2781. 🇬🇧 Royal Mail New Issue Features Ducks.

 

New issues -

🇬🇧 Royal Mail -

11 September 2025 - Ducks (domestic and wild) - 10 stamps in 2 se-tenant strips of 5 (£12.85) and 1 Collectors sheet containing 10 different stamps with attached labels (£14.05).Designed by Michael O’Shea and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 14 x 14.5. Rating:- *. Quite attractive but another pointless set.

One that got away -

🇬🇧 Royal Mail -

4 September 2025 - 1100th  anniversary of the Coronation of Athelstan, the first King of England who ruled from 924 to 939AD. He united the Kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex, building on the work of his father, Edward The Elder (son of Alfred The Great) and aunt, Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, as well as adding the Viking kingdoms in Northumbria to form a fully United England. He defeated an invasion by a coalition of Scots, Irish Vikings and Strathclyde Britons at the Battle of Brunanburh in 934 and effectively became overlord of the whole of Britain. Though some territory was lost in the north, after Athelstan’s  death, his successors, Edmund I and Eadred, eventually restored the lost territories and established a permanently united Kingdom of England.

Extraordinary, isn’t it? that those who choose the subjects to be featured on Royal Mail stamps decide to issue British stamps depicting Peppa Pig, Batman, Peanuts and a forgettable Antipodean rock music band should choose to ignore a pivotal event and figure in English and British history. Well, given what has happened with British stamp issues in recent years I suppose it isn’t surprising at all. 

It’s hard to think that a figure with similar historical importance as Athelstan has for England would not be commemorated philatelicly by other countries on such an important anniversary. But that’s the state of things at present. 

Regardless, here’s Athelstan as depicted on a playing card from a set depicting English and British monarchs from Alfred The Great to Elizabeth The Great.

2762. 🇮🇪 Irish Republic Commemorates 19th Century Politician.

 

New issues -

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

31 July 2025 - 250th anniversary of the birth of Daniel O’Connell, Irish politician - 2 self-adhesive stamps produced in sheetlets of 8. Designed by Zinc from illustrations by David Rooney and lithographed by Enschedé. Rating:- *****.

🇦🇺 Australia Post -

28 August 2025 - ‘Hello Kitty & Friends’ - 1 pack containing 3 panes and sold for A$37. Panes 1 and 3 each containing 6 different self-adhesive stamps and pane 2 contains a gummed self-adhesive miniature sheet made up of 4 identical Greetings stamps depicting flowers with attached labels and a ‘gutter strip’ of 4 of the same stamps also with attached labels.

What trash. And expensive trash at that.

Rating:- 0.

Commonwealth countries which are not yet known to have issued, or had issued on their behalf, any legitimate postage stamps during 2025 -

Anguilla

Antigua and Barbuda 

Bahamas 

Barbados 

Belize 

British Antarctic Territory 

British Virgin Islands 

Cameroon

Cayman Islands 

Cook Islands including Rarotonga 

Cook Islands Aitutaki

Cook Islands Penrhyn 

Dominica 

Gabon 

Ghana 

Grenada Carriacou and Petite Martinique 

Guyana 

Kingdom of eSwatini 

Kiribati 

Lesotho 

Malawi 

Mauritius 

Montserrat 

Mozambique 

Nauru 

Nevis

New Zealand Ross Dependency 

Niue

Papua New Guinea 

Pitcairn 

Rwanda 

St Kitts or St Kitts Nevis 

Saint Lucia 

St Vincent and the Grenadines 

Samoa 

Solomon Islands 

South Africa 

The Gambia 

Tokelau 

Tonga

Tongs Niuafo’ou

Turks and Caicos Islands 

Tuvalu 

Uganda 

United Republic of Tanzania 

Vanuatu 

Zambia 

Therefore, at the end of July, 47 out of 87 (54%) of Commonwealth philatelic entities appear to have not issued, or had issued on their behalf, any legitimate postage stamps during 2025. This compares with 55.2 at the end of June 2025 and 48.9% at the end of July 2024.

2674. 🇮🇲 Isle Of Man’s Europa Stamp Features Vikings.

 

New Issues -

🇮🇲 Isle of Man Post Office -

8 April 2025 - EUROPA, ‘Sea kings’ (medieval Viking rulers of the Isle of Man) - 6 stamps. The £2.26 EUROPA stamp is issued a special sheetlet of 6. Art by Juan Moore and designed by EJC Design and lithographed by bpost and perforated 11.5. I like the stamps and I like the way the IOM Post Office values Manx history in a way that Royal Mail does not but this is another excessive issue released for no obvious reason. Rating:- *.

🇨🇦 Canada Post -

3 March 2025 - Peonies - 2 self-adhesive stamps from coils and 2 self-adhesive stamps from booklets of 10:(5 of each stamp) and 1 gummed miniature sheet containing the 2 stamps. Designed by Stéphane Huot and lithographed by Lowe Martin. Rating:- ***.

2644. 🇬🇸 South Georgia Celebrates 250 Years As A British Territory.

 

New issues -

🇬🇸 Postal service of South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands -

17 January 2025 - 250th Anniversary of the possession of South Georgia by Captain James Cook in the name of Great Britain - 1 miniature sheet containing a single £5 stamp. Designed by Bee Design and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 13.5 x 13. Rating:- *****.

31 January 2025 - Definitive series, the Weather - 12 stamps. Designed by Bee Design and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 13.5. Rating:- *****.

Production of the above two issues was coordinated by Creative Direction. Thanks to Isle of Man Stamps and Coins for information about these two issues.

🇧🇹 Bhutan Post -

7 January 2025 - Chinese New Year, Year of the Wood Female Snake - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing a single stamp and the other a single stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- *****.

🇬🇮 Royal Gibraltar Post Office -

January 2025 - Chinese new year, Year of the Snake - 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 6 stamps. Rating:- 0.

February 2025 - Cats - 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 6 stamps. Further details and illustrations awaited. Rating:- *

2618. 🇬🇮 Gibraltar Celebrates 320 Years Of British Rule.

 

New Issues -

🇬🇮 Royal Gibraltar Post Office -

20 November 2024 - 320th anniversary of British rule in Gibraltar - 1 stamp. Designed by Stephen Perera using an illustration by Leslie Gaduzo and lithographed by Cartor. Rating:- *****.

This issue celebrates the capture of Gibraltar during the War of Spanish Succession by a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet under the command of Admiral sir George Rooke. This marked the beginning of continuous British sovereignty over Gibraltar.

🇦🇪 Emirates Post (postal service of the United Arab Emirates) -

19 November 2024 - Muzahmi Protected Area in Ras Al Khaimah - 1 miniature sheet containing a single stamp.Lithographed. Rating:- ****.

🇮🇳 India Post - 

21 November 2024 - 125th anniversary of the birth of Harekrushna Mahtab - 1 stamp. Printed by .Security Printing Press Hyderabad. Rating:- ***.

🇲🇲 Myanmar Post -

21 November 2024 - Centenary of Engineering Education in Myanmar by the establishment of the Engineering Department of Rangoon University. Designed by the Ministry of Science and Technology and lithographed by Security Printing Works (Myanmar) and perforated 14. Rating:- ***.