2659. 🇨🇦 Canada Starts 2025 ‘s Year Of Philatelic National Self-Recrimination.

 

New Issues -

🇨🇦 Canada Post -

31 January 2025 - Black History Month, Commemoration of Marie Joseph Angélique - 1 self-adhesive stamp issued in booklets of 6. Designed by Alexis Eke and Nathalie Cusson of Scooter Design and lithographed by Lowe Martin. Rating:- **.

More guilt-trip issues to follow in 2025 from Canada Post - see Blog 2656, repeated here - 

🇶🇦 Qatar Post -

29 January 2025 - Katara Cultural Village, Arabian horses in Qatari culture - 2 stamps. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.

🇱🇹 While wokeness is breaking out all over in the Canada Post 2025 new issue programme, the Lithuanian purveyor of philately-related products - the infamous Stamperija - has released a pair of sheetlets depicting possibly the most unwoke British comedian of modern times - too unwoke, one suspects, to be commemorated on a Royal Mail stamp in the foreseeable future - Benny Hill, on the centenary of his birth. Fashions and culture change quickly in the West in these present times and while Hill was considered a comedy genius in the 1980s, his heyday, his type of humour is now considered to be far beyond the pale and much of it offensive at the very best. It may be argued, I suppose, that if a comedian is not offending someone or the other, then he/she is not doing their job especially in this present era when so many people are actively in search of something to be offended by. Perhaps, after another four years of Trump, the pendulum may swing in the other direction. For what it’s worth, Stamperija has printed the name of Sierra Leone on these products - 

🇸🇱 Products inscribed ‘Sierra Leone’ -

12 February 2024 - Birth centenary of the late Benny Hill, British television comedian - 2 sheetlets, each containing 9 different stamps. These products were released as part of an issue of 44 sheetlets and/or miniature sheets publicised on 30 January 2025. Rating:- 0.

544. Absolutely Fabulous - Royal Mail's Surprise Gimmick - A Laughing Stamp.

  Royal Mail has issued a surprise item among the 10 new "Comedians" stamps released on 1 April 2015. It is the most original philatelic gimmick to come along for a long time. In Blog 542 I grumbled about the use of philatelic gimmicks, such as the recently announced rose-scented stamps from Isle Of Man, on the grounds that gimmicks were incorporated in stamps at the expense of undistinguished designs along with the fact that most gimmicks are hardly original - there have been scores of issues over the years with all sorts of scents attached to them as well as stamps with holograms, stamps printed on strange forms of paper, stamps printed on metals and textiles, strangely shaped stamps, stamps in the form of music records and C.D.s and so on. 

  But the new item from Royal Mail is both original, clever and hilarious....a stamp that laughs! Royal Mail is using a clever piece of paper technology which gives the effect that when a finger is rubbed along the reverse of the stamp over the special gum, a noise is made which convincingly sounds like the laugh of a woman. The noise produced by the stamps is very funny and the specially-treated paper has been used appropriately in the printing of the French And Saunders stamp because of the female-sounding rather than male-sounding laugh produced by the special paper.

  Unfortunately, and doubtless of some annoyance to some collectors and stamp dealers, because of the cost of producing this specially-treated paper, only one sheet in every 200 containing the French And Saunders stamp will be printed on the specially-treated laughing paper (and then only the F and S stamps themselves) which means that collectors will need to hunt around for the special laughing stamp because the special sheets could turn up at any branch of the Post Office and to make the quest more interesting the Philatelic Bureau will not be offering the special laughing stamps for sale as items separate from the basic set - it will be a matter of pure luck if a collector obtains the laughing stamp. What fun!

  Counter staff at local post offices, despite being busy carrying out all the duties associated with their work, seem to be having an excellent time rubbing the reverse of their French And Saunders stamps to  see if they can make them laugh and in the post offices where the laughing stamps have turned up, the noise has brightened up most of of the customers lining up to be served and whole queues have been observed to be in stitches as someone rubs their newly purchased laughing stamps.

  Well done Royal Mail in coming up with the best philatelic gimmick for years and making 1 April 2015 a date of issue to remember. Even if we collectors have to hunt around to obtain our laughing stamp it's a search well worthwhile to be able to add this highly original stamp to our collection and to have the resulting good laugh.

537. Cyprus Commemorates EOKA Liberation Struggle.

  Cyprus Post will issue a miniature sheet on 2 April 2014 which will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the EOKA liberation struggle which lasted from 1955 to 1959 and which led to Cyprus gaining its independence from Great Britain in 1960. 

  On the same date a single stamp will be issued as part of a Cyprus- Armenia joint issue:-

  Also on 2 April 2015 Cyprus will release a set of 3 stamps which depict preserved fruits:-

  Finally Cyprus Post will also issue its 2015 Refugee stamp but no illustration is yet available.

  The postal administration of The Turkish Republic Of Northern Cyprus issued a single stamp on 9 February 2015 on the subject of St. Valentine's Day:-

  On 17 March 2015 Australia Post issued a set of 4 gummed stamps, 1 miniature sheet and 1 sheetlet of 10 x 70c self-adhesive stamps  (depicting the lemon-scented gum tree) printed on "wood" on the subject of Australian trees. The set was designed by Mary Callahan from photographs by Kimbal Baker and lithographed by McKellar Renown.

   Pos Malaysia has already issued a miniature sheet depicting a goat printed on wood at the beginning of 2015 (see Blog 526) - the "wood" was very unconvincing - to me it felt more like cardboard than wood.

  In Blog 535 I described the issue by Canada Post which was released on 8 April 2015 to commemorate Canadian photography and I now illustrate the various items which make up the issue:-

Front cover of 10 x "P" booklet.

The 5 "P" value stamps from the $8.50 booklet

Part of the $7.20 booklet.

Part of the $15 booklet.

Gummed miniature sheet.

Gummed miniature sheet.

  Norvic Philatelic Blog has pointed out that Royal Mail is withdrawing from sale a number of "Commemorative sheets" and reminds us that some of the sheets are being sold at a discount. I looked at the Royal Mail site and realised that there was another item, which I had previously overlooked, to add to the list of items with the subject of British comedians (see Blog 524 and 532). On 5 October 2012 a "Commemorative sheet" was released to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the last episode of The Goon Show, a famous radio show. The labels attached to the 10 Union Flag stamps contained in the sheet included depictions of the show's comedy stars such as Spike Milligan who is one of the comedians to be featured in the new set which will be issued on 1 April 2015, Peter Sellars, Harry Secombe, Michael Bentine and Eric Sykes:-

535. Kenya Commemorates Don Bosco; New Issues From IGPC, Universal Mail, Post And Go's, South Asia.

  Kenya Post issued 1 stamp and 1 miniature sheet on 1 February 2015 to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco. Don Bosco was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who dedicated his life to helping street children and disadvantaged youth. He was canonised as a Saint in 1934:-

  The March 2015 list of IGPC issues wth the name of Commonwealth countries printed on them is not long this month:-

  

  St. Kitts - 31 December 2014 - Sunflowers (part 2) - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet (see Blog 521):-

  St. Vincent And The Grenadines - 2 March 2015 - "Taipei 2015" Philatelic Exhibition", sites and scenes of Taiwan - 1 sheetlet of 7 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet:-

   1 January 2015 - Centenary of the First World War, The Battle of The Somme - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Why the Battle of The Somme should be commemorated this year rather than in 2016 which will be the actual centenary year is a mystery to me:-

  Ghana - 2015 (no date given) - Horses part 1 - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and. 1 m.s. (see Blog 529):-

    Not all African or Caribbean post offices allow themselves to be exploited by philatelic agents who produce philatelic products in their name so that such "stamps" feature subjects which have no relevance to them. Contrast the "Battle of The Somme" items depicted above with St. Vincent's name printed on them and which feature designs which demonstrate that no attempt has been made to relate the events on The Somme in 1916 to St. Vincent itself with the stamps depicted below which were issued by Senegal to commemorate the First World War anniversary and which clearly depict subjects of direct relevance to Senegal and its role in the World War I.

   I do not often feature stamps of countries outside The Commonwealth in this Blog but this Senegal set makes the point that those who produce stamps from which they aim to extract a lot of money from collectors can produce extremely interesting stamps if they do the research rather than randomly choose subjects which are wholly irrelevant to those countries whose names are printed on the "stamps":-

  India Post is planning the following issues in the near future:-

  20 - 22 March 2015 - The Indian Ocean and Rajendra Chola I

  27 March 2015 - Engineers India Ltd

  March 2015 - Old Seminary Kottayam

  18 April 2015 - Patna High Court

  April 2015 - BHEL.

  Barely a day seems to go by without news of yet another Royal Mail stamp issue in general and "Post And Go" issue in particular (see recent Blogs 531, 532 and 534). Now there is further news of even more "Post And Go" exhibition souvenir labels - "Collectors' strips" of 6 labels in both the Machin Head and Union Jack designs will be released, both with additional inscriptions, to coincide with the annual congress of the Association of Scottish Philatelic Societies which will be held in Perth on 17 and 18 April 2015. These items therefore have a limited sale period of just 2 days and each strip will cost £7. 68p (total cost £15.36p). Kiosks A003 and A006 will be used at the congress.

  Jersey Post, never able to resist a revenue-generating opportunity, will also be selling "Post And Go" labels at Perth from its JE01 kiosk. Joyous collectors will be able to buy exhibition souvenirs, with no postal validity in Scotland, in the form of Collectors' strips of 6 values in the Jersey flag design with additional inscriptions relevant to the Perth congress, "86th Scottish Congress 2015".

  The total cost of Royal Mail postally valid philatelic items (see Blog 532) issued from 1 January 2015 to 1 April 2015 has therefore increased again to £157.24p.

  

  Universal Mail United Kingdom appears to have released a further 3 "Bespoke Booklets" which are only available at the sites which are featured on the respective stamps. This gives them a status similar to the Royal Mail "Post And Go" Museum souvenirs except that Universal Mail's products are much more interesting because they feature scenes and other illustrations relevant to the site where the booklet is being sold rather than being a standard design such as the Union Jack or Queen's head with an added inscription which is the nature of the "Post And Go" souvenir labels. The subjects of the 3 new booklets are:- Madame Tussaud's, the Science Museum in London and the National Railway Museum in York.

  While these booklets make attractive souvenirs of visits to sites of tourist interest in Britain and are valid for use on postcards mailed to overseas addresses, the limitation of their sale at a single site which makes it extremely expensive both in monetary cost and time to obtain them, means that I do not include them in my collection and view them like the "Post And Go" labels as tourist souvenirs rather than true postage stamps of general availability to ordinary members of the public for use on ordinary mail (see also Blogs 395, 410 and 426).

Madame Tussaud's, London.

Science Museum, London

York Railway Museum

 On 8 April 2015 Canada Post will issue the third part of its 5 year programme of stamp issues on the subject of Canadian photography. The 7 different designs are produced as self-adhesive versions available in a $8.50c booklet of 10 stamps which includes the 5 Domestic rate stamps, a $7.20 booklet of 6 x US rate stamps and a $15 booklet of 6 x International rate stamps. The stamps are also issued in gummed format as 2 miniature sheets, one of 3 different stamps and one of 4 different stamps. 

  My main complaint about these ongoing photography stamps is that the stamps are far too small to enable one to appreciate the photographs themselves though I suppose Canada Post would argue that if one really wants to see the fine details of the photos then one can always buy the accompanying set of 7 postcards at a price of $15 which I suppose is not too bad for a collection of Canadian historical classic photographs. The stamps were designed by Stepanie Huot and lithographed by Canadian Bank Note:-

  Here's an interesting question - why would a country that has absolutely no connections with The Commonwealth issue stamps to commemorate the 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow? I have no idea except that the country is Guinea and its philatelic agents are Stamperija. A territory's lack of membership of The Commonwealth and its not participating in the Games seem to be no barrier to the release of Games-related philatelic items which have its name printed on them - that is certainly the case when it comes to Stamperija and its continuing quest to make money out of naive stamp collectors. So  I depict below more philatelic items from a Francophone country, this time Guinea. As can be seen they are well worth spending money on if only because of the excellence of their designs (you may detect a note of sarcasm in that statement). One British dealer is offering these "philatelic gems" at an incredible price of £13.55p for the sheetlet of four and £10.80p for the miniature sheet which gives a total price of £24.35p to be paid by the collector who feels he or she can not live without these philatelic masterpieces. 

  Oh, by the way, another set produced by Stamperija with Guinea's name printed on it celebrates the Asian Games (!) (total price from the same British dealer also £24.35p) - does not the philatelic agent even know in which continent its client nation is located?

  Back to reality -  I depict 2 issues from Pakistan Post which were released at the end of 2014:-

  31 December 2014 - Centenary of the death of Moulana Altaf Hussain Hali, a writer and poet in Urdu (1 stamp):-

  25 December 2014 - Joint issue with Ukraine - a fascinating se-tenant pair depicting artifacts from prehistoric sites in the 2 countries:-

  I now illustrate 2 of the stamps issued by Bangladesh in late 2014 which I have mentioned in a previous Blog and additionally illustrate 2 other issues from 2014 which I have not previously mentioned (I do not know yet the date of issue of the latter 2 stamps):-

1 December 2014 - Asian Art Biennale in Bangladesh 2014:-

  16 December 2014 - Victory Day:-

   15 December 2014 - 75th anniversary of Bangladesh Betar (the state-owned radio broadcasting organisation in Bangladesh):-

  2014 - 50th anniversary of television in Bangladesh:-

  26 January 2015 - International Customs Day - (see Blog 517):-

  The latest Commonwealth philatelic products to have been announced by Stamperija have the name of Maldives printed on them. The "date of issue" of these items, on the subject of Wildlife of the Indian Sub-continant, is stated to have been 28 January 2015 and the "issue" is made up of the usual 10 sheetlets, each containing 4 different "stamps" and 10 accompanying miniature sheets. This time the themes are Owls, Snow leopards, Butterflies, Turtles, Fish, Asian elephants, Parrots, Tigers, Rare monkeys and Dolphins. Most of the featured creatures are not found on the land of or in the waters around Maldives.

  In previous blogs (524 and 532) I have depicted some stamps of the upcoming 10  "Comedians" set due for issue by Royal Mail on 1 April 2015 and the remaining stamps are depicted below:-