1308. 🇯🇪🇬🇧🇬🇸 Jersey Prince Of Wales Issue And Antarctic First World War Stamps.

  🇯🇪 Jersey Post will commemorate the 70th Birthday of The Prince Of Wales by the release of a set of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 14 November 2018, the Prince's actual birthday. The designs depict photographs of the Prince at various stages of his life and the miniature sheet depicts The Prince with his wife, The Duchess Of Cornwall. Although these stamps are simply photographs with some text added to them, the photographs are well chosen and the production is excellent. I like the set very much. The designs are derived from photographs by various photographers and lithographed by Cartor. Rating:- *****.

  The Prince's birthday will also be commemorated by the issue of a single £3 'definitive' stamp produced in a sheetlet of 4. This is an excellent item and was designed from a photograph by Anthony Buckley and printed in lithography and silver hot foil by Cartor. I would ofcourse just buy the single stamp and not bother with the expensive sheetlet. Rating:- *****.

  Jersey Post will also issue a set of 8 stamps on the subject of Christmas on 19 November 2018. The stamps have the unusual theme of patterns used on Christmas jumpers. The depictions are wholly inconsequential but cheerful enough for the use on Christmas mail and were designed by True North and lithographed by Cartor. Rating:- ***.

  Jersey Post also issued a 20 stamp 'Commemorative sheetlet' on 22 September 2018 to commemorate the holding of the Super League Triathlon in Jersey. The stamps have labels attached to them which depict various aspects of the event. The cost is an appalling £17. How much better it would have been to release a proper set of stamps rather than another one of these useless sheets which are expensive and impossible to house satisfactorily in a collection. Rating:- 0.

  🇬🇧 The ingenuity of Creative Direction in coming up with good ideas for subjects to feature on the stamps of territories such as British Antarctic Territory and South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands never ceases to impress me. That admiration also extends to my appreciation of the excellence of the designs which appear on the stamps.

  The very clever idea of finding a way for the release of Stamps by British Antarctic Territory to commemorate the Centenary of the end of the First World War is to commemorate the men who took part in the war who were also members of Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. This interesting issue was designed by Andrew Robinson and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 13.5. Rating:- *****.

  🇬🇸 Similar items on the same subject and by the same designer and printer and with the same perforations will be issued by South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands on 4 November 2018. Another excellent issue.

  Rating:- *****. Thanks to Juliet Warner of Pobjoy Stamps for information about these issues.

1307. 🇸🇭 Tristan Depicts Migrant Birds On New Issue.

  🇸🇭 The postal service of Tristan Da Cunha will issue a set of 4 stamps on 18 October 2018 as part of the Pobjoy Stamps/Creative Direction mini-omnibus series featuring various migratory species. The featured species are the Great shearwater and the Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross. The issue was designed by Andrew Robinson from photographs taken by Andy Schofield and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 13.5. Rating:- *****.

  Thanks to Juliet Warner of Pobjoy Stamps for information about this issue.

  🇯🇪 In Blog 1295 I mentioned that Jersey Post was to be represented at the Macao 2018 35th Asian International Stamp Exhibition and would be selling Jersey Flag Post and Go stamps with an appropriate inscription, 'MACAO/2018' as depicted below:-

  🇹🇷 The postal service of the Turkish Republic Of Northern Cyprus issued a single stamp on 25 September 2018 on the subject of Occupational health. The stamp was designed by GK Sonmezer and lithographed by Bolan Dijital Baski Ltd. All in a good cause I suppose. Rating:- ***.

  🇮🇲 The Isle Of Man Post Office will issue a set of 4 stamps on 18 October 2018 to commemorate the Bicentenary of Point of Ayre and Calf Of Man lighthouses. The issue was designed by Isle Of Man Advertising and Charles Guard from photographs taken by Duke Aerial Productions and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 14. Rating:- ***.

1306. 🇬🇧 Harry Potter Surfaces Yet Again On Royal Mail Mystery Issue.

  🇬🇧 It really is too tiresome. The stamp issue from Royal Mail due for release on 16 October 2018 is to be yet another collection of items on the subject of .... drumroll ... Harry Potter. Ho hum.

  There's a lot of things for the collector to spend her/his money on - a set of 10 stamps, a miniature sheet containing 5 different stamps, a retail booklet of 6 self-adhesive stamps (2 of the commemoratives and 4 x 1st Class Machin Head), a Prestige booklet costing £15.50p, a second 'Limited edition' Prestige booklet costing, er, £45 and a 'Commemorative sheetlet' containing all 10 stamps with attached labels which will be a snip at £7.70p. And there we have it. We hope that collectors feel that the news was worth waiting for. Rating:- 0.

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  The Postal Museum in London began to dispense old-style Machin Head 1st Class Post and Go stamps with the additional inscription 'The Postal Museum' from its A001 kiosk on 2 July 2018. These were temporarily replaced from 12 September 2018 by the same stamps with the additional inscription ''F' box 50' and an icon of a 'F' style post box to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the introduction of that type of postbox. Similar stamps were also dispensed on the 2nd Class value blue stamps. A001 also dispensed the Mail by Bike stamps with an additional 'The Postal Museum' inscription.

  Meanwhile Royal Mail will release its Christmas set on 1 November 2018. It appears to be made up of  8 stamps which though attractive are rather clichéd depicting as they do Christmases in chocolate box country villages in well-to-do parts of southern England and post office workers and public alike gathering around their local post boxes either to post their Christmas cards or to collect them to take to their local sorting centres. Included in the products will be a 'Generic sheet' containing 6 of the stamps, the whole being sold for £17.50. Nevertheless, I do like this issue. Rating:- ***.

  🇮🇳 India Post issued a single stamp on 17 September 2018 to commemorate Hislop College which was established by the Scottish missionary Stephen Hislop in 1883. The design is one of the poorest I have seen this year. Rating:- 0.

  This was followed by another single stamp issue on 23 September 2018 which commemorates Sant Ganinath, considered to be an incarnation of Shiva. Rating:- **.