1076. 🇧🇩 Bangladesh Issues 71 Shocking War Crimes Stamps.

  🇧🇩 It's very difficult for collectors to find news of new issues from some postal administrations and it isn't always easy to find timely information about what Bangladesh Post has released on to the market. Sometimes the first inkling of something new comes from dealers' price lists. Herrick Stamps produce a fortnightly price list of worldwide new issues and there's usually something to interest one among the 300 or 400 sets featured every 2 weeks. This week, Herrick Stamps has come up with something quite spectacular but quite awful and tragic from Bangladesh Post.

  Herrick is offering for sale a sheet of 71 different stamps with no less than 18 accompanying miniature sheets which make up an issue titled "War Crimes in Bangladesh by Pakistan Army and their Collaborators 1971". Many of the images depicted on the stamps are extremely shocking and upsetting. There is no stamp in the position of the first stamp in the top row and this explains why a sheet which should contain 72 stamps has only 71. I presume that the 71 stamps is intended to recall the year of the terrible events - 1971.

  As regards the miniature sheets, each one contains 4 stamps except one that has a single black label as is found in the main sheet.

  Having found this issue listed by Herrick's I found a Bangladesh Post item which confirms the issue of these stamps and illustrates all 71 stamps and all miniature sheets.

  This is a powerful issue and quite unprecedented. The designs of some of the individual stamps are awful and upsetting and very painful to look at. There has never been a stamp issue quite like this. 
  The 18 miniature sheets are depicted below along with 42 of the individual stamps. I will depict the remaining individual stamps in the next Blog. Be aware that some of the images are extremely disturbing and could make anyone weep. 
  Rating:- *****.

  🇦🇬 Herrick's latest list also features 2 miniature sheets released by the philatelic agency, IGPC, each containing 4 different stamps on the subject of "Fruits of the Caribbean". The name of Antigua And Barbuda is printed on these items and, unusually, the designer has made an attempt to tie the stamps to Antigua And Barbuda by writing a short text in the margins of the sheet which refers to the fruit found in the territory. Rating:- *.

  🇧🇹 The latest Herrick's list also contains a number of new issues from Bhutan Post which are illustrated below. I do not presently have any details about these issues but as usual they are interesting, locally relevant and relatively inexpensive.

  2017 - Fruit of Bhutan - 1 sheetlet of 8 different stamps and 1 single stamp miniature sheet:-

  2017 - Pilgrimage sites in Bhutan - 1 sheetlet of 9 different stamps and 1 single stamp miniature sheet:-

  2017 - Prayer wheels - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 single stamp miniature sheet:-

  2017 - Traditional utensils of Bhutan - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 single stamp miniature sheet:-

  🇲🇼 Finally, in Blogs 1048 and 1051 I mentioned the new surcharges issued by Malawi Post on 1 July 2017 and I now provide much better quality illustrations of these 4 stamps:-