Monday 6 January 2020

1576. ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ช Ireland’s 2020 New Issue Programme.

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ช An Post, the postal service of The Republic Of Ireland, has announced its programme of new issues for 2020:-

9 April - Birth centenary of Liam Cosgrave - 1 stamp.
16 April - 25th anniversary of Father Ted (Comedy television programme) - 4 stamps.
16 July (this may be an error - it may be 16 May) - Europa, Ancient postal routes - 2 stamps.
11 June - Ireland’s ‘Pride’ movement - 2 stamps.
25 June - 9th Definitive series (History of Ireland in 100 objects), part 4 - 12 stamps.
August - Gaelic Athletic Association/County colours - 4 stamps.
September - War of Independence (part 2), Civil society - 2 stamps.
8 October- ‘U2 - A Celebration’ - 4 stamps.
29 October - Christmas - 6 stamps.

The issues of the first quarter of the year are listed and illustrated below although some of the illustrations are rather poor quality:-

23 January 2020 - Galway and Rijeka, European capitals of culture 2020 - 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Designed by Steve Simpson and lithographed by Enschedรฉ and perforated 13.5 x 14. Rating:- ***.




30 January 2020 - ‘Love and marriage’ - Designed by Design HQ and printed in lithography with a special Kurz SP Stella (heart-shaped) finish with die cuts and perforated 11.5. Rating:- **.



20 February 2020 - ‘The Irish War Of Independence’ - 2 stamps. One value features the painting of ‘Men of the south’ by Seรกn Keating and the other notes the Centenary of the passing of the British Parliament’s Government Of Ireland Act. The issue was designed by Ger Garland and lithographed by Enschedรฉ and perforated 13.5 x 14. A historically important issue. Rating:- ****. 


27 February 2020 - The Irish abroad - 5 stamps. Designed by Zero-G and lithographed by Enschedรฉ and perforated 13.5 x 14. Rating:- ***.






5 March 2020 - Pioneering Irish women - 5 stamps in a se-tenant strip. Designed by Design HQ and lithographed by Enschedรฉ and perforated 14 x 13.5. The women depicted are:- Maureen O’Hara (film actress), Lilian Bland (aviator), Sarah Purser (artist), Maeve Kyle (athlete) and Carmel Snow (Magazine Editor). Rating:- ***.




๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ I covered the issues expected from Australia Post in the early part of 2020 in Blog 1563 and noted that a set of 10 Special Occasions stamps (gummed and self-adhesive formats) was to be released on 2 January. Chris De Haer pointed out in a comment at the end of the Blog that the new greetings stamps were needed because of an increase in postal rates which included the domestic rate rising from $1 to $1.10c. I did not mention that the 10 stamps have been issued additionally in a miniature sheet as despite below. The issue was designed by Jason Watts, Jo Murรฉ, Simone Sakinofsky, Sonia Young and Lynda Warner and lithographed by Ego and perforated 14.5 x 14.


๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ฐ In Blog 1532 I illustrated many of the stamps to be issued during 2020 by Hong Kong Post but here now I mention again the Chinese New Year set due for release on 11 January 2019 with better quality illustrations. The issue was designed by Simon Chung. Rating:- *****.



Miniature sheet:-


‘Gold and silver’ miniature sheet (Year of Pig and Year of Rat):-


‘Silk’ miniature sheet:-


‘Heartwarming stamps’ - 2 stamps with attached labels each sold in sheets of 12 stamps.





๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Sri Lanka released 2 separate issues to round off 2019:- 

21 December 2019 - Centenary Of The All Ceylon Buddhist Congress - 1 stamp. Rating:- **.


30 December 2019 - Nendungamamuwe Raja Tusker - 1 stamp. Rating:- ****.



๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฒ The postal service of Myanmar will release a colourful set of 3 stamps on 10 January 2020 to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the country’s achievement of Independence. Rating:- ****.




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