2015 (date of issue not yet known) - "Ascending the Golden Throne", "Democracy- a Royal Gift" (already featured in Blog 675), "A Golden Reign", "Father of Gross National Happiness" and "The Transition of Destinies" - 5 sheetlets and 2 miniature sheets. Rating:- *****.
9 October 2015- King Jigme, "Father of Gross National Happiness" - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- *****.
11 November 2015 - 60th Birth anniversary of King Jigme Singye Wangchuk - Conservation of the Black- necked crane and White bellied heron - 1 sheetlet 8 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- *****.
11 November 2015 - Worldwide Fund For Nature (WWF) (King Jigme's contribution to wildlife conservation) - 1 sheetlet of 8 different stamps (see Blog 680) and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- *****.
2015 (date not yet known) - Royal visit to Merak and Sangteng, eastern Bhutan (May 2015) - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- *****.
2015 - Dzongs of Bhutan (King Jigme's role in conservation of historic buildings) - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- *****.
2015 (date not yet known) - Monasteries of Bhutan - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- *****.
Guernsey Post will issue a set of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet which combines all 6 stamps to commemorate the Lunar new year (Year of the Monkey) on 20 January 2016. Priced at £7.24p for set plus miniature sheet these items have no real relevance to Guernsey and are dull, anaemic-looking and tell the collector nothing about Guernsey. I shall not be adding the issue to my collection of Guernsey stamps. Rating:- 0.
Although I am not aware of any useful publicity put out to collectors by the seemingly moribund CASCO, the Cayman Islands philatelic agents, it seems that the postal administration of this Caribbean territory has recently released 2 new issues of stamps.
The first is its Christmas issue and consists of 4 stamps, depicting children's art, as well as a booklet of 10 x 25c self-adhesive stamps. The 25c value depicts a parrot which looks like the Grand Cayman Parrot, the territory's national bird. Because of the poor pre-publicity I do not yet know the date of issue.This is a pleasant and colourful set. Rating:- ***.
The second issue from Cayman Islands, equally unannounced to collectors by any publicity of which I am aware, depicts artefacts from the Cayman Islands National Museum. Again, I do not yet know the date of issue. Rating:- ***.
Is Bhutan actually in the Commonwealth?
ReplyDeleteHello Magonia. No it isn't nor has it ever been. But it has a long history of close relations first with Britain and more recently with India. I rather like Bhutan's stamps so I include the country's stamps in my collection along with those of a number of territories which have historical close links with Comonwealth territories or which may have been a Commonwealth member or dependant territory in the past but is no longer - such as Hong Kong and Zimbabwe. Sorry, it's not very logical but the issues of these territories give me a lot of pleasure so I use their somewhat vague connections or former connections as an excuse for collecting them and mentioning them in the blog. Best wishes.
DeleteTo me these new Bhutan issues seem a little excessive. I allways have the feeling with Bhutan that IGPC has something to do with it. I think IGPC produces the sheets, but that the Bhutan post still controls the issuing policy and stamp themes. At least all themes have something to do with Bhutan.
ReplyDeleteDear Stewie1911, Many thanks. I know what you mean but I like current Bhutan issues because they are generally very interesting, colourful, locally relevant and, though quite numerous, really not all that expensive. I don't really know if IGPC is currently involved in the production of Bhutan stamps or any other aspect of their sale to collectors. Best wishes.
Delete