469. Birds Feature On New Kenyan Definitive Set.

  A set of new definitive stamps from Kenya is currently being offered for sale on the Delcampe Internet auction site. There seems to be 9 values in the new set all of which depicte birds of Kenya. I do not currently know the date of issue:-

  It is difficult to understand why Nevis would issue a sheetlet of 9 stamps and 1 accompanying miniature sheet which depict the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis, which one suspects are unlikely ever to be glimpsed from this Caribbean island but that is precisely what the territory's foreign philatelic agency has done on Nevis' behalf. I do not yet know the date of issue of these items but I depict them below along with other new issues which the agency has  produced with the island's name printed on them:-

  2014 - Macaws - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet of 2 different stamps:-

  2014 - Commemoration of Prince George of Cambridge - 1 sheetlet of 6 stamps (3 x 2 different designs) and 2 miniature sheets:-

   The latest issues from Turks And Caicos are (precise dates of issue not yet known):-

  2014 - Shells - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet depicting a Queen Conch, a shell which appears on the Turks And Caicos coat of arms and flag badge:-

  2014 - Signs of the zodiac - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet of 2 different stamps:-

  2014 - Orchids of the Caribbean region - 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet of 2 different stamps:-

  Another week, another release of "stamps" from Stamperija - this time it is The Solomon Islands whose name appears on the inevitable 10 sheetlets each of 4 different "stamps" and accompanying 10 "miniature sheets". For those with nothing better to do with their money the subjects of the products to buy this week are:- Tigers (presumably the jungles of The Solomon Islands are swarming with the big cats - or not as the case may be), Bats, Dinosaurs, Eagles, Pope John Paul II, Turtles, Fish, Manatees, Mushrooms and Owls. The "date of issue" is stated to be 5 August 2014.

  Royal Mail will issue a "Commemorative sheet" of 10 x 1st "Union Jack" stamps on 16 October 2014 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Donald Campbell's achievement of being the first person to hold both the World Land and World Water speed records in the same year:-

  A second Commemorative sheet will also be released on 11 November 2014 to commemorate the Centenary of the Christmas Truce which occurred at the first Christmas of the First World War. The sheet consists of 10 poppy 1st class stamps:-

  A sheetlet of  20 x 1st self-adhesive  "Smilers" stamps will be issued on 19 November 2014 to mark the Lunar New Year - this time it is the Year Of The Sheep":-

  A further "Smilers" sheet of 20 x 1st class self-adhesive stamps will be issued on 1 December 2014 to  commemorate the international philatelic exhibition which will be held in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia:-

  The Christmas set which is to be issued on 4 November 2014 will be accompanied by another "Smilers" sheet which includes 4 different self-adhesive stamps.

  Barbados issued a set of 4 stamps on 15 September 2014 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of The University of The West Indies Cave Hill Campus:-

468. South Africa Celebrates 20 Years Of Democracy And More Excellent Pobjoy Issues.

  Zimbabwe's latest new issue, released on 29 July 2014, comprises a set of 4 stamps which commemorate national heroes. The designs (depicted above) are similar to those of previous years and the stamps were printed in lithography by Nat Print. (See also Blogs 395 and 450).

  South Africa issued a single stamp miniature sheet on 15 August 2014 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of South Africa as a multi-racial democracy. The item was designed by Thea Clemens and lithographed by Lowe Martin:- 

  A miniature sheet was also released on 15 August 2014 to commemorate the inauguration of the second term of President Jacob Zuma. The sheet was designed by Rachel-Mari Ackermann and lithographed by Lowe Martin:-

  A sheetlet of 5 self-adhesive stamps was issued on 20 August on the subject of South African lighthouses. The issue was designed by JWS Longland and lithographed by Cartor:-

  A sheetlet of 10 self-adhesive stamps (2 x 5 different stamps) was issued on 11 June 2014 which depicts critically endangered birds of South Africa:-

  (See also Blogs 371 and 422).

 The British Virgin Islands issued a set of 4 stamps on 25 September 2024 to commemorate the christening of Prince George of Cambridge. The set was designed by Andrew Robinson and lithographed by Cartor:-

  Bahamas will issue a set of 4 stamps on 27 October 2014 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Bahamas Ministry Of Tourism. The set was designed by Bee Design and lithographed by BDT:-

  The excellence of designs and relevance of subject matter to the issuing territory of the above issues underlines that the stamps are produced by the first rank philatelic agents, Pobjoy Stamps with Creative Direction (Worldwide) Ltd., and the agency has also announced another superb issue for The Falkland Islands which is another vital part of the ongoing issues from around The Commonwealth which are being produced to commemorate the centenary of the Battle Of The Falkland Islands. This set of four was designed by Robin Carter and lithographed by BDT International and will be issued on 8 December 2014:-

  Also from Pobjoy, another excellent set from South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands on the intriguing subject of "History of Reindeer" (which sounds rather like the title of a modern novel). The set was designed by Bee Design and lithographed by BDT International and will be issued on 14 October 2014:-

  The Pobjoy Stamps website home page lists the 7 territories which it represents and states that it expects "to represent a small number of additional Post Offices in due course". I do hope that they are able to recruit other client territories in the foreseeable future because this agency may be one of the last bastions of philatelic new issue sanity which is keeping new issue collecting alive. I repeat what I have said before - the agency understands wholly the importance of having an innovative  and regular new issue programme while issuing a completely acceptable number of issues in one year and how important it is to feature subjects with direct relevance to the issuing territory and produce designs of the highest quality with an excellent standard of printing. So many Commonwealth postal administrations have  fallen by the wayside but Pobjoy at least is holding the line against the many bad things which spoil modern new issue collecting. 

  The issue of the week from Australia Post is titled "Things That Sting" and consists of 6 gummed stamps, 1 gummed miniature sheet and 2 booklets of self-adhesive stamps, one costing $7 (10 x 70c) and the other $14 (20 x 70c) which creates 6 self-adhesive stamps. The set was designed by Sharon Rodziewicz and lithographed by EGO:-

  The Turkish Republic Of Northern Cyprus issued a single stamp on 8 August 2014 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Erenkoy Enclave:-

  Turkish Cyprus also issued a set of 4 stamps on 19 September 2014 on the subject of fruit tree blossoms:-

  Finally, on 4 July 2014 Northern Cyprus released 2 stamps, first issued in 1998, with surcharges applied. The old values have been blotted out by pictorial surcharges in the form of a ladybird or a coral:-

  Nigel Haworth is currently offering for sale some new surcharged stamps from Tanzania and Fiji. The issue from Tanzania is another value - the 300/- - of the previous flowers definitive set with a 400/- surcharge applied and the old value obliterated by an "x":-

  Meanwhile, from Fiji, there are 4 new surcharged stamps - 3 surcharges on the 44c value of the birds definitive series - the surcharged values being 20c, 40c and 50c while the 50c surcharge has also been applied to the previous 31c value. All 4 stamps have the old value obliterated by "xxx":-

  Nigel Haworth is also selling 2 Personalised stamps from Sri Lanka which I believe were issued in 2013:-

  Below I depict a splendid cover which follows on from my piece in Blog 433 about Royal Mail's "Dog Awareness Week". The cover was not delivered because my pet labrador was relaxing in my garden on 8 September 2014 and the postman clearly spotted her there before opening the gate and walking down the garden path to place the letter in the letterbox and wariness, or perhaps Royal Mail's rules, resulted in him not proceeding with the delivery. To make things clear he wrote "Dog loose 8/9/14" on the envelope and so the letter was delivered on the following day with the manuscript inscription on the front of the envelope. A wonderful example of modern postal history though it would, of course, have been even more pleasing if there had been an official postal marking applied to it:-