499A. Nevis Commemorates Actress Cicely Tyson

  Nevis has issued a sheetlet of 4 identical stamps which commemorate the American actress Cicely Tyson. Cicely Tyson was born in Harlem but her parents, Theodosia and William Tyson, were immigrants to USA from Nevis so this issue does have a relevance to Nevis. She made her first film in 1956 which was appropriately named Caribbean Gold. She has been appearing in films and on television and in theatre roles since then. I do not yet know the date of issue of these stamps:-

   An altogether more dubious issue must be that which has been produced in the name of Sierra Leone - a sheetlet of 4 different stamps and an accompanying miniature sheet which commemorate the 120th birth anniversary of Mei Lanfang, a Chinese artist of the Peking Opera. I can not see any possible connection between Sierra Leone and Mei Lanfang and, with the terrible ongoing Ebola crisis in the country, it is hard to believe that these philatelic products will find their way to being put on sale at a Sierrra Leone postal counter. Hopefully any profits that Sierra Leone's philatelic agents make from this issue will be donated to one of the charities which are helping Sierra Leone fight the Ebola outbreak:-

  As mentioned in a previous Blog, there are no species of parrot resident in Antigua Barbuda but this fact has not prevented its philatelic agents from producing a second stamp issue in 2014 which features this family of birds - this time specifically depicting macaws. This latest issue consists of  2 sheetlets each of 4 different stamps and 2 miniature sheets each containing 2 different stamps;-

  Other recent issues from Antigua And Barbuda - I do not yet know the date of issue:-

  2014 - Hummingbirds (part 2) - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 m.s. of 2 different stamps (see also Blog 481):-

  2014 - Ducks (Part 2) - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 m.s. of 2 different stamps (see Blog 481):-

  2014 - Coral reef (Part 2) - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet (see Blog 481):-

  There is a second sheetlet of 5 different stamps from Ghana on the subject of African frogs (see Blog 455):-

  The latest issues from South Africa (see also Blog 468 and 496):-

17 September 2014 - South African National Parks - 1 sheetlet of 5 self-adhesive stamps. The photographs depicted on the stamps were taken by Koos van der Lende and the stamps were printed in lithography by Cartor:-

  13 November 2014 - South African ceramic vessels - 1 booklet of 10 self-adhesive stamps:-

  5 December 2014 - Fourth UNI World Congress, Capetown - 1 miniature sheet. Designed by Ananda Notling. The UNI Global Union represents postal workers worldwide.

  The South African Post Office has announced its 2015 philatelic programme:-

5 February 2015 - Centenary of the South African Aviation Corps;

3 March - Animal poaching awareness;

3 April - 8th World Congress of Nephrology;

4 May - International Firefighters' Day;

8 June - Kingfishers;

2 July - Popular South African musicians Part 2;

12 July - Jellyfish of South African waters;

7 September - 14th World Forestry Congress;

18 September - 21st Route Development Forum;

28 September - International Year of Light;

9 October - World Post Day;

30 October National parks of South Africa Part 2;

30 October - Biosphere reserves of South Africa.