of stamps issues which it has released during 2013 along with illustrations and a list of forthcoming issues for the remaining part of the year. Issues so far are:-

  13 January 2013: Woodpeckers, 3 stamps and 1 miniature sheet,

5 February 2013: Exotic pets, 3 stamps and a miniature sheet,

  26 March 2013: National Unity, a se-tenant block of 4 stamps,

  30 April 2013: Lighthouses (2nd issue): 3 stamps and 1 miniature sheet,

and 13 May 2013: Forests of Malaysia, 3 miniature sheets:-

These are all interesting issues with excellent illustrations and designs and I will be pleased to include them in my collection of Commonwealth stamps. Upcoming issues are:-

  28 June 2013: KLIA2

  9 July 2013: Living corals and

  25 August 2013: Trination Expo 23 - 25 August 2013. 

245. Dr. Who Surprise - An Additional Stamp?

The ongoing "Dr. Who" stamp issues from Royal Mail may not yet be completed with the revelation in the television series that instead of 11 Dr. Whos there have actually been twelve and that does not include the Peter Cushing movie version. At the end of the current season of the popular BBC science fiction television series, the 50th anniversary of which falls on 23 November 2013, and which has already necessitated the issue of 11 stamps, 1 miniature sheet, a retail booklet and a prestige booklet as well as other associated items, it was revealed that there has been a previously unknown Dr. Who, played by the distinguished British actor, John Hurt, and that he will be featured in the 50th anniversary episode to be shown on British television on the precise date of the anniversary. Royal Mail, which has prided itself on featuring all 11 actors who have played the character over the years and has experienced enormous sales of the Dr. Who stamps issues it has produced, surely will feel that the appearance of an additional Doctor Who will provide it with an excuse to complete its Dr. Who portrait series.

The "Forgotten Doctor" is said to be the real 9th Doctor Who, existing between the 8th manifestation of the character played by Paul McGann whose stamp is depicted above, and the character played by Christopher Eccleston who was previously thought to be the 9th Doctor Who whose stamp is featured below. It is said that the new 9th Doctor Who was responsible for such terrible actions during the war between his people, the Timelords, and their enemies, the Daleks, that his later bodies have chosen to forget him!

Well, given that story, Royal Mail is capable of anything and perhaps there will be a surprise issue featuring the extra Dr. Who to complete the set.

244. Uganda - First In Commonwealth With Pope Francis Stamps?

A report on a website, Catholicsnetwork.com, announces that Uganda is to issue 5 stamps to commemorate the recent election of Pope Francis to The Holy See (it's amazing where you can find information about new stamp issues). The illustration on the site (above) seems to show part of a miniature sheet of 4 x 3000/- stamps with depictions of different portraits of the new pope on them. Presumably the 5th value comes in the form of an additional single-stamp miniature sheet. The report states that the Ugandan Post Office has worked with its agents in New York to produce this commemorative issue and that it is part of Uganda's stamp programme for 2013 which will also contain an issue to mark the 10th anniversary of the Beatification of Mother Theresa.

  These snippets of information are interesting since they indicate that the large stamp agency based in New York which for many years produced numerous stamps with Uganda's name printed on them is still on the scene as regards Ugandan new issues despite the Lithuania-based agency, Stamperija, having produced a large number of stamps for the country in the past 12 months or so. This suggests that the Ugandan Post Office has contracts with at least 2 over-producing agencies so we may continue to expect large numbers of stamps to appear which have been issued on behalf of Uganda in the foreseeable future.

 In Blog 243, I emphasised that Solomon Islands officials and politicians must have been fully aware of the huge numbers of stamps produced by Stamperija on their behalf because they had registered all such stamps with the WADP stamp numbering system and I note that the same is also true of the Ugandan Post Office because all the issues of both the New York agency and Stamperija produced in the name of Uganda during 2012 are registered on the WADP site. 

  I imagine the Uganda papal issue will be part of an omnibus issue of stamps produced by the New York agency which will have the names of many of its client territories printed on them so whether or not Uganda will be the first Commonwealth country to commemorate the new pope or whether it will be one of the other client territories remains to be seen.

243. Pakistan 2012 - 13, Mozambique And Solomon Islands.

In this blog I list the new stamp issues of Pakistan during the latter part of 2012 and the first part of 2013. One of the recurring themes, as will be seen, has been the subject of Pakistani "Men of Letters", The above issue which commemorated Hameed Naseem, was issued on 19 October 2012.

 12 November 2012: 60th anniversary of the Geography Department of Karachi University (1 stamp):-

21 November 2012: 50th anniversary of National Investment Trust Ltd (1 stamp):-

25 November 2012: Commemoration of the late Muhammad Luthfullah Khan, archivist (1 stamp):-

15 December 2012: 60th anniversary of Oxford University Press publishing in Pakistan (1 stamp):-

24 December 2012: First wind farm project in Pakistan (1 stamp):-

2 March 2013: 40th death anniversary of Syed Nasir Razi Kazmi (1 stamp):-

23 March 2013: Qudrat Ullah Shahab (1 stamp):-

23 March 2013: Allama Muhammad Asad (1 stamp):-

11 April 2013: Centenary of Kinnaird College For Women (1 stamp):-

21 March 2013: 75th anniversary of the death of Allama Muhammad Iqbal ( 1 stamp, said to be Pakistan's first ever stamp with silver printing):-

27 April 2013: Sufi Barkat Ali (1 stamp):-

30 April 2013: Inauguration of Pak Army Museum (1 stamp):-

30 April 2013:- Recipients of the Nishan-e-Haider and Hilal-i-Kashmir awards (3 stamps):-

May ?date Pakistan general election - no details yet.

Eleven years after it was issued, I have finally been able to obtain a set of the pottery stamps which were issued on 2 December 2002 by Mozambique. There is a total of 8 stamps in the set which are very primitive in design and poorly printed in lithography by the State Printing Works in Maputo. I depict all 8 values below plus some odd values which I had previously obtained to show how variable the printing is and how the shades of the stamps vary greatly:-

At least one value was surcharged subsequently, probably during 2005. In my 1st edition of Stanley Gibbons Commonwealth Catalogue for Southern and Central Africa, none of the above stamps are priced but it is worth noting that the above pottery set was being sold for 20 euros.

 How could Commonwealth leaders who agreed to Mozambique's membership of The Commonwealth in 1995 possibly have foreseen the nightmare that the new country would cause for collectors of the stamps of The Commonwealth? Not only is there the headache caused by the numerous and rare surcharges which were issued from 1998 onwards but then the country allowed various overseas agencies to produce stamps on its behalf and at the moment the country's philatelic programme is firmly in the hands of the Lithuanian agency, Stamperija. 

 This agency has just announced that another 90 stamps and 15 miniature sheets were produced by it in the name of the Mozambique Post Office and all on subjects with no direct relevance to Mozambique. The stamps are produced in sheetlets of 6 different designs and are on the themes of Butterflies (Henry John Elwes), 150th anniversary of the Union Pacific Railway in the United States, 130th birth anniversary of Tadas Ivanavskao whom I suspect must have been an ornithologist given that the stamps designs depict birds (I wonder if he ever went bird spotting in the jungles of Mozambique - probably not), Mushrooms, Birds of prey, Chess - commemoration of Svetozar Glicoric, 40th anniversary of UNESCO World Heritage Programme, 85th Birthday of Pope Benedict XVI, 75th death anniversary of Maurice Ravel the music composer, Mother Theresa, Centenary of Riga Zoo, the Paralympic Games in London in 2012 (incidently depicting the South African athlete who has recently been accused of killing his girl friend - which other stamp agencies would include an alleged murderer in the stamps which they design?), 40th anniversary of Apollo 17, Chess (again) - 40th anniversary of the Bobby Fischer-Boris Spasky match and the Mars "Curiosity" spaceship.

  I have not bothered to include any illustrations of these items since they are exactly the same in appearance and style of format as everything else that Stamperija has produced with the name of Mozambique printed on it. The "date of issue" is stated to be 30 October 2012 which means that up to that date, 664 stamps and 146 miniature sheets (a total of 810 items) had been produced with the name of Mozambique printed on them during 2012.

 Not content with the above "issues" for Mozambique, the same philatelic agency has also announced another 48 stamps and 12 miniature sheets which have been produced with the name of The Solomon Islands printed on them which feature, for no obvious reason, paintings by French artists. The "issue" date is stated to have been 29 March 2013. Twelve artists are featured - each is honoured by a sheetlet of 4 different stamps and a miniature sheet being dedicated to them. The artists immortalised by these stamps are:- Frederic Bazille, Gustave Caillebotte, Mary Cassalt, Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Armand Guillaumin, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley. Therefore by 29 March, 144 stamps and 37 miniature sheets (181 items) had been produced with the name of Solomon Islands printed on them during 2013.

  No doubt, thematic collectors will be tempted to add a set of one or two of the above to their particular collection especially as the Mozambique and Solomon Islands issues combined cover so much ground that the list of subjects reads more like an encyclopaedia index. Every set bought is money in the philatelic agent's pocket and an encouragement to him to continue to produce these items. 

  However, we must be aware that every stamp produced by Stamperija on behalf of the Solomon Islands Post Office has been registered with the WADP stamp numbering system and during 2012 a government minister, in an interview published in a Solomon Islands newspaper, confirmed that the Stamperija-produced stamps which were "sold in Britain" were "legal".  This does not clarify if the numerous items are actually being used on mail in The Solomon Islands but it does show that Solomon Islands officials and politicians are as much to blame for the excessive issues as their philatelic agent is. My feeling about these stamps is "Caveat Emptor".

242. Australia 2013.

Most new issues which have recently been released by Australia Post are related to the Australia 2013 International Stamp Exhibition which coincides with the centenary of the issue of the first Commonwealth Of Australia postage stamp, the 1d red kangaroo and map design which first appeared on 2 January 1913. The exhibition ran from 10 to 15 May 2013. Prior to that there had been 2 issues not previously mentioned in this blog which were released during April 2013.

  On 9 April 2013, 2 gummed stamps and 1 self-adhesive stamp from a small sheetlet were issued to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. An "embellished" sheet containing 10 of the 60c value was also issued (depicted above).

  On 23 April 2013, five gummed se-tenant stamps and 5 self-adhesive stamps printed in a coil, were issued which depicted Australian Botanical Gardens.

  On 10 May 2013, three issues were made to coincide with the opening of the Australia 2013 Philatelic Exhibition:-

  a $10 stamp and miniature sheet and intaglio-printed miniature sheet (sold in a pack for $15! - face value plus 50% - something I won't be buying) which commemorates the centenary of the kangaroo and map stamp. I'm not sure why it was felt appropriate to produce an intaglio-printed version of the miniature sheet since the original stamp was printed in typography, presumably the clever people at Australia Post thought that something printed in intaglio would have a superior appearance to it which would justify a 50% mark-up in sales price above face value.

lithographed version

intaglio printed version

a gummed 60c stamp and a self-adhesive stamp from a booklet to commemorate the popular race horse Black Caviar and her achievement of winning 25 races:-

and, finally on 10 May, two gummed stamps released as a joint issue with Israel to commemorate the Battle of Beersheba.

  On 11 May 2013, there were 2 further issues. The first featured birds, named pardalotes, and appeared as 4 gummed stamps, a 60c self-adhesive in coil format and a $1.20 self-adhesive from a sheetlet of 5 as depicted below:-

The second issue of 11 May 2013 comprised 2 gummed stamps and a miniature sheet which commemorated the centenary of the first banknote of The Commonwealth of Australia:-