Commonwealth Stamps Opinion

1264. 🇿🇦 Mandela Birth Centenary.

🇿🇦 On 18 July 2018, the actual date of the Centenary of his birth, the late Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, was commemorated by a joint stamp issue released by the South African Post Office and the postal service of Germany. The South African issue takes the form of a miniature sheet containing a single stamp while the German issue is a completely different design and is a single stamp - this is rather unusual since joint issues of two countries often share the same format even if the designs are different. The South African sheet was designed by Rachel-Mari Ackermann. Rating:- ****.

It has also been announced that the South African Post Office was to release a joint issue with the other member states of the Pan-African Postal Union (PAPU) (see Blog 1250). I have not yet seen the South African contribution to this omnibus but the issues of 4 countries - only 1 of which is a Commonwealth territory - have now become known to collectors. Although I do not usually write about the stamps of non-Commonwealth countries it is fair to say that Mandela is an important figure in the history of The Commonwealth and this PAPU omnibus is potentially a very large and momentous series and so I illustrate below the first available items from the omnibus issue which are from, The Gambia, Algeria, Liberia and Tunisia:-

1262. 🇸🇬 Trump In Singapore.

🇸🇬 Singapore Post will issue a miniature sheet containing a single $10 stamp on 20 July 2018 to commemorate the recent meeting in Singapore of the President of The United States and the leader of North Korea. The issue was designed by Wong Wui Kong and lithographed by Secura and perforated 13. Clearly this is an interesting item of potentially important historical interest depending on whether anything substantial eventually emerges out of the meeting. Rating:- *****.

🇯🇪 Jersey Post will issue a £17 'Commemorative sheet' on 1 August 2018 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 'Jersey Holidays for Heroes'. A worthwhile subject but why does it have to be noted on an expensive, indeed overpriced, item such as this? Rating:- 0.

🇲🇾 Pos Malaysia issued a set of 3 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 16 July 2018 to commemorate the Opening of the Telegraph Museum in Taiping in Perak. This is an interesting set, Rating:- ****.

🇬🇬 Guernsey Stamps 'tweeted' on 15 July 2018 that its Post and Go kiosk GG03 situated in the Guernsey Information Centre in St Peter Port had dispensed on that day the 'Flowers' strip of 6 stamps with an additional inscription applied to commemorate the visit to port of the cruise ships Britannia and Crystal Serenity.

1263. Commonwealth National Birds.

I do not usually take much interest in the annual omnibus of the numerous European territories released under the popular term Europa. Many of the issues are very dull though some of the Bridge-themed stamps issued this year have been vaguely interesting. However the theme for next year sounds very promising - 'National birds' - and collectors should end up with a large collection of interesting and attractive stamps depicting a popular theme.

So, I thought why not put together a Commonwealth 'National bird'-themed collection ahead of the European omnibus? Not all countries and territories have official national birds and that is why a number of Commonwealth countries do not appear on the list below. All countries apart, I think, from Kenya have depicted their national bird on at least one of their postage stamps.

Anguilla - Zenaida dove.