2173. 🇱🇹 Dubious In Memory Products From Stamperija.

 

New products of dubious nature.

🇱🇹 Stamperija - 

The infamous producer and seller of paraphilatelic products - the Lithuania-based Stamperija - has announced the release of items claiming to honour the memory of the late Queen Elizabeth II with the names of two Commonwealth countries printed on them.

These products take the form of previously issued ‘miniature sheets’ with additional inscriptions applied. These are interesting items merely from the point of view that one issue is inscribed Solomon Islands for which Stamperija has not produced any new items since 2016 and has not indicated that it has a renewed contract to produce stamps on that country’s behalf and the second issue is inscribed Mozambique whose postal service has been abolished and which therefore, one assumes, has no need of postage stamps.

One must conclude therefore that these are dubious products using up old items which Stamperija has left over from several years ago and which have not been approved by the two postal administrations of the countries named on the products. Until there is proof that these items have been put on sale in post offices for use on mail by ordinary postal customers in the respective countries it is suggested that anyone wishing to collect stamps released as a memorial to the late Queen Elizabeth may wish to hold back from spending their money on these products and hopefully catalogue editors will recognise the dubious nature of the products and not add them to their listings without proof of their appropriate usage. Rating:- 0.

1885. 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Celebrates Vesak Festival.

 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Post issued a set of 3 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 3 stamps on 12 May 2021 to commemorate the Vesak religious festival 2565. Rating:- ***.

  🇺🇸 There is little reason for most of the philatelic entities which are said to have issued ‘stamps’ to commemorate the obscure apparently self-appointed Buddhist leader who lives in The United States, one Dorje Chang Buddha III, to have done so. The list of philatelic entities which have done so, or allowed such items to be produced on their behalf, is now long and made up, mainly but not entirely, of some of the more motley philatelic entities which have allowed themselves to succumb to purveyors of philatelic and paraphilatelic products such as IGPC and Stamperija.

  IGPC is featuring them on its website as official issues of these particular entities but a number of recently ‘issued’ items look very much as though they have been printed on sheets of Personalisable stamps issued some years ago and obviously lurking around in some store cupboard and now given fresh life. Two of the Personalised sheets are those of former IGPC clients, Solomon Islands and Ghana, and the other from a client of Philatelic Collector Inc which, one suspects, is linked to IGPC. Whether these are merely privately produced personalised stamps or official items produced on behalf of the respective postal administrations is a moot point.

  It is therefore with no degree of enthusiasm that I mention the following items which have recently popped up and if there is any collector who feels they just must have them so be it:-

🇬🇭 Ghana - IGPC claims stamp was issued on 31 December 2020 - 1 stamp issued in sheets of 20. Rating:-0.

🇸🇧 Solomon Islands - stated date of issue 19 January 2020 - 1 stamp printed in a sheet of 20. Rating:-0.

🇹🇴 Tonga - stated date of issue 15 April 2021 - 1 stamp printed in a sheet of 20 stamp. Rating:- 0.

1818. 🇫🇯 🇸🇧 What’s Happening In Fiji and Solomon Islands?

 

🇫🇯 🇸🇧 In its latest new products update the notorious New York-based agency, IGPC, has included a miniature sheet containing 6 identical stamps featuring Dorje Chang Buddha III, who has appeared already on a large number of stamps from postal services whose stamp production is usually in the hands of that philatelic agency, with the name of Fiji printed on the item. This is distressing as Fiji has a long history of excellent high quality stamps issued as part of a conservative new issue programme and the last thing it needs is for IGPC to ruin its philatelic image and to shame the country. This vile item is said to have been issued on 26 January 2021. Rating:- 0.

Equally distressing is the appearance on the list of products of a miniature sheet inscribed Solomon Islands said to have been issued on 19 January 2021 also to commemorate Dorje Chang Buddha III. There is no accompanying illustration but I assume that the issue also takes the form of a miniature sheet containing several identical stamps like the Fiji product. This is very disappointing because the postal service of Solomon Islands seemed to have reformed itself as regards new stamp issues after it severed its link with the appalling Stamperija agency which had hijacked its stamp issuing programme for several unhappy years. Rating:- 0.

🇺🇸 IGPC, a philatelic equivalent of coronavirus, has also announced the release of another very large number of philatelic products from several ‘client’ postal services which are listed below and which are generally not worth wasting time illustrating here:-

🇬🇲 The Gambia - 

15 January 2021 - 150th anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower in North America (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 50th anniversary of the Range Rover car (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp), 600th anniversary of the Forbidden City ( l miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps) and 75th anniversary of the United Nations (1miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps). All of these products are rated 0.

🇬🇩 Grenada - 28 January 2021 - 

400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower in North America (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 50th anniversary of the Range Rover car (2 miniature sheets, I containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp), 600th anniversary of the Forbidden City in Beijing (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 75th anniversary of the United Nations (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps). All of these products are rated 0.

🇬🇩 Grenada Carriacou And Petite Martinique - 28 January 2021 - 

150th anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 150th Birth anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 2nd Wedding anniversary of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp), 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower in North America (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 50th anniversary of the Range Rover car (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp). All of these products are rated 0.

28 January 2021 - 95th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Grenada - 1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps. Rating:- **. 

The designs of the stamps include one featuring the Queen wearing facial covering when leaving Westminster Abbey having visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Armistice Day.

🇻🇨 St Vincent And The Grenadines - 30 November 2020 - Visit of US President Trump to India - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp). Rating:- 0.

🇹🇻 Tuvalu  - 20 December 2020 - 

20th anniversary of the Mini Cooper car (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp), 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower in North America (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 40th anniversary of the Audi Quattro car (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp), 50th anniversary of the Range Rover car (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp), 600th anniversary of the Forbidden City in Beijing (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp), 70th anniversary of the Morgan Plus 4 car (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp). All of these products are rated 0.

8 January 2021 - Chinese New Year, Year of the Ox - 1 miniature sheet containing 6 different stamps. Rating:- 0.

1405. 🇸🇱 The Commonwealth's Greediest Stamp Issuing Territories In 2018.

  🇸🇱  Time to list the greediest stamp-issuing territories of 2018. This provides a simple list of territories (regardless of whether their own postal service issued their stamps or whether it was a foreign agency which released stamps on their behalf) and may not include some stamp issues which have not yet made themselves known to stamp collectors. Each listed territory has the number of items issued by it or for it and this total may include ordinary postage stamps, miniature sheets, booklets, sheetlets, My Stamp/Smilers issues, Post and Go issues and so on.

  The main weakness is that a country's 'greed' is only illustrated by the number of items issued rather than the cost of them and some territories have been responsible for some highly expensive items such as Royal Mail's outlandish limited edition Prestige booklets and various extremely high face value stamps from a number of territories. Nevertheless the list gives an impression of which Commonwealth postal services are using any means they can think of to screw money out of stamp collectors and those which show respect to their collectors by having reasonable new issue programmes.

1. Sierra Leone - 1169 items (2017 also placed at no. 1 with 1239 items) (Stamperija)

2. Mozambique - 748 items (2017 issued 75 items) (Stamperija)

3. Australia - 323 items (2017 issued 242 items placed at no. 6) (Australia Post, includes items inscribed 'Australian Antarctic Territory', 'Christmas Island Australia', 'Cocos (Keeling Islands) Australia' and 'Norfolk Island Australia').

4. Malaysia - 318 (115 in 2017) (Pos Malaysia)

5. Guernsey - 300 (264 in 2017) (Guernsey Post, includes items inscribed 'Alderney')

6. United Kingdom - 257 (364 in 2017) (Royal Mail)

7. Antigua And Barbuda - 217 (139 in 2017) (IGPC)

8. India - 183 (288 in 2017) (India Post)

9. Isle Of Man - 164 (120 in 2017) (Isle Of Man Post Office)

10. Jersey - 161 (125 in 2017) (Jersey Post)

11. New Zealand - 158 (112 in 2017) (New Zealand Post)

12. Grenada - 137 (229 in 2017) (IGPC, includes items inscribed 'Grenada Carriacou And Petite Martinique)

13. Guyana - 107 (83 in 2017) (IGPC)

14. Cook Islands - 97 (68 in 2017) (Philatelic Collector Inc.)

15. Papua New Guinea - 91 (54 in 2017) (PNG Post and IGPC)

16. The Gambia - 86 (not a Commonwealth member in 2017, total includes items issued only after the country rejoined The Commonwealth) (IGPC)

17. Gibraltar - 84 (101 in 2017) (Royal Gibraltar Post Office)

18. Canada - 82 (94 in 2017) (Canada Post)

19. Singapore - 78 (93 in 2017) (Singapore Post)

20. Nevis - 73 (66 in 2017) (IGPC)

  Thanks to the activities of the notorious philatelic agency, Stamperija, its client territory - Sierra Leone - is top of the list for the second consecutive year followed by another client country of that company - Mozambique.

  The fall in the number of items issued by Royal Mail is mainly attributable to the large reduction in Post and Go stamps issued by the company. Guernsey Post's high place is attributable to its large number of Post and Go stamps most of which were sold to mark the arrival of various cruise ships in the island. There was a large increase in the output of Malaysian stamps because of the issue of 168 stamps (84 perforated and 84 imperforate) issued in sheetlets of 6 different values.

  The list of territories with the least number of stamp items issued during 2018 is mainly made up of postal administrations which issued no stamps at all:- 

1. Anguilla - 0

1. Belize - 0

1. Brunei Darussalam - 0

1. Cameroon - 0

1. Dominica - 0

1. Ghana - 0

1. Lesotho - 0 (2 stamp issues have been reported but I have not seen any confirmation of this)

1. Rwanda - 0

1 St Kitts - 0

1. Saint Lucia - 0

1. Samoa - 0

1. Seychelles - 0

1. Solomon Islands - 0

1. Turks And Caicos Islands - 0

1. Uganda - 0

16. Jamaica - 1

16. Zambia - 1 

18. Nauru - 2

18. Vanuatu - 2

20. British Virgin Islands - 5

  Most notable is the presence of Solomon Islands, a client of Stamperija, in the second list with no known stamp issues in 2018 having being second in the first list the previous year with a total of 636 items. Has Solomon Islands escaped the clutches of Stamperija?

  🇧🇼 Botswana Post has issued a set of 6 stamps which depict Insects of Botswana. The attractive issue was designed by Baboloki Somalekae. I do not yet know the date of issue. Rating:- *****.

  🇮🇳 India Post issued a premium-priced My Stamp on 18 February 2019 which commemorated the 36th anniversary of Apollo Hospitals. Rating:- *.

1330. 🇮🇴🇲🇺 Armistice Day - Indian Ocean Territories Commemorate End Of First World War Centenary.

  🇮🇴 The postal service of British Indian Ocean Territory released a set of 4 stamps on 11 November 2018 to commemorate the Centenary of the First World War. It seems perfectly reasonable for the territory to issue stamps on this subject as it is effectively a large military base. The designs are quite effective. Rating:- ****.

  🇲🇺 Mauritius Post issued an excellent single stamp on 12 November 2018 to commemorate the Centenary of the end of the First World War with the design depicting an impressive local war memorial. Rating:- *****.

  🇸🇧 Stamperija has not so far this year claimed to have released any of its tiresome and expensive paraphilatelic items with the name of Solomon Islands printed on them. The last release is dated on its website as having been 7 December 2017. This does not mean that Stamperija productions for Solomon Islands have ceased - no products were released by Stamperija in the name of Mozambique from 10 February 2017 to 15 February 2018 but then resumed in earnest.

  So we can not be sure that items from Solomon Islands depicting inappropriate subjects such as polar bears are things of the past but it is worth noting that a new government under prime minister Rick Houenipwela came to power in Solomon Islands on 15 November 2017 and one can not help but speculate that this change in administration may have resulted in the contract between Solomon Islands and Stamperija having been terminated. Well time will tell I suppose.

  Other Commonwealth postal administrations/philatelic entities which do not appear to have issued stamps or had stamps issued in their name during 2018 up to early November are those of - Anguilla, Barbados, Belize, Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, Dominica, Ghana, Lesotho, Nigeria, Rwanda, St Kitts, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Seychelles, Turks And Caicos Islands, Uganda and Zambia. It will be some months at least before we know with a reasonable degree of certainty which postal services did not issue stamps during 2018 but it's interesting that as many as 18 Commonwealth philatelic entities are still not known to have issued any stamps so late in the year.

1216. 🇬🇬 More Visiting Cruise Ships Post And Gos From Guernsey.

  🇬🇬 Guernsey Post has an interesting item of news on its philatelic bureau website. It has announced that it will vend Post and Go stamps from the Guernsey Information Centre in North Esplanade in St Peter Port from 25 May to 7 October 2018. The 'Bailiwick flowers' stamps will be dispensed from the Philatelic Bureau's new desktop unit, GG03, with a location identifying inscription applied to them which reads 'Guernsey Information Centre'. Following on from the Visiting cruise ships stamps which were vended from kiosk GG01 situated in Smith Street during the summer of 2017 the stamps dispensed at the Information Centre will again be dispensed on the date of a cruise ship's visit to Guernsey for sale by personal callers to the Information Centre.

  There is no news of these being offered to collectors as they were last year. The website includes an illustration of the Bailiwick Flowers stamps with the additional inscription 'Welcome to the Caribbean Princess' which seems to visit the port more often than the other cruise ships.

  Guernsey Post will issue a set of 6 stamps on 23 May 2018 to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. This is a very nicely designed set using some wonderful photographs of The Queen. The stamps are inscribed 'Alderney'. Rating:- ****.

  🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Post issued a single stamp on 28 April 2018 to commemorate the State Vesak Festival. The stamp was designed by Palitha Gunasinghe and printed in lithography. Rating:- ***.

  🇱🇹 Stamperija, the notorious Lithuania-based philatelic agency, has released more products with the name of Mozambique printed on them. These take the form of 10 sets each of 4 'stamps' with 10 accompanying 'miniature sheets'. Each individual stamp has been printed in sheets of 4 stamps. The stated 'date of issue' is 15 April 2018 and the featured subjects are:- Concorde, Mushrooms, 5th anniversary of the Pontificate of Francis I, Death centenary of Gustav Klimt, Lions, 150th birth anniversary of Paul P Harris, Sharks, Flying dinosaurs, Pigeons and Eagles. These items are similar in appearance to those depicted in Blog 1214. There is little point in wasting time and space by illustrating them here. Rating:- 0.

  🇲🇿🇸🇱🇸🇧 The paraphilatelic products of Stamperija with the names of Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Solomon Islands printed on them have no apparent role as postage stamps as far as it has been possible to see because they are not available at local post offices in the respective countries and there is no evidence of any genuine postal service usage of them. They are not postage stamps. At best we might call them 'philatelic products with theoretical postal validity'. I have written about all of the products released by Stamperija over the years but it is now time to stop pretending that they have a place in a Blog about Postage stamps. 

  I will therefore cease to give any mention of such products in this Blog in the future. Any items put out by Stamperija which appear to have been released with view to their use in genuine mail services will of course be mentioned.

  🇦🇬 🇬🇮 The question arises as to whether the 'special' stamps released by IGPC in the name of Antigua And Barbuda and those of Gibraltar Stamps should also be ignored by this Blog as the editor of Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue has revealed recently that neither of these territories offer their non-definitive stamps for sale at ordinary postal counters with the intention of them being used on ordinary mail. It may be said that such items are also 'Philatelic items with theoretical postal validity' and no more. The numbers of items issued by both of these territories are plainly excessive but not to the extent of those territories which are clients of Stamperija. I shall therefore continue to mention these products for the present.

1175. 🇸🇭 Tristan Da Cunha Features Visiting RN Ships On Latest Issue.

  🇸🇭 The postal service of Tristan Da Cunha will release an excellent set of 4 stamps on 20 February 2018 on the subject of Royal Navy ships which have visited the island. The issue was designed by Robin Carter and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 13 x 13.5. Rating:- *****.

  Thanks to Juliet Warner of Pobjoy Stamps for information about this issue. 

  This seems to be a popular theme for 2018 given that the upcoming Post and Go stamps from Jersey Post will also Royal Navy vessels which have visited that island (See Blog 1165).

  🇬🇮 The design of the Year of The Dog Post and Go stamps which the Royal Gibraltar Post Office will put on sale from kiosk GI01 at Spring Stampex 2018 is depicted below (see Blog 1167):-

  🇱🇹 🇸🇧 Following on from Blog 1171 there are more paraphilatelic products from Stamperija with the name of the Solomon Islands printed on them. To add to the 12 sheetlets and 12 miniature sheets recorded in Blog 1171 there are a further 13 sheetlets each containing 4 different 'stamps' and 13 miniature sheets announced this week as having been'issued' on 7 December 2017. As usual most of the subjects featured on the stamps have little or nothing to do with Solomon Islands.

  Thus if you have nothing better to do with your money you may choose to buy the products which feature:- the 75th Birthday of Paul McCartney (British musician), 2017 Nobel Prize winners, Military aircraft, Chess Village Marottichel, German and Austrian music composers, World Athletics 2017 Championships winners, Charles de Gaulle (former French President), 135th anniversary of the death of Charles Darwin, 170th birth anniversary of Thomas Edison (American inventor), 95th anniversary of Alexander Fleming (discoverer of penicillin), 80th Birth anniversary of Valentina Tereshkova (Soviet cosmonaut), 70th anniversary of the death of Paul Harris (founder of Rotary) and 35th anniversary of the death of Grace Kelly (US actress). 

  The total 'face value' is 1040 Solomon Islands dollars which is equivalent to £96.87p. We might therefore conclude that Solomon Islands issued 100 stamps and 25 miniature sheets on 7 December 2017 and that these items had a total face value of 2000 Solomon Islands dollars or £186.36p. Not a bad achievement for a small Pacific island state. These figures do not include varieties which are usually released at premium prices in imperforate format.  Rating:- 0.

  🇸🇱 Also on an internet auction site is a set of 4 stamps, each issued in a sheetlet of 9 stamps which commemorate the 2018 Football World Cup which is to be held in Russia. Each stamp features the competition Mascot called Zabivaka. I presume that this issue does emanate from Stamperija but on this occasion the agency has gone to the expense of paying for the right to depict the Mascot on the stamps. I do not yet know the stated date of issue. Rating:- 0.

  Addendum:- It's worth noting that Stamperija has not yet listed these items, along with similar products from Togo and Central African Republic, on its website so these could possibly be bogus issues. Either way I wouldn't buy them.

  🇯🇪 The Jersey Post Post and Go stamps mentioned in Blog 1157 which will be sold at Spring Stampex 2018 in London are depicted below. Rating:- 0.

  The new Visiting Naval Ships stamps also to go on sale on 14 February 2018 have previously been depicted in Blog 1165.