2776. 🇮🇳 India Commemorates Its First Parliamentary Speaker.

 

New issues -

🇮🇳 India Post -

24 August 2025 -  Commemoration of Vithalpai Patel, first Speaker of the Indian Central Legislature - 1 stamp. Rating:***.

August 2025 - My Stamp personalised stamps sold by India Post usually in sheetlets of 12 with attached labels and at a premium.

50th anniversary of Puravankara Group - 1 stamp.

50th anniversary of Karnataka State Police -

95th anniversary of the founding of Dharampal Satyapal Foods Ltd. -

🇴🇲 Oman Post -

31 July 2025 - The Arabian Fox - 1 miniature sheet containing 2 different stamps. Further details awaited. Rating:- *****.

10 August 2025 - Arab Postal Day, joint issue with several other Arab postal services - 1 stamp.

2767. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 King Charles Makes His First Appearance On Scottish Definitives.

 

New Issues -

🇬🇧 Royal Mail  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Issues for Scotland -

14 August 2025 - Definitive stamps with the cameo head of  King Charles III included in the design - 2 stamps with barcodes. Self-adhesive. Designed by Tayburn from art by Anton Morris and Frank Pottinger. Lithographed by Cartor and perforated 15 x 14.5. Rating:- *****.

🇮🇳 India Post -

7 August 2025 - Birth centenary of MS Swaminathan, geneticist - 1 stamp. Rating:- ***.

🇧🇩 Bangladesh Post -

5 March 2025 - Commemoration of the July Mass Uprising - 1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps. Lithographed. Rating:- *****.

🇬🇬 Guernsey Post -

🇨🇶 Products inscribed ‘Sark’ - 

27 August - 80th anniversary of the liberation from occupation by Nazi German forces - 1 sheetlet containing all 8 stamps included in the basic set plus labels. See Blog 2764. Designed by Sue Daly and lithographed by Brebner Print. Sold in a pack for £17.50. Rating:- ***.

2731. 🇮🇳 India Commemorates 50th Anniversary Of Sikkim Statehood..

 New issues -

🇮🇳 India Post -

30 May 2025 - 50th anniversary of the statehood of Sikkim - 1 stamp. Printed by Security Printing Press Hyderabad. Rating:- *****.

This is a historic stamp as it marks a significant anniversary of the enforced incorporation of a previously independent state into the Republic of India. Sikkim had been an independent kingdom until 1950 when its monarch, the Chogyal signed a treaty with Nehru’s government whereby it became an Indian Protectorate. The final Chogyal, Palden Thondup Namgyal, ascended to the Sikkimese throne in 1965 and in the coming years pressure for an increase in democracy in the kingdom brought with it rioting to the extent that troops from India intervened and Indira Gandhi’s government in India deposed the Chogyal in 1973 and annexed Sikkim, making it a state of India on 16 May 1975. Having put an end to British imperialism in its own territory, India showed that it was quite capable of indulging in imperialism itself.

  The design of the new stamp is stated to pay “homage to to the state’s scenic landscapes, vibrant traditions and its commitment to sustainable development”.

🇳🇦 Nam Post (postal service of Namibia) -

Centenary of the Namibia Scientific Society - 2 stamps. Designed by Anja Henker & lithographed. Rating:- ***.

5*s

🇮🇲 Isle Of Man Post Office -

28 May 2025 - First digital postmarking of Isle of Man Post Office stamps while in lunar orbit aboard the Space X Freedom Payload mission marking the first journey of IOM stamps to the moon - 1 sheetlet containing 12 different self-adhesive stamps. The item is sold in a folder for £22.60p. Rating:- 0.

Commonwealth countries and territories which are not yet known to have issued, or had issued on their behalf, any legitimate postage stamps during 2025. With the cession of British Indian Ocean Territory by the United Kingdom to Mauritius and the end of the existence of that territory, there are now 87 entities on this list.

Anguilla 

Antigua and Barbuda

Bahamas 

Barbados 

Belize

British Antarctic Territory 

British Virgin Islands 

Brunei Darussalam 

Cameroon

Cayman Islands 

Cook Islands including Rarotonga 

Cook Islands Aitutaki 

Cook Islands Penrhyn 

Dominica

Gabon 

Ghana 

Grenada Carriacou and Petite Martinique 

Guyana 

Kenya

Kingdom of eSwatini 

Kiribati 

Lesotho 

Malawi 

Mauritius 

Mozambique 

Nauru 

Nevis 

New Zealand Ross Dependency 

Nigeria 

Niue

Papua New Guinea 

Pitcairn Islands 

Rwanda 

St Helena 

St Kitts or St Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

St Vincent and The  Grenadines 

Samoa 

Solomon Islands 

South Africa 

The Gambia 

Tokelau 

Tonga 

Tonga Niuafo’ou

Trinidad and Tobago 

Turks and Caicos Islands 

Tuvalu 

Uganda 

United Republic of Tanzania 

Vanuatu 

Zambia

Therefore, at the end of May, 51 (58.2%) of Commonwealth philatelic entities appear not to have issued, or had issued on their behalf, any legitimate postage stamps during 2025. This compares with 63.6% at the end of April 2025 and 55.7% at the end of May 2024.

🇨🇦 Canada Post -

30 May 2025 - ‘Places of Pride’ - 4 self-adhesive stamps issued in booklets of 8 (2 sets of 4). Designed by Kelly Small of Intents & Purposes Inc from illustrations by Tim Singleton. Lithographed by Colour Innovations.

Post scriptum - A reader sent a Comment which I accidently deleted so I reproduce it here. By the way, thank you to everyone who kindly submits a relevant comment. When presented for acceptance or rejection, the choices are very close together and I occasionally touch the wrong location. Apologies when I do something clumsy like that -

2704. 🇯🇲 Jamaica Commemorates College Centenary.

 

New issues - 

🇯🇲 Jamaica Post -

16 April 2025 - Centenary of Kingston College - 3 stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Lithographed. Better quality illustrations and more information will be posted when available. Rating:- ****.

🇬🇭 Ghana Post -

15 May 2023 - Traditional African musical instruments - 2 miniature sheets, one containing 4 stamps and the other a single stamp (see Blog 2306). A comment from a reader sheds new light on this issue and demonstrates that at least one of the stamps from these sheets has received postal usage in Ghana. Rating therefore upgraded to ***. Thanks to Anonymous for contributing this very useful comment.

🇵🇬 PNG Post (postal service of Papua New Guinea) - 

2024 - Traditional women’s dresses (see Blog 2703). Another very helpful comment from a reader confirms that this issue appears to have gone on sale in 2024. I have requested Anonymous to ask if they would kindly let me know if any other purchases of issues from 2024 were made which have not been covered in recent CSO Blogs. In the mean time, my thanks for the information.

2590. 🇬🇬 Guernsey Post Christmas Stamps.

 

New issues -

🇬🇬 Guernsey Post -

 29 October 2024 - Christmas, the Snowman in Guernsey - 7 self-adhesive stamps. Designed by Caroline Veran and lithographed by bpost. Rating:- ***.

🇬🇬 Issue inscribed Alderney -

29 October 2024 - Christmas - 7 self-adhesive stamps. Designed by Penny Dawes and lithographed by bpost. Rating:- **.

🇮🇳 India Post -

2024 - My Stamps, personalised stamps usually sold in sheetlets of 12 with attached labels and at a premium.

2024 - Wildlife Institute of India, National Wildlife Week - 1 stamp.

2024 - 119th anniversary of the Bank of India - 1 stamp.

2024 - 25th anniversary of Mundra Port - 1 stamp.

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

9 October 2024 - 150th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union - 1 stamp produced in sheetlets of 6. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.

🇹🇹 Trinidad And Tobago To Rid Itself Of Colonialist Images.

  The Trinidad and Tobago government has set itself about the task of ridding itself of ‘colonialist images’ including public statues viewed as featuring individuals and items connected with the country’s rule by the British (Trinidad and Tobago did not exist as an entity until the British established it and most of the present multiracial population would not be living there had not their ancestors travelled there, willingly or otherwise, during the long period of British colonial rule). 

  The first victim of this purge will probably be the national coat of arms with their depiction of Columbus’s three ships which sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to enable Christopher Columbus to ‘discover’ the Americas. The ships are expected to be replaced by the depiction of a local steel pan drum. The Trinidad and Tobago coat of arms have been depicted from time to time on the postage stamps of the country, most notably on the 15c value of the definitive series issued on 1 April 1969. I look forward to a future stamp which includes the new coat of arms as part of its design.