Monday 27 August 2018

1287. ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ญ St Helena Airport Stamps Mark First Flights To The Island.

  ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ญ In communications terms, probably the biggest event to occur - ever - to St Helena, apart perhaps from the first ever arrival of humans on the island, is the building, now completed, of the island's first airport. The St Helena postal service has recently released 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet as the third part of its series of stamps which commemorates the construction and opening of the new airport. This is undoubtedly a fully justified issue given how important the new airport is to the future of St. Helena. I do not yet know the exact date of issue. Rating:- *****.




  ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ผ In Blog 1284 I mentioned the Malawi Post mushroom miniature sheets currently offered for sale on an internet auction site and presumed that there would also be a sheetlet containing several different stamps as part of the set. This item is now offered by an internet auction site dealer and is illustrated below:-


  ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ธ I was interested to hear an item on a radio news programme about an ornithological expedition by scientists from the University Of East Anglia to Bahamas to search for the Bahamas nuthatch, a bird which had not be seen for 10 years and was thought to be possibly extinct. The expedition had seen this little bird on 6 occasions and were able to confirm that the bird still survived although in numbers as low as one or two possibly. There was optimism that the species may be saved by conservation efforts.
  Whether or not this species can continue to survive we at least have an excellent philatelic record of it in the form of a set of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet which were issued by the Bahamas postal service on 28 March 2006. 
  This is why I wish that postal administrations would take their new issue programmes seriously rather than putting them in the hands of cynical, exploitational philatelic agencies. New stamp issues give a country, through its postal service, the opportunities to create miniature historical documents by commemorating events and anniversaries of significance to that country as well as providing records of its contemporary culture, its wildlife, its art and architecture and its relations with the rest of the world. One day the records provided now in the form of postage stamp designs will be of interest to historians, naturalists and others and may well provide the only historical source of some little snippets of knowledge lost in other media. At least the little Bahamas nuthatch even if soon to be lost for ever will be remembered in the pages of a stamp collection of Bahamas postage stamps or a collection based on a bird theme. The issuing of new stamps is a responsibility which postal administrations and philatelic agencies should take more seriously than some of them actually do.



5 comments:

  1. NO ONE SEEMS TO BE COMPLAINING ABOUT THE GAME BEING PLAYED WITH ST. HELENA S/SHEETS , PRETTY MUCH UNAVAILABLE AT ANY PO( ASCENSION, ST. HELENA NO LONGER SELLS STAMPS TO COLLECTORS: THE FEW THAT DO HIT THE MARKET DO SO AT RIDICULOUS PRICES...THIS REMINDS ME OF AFRICAN NATIONS' ISSUING PRACTICES.

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  2. JUST TO CLARIFY, I MEAN ST. HELENA NO LONGER SELL STAMPS TO COLLECTORS. ASCENSION DO, BUT THEY SEEM TO NO LONGER BE RECEIVING THEM...

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    1. Hello Peter,
      Yes, the post office in St Helena did indeed stop selling directly to collectors 12 - 18 months ago and gave up adding stamps to its website.
      Its stamps are sold to ordinary collectors by Harry Allen and if I am correct collectors can not obtain them from Harry Allen at face value even though the company is serving the role of the island's philatelic agent. Additionally, in my experience, the company adds a high handling charge and postal charges which seem to be in excess of the actual postage cost.
      Harry Allen never seems to give any direct publicity about new stamp issues directly to collectors unlike the excellent Pobjoy Stamps/Creative Direction which gives excellent forward information about new issues to collectors - its client territories include Ascension.
      It is unfortunate that the St Helena authorities have not followed the route taken by other south Atlantic and Antarctic British territories and become clients of Pobjoy Stamps/Creative Direction.

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  3. Sad situation with St Helena. One wonders if the stamps are even available to the locals.

    Switching subjects, but staying within the broader 1287 post, Malawi is releasing the translocation of elephants on 5 October 2018 (I have no other details)

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    1. Thank you eyeonwall- I will look out for the Malawi stamps. WK.

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