399. British Virgin Islands 2009 Scouting Stamp.

  I have recently obtained from Nigel Haworth an example of the 40c stamp (illustrated above) which was issued in 2009 by The British Virgin Islands to commemorate the 75th anniversary of scouting in the territory. It is reported in the January 2014 Catalogue supplement in Gibbons' Stamp Monthly that a set of 4 stamps on this subject was to have been released in 2007 but did not appear because, it is said, there were inconsistencies in the designs and delays in the printing. Eventually in 2009, due to local pressure, the above single stamp was released for local use in limited quantities but not offered to wholesale dealers so the issue went largely unnoticed until recently when Virgin Islands expert Dr. Giorgio Mighliavacca drew Gibbons' attention to the item. The 40c face value did not actually represent a local postal rate so the stamp received little usage.

  Hong Kong China will issue a $20 miniature sheet on 29 April 2014 on the subject of Hong Kong's postal history from 1911 to 1976 centred on the story of the old Post Office building in the former British colony. The issue coincides with an exhibition being held in Hong Kong on the subject. The miniature sheet was designed by Arde Lam and printed in lithography with hot foil stamping by Cartor. The issue also includes a $60 prestige booklet which contains the miniature sheet:-

  On 20 April 2014, The Isle Of Man issued 2 identical sheetlets save that one is perforated while the other is imperforate (and sells for £7.50 instead of £3 which is the total face value of the stamps in the sheetlet) to commemorate the centenary of the Schneider Cup aviation prize won by Howard Pixton, an Isle of Man resident who had been born in Manchester. The sheetlet contains 4 x 75p stamps which were designed by Robin Carter and lithographed by BDT. The imperforate sheet is sold in a limited edition of 1500 and is said to hark "back to the early years when all stamps were imperforated and had to be cut from the sheet with scissors or a knife" (the first perforated stamps were actually issued in 1850 - 64 years before Pixton won the Schneider Cup so there's no real connection between the subject of this issue and imperforate stamps making the imperforate sheet an irrelevant and expensive nonsense:-

  The same postal administration has also issued (on 16 April 2014) what it calls a "Smilers sheet" to commemorate "the first 20 TT wins of John McGuiness", known as the "Morecambe Missile", on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of his first win. The sheet includes 2 previously issued stamps (5 of one and 3 of the other) and sells for £10.11p. I find it hard to work up any enthusiasm to spend over £10 to include this particular item in my Isle of Man collection. One can not help but feel that the first dreaded Manx "Post And Go" items must be on their way in the near future to add to the rest of this stuff.

   Malta will issue a miniature sheet on 26 April 2014 to commemorate the canonisation of the late Popes John XIII and John Paul II. The sheet which contains 2 different stamps was designed by Malta Post and lithographed by Printex:-

398. Ireland Releases New Version Of Unissued I.C.A. Stamp.

  The year is full of historically important anniversaries in The Republic Of Ireland as the countdown towards the centenary of the 1916 Easter Uprising against British rule moves on. We have already had a number of stamp issues which have been released in the past few months marking anniversaries of events which signposted the way to the uprising and another single stamp was issued on 17 April  2014 to commemorate the centenary of the founding of the Irish Citizen Army. The Irish Citizen Army was a trained group of trade union volunteers which was raised in Dublin in 1913 during The Lockout, a strike of the Irish Transport And General Workers Union which was characterised by vicious rioting against the Dublin Metropolitan Police. Stamps were issued in 2013 to commemorate The Lockout - see Blog 295.

  Jack White (who appeared on the ICA commemorative stamp which was to have been issued earlier this year but which was not issued because the design included a possibly incorrect portrait of White - see Blog 366) was the co-founder of the ICA with James Larkin, founding the organisation to fight against the police. Eventually members of the ICA played prominent roles in the Uprising and subsequent Irish civil war.

  The stamp was designed by Ger Garland and lithographed by Irish Security Stamp Printers. The redesigned stamp uses the same photograph as the original design but now no longer has the portrait of Jack White incorporated in it - presumably experts can not agree about whether or not the portrait of White is the correct one. How interesting; as I've observed before stamp design is fraught with dangers particularly when the subject strays into the area of politics even if it's politics that is 100 years old.

Original unissued ICA stamp with portrait of Jack White.

The Lockout stamps issued 22 August 2013:-

  See also Blog 392 which refers to the issue which commemorates the centenary of the founding of Cumann na mBan and there is also the issue marking the centenary of the Irish Volunteer Force which was issued on 3 October 2013. This is growing into an interesting series:-

  Another 36 "stamps" and 9 miniature sheets are said to have been issued by Solomon Islands, this time on 29 November 2013. The stamps are produced as usual in sheetlets of 4 different stamps which with an accompanying miniature sheet illustrate one of 9 different subjects, many of which have no relevance at all to The Solomon Islands.

   I have not seen yet any evidence that these issues produced in Lithuania are being sold for usage on ordinary mail in Solomon Islands. The diverse subjects featured on these items are:- Henri Matisse (French painter), Cricket, Eugene Boudin (French artist), Fishing, The late Pope John Paul II, Georges Braque (French painter), Hector Berlioz (French music composer), Australian art and Foreign trains. 

  This brings the total of stamps "issued" by Solomon Islands during 2013 to 541 stamps and 121 miniature sheets making a grand total of 662 items which is 3 ahead of Mozambique with its total of 538 stamps and 121 miniature sheets (grand total of 659 items). So, unless there are even more highly desirable philatelic items yet to be announced as having been issued by Mozambique during 2013, Solomon Islands is set to depose Mozambique as the greediest philatelic territory in The Commonwealth for 2013.

  The Lithuanian philatelic agency which produces stamps for the above 2 Commonwealth countries as well as Uganda and Maldive Islands seems to have unloaded on to the philatelic market during 2013, for these 4 countries, a total of 1315 "stamps" and 301 miniature sheets totalling 1616 items but not including any imperforates or special variations. I'm sure Commonwealth collectors all over the world will be grateful for their contribution to philately during 2013 (or not as the case may be).

397. The Commonwealth Games.

  Royal Mail will issue a set of 6 stamps on 17July 2014 to commemorate the holding of the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in Scotland.  The stamps were designed by Nanette Hoogslag who is Dutch (why not choose a designer who is a citizen of one of The Commonwealth countries since the issue celebrates the Commonwealth Games?) and the illustrations are from photographs taken by a British newspaper photographer, Andy Hooper. The design of only one stamp has so far been released and further details are awaited.

  The Commonwealth Games began their life as The British Empire Games in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada when 11 Empire teams participated in events in 6 different sports. England won most events as it also did in the Games held in London in 1934. The third British Empire Games were held in Sydney in 1938 but, because of the Second World War, the 4th Games were delayed until 1950 when they took place in Auckland, New Zealand.

  The 5th Games held in 1954 in Vancouver, Canada were known as The British Empire And Commonwealth Games. The 6th Games were held in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, and stamps to commemorate the Games were issued for the first time by the British Post Office. The 3 stamps depicted below were issued on 18 July 1958 and were designed by Reynolds Stone (3d), WH Brown (6d) and Pat Keely and all printed in photogravure by Harrison And Sons (1/3d):-

  The seventh Games were held in Perth, Australia and 2 stamps were issued to commemorate the event on 1 November 1962. They were designed by RM Warner (5d) and G. Hamori (2/3d) and printed in photogravure by Harrison and Sons :-

  Jamaica was the host country of the 8th Games in 1966 and 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet were issued on 4 August 1966 to commemorate the event. The issue was designed by Victor Whiteley and printed in photogravure by Harrison:-

  Subsequently, with the 9th Games which were held in Edinburgh in Scotland, the event was known as The British Commonwealth Games (the British Empire part of the title having been removed from the name). Three stamps were issued to commemorate the Edinburgh Games and they were issued on 15 July 1970 having been designed by Andrew Restall and delacryl lithograph printed by De La Rue:-

  Subsequent games were held in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1974. These were the last Games to be known as the British Commonwealth Games - subsequently "British" was dropped from the name and the Games were called simply "The Commonwealth Games":-

  Edmonton, Canada in 1978. Two stamps were issued on 31 March 1978 which were designed by Mrs. S. Ash and lithographed by Ashton-Potter. Four further stamps were released on 3 August 1978 and they had the same designer and printer:-

  Brisbane, Australia in 1982. Four stamps (3 x 27c and one 75c values) were issued with the three 27c values being combined in a miniature sheet as shown below. The designer was R. Carnielye and the stamps were printed in lithography by Leigh-Mardon:-

  Edinburgh, Scotland in 1986. The thirteenth Games were commemorated by 5 colourful stamps which were designed by N. Cudworth:-

  Auckland, New Zealand in 1990. Eight stamps were issued on 8 November 1989 followed by 2 miniature sheets on 24 January 1990. The issues were designed by Heather Arnold and lithographed by Leigh Mardon:-

 

  Victoria, Canada in 1994. In all 6 stamps were issued -a se-tenant pair as depicted below on 20 May 1994 and 4 further values (another pair of 43c and a 50c and 88c value) were issued on 5 August 1994. They were all designed by D. Coates and B. Roodenburg and lithographed with additional die-stamping by Leigh-Mardon:-

  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998. A souvenir sheet was issued on 23 February 1998 which depicted Games venues followed by sixteen stamps which were issued on 11 September 1998:-

  Manchester, England in 2002. Five stamps were issued on 16 July 2002 and were designed by Madeleine Bennett and printed in photogravure by Enschede:-

  Melbourne, Australia in 2006. A number of issues were made including sheetlets which commemorated Australian gold medalists:-

   Delhi in India in 2010. Two stamps and 1 miniature sheet were issued on 25 June 2010 which depicted the Games mascot, and a further 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet were released on 3 October 2010 which depicted some of the sports:-

   Apart from issues made by the host nations various Commonwealth countries at various times produced stamps to commemorate particular Games. An interesting Commonwealth Games collection can be built up at relatively low cost which will embrace stamps of almost the entire Commonwealth. The upcoming Glasgow Games issue is of particular interest since the Games take place a very short time before the referendum on Scottish independence will be held and if Scottish sportsmen are particularly successful in the Games the wave of nationalist pride which would result may well tip the balance in favour of a vote for independence. These may well be historically important games  which may result in stamp collectors having to collect a new Commonwealth country's stamps from 2016.

  In Blog 366 I mentioned a $10 miniature sheet which has been issued by Grenada to commemorate the country's first post-independence prime minister, Sir Eric Gairey, and it appears that the sheet accompanied 4 stamps which depict Sir Eric's portrait (shown below).The low face value of the stamps and their locally relevant subject matter suggest that this set is actually meant to be used on mail in Grenada rather than aimed purely at the philatelic market:-

  Sierra Leone has issued a sheetlet of 16 stamps (4 se-tenant blocks of 4 different designs) in the Worldwide Fund For Nature (WWF) series. This issue depicts a local antelope, the Western Bongo. I do not yet know the date of issue:-

  Although it is difficult to think of any good reason why the West African country of Sierra Leone needs to commemorate philatelically the Chinese New Year, its postal administration has indeed allowed its philatelic agents to issue stamps in its name to commemorate the event. There is a miniature sheet containing 3 different stamps which are shaped so that they make up a circle and this is accompanied by a Le 34000 (£4.68p) imperforate embroidered stamp which I'm sure will receive wide usage on mail in Sierra Leone (or not as the case may be).