🇳🇿 New Zealand Post will issue a sheet of 14 different stamps which make up a composite design on the subject of the "Great Kiwi Road Trip" on 12 July 2017. The issue has a quirky, cartoonish style which I don't particularly like and it probably means more to New Zealanders than it does to me. Nevertheless it's a cheerful item which was designed by Graeme Mowday from art by Chris Boniface and Chris Davidson and lithographed by Southern Colour Print and perforated 14.5 x 14. Rating:- **.
🇬🇬 Guernsey Post Philatelic Bureau "tweeted" on 9 June 2017 that its Post and Go kiosk GG01 situated in Smith Street post office was dispensing "Lighthouses" stamps with an additional inscription applied which welcomed the passengers of the cruise ship Arcadia into port on that date.
🇸🇱 Items inscribed "Sierra Leone" - As usual most of the products have a subject matter which has little or no relevance to Sierra Leone but they are now being issued in sheetlets of 6 identical stamps with 4 sheets per set rather than the previous format of 10 sheetlets each containing 4 different stamps. There are also 10 accompanying miniature sheets. Presumably those who run Stamperija expect that there is more money to be made from selling 40 sheetlets each of 6 stamps than 10 sheetlets each of 4 stamps. Clearly there is if there is anyone out there out who likes to buy sheets rather than singles. Rating:- 0.
The subjects are:- Birth Centenary of Arthur C. Clarke, 70th anniversary of the birth of David Bowie, Nelson Mandela, Centenary of the Pulitzer Prize awards, 110th anniversary of Scouting, 50th anniversary of the Apollo 1 tragedy, 20th death anniversary of Jacques Cousteau, Centenary of the Espionage Act (USA), 50th anniversary of the death of Robert Oppenheimer and Commemoration of Mahatma Gandhi. The "date of issue" is stated to have been 30 May 2017.
🇸🇧 Items inscribed "Solomon Islands" -
Stamperija claims that 12 miniature sheets and 12 sheetlets each of 4 different stamps were issued on 15 May 2017. The subjects of these items have little or nothing to do with these Pacific Ocean islands.
The subjects are:- Steam trains, Centenary of the "Miracle of the Sun", Sledge dogs, Owls, Mushrooms, 150th birth anniversary of Wilbur Wright, Dolphins, Minerals, European high speed trains, 105th anniversary of the sinking of The Titanic, 70th anniversary of the first Ferrari automobile and Centenary of the death of Ferdinand Von Zeppelin. Rating:- 0.
Illustrated below is the "Sledge dogs" set just to illustrate what a nonsense it is for hot Solomon Islands to have stamps depicting dogs running through deep snow:-
The New Zealand sheet is another one of their 'all-nation' designs, and it will certainly resonate with those who have done any part of the road trip.
ReplyDeleteOf particular interest.. Ninety Mile Beach (R1/3)(which is only 55 miles long, and on which you can't take hire cars or camper vans); Kaikoura 'Open' (R4/3) particularly important after access was closed by the earthquake last November; and the 'Lost' stamp (R5/2) with the signpost showing Lost, Really Lost, and Buggered, a word used in generally speech (and broadcasting) far more there than here! Rotovegas (R2/2) refers to the casinos in Rotorua - but there is much more to do there!