640. Australia's New Stamps Go Into Space; More Appendix Issues.

  Australia Post issued a set of 8 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 22 September 2015 to mark "Stamp Week" and the subject is "Our Solar System". The stamps were designed by Jo Mure and lithographed by EGO Print. The cost of these items will be $9.80 but, as often happens, the price is boosted by the release of a $7.00 booklet of 10 x 70c stamps (in just 2 designs) and a booklet of 20 x 70c self-adhesive stamps (in 2 more different designs) sold for $14.00.

  Additionally the two 35c values are sold as a gummed se-tenant pair and can be obtained by buying a sheetlet of 50 (25 of each design) at a cost of $17.50c.

 Anyone feeling unable to resist buying a "complete collection" of the above will therefore need to fork out $48.30c. Rating:- **.

  In the Catalogue column included in the latest edition of Gibbons Stamp Monthly (October 2015) the editor has relegated another 33 Commonwealth stamp issues to the Catalogue's appendix section hence not according full catalogue status to the items. All of the philatelic products to suffer this fate have been released by IGPC and are inscribed with the names of Dominica, Grenada or Grenada Carriacou And Petit St. Vincent and were released on to the philatelic market in 2013 or 2014.

  The philatelic products which have been banished to the Catalogue's appendix all appear to feature subjects which have little or no relevance to the territories whose names are inscribed on them. This is all excellent news for collectors as many slavishly try to collect everything that is included in the full listing of the catalogue and if such items are not accorded full catalogue status then collectors feel less compelled to buy such items.

  By adopting this policy, the Gibbons Catalogue editor appears to be leading the way in the fight back against excessive issuing of new stamps. It would be pleasing if he took the bold step of turning his attention to more popular philatelic entities such as the British offshore islands or Australia (the latest issue detailed above illustrates the problem) where the proliferation of new stamp issues in the past couple of years has been scandalous. A number of issues from The Channel Islands and Isle Of Man have little or no relevance to those territories so to be consistent throughout the catalogue logically the editor should really treat those territories in a similar way as the excessive products emanating from New York or Lithuania.

  Issues consigned to the Appendix include:- Dominica Cats 2013 - 

  Grenada Animals of China 2014 - 

  Grenada Grenadines Chinese Folk Art 2014:-

  More philatelic products which presumably will not find a place in the Gibbon's Catalogue main listing have been released by the Lithuania-based philatelic agency, Stamperija. These items are inscribed with the name of Solomon Islands. This issue is made up of the usual 10 sheetlets each of 4 different "stamps" plus 10 accompanying "miniature sheets". The subjects depicted on these products are:- Rugby, The Journeys of Pope Francis (not including a visit to Solomon Islands, one notes), The Red Cross in Solomon Islands, Tennis, Scouting, Paintings by Jean-Francois Millet, Paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, Chess, Elvis Presley and Paintings by Camille Pissaro. The stated date of issue of these philatelic gems is 3 September 2015. Rating:- 0.

  Singapore Post issued 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 18 September 2015 as part of a joint issue with Thailand which featured designs on the subject of desserts. Rating:- ****.

  During August 2015 Singapore Post also introduced a new design for its automated teller machine stamps to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Singapore's independence. The lowest pre-set value is the 1st Local (30c) with other values including the 2nd Local (37c), 50c, 60c, 70c, 80c, $1 and so on. rating:- ****.

623. Numerous Issues From Stamperija And Australia Post - Can You Tell the Difference?

  Stamperija's contribution to modern philately continues with the usual outpouring of products - thus collectors this week have the pleasure of having the opportunity to spend their money on a range of items with the names of Solomon Islands and Mozambique printed on them.

  The "stamps" inscribed "Solomon Islands" are said to have been issued on 26 June 2015 and take the form of 10 sheetlets, each containing 4 different "stamps" plus 10 accompanying "miniature sheets". The subjects featured in this emission are:- Seabirds, Australian butterflies, Australian trains, Turtles, Horses, Mushrooms, High-speed trains, Dolphins, Coral reef fishes and Australian light houses. Rating:- 0.

  From Mozambique there is an inglorious range of subjects covered by the 15 sheetlets and 15 miniature sheets produced in its name - Fish, Bees, Bee-eaters, Ants, Bats, Wild cats, Birds of prey, the Black Rhinoceros, African buffaloes, Butterflies, Crocodiles, Dinosaurs, Dolphins, Elephants and Dugongs. The stated date of issue is 3 August 2015. Rating:- 0.

    Nowadays there seems little difference between the attitude of Australia Post and Stamperija when it comes to excessive stamp issuing.  The former's planned issues for September and October 2015 are numerous:-

 9 September 2015 - "Long May She Reign" - 5 gummed stamps, 2 self-adhesive stamps, 1 miniature sheet and 1 Prestige booklet (see Blog 422).

 9 September 2015 - "Dogs that saved Macquarie" - 4 gummed stamps and 1 miniature sheet.

 22 September 2015 - "Our Solar System" - 8 gummed and 4 self- adhesive stamps and 1 miniature sheet.

 5 October 2015 - "Honoured by Australia" - 3 gummed and 3 self-adhesive stamps.

 13 October 2015 - Bicycles - 4 gummed and 3 self-adhesive stamps.

 27 October 2015 - "Animals in War" - 5 gummed stamps, 5 self-adhesive stamps from coils and 1 miniature sheet. 

 In Blog 618 I illustrated the $10 miniature sheet which was issued by IGPC with the name of St. Kitts printed on it on the subject of "Hummingbirds of St. Kitts". The item is said to have been released on 1 June 2015 and a $1 value was also produced in a sheetlet of 20. The $1 item is now depicted below. rating:- ***.

522. New "Stamps" Feature Cricket, Dogs, Birds, Prince William, ElvisPresley, Fish, Lunar New Year, Etc. Etc. Etc.

  There are even more new philatelic products coming along from the agencies IGPC and Stamperija which have been produced with the names of various Commonwealth territories printed on them. From IGPC:-

Ghana - 2015 (date not specified) - "Extreme weather - lightning" - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet:-

  Montserrat - 29 January 2015 - International Year of Light - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 m.s.:-

  Tuvalu - 3 February 2015 - "Tropical Fish" - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet of 2 different stamps:-

  From the philatelic agency, Stamperija, even more philatelic products have been produced with the names of Maldives and Solomon Islands inscribed on them. Ten sheetlets each containing 4 "stamps" and 10 accompanying miniature sheets have been produced for each country. As usual each subset has a different theme which in the case of Maldives are:- Water birds and corals, Songbirds and butterflies, Pigeons and fruits, Owls and mushrooms, Birds of prey, Sea birds and shells, Wading birds and insects, Terns and lighthouses, Bee eaters and orchids and Pelicans. The products are said to have been issued on 15 December 2014:-

 

  The various subjects of the items inscribed with the name of Solomon Islands are:- First birthday of Prince George of Cambridge, Solomon Islands white ibis, Kingfishers, Art by Gustav Klimt, Endangered animals of the world, Flamingoes, Corals, Art by Leonardo Da Vinci, Reptiles and Waterbirds. The "date of issue" is stated to have been 20 December 2014:-

  In addition to these items from Solomon Islands some additional sheetlet/miniature sheet combinations which I have not seen reported before are being offered for sale on an Internet auction site and I guess these must represent the second part of this "issue" of 20 December 2014. The additional subjects are Cricket, Dogs, Elvis Presley, "Towards the Year of the Goat", Christmas 2014, Birds of prey, Fire engines, Minerals, Orchids and Seashells. These items amount to a further 10 sheetlets each of 4 different "stamps" and 10 miniature sheets which means that Stamperija will have created 432 "stamps" and 108 miniature sheets in the name of Solomon Islands during 2014 amounting to a grand total of 540 items not including all the extra stuff such as imperforate varieties. For other recent new issues inscribed "Solomon Islands" see Blogs 516, 501, 499 and 484. We really must all ponder on just how much Stamperija has enriched the hobby of stamp collecting in recent years!