🇸ðŸ‡ðŸ‡¬ðŸ‡§ðŸ‡«ðŸ‡°ðŸ‡¬ðŸ‡¸ðŸ‡¸ðŸ‡ Postal services of Ascension Island, British Antarctic Territory, Falkland Islands, South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands, Tristan Da Cunha -
15 February 2023 - Commemoration of the late Queen Elizabeth II - 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing the 2 stamps from each territory. Designed by Bee Design and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 13 x 13.5. Production coordinated by Creative Direction. Rating:- *****.
Thanks to Angela Warner of Pobjoy Stamps for information about these issues.
These fine stamps put Royal Mail's efforts very much in the shade.
ReplyDeleteThey know many collectors in the UK will buy these, so deliberately high face values. 60 quid in total if you want them all.
ReplyDeleteBut it is a collection from 5 different Countries.
DeleteLooks like they are all going with the CRIII cypher rather than a silhouette.
ReplyDeleteI'd assume that this means that the UK stamps will also have the cypher.
The territories use either the silhouette or cypher. As no silhouette has yet been approved by Buckingham Palace, they are using the cypher.
DeleteI looked up the populations (Wikipedia) for these islands: Ascension - 806
ReplyDeleteBritish Antarctic Territory - 250 (summer)
Falkland Islands - 3662
South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands - no permanent residents
Tristan Da Cunha - 238.
My question is, how are these issues being rated with five stars? They are high quality stamps, but virtually none will ever be used for postage. In a sense, they are like the stamps issued by IGPC - "names of the countries of some of its Commonewealth client postal services printed on them" - but rated two stars.
WK responding - Remember that stamps may be issued for reasons other than postage. One important reason is the assertion of sovereignty and in most cases here, where sovereignty is disputed, stamps play an important role. BAT, South Georgia and Falklands also receive thousands of cruise ship visitors during their summertimes and stamps are an excellent souvenir for such visitors.
DeleteWK additional response - comparing the South Atlantic stamps with most IGPC products I feel is also invalid since the former are generally designed and produced to a far higher standard, rarely feature subjects of no local relevance (unlike IGPC products which rarely feature subjects which have any local relevance at all), generally have rather lower face values and there are fewer issues from each of the south Atlantic postal entities than there are from the IGPC clients in any given year.
DeleteWK makes two good points. I can tell you from personal experience that high value stamps are used in the Falklands. The Falkland Islands Government Air Service (FIGAS) transports cargo (which can be anything from food to supplies) around the islands. The post office allows people to drop off their cargo at the post office in Stanley and this is taken to airport and then delivered. The cost of this is paid in stamps.
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