2474. 🇮🇲 New Isle Man Stamps Feature Bees and Boats.

 

New issues.

🇮🇲 Isle Of Man Post Office -

12 April 2024 - ‘The Life of Bees’, 150th anniversary of the British Beekeepers Association - 6 stamps (total face value £10.85 and I ‘Commemorate sheet’ containing the stamps in self-adhesive format sold for £20. Designed by EJC Design and lithographed by bpost and perforated 11.5. Rating:- **.

13 May 2024 - Peel traditional boats - 6 stamps. Designed by EJC Design from illustrations by Nicola Dixon and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 13.5. Total face values £10.76. Rating:- **.

🇦🇺 Australia Post - 

Postal rates will rise in Australia  from 2 April 2024 including the basic domestic rate which will rise from $1.20 by an enormous 25% to $1.50. The price of ‘Concession stamps’ will remain unchanged at $3 for a booklet of five and the seasonal greeting card rate will remain at 65c.

The first new issue in the new rate will be - 

28 March 2024 - Marine state emblems - 3 gummed stamps, 1 miniature sheet containing all 3 stamps and self-adhesive stamps from booklets of 10 or 20 featuring the Leafy sand dragon stamp andd from coils.. Designed by Simone Sakinofsky .using illustrations by Roger Swinton. Lithographed by RA Print or Rapid Labels and perforated 14 x 14.5. Rating:- ***.

 🇸🇴 Somaliland - Fake Machin Head surcharges.

   I have dealt with these items before (see Blogs - that of 10 July 2010 and Blog no. 1683). Since it declared itself to be an independent state on 18 May 1991 the Republic of Somaliland has failed to receive formal international recognition by any single country and continues to be considered to be a part of sovereign Somalia. This is despite the fact that Somaliland has functioned completely separately as a political entity since 1991 and may be viewed as a successor state to the former Somaliland which came into being on 26 June 1960 after the British granted independence to the former protectorate of British Somaliland which Britain had ruled since 1884. Somaliland ceased to exist as an independent state when it was joined to the former Italian Somaliland on 1 July 1960 to form the State of Somalia, meaning that Somaliland was a sovereign state for just four days, one of the shortest periods of existence of an independent country in modern times.

  During its brief existence in 1960, the Somaliland postal service used three overprinted Somalia stamps for any mail that was sent by local residents. Subsequently, of course, the stamps of the State of Somalia were used in the former British territory.

  At no time since Somaliland attempted to establish itself as an independent country in 1991 has it had a functioning postal service although in recent years there have been reports of developments which may, or may not, lead to one. The United Arab Emirates has played a role in these developments and, like a number of other countries has diplomatic relations with the Somaliland government though it does not recognise formally Somaliland as an independent state. Doubtless these moves by the regionally expansionist UAE government are linked to its agreement to have a military basis at Hargeisa, the Somaliland capital.

  With no postal service, Somaliland has never required postage stamps. A number of nonsensical fake stamps came on to the market in 1998 and this has been covered in the previous blogs noted above. The most notorious of these items were the surcharges in Somaliland currency on Machin Head 1p definitives. For a long time, and probably even presently, some collectors of Machin Head stamps tended to believe the fantastical background story concocted about the genesis of these items. It is without doubt pure fabrication and there is nothing to suggest, and there is no reason to believe, that these surcharges were ever sold in Somaliland. To reemphasise, there was no functioning postal service in Somaliland when these confections first appeared on the philatelic market. They appear to have originated in Britain and were produced here and sold here and they are nothing but fantastical.

  It is surprising therefore that these items continue to be offered for sale without it being made clear that they are fakes. These items are presently being sold on an internet auction site at the remarkable price of £499 (or best offer!) for an example of the 2 surcharges - “with and without stars”. The seller repeats the original information about them put out in 1998 and I can only think that he is unaware that these items were described untruthfully 25 years ago. I suspect there are many others who are also unaware of the nature of these products.

The two varieties - 

2236. Are these Somaliland postage stamps?

 

Somaliland.

As detailed originally in the Blog published on 10 July 2010, Somaliland was established as a British protectorate in 1884. On 26 June 1960 the British granted independence to its former protectorate and Somaliland became a sovereign state. On 1 July 1960, its larger neighbour, Italian Somaliland, was also granted independence becoming the republic of Somalia and Somaliland merged with Somalia to become a single sovereign state and gave up its own sovereignty in doing so. 

  Following the overthrow of the dictator of Somalia, Siad Barre, in July 1991 a state of anarchy spread across the country. Civil war had already broken out in May 1998 between the armed forces of the then central government of President Barre and the fighters of the Somali National Movement (SNM) of the former Somaliland. On 18 May 1991 Somaliland was declared to once more be a sovereign republic separate from the collapsing state of Somalia. It has maintained its independence from the troubled Somalia ever since and has sought to obtain international recognition of its de facto independent status but has so far failed to obtain recognition of it as a sovereign state from any foreign countries. The Somaliland government has held to the line that it is a thriving democratic state with a history separate from that of Somalia and it has been a sovereign state in its own right during its previous history.

  For decades after the one sided declaration of independence Somaliland had no functioning postal service. In recent years however it has set up a service within the country (see Blog 1683) and in the last few months has set up a postcode system in the capital Hargeisa to enable home deliveries to carried out more efficiently.

  Becasuse there was no postal system there was no valid reason for there to be any postage stamps. Postage stamps are of course not just useful as receipts for the prepayment of postage but also as one means of underlining a country’s sovereignty. It has been said that there are two items that a sovereign state needs to affirm its sovereignty - a national flag and national postage stamps. For most of its existence  trying to obtain international recognition, Somaliland has not had one of those prerequisites - stamps with its name printed on them.

  Now it is possible - though I might be completely wrong about this - that Somaliland does indeed have its own postage stamps, perhaps necessitated at last by the developments of recent years in establishing a national postal service. On its Facebook page, Somaliland Postal Service includes in an illustration repeated several times on the site a picture of what may possibly be 4 postage stamps (see illustration at the head of this piece). Unfortunately the text in the various segments of the illustration is all in Somali without a translation so I do not understand it. I can not find any further illustrations or news of an issue of postage stamps elsewhere.

  Certainly the illustrations are very suggestive of them being postage stamps - the illustrations are poor quality but the main features of the designs include a pictorial element (a camel, a large pot, men (perhaps farmers) with another large vessel and. Cattle. The items appear to have monetary values printed on them (in, I presume, Somaliland shillins) and clearly bear the name ‘SOMALILAND’ in capital letters as well, I think, in Arabic.

  If anyone who reads this piece is able to read Somali then a translation of the text above the four stamps would be greatly appreciated. Google translates “Samaynta tigidhada boosta” as “making tickets post” (“boosta” is “post” and “tigidhada” is ticket so I guess that post tickets are postage stamps which is consistent with the illustrated items being Somaliland’s first postage stamps. 

This is the entire post as it appears on Facebook - 

As can be seen the illustration of the possible stamps is only a small part of the item which seems to inform readers of the activities of Somaliland Postal Service. As far as I can see the item has appeared seven times on the Facebook page, the first occasion being 3 April 2021 and so if these are indeed postage stamps we might assume that they were first issued about two years ago.

So that’s something to look out for.

Post scriptum - following Stewie1980’s comment in the comments section I tracked down the photograph he mentions of the 10000 shillin stamp (if it is a stamp) which appeared in a post on the Somaliland Postal Service Facebook page dated 21 April 2022. It certainly makes this particular item much easier to assess. It looks as though it is imperforate and possibly self-adhesive. Very interesting. It appears that 10000 shillins converts to £14.69p (but see Stewie1980’s comment below). Note that the ‘stamp’ with the samedesign featured in the previous illustration is a 15000 shillin value. The stamp is dated ‘2020’ which I assume was the year of issue and this also seems to be the case with the other values though the illustration is more indistinct. Thanks to Stewie1980 for this very helpful input.

The French company, Busch Collectibles, is selling sheets of ‘stamps’ from two Commonwealth countries - Guyana and Dominica - which commemorate the late Queen Elizabeth II by depicting a portrait by Matej Gabris of The Queen as a young woman. The company states that these items are exclusive to the company and by the look of them I think they have been produced as Personalised stamps rather than being official products of the two respective postal services. They are quite attractive items though the portrait looks to me rather like a cross between the late Princess Margaret and Elizabeth Taylor rather than The Queen herself.  Each sheet contains 12 identical ‘stamps’ and are sold for €20 per sheet.

1897. 🇬🇧 Royal Mail’s New Stamp Star Gnasher Bites Postmen.

 

🇮🇳 India Post issued a single stamp on 20 June 2021 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Shantikunj in the area of Gayatri Teerth in Haridwar. It is the headquarters of the spiritual and social organisation All World Gayatri Pariwar. Rating:- **.

  🇸🇴 I came across this interesting photograph on Twitter posted by a Mr Stuart Brown of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office who is the United Kingdom’s most senior diplomat in the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, the former Somaliland Protectorate, which is seeking to gain international recognition as an independent state and as such to join The Commonwealth. The photograph shows him in front of a display in the privately owned Sarayan Museum in Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland, of enlarged photographs of postage stamps released during the period under which Somaliland was under British rule. 

  But at the bottom left there’s an interesting item which has been discussed here in previous Blogs - the bogus Queen Elizabeth II Machin Head 1p stamp with a surcharge applied in Somaliland shillins. I am fascinated that a photograph of it has found its way into this display of otherwise legal issues and clearly the curator of the museum when putting together a collection of photographs of the stamps issued during the period of British rule there must have come across the illustration of the stamp said to have been ‘issued’ in 1997 though at the time the Somaliland Republic did not have a postal service and still, 30 years after its unilateral Declaration of Independence, does not. But here it is - featured in a museum in Hargeisa with lots of legitimate stamps - gaining credibility as a genuine stamp issue which is the way falsities gain credibility as time goes by.

  Mr Brown’s tweet also includes a photograph of an old postbox in Hargeisa which dates back to the days of British rule.

  🇬🇧 Those who choose the subjects to be featured on Royal Mail stamps really should take more care. The upcoming issue due out on 1 July 2022 is to feature the comic character Dennis The Menace along with his charmless canine companion, Gnasher, who together have also appeared in television animated cartoon programmes. In one episode Gnasher is much admired for bringing fame to his local neighbourhood for holding the world record for BITING POSTMEN - his aggressive chasing of and assault on a postman is depicted vividly in one sequence and generally thought to be a cause of general hilarity. How does, I wonder, featuring this beast on a postage stamp square with Royal Mail’s annual campaign of dog awareness which is aimed at getting the public to take action to prevent their dogs from biting postmen?

1683. Somaliland Bogus Machins And New Postal Service.

🇸🇴 Trawling through the internet auction sites, as is my wont, I came across this little gem. The dealer involved, I believe, has been offering the items for years but even in 2020 they are still being offered for sale. The items for sale purport to be official issues from the self-declared Republic Of Somaliland. The seller does not directly describe the items but uses an old cutting to give information about them (see below). The stamps are bogus and the information provided is fantasy. Somaliland, which has been an independent state de facto since 18 May 1991 though unrecognised as such internationally (apart apparently from Sheffield and Cardiff city councils!), has never (until very recently) had a functioning postal service and therefore has had no need of postage stamps (see Blog of 10 July 2010).
  In the above mentioned Blog I described my contact by telephone with a British stamp dealer in 1998 who claimed to have been approached by the Somaliland government to produce stamps on its behalf and that the idea was hit upon to surcharge in Somaliland currency the 1p Royal Mail Machin Head definitive stamp to underline the links between Britain and Somaliland but the tale was told that the stamps were quickly withdrawn because they proved unpopular with the local population presumably because they depicted a portrait of the Head of State of the former colonial power.

  I recently came across a letter in my records which I received several days after the above mentioned phone call and it is shown below. The text of the letter states, “Dear Mr. _ , One of our guys flew Back from Africa on Friday & placed the enclosed in stock. He obtained them from a Dealer in Addis who Told Him His father in law sent them To Him from Somaliland. If you are interested they are .

   No Star Double ovpt. (Block of four) £300

   Star Double ovpt (Block of four) £300

He was told that they are probably Unique.

Yours sincerely,”

  The reader will not be surprised to know that I was NOT interested in paying £600 for these items and I returned them to the sender by recorded mail. This was just as well as a few days afterwards the sender contacted me to ask me if I wanted the items and if not could I return them. I said that I had returned them by recorded post and did he want me to me to contact the postal authorities about what seemed like mail lost in transit but he did not wish me to do so. I was relieved that I had proof of dispatch in the form of the recorded mail receipt and I never heard any more about these items that had mysteriously gone astray in the mail.

  These British Machin Head definitives ‘surcharged’ in shillins continue to pop up from time to time. As bogus items they are quite interesting if only because of the story that has built up around them. Whether or not they are worth £25 for the pair is for the potential buyer to decide.

  The other interesting issue about them is the question, “Will Somaliland ever have a functioning postal service requiring genuine postage stamps.?” Given that many countries now seem to need functioning parcel and EMS services rather than a conventional letter service (see Blog 1682) one doubts whether the country would now need a mail service as we know it.
  However there is a Facebook page for Somaliland National Postal Services and also a Somaliland Postal Service Twitter account. A Facebook comment in December 2018 which featured a photograph of the facade of the Ministry of Communication and Technology actually discussed the nature of A postage stamp’ but there was no follow up to say why that was relevant to Somaliland.

The previous day an item on Facebook had stated, “Why postal services is important” though the explanation was less than 3 lines in length. There was an accompanying photograph of what I assume to be a postal vehicle.

  In March 2020 the Somaliland Standard published a report headlined ‘Somaliland: Ministry of Posts  Relaunches Postal Services”. The article stated, “The ministry of Posts yesterday reintroduced its first Postal Services after hiatus of more than three decades. Mr Abdiweli Sufi Jibril had the cut the ribbon  of the first of its kind postal service at the ministry of posts premises . The postal services fell into disuse during the 1988 war in Somalia. The resumption of SL’s first postal service is spearheaded by the current administration headed up by the incumbent president Musa Bihi Abdi. The office is fully furnished and has postal home delivery vehicles. The minister speaking during the launching ceremony had reiterated that the staffers were available at the posts offices who are responsible of delivering more than 100 parcels and mails across the provinces of Somaliland”.

  The article was accompanied by 2 photographs depicting the ribbon-cutting ceremony and one of them included 2 motor bikes with riders in uniform sitting on them. It is likely, judging by the EMS symbol at the top left of the second picture, that the postal services are centred on an Express Mail Service which seems to be of prime importance, along with parcel delivery services, in the development of postal services in many developing countries. There is no mention in the article of the release of postage stamps to be used by this ‘first its kind postal service’. I assume that if the emphasis of the nascent postal service is on EMS and parcels then, were it to consider the issue of postage stamps to be necessary, face values would necessarily be high. 

  Somaliland sits in a strategically important spot at the Horn of Africa and various regional and international powers are jostling with each other to establish themselves in the region. Turkey is keen to extend its power in the area and has been courting the Somaliland government and one of the results is that in January 2020 it added Somaliland to its list of ‘countries’ to which it would send mail.

  Another country with which Somaliland is forging links is the generally unrecognised Taiwan which from time to time is in philatelic competition with The People’s Republic Of China in finding countries which are prepared to accept gifts of postage stamps which emphasise the ties between either of the two Chinas and the recipient countries (several small Commonwealth Caribbean and Pacific countries fall into that group). Perhaps Somaliland’s first postage stamps may be a gift from Taiwan. This is a recent Tweet from the Somaliland Ministry of Foreign Affairs:-

  Somaliland is also doing its best to persuade the western nations to recognise it and keen to emphasise its former close links with The United Kingdom though one Tweet from the Somaliland Ministry of Foreign Affairs may have been overdoing when it complained about the refusal of a USA visa to the British prime minister’s girlfriend:-

  Perhaps Royal Mail would like to give a hand to Somaliland in developing its postal services. 

  2021 will see the 30th anniversary of Somaliland’s very real independence and if the country can do without postage stamps for 30 years it is hard to see that it will ever need any in the future but it seems that developments are taking place there which may well result in ‘Somaliland’ making its return to the stamp album. But not in the form of bogus rubbish please.