Commonwealth Stamps Opinion: 499E. Ascension Commemorates Rosetta.

Saturday, 6 December 2014

499E. Ascension Commemorates Rosetta.

Pobjoy Stamps has announced that Ascension Island will issue an interesting set of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 30 December 2014 to commemorate the involvement of the island's European Space Agency tracking station in the successful Rosetta mission to land a spacecraft on a comet. The issue was designed by Bee Design and lithographed by BDT International:-

Niue will issue 4 Christmas stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 10 December 2014. The issue was lithographed by Collectables And Solutions Centre of New Zealand Post.:-

Tokelau also issued its Christmas set on 10 December 2014. The set is comprised of 3 stamps and 1 miniature sheet and again was lithographed by Collectables And Solutions Centre of New Zealand Post:-

Meanwhile, Stamperija has produced another 15 issues of philatelic products with the name of Mozambique printed on them. Hardly any of the subjects portrayed on the items could be said to have any relevance to Mozambique. As usual each set is comprised of a sheetlet of 4 different stamps and an accompanying miniature sheet. The "date of issue" is said to have been 30 June 2014. The subjects featured are:- The canonisation of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II (for the first time from Stamperija, a booklet containing the sheetlet and miniature sheet is also said to have been issued), 50th anniversary of the first The Rolling Stones record album, 50th anniversary of US television comedy "I Dream of Jeannie", Death centenary of Sir John Tenniel, 50th anniversary of the wedding of film actors Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, Jules Verne's "Journey To the Centre of The Earth", 400th anniversary of El Greco, 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, 50th anniversary of US television comedy "Bewitched", 75th anniversary of the film "Gone With The Wind", 50th anniversary of the film "Mary Poppins", Elvis Presley commemoration, Kurt Cobain commemoration, Philip Seymour Hoffman commemoration and the 30th anniversary of the film "Ghostbusters". Some of these philatelic products are depicted below:-

Booklet cover.

Contents of Booklet.

Another prolific philatelic agency, the New York-based IGPC, has announced its issues for December 2014. The third in the series from Guyana on the subject of Guyanese women in aviation was issued on 7 December 2014 and is a sheetlet of 4 different stamps which are clearly of local interest in Guyana:-

Other recent issues of Guyana (see also Blog 495) are said to be:-

16 December 2014 - Prince George of Cambridge - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet:-

31 December 2014 - Pope Benedict XVI - 1 sheetlet and 1 m.s.;

5 January 2015 - Parrots of South America -1 sheetlet and 1 m.s.;

5 January 2015 - Seagulls - 1 sheetlet and 1 m.s.

A sheetlet of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet was issued in the name of Nevis on 3 November 2014 on the subject of old locomotives:-

Grenada - 8 December 2014 - Worldwide Fund For Nature - White-tipped shark - details to follow.

Grenada Grenadines - 24 October 2014 - Lunar new year (part 2) - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps (see also Blog 495):-

St. Vincent And The Grenadines -

3 November 2014 - Quatercentenary of the death of El Greco (part 2) - 1 sheetlet of 3 different stamps and 1 m.s. (see also Blog 495):-

15 September 2014 - Worldwide Fund For Nature (WWF) - The Semi-palmated Sandpiper - 4 stamps issued in a sheetlet of 16 (4 x 4 se-tenant strips), 1 miniature sheet of 2 sets and 1 miniature sheet containing 1 set:-