499O. Civilian Presidents Commemorated on Nigeria Issue.

  Nipost, the Post Office of Nigeria, issued a set of 7 circular stamps from ordinary sheets and a miniature sheet containing imperforate versions of all 7 stamps on 27 November 2014. The issue depicts the seven civilian Heads of Government who have ruled Nigeria since Independence to commemorate the Centenary of formation of Nigeria as a single state. Each stamp includes a small hologram but the miniature sheet stamps do not have that feature. The Centenary logo in the right hand margin of the miniature sheet includes the wrongly spelt word "Centinary". 

  Pos Malaysia is also commemorating one of its rulers in one of two new issues. The first issue, released on 23 December 2014, commemorates the 40th anniversary of the succession of the fifth Sultan of Pahang, Haji Ahmad Shah. The single stamp was designed by Pos Malaysia and lithographed by Percetakan Keselamatan Nasional:-

  This is followed by an issue on 31 December 2014 to commemorate the Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'Adzam Shah Bridge in Penang. The pair of stamps was designed by Reign Associates and again lithographed by Percetakan Keselamatan Nasional:-

    Royal Mail has released the design of one of the stamps from the set which is due to be issued on 1 April 2015 which will depict British comedians. The stamp, a 1st Class domestic rate value, depicts the comedians Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker known as The Two Ronnies with a portrait of each performer flanking an image of them in roles which they played in their television programmes. The design consists of straightforward photograph images and as such seems to be rather lazily produced especially when compared with the excellent 1998 set of Comedians which used art by the great British cartoonist, Gerald Scarfe:-

  Stamperija is branching out into producing philatelic items with gimmicky features presumably in the expectation that such features which are hardly novel any more, will increase the dubious appeal of their products to collectors. Thus two previously mentioned sheetlets and accompanying miniature sheets are perfumed and the inscription "PERFUMED STAMPS" or "SELOS PERFUMADOS" is included in the border of the sheets to make sure that collectors are aware of the peculiar characteristics of these items. The items have been produced in the name of Maldives (see Blog 493) and Mozambique (see Blog 499):-