2459. 🇮🇪 The Irish Republic Commemorates RNLI But No Issue From Royal Mail.

 

New issues.

🇮🇪 An Post (postal service of the Republic of Ireland).

29 February 2024 - Bicentenary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution - 2 self-adhesive stamps. Designed by Zinc Design Consultants from illustrations by David Rooney. Lithographed by Enschedé. Rating:- *****.

  With this issue, The Irish Republic’s postal service joins those of Isle Of Man, Jersey and Guernsey in commemorating the 200 years of the RNLI, a great and important British institution which represents the noblest features of humanity - self-sacrifice, heroism, philanthropy, generosity and bravery. It is unfortunate and perhaps typical of the trite, show biz mentality of those who currently plan Royal Mail’s new issue programmes, that there is no room among this year’s Royal Mail commemorative stamps for an issue to celebrate the RNLI’s Bicentenary but philatelic commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Peppa Pig is so significant to these islands that it does warrant a stamp issue. 

  Those who run Royal Mail’s philatelic programme should be ashamed of the despicable way they are ignoring the good and noble for the trite and pointless. Commemoration on a British stamp should be accorded to those of great and historic achievement and not ephemeral music performers, games for men who never grew up or banal children’s cartoons.

Stamps from the RNLI sets issued by the postal services of Guernsey, Isle of Man and Jersey -

🇲🇺 Mauritius Post -

29 February 2024 - The Agaléga Islands 2 stamps. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.

This is a very interesting issue. Agaléga is a dependency of Mauritius and a detailed discussion of the philatelic items produced by the Mauritius postal service over recent years on the subject of the islands is to be found in Blog 1678. Agaléga was very much ignored by the central Mauritius government until recently when Mauritius entered into an agreement with India to allow the latter to open a naval base on the islands in the face of opposition by the Agalégans themselves. The press was full of reports in January 2024 that the Indian base was to go ahead. This present issue seems to be tied in to local developments in Agaléga.

  It is interesting because in laying claim to the British Indian Ocean Territory at the International Court, the government of Mauritius claimed to be paying attention to the needs of the Chagosians whom the British had forcibly expelled from their homes in the Chagos Islands in association with the building of an enormous American base on Diego Garcia in the early 1970s. Now it seems that the government of Mauritius, having long wilfully neglected their own citizens in Agaléga, is preparing to inflict on those unfortunate islanders the same loathsome treatment as the British inflicted on the Chagosians. This stamp issue seems to underline the cynical actions of the Mauritius government towards its own citizens and as such is of historical as well as philatelic interest.

🇮🇳 India Post -

25 February 2024 - Yakshagana (traditional form of folk dance performed in districts of Coastal Karnatika) - 1 stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.

27 February 2024 - Centenary of the All India Railwayman’s Federation - 1 stamp. Lithographed. Rating:-*.

🇲🇾 Pos Malaysia -

27 February 2024 - Malay traditional firearms - 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing a single stamp. Lithographed by Brebner Print. Rating:- ****.

Commonwealth countries and territories which are not yet known to have issued, or had issued on their behalf, any postage stamps during 2024 up until the end of Februa

Aitutaki Cook Islands 

Alderney

Anguilla 

Antigua and Barbuda 

Bahamas 

Barbados 

Belize 

Bermuda 

British Antarctic Territory 

British Indian Ocean Territory 

British Virgin Islands

Cameroon 

Cayman Islands 

Cocos (Keeling) Islands Australia

Cook Islands including Rarotonga Cook Islands

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus 

Dominica 

Gabon 

The Gambia

Ghana

 Grenada

Grenada Carriacou and Petite Martinique 

Guyana

Jamaica

Kenya

Kingdom of eSwatini

Kiribati

Lesotho 

Malawi 

Maldives

Montserrat 

Namibia

Nauru 

Nevis

Nigeria 

Niuafo’ou Tonga

Niue

Papua New Guinea 

Penrhyn Cook Islands 

Pitcairn Islands 

Ross Dependency 

Rwanda 

St Helena 

St Kitts

Saint Lucia

St Vincent and The Grenadines 

Samoa

Seychelles 

Sierra Leone 

Solomon Islands 

Togo

Tokelau 

Tonga

Trinidad and Tobago

Tristan Da Cunha 

Turks And Caicos Islands 

Tuvalu

Uganda 

United Republic of Tanzania 

Vanuatu 

Zambia 

Therefore, by the end of February, 61 out of 88 (69.3%) Commonwealth philatelic entities are not yet known to have issued, or had issued on their behalf, any legitimate postage stamps. This compares with the figure of 74 (84.1%) at the end of January and a figure of 55 (62.5%) at the end of February 2023.

Regarding the list of non-issuing Commonwealth philatelic entities for 2023, as reported in Blog 2454 stamp issues were reported by IGPC from the postal services of Nevis, St Kitts and Turks and Caicos Islands (although no illustrations of them have been released yet as far as I can see). These therefore bring down the previously reported number of Commonwealth philatelic entities not issuing stamps during 2023 to a total of 24 (27% compared with 21.3% for 2022).

2458. 🇲🇹 Malta Commemorates Chinese New Year.

 

New issues.

🇲🇹 MaltaPost -

29 February 2024 - Chinese New Year, Year of the Dragon - 1 miniature sheet containing a single stamp. Designed by Fabio Agius and lithographed by Printex and perforated 13.5 x 13. Rating:- *.

🇮🇳 India Post.

23 February 2024 - Commemoration of Sarangadar Das, Odin politician - 1 srptamp. Lithographed. Rating:- *.

27 February 2024 - Centenary of the All India Railway Men’s Federation. Lithographed. Perforated:- *.

🇺🇸 Intergovernmental Philatelic Corporation -

The USA-based producer and purveyor of philatelic items on behalf of several Commonwealth philatelic entities - IGPC - has now updated its internet site up to and including January 2024 (see Blogs 2429 and 2454) and has added no further new IGPC-produced items in the December 2023 or January 2024 lists. This means, I assume that we can conclude that 2023 did indeed see an enormous reduction in the number of issues produced by IGPC, especially in the second half of the year. The reason for this is unknown to me and one can only speculate. 

IGPC therefore seems to have ended the year with the following totals of issues - 

🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda - 6  issues

🇩🇲 Dominica - 0 issues

🇬🇲 The Gambia - 3 issues

🇬🇭 Ghana - 31 issues (!)

🇬🇩 Grenada - 7 issues

🇬🇩 Grenada Carriacou and Petite Martinique - 1 issue

🇬🇾 Guyana - 10 issues 

🇲🇸 Montserrat - 0 issues

🇰🇳 Nevis - 4 issues

🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea - 0 issues

🇰🇳 St. Kitts - 1 issue

🇻🇨 St Vincent and The Grenadines - 2 issues 

🇹🇨 Turks and Caicos Islands - 1 issue

🇹🇻 Tuvalu - 6 issues.

This makes a grand total of  72 IGPC issues (for Commonwealth entities) having been released by the agency during 2023. This compares with 132 such issues in 2022. Therefore in 2023 IGPC released just 54.5% of its 2022 total - quite a fall. Interesting too that 42.1% of the 2023 total number of issues were produced with the name of Ghana printed on them, IGPC having only recently reacquired a contract with the Ghanaian postal service to produce philatelic products on its behalf.

So what next as regards stamp issues from the territories with contracts with IGPC? Perhaps more will become clear as 2024 moves along.

2457. 🇧🇳 New Definitives From Brunei Darussalam.

 

New issues.

🇧🇳 Postal Services Department Brunei Darussalam -

24 February 2024 - Definitive series - 40th National Day - 9 stamps (10s, 29s, 50s, $1, $2, $5, $10, $50 and $100). Portrait of Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah. Unusually these stamps are printed in sheets of 35 with 9 vertical columns each made up of 5 stamps of the same value. Therefore the stamps exist as se-tenant strips of 9 different values. Rating:- ****.

Note that the $100 value presently converts to £58.73 and the $50 to £29.36.

2456. 🇱🇰 Charming New Scouting And Guiding Set From Sri Lanka.

 

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Post -

21 February 2024 - Scouting and Guiding in Sri Lanka - 10 stamps, 10 stamps in a sheetlet and 2 miniature sheets each containing 5 different stamps. Lithographed. Rating:- *****.

🇮🇪 An Post (Postal service of the Republic of Ireland) - 

 22 February 2024 - Centenary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Irish Free State and the United States - 1 self-adhesive stamp from sheetlets of 4. Designed by Sally Caulwell and lithographed by Enschedé. Rating:- ****.

2455. 🇵🇰 Pakistan Commemorates Its Relationship With Kuwait.

 

New issues -

🇵🇰 Pakistan Post -

20 February 2024 - 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Kuwait - 1 stamp. Design “supplied by the customer” and lithographed by National Security Printing Company Karachi and perforated 13. Rating:- ***.

🇨🇾 Cyprus Post -

22 February 2024 - Refugee relief stamp, 2024 - 1 stamp. As previous issues but with ‘2024’ inscribed on the stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.

🇮🇳 India Post -

20 February 2024 - Legendary poets of Odisha - 1 miniature sheet containing 2 stamps. Rating:- ***.

20 February 2024 - Cultural heritage of Western Odisha - 1 miniature sheet containing 6 different stamps. Rating:- - ****.

2454. 🇬🇾🇰🇳🇹🇨 New Locally Themed Issues From Guyana, St Kitts Nevis And Turks And Caicos.

 New issues.

🇺🇸 IGPC 

This United States-based producer and purveyor of philatelic items in contract with the postal administrations or governments of several Commonwealth countries and territories seems to have markedly reduced the number of products it has announced that it is releasing since mid-2023. It has now released its lists of new issues for November and December 2023 and updated its October list. The output remains low with only the Royal Mail Vikings stamps being mentioned in the December list (which it is selling as Royal Mail’s North America agent) and the November list is also scanty with many of the issues meeting the local needs of the respective postal services to commemorate local events and anniversaries.

The lists do not carry illustrations of the new products. The newly listed issues are:-

🇬🇾 Guyana Post Office Corporation -

13 December 2023 - Guyana Rotary Club - 1 stamp

🇰🇳 Nevis postal service -

15 December 2023 - 40th anniversary of the Independence of St Kitts Nevis, Leaders of the Federation - 1 miniature sheet (no further details)

15 December 2023 - 40th anniversary of Independence, military uniforms - 1 miniature sheet (no further details)

25 December 2023 - 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the Defence Force - 1 miniature sheet (no further details)

15 December 2023 - Centenarians of Nevis - 2 miniature sheets each containing 4 different stamps.

🇰🇳 St Kitts postal service -

26 December 2023 - 40th anniversary of the Independence of St Kitts Nevis - 4 stamps

🇹🇨 Turks And Caicos Islands -

1 March (either 2023 or 2024 - both years are stated in the list) - ‘Anglican Church’ - 1 stamp and 1 miniature sheet not described.

🇬🇭 IGPC issues inscribed Ghana -

13 March 2023 - Coronation of King Charles III - 2 miniature sheets, one containing 4 stamps and the other not described.

13 March 2023 - Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II - 2 miniature sheets, one containing 5 different stamps and the other not described.

🇬🇩 IGPC issues inscribed Grenada -

20 December 2023 - Caribbean flowers - 2 miniature sheets, one containing 4 different stamps and the other not described.

🇹🇻 IGPC issues inscribed Tuvalu -

10 July 2023 - Coronation of King Charles III - 2 miniature sheets, one containing 5 different stamps and the other not described.

See Blogs 2429, 2427, 2396  and 2390.

2453. 🇳🇿 New Zealand Celebrates Local Computer Games Industry.

 

New issues.

🇳🇿 New Zealand Post -

6 March 2024 - ‘Making Games - A Developing Industry’ - 5 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 5 stamps.Designed by Chris Jones of Graphetti, Wellington and lithographed by Brebner Print and perforated 14x14.5. Rating:- **.

🇧🇭 Bahrain Post -

21 December 2024 - 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - 1 stamp produced in sheetlets of 10. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.