404. Going Swimmingly.

  When you look at fish it is hard to describe most British species as "attractive" but Royal Mail will issue an attractive set of stamps on 5 June 2014 which features 10 such creatures - the featured species are labelled either as being "sustainable" or "endangered". I particularly like the red gunnard, the comically ugly fish shown above at the top right which is fashionable with chefs at the moment for its alleged deliciousness and sustainability. Other featured species are herring, dab, pouting, Cornish sardine, common skate, spiny dogfish, wolffish, sturgeon and conger eel.

  Regrettably I have to confess that my favourite is still a lovely piece of delicious fleshy white cod whether or not it is deep fried in batter and served with chips or prepared some other way. 

  From fish to birds. Pobjoy Stamps has announced that the latest issue to come from its stable is a set of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet from Tristan Da Cunha which features finches from the smaller islands of the territory and showing how they vary rather like the finches studied by Charles Dawin in The Galápagos Islands. Time and time again I feel the need to praise the issues which are put forward from Pobjoy Stamps/Creative Design Associates - even though many of them are based on photographs and not original art, the photographs are always so well chosen, clear and attractive and this set is no different. It depicts 5 very attractive and interesting bird portraits and must surely appeal to anyone who likes to collect modern stamps:-

   India issued a single stamp on 25 April 2014 to commemorate the Indian National Council of Churches:-

  Other upcoming issues from India are:-

30 April 2014 - G.B. Pant Hospital,

30 April 2014 - Chattampi Swamikal,

May or June - Musicians of India,

12 June 2014 - FIFA World Cup Football Competition, Brazil.

  In Blog 385 I mentioned the set of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet which is to be released by Guernsey Post but inscribed "Alderney" which shows the recently produced "Final panel" of the Bayeux Tapestry and I now show an illustration of the miniature sheet which has been produced with combed cotton thread:-

  Australia Post will issue a single stamp on 6 May 2014 to commemorate the centenary of the Australian Red Cross. The stamp was designed by Lisa Christensen and lithographed in sheets of 10 (gummed) by McKellar Renown. A self-adhesive version of the stamp will also be available from coils.

  Australia's next issue will then be set of 4 gummed stamps accompanied by a gummed miniature sheet and 4 self-adhesive stamps from coils and 4 more self-adhesive stamps from a booklet which will be released on 13 May 2014 on the subject of "Bush Ballads"and which commemorate the songs of AB "Banjo" Patterson. The issue was designed by John White from artwork by Jamie and Leanna Tufrey and lithographed by McKellar Renown:-

  On 3 June 2014, Australia Post will issue a single gummed stamp which commemorates the holding of the Summit of Leaders of the G20 in Brisbane later this year. the stamp was designed by McKillop College and lithographed by RA Print:-

 Australia Post will then issue a set of 4 gummed stamps and a miniature sheet which will commemorate the centenary of the issue of the first Australian stamps which depicted King George V. Again, the issue was designed by John White and lithographed by EGO:-

  But Australia Post has not finished there - on 17 June 2014 it will release a set of 4 stamps inscribed "Australia" (and not "Christmas Island Australia" - "Christmas Island" appears on the stamps but not as the country name) on the subject of the Christmas Island National Park. The issue was designed by Sharon Rodziewicz and lithographed by RA Print:-

  And on 24 June 2014 the inexhaustible Australia Post will issue another set of 4 stamps inscribed "Cocos (Keeling) Islands" which depict maps of the islands. This set was designed by Boschen Design and lithographed by RA Print:-

  In Blog 395 I mentioned that Cyprus is to issue 2 stamps on 2 May 2014 which depict musical instruments as the island's contribution to the Europa issues and these will be accompanied by a booklet as usual which contains 10 of the stamps ( 5 of each design) and this is now depicted below:-

403. Tonga's Forgotten Royal Baby And Maldives' Mysterious Stamp Issue.

  I have to confess that I do not always keep up to date with what is happening in the Tongan royal family and so I have only just learned that a son was born to the heir of the throne of Tonga, Crown Prince Topouto'a, and his wife, Princess Sinaitakala, on 10 May 2013 in Auckland. The baby was named Prince Tafa'ahau Manumataonga and the picture below shows him at the age of 6 months with his mother. Prince Tafa'ahau is therefore the second in line to the Tongan throne. A cause for local philatelic celebration you might think. Well no. The "Boutique Philatelic Agency" which produces stamps on behalf of the Tongan Post Office has indeed issued stamps to commemorate the "Royal Baby" but sadly not the Tongan royal baby. Instead 8 stamps and 2 miniature sheets (depicted below) were issued to commemorate the birth of the third in line to the British throne, Prince George Of Cambridge, who came into the world a couple of months after Prince Tafa'ahau. So far the poor little Prince of Tonga has received no philatelic commemoration by his own country's post office and to rub salt into the wounds, a second issue to commemorate Prince George was made by Tonga - this time to celebrate his christening but there has been no such issue for the Tongan Prince.

  I have to say that if I were the Tongan Crown Prince I would be pretty annoyed if my local postal administration chose to issue stamps which commemorated the birth of some foreign prince's son and ignored my own. But that's modern philatelic agencies for you - featuring international celebrities seems to be a good way to make sure you will get reasonable sales from a stamp issue - clearly William and Kate are celebrities worth featuring while Topouto'a and Sinaitakala are not.

Princess Sinaitakala and Prince Tafa'ahau Manumatoanga.

Christening of Prince George miniature sheet.

  Another country which has long sold its international philatelic reputation to foreign agencies is Maldives. In Blog 360 I reported a 15 MVR stamp depicting a turtle which I had not previously seen and which I speculated may have been part of a previously unreported definitive series on sale locally but not offered for sale through philatelic channels. Now another similar stamp, again a 15 MVR value but depicting a dolphin and with a different style of lettering, has been reported on Stampboards by JonEboy. 

  In the Blog of 30 December 2011 I mentioned that Maldives Post was seeking tenders for the printing of a new definitive set but it did not include a 15Rf value though the need for a 15Rf value may have arisen subsequently. Hopefully, if Maldives Post does not release details of these stamps in the foreseeable future, someone who is on a luxury holiday in the islands will visit the post office in Male and discover the truth about this mysterious issue as well as whatever happened to the 2010 "350" sheetlet which I mentioned in Blog of 29 April 2012.

newly discovered dolphin stamp.

previously reported turtle stamp.

402. New Issues From The Commonwealth In Europe And Pitcairn.

  Isle Of Man has announced that yet another set of stamps will be issued in the near future - 6 stamps which commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day which will be released on 8 May 2014. The issue links itself to the experiences of Hector Duff, a Manxman who landed on the beaches of Normandy on 6 June 1944 and subsequently was involved in the advance into Germany all the way to Berlin. The stamps were designed by EJC Design and printed in lithography.

  There will also be another one of those enormous sheetlets which are too big to display in most stamp albums which the people responsible for producing Isle Of Man's philatelic programme seem to think is a good idea (issued just a few days after 2 other similar items - see Blog 399) and which contains 15 stamps (including previously issued designs) and costs £8.78p. Since I can't work out what to do with these huge sheetlets I shall not be buying this one and will find myself £8.78p better off.

  Meanwhile, Guernsey Post has announced that on 28 May 2014 it will issue a stamp denominated in the International Letter 20g rate which commemorates the fairly new hobby of postcrossing in which participants in different countries exchange postcards with each other. The stamp was designed by Bridget Yabsley and lithographed by BDT International:-

   Guernsey will also issue a set of 6 stamps on 28 May 2014 which commemorates the 50th anniversary of "Britain In Bloom" and is Guensey's contribution to the 2014 SEPAC omnibus issue. The stamps were designed by Andrew Robinson and lithographed by BDT International:-

  On 28 April 2014, Pitcairn will release a set of 4 stamps to commemorate the 225th anniversary of the mutiny aboard HMAV Bounty. 28 April 1789 was the actual date when mutineers, led by Fletcher Christian, broke into the cabin of Captain William Bligh and put him into the ship's open boat along with 18 loyal crew members and set them adrift. The mutineers sailed the Bounty on to Tahiti and from there sailed in search of Pitcairn which they knew to have been misplaced on Royal Navy charts. They landed there in January 1790 and burned and sank the ship in Bounty Bay. The stamps were designed by Lucas Kukler and lithographed by Southern Colour Print:-

  Vexillological philatelists will like MaltaPost's new stamp issue due to be released on 30 April 2014 which commemorates the tenth anniversary of Malta's accession to the European Union. The stamp was designed by MaltaPost plc and depicts the Maltese national flag beside the flag of the European Union.

  The EU's flag is rather nonsensical since the meaning of the design is that the blue field represents the sky (though why Europe needs to symbolise the sky which presumably is a feature of all the continents is a mystery) and that the 12 yellow stars represent "unity" though the number of stars is also meaningless since there are actually 28 members of the EU currently and there were 6 founder members. It is true that when the EU adopted the flag whose design was purloined from that of The Council Of Europe on 29 May 1986 there were then 12 member states but with subsequent accessions the number has long ceased to have any meaning. In Britain, and presumably elsewhere, the EU flag has been given the status of a national flag.

   The stamp was printed in lithography by Printex of Malta:-

  The latest issue of The Turkish Republic Of Northern Cyprus which was released on 12 March 2014 is on the subject of "The only witness was the Cumbez". The Cumbez is a sycamore fig and there is a large specimen of the tree in Famagusta on Cyprus beside the Lala Mustafa Camii Mosque; the tree is said to be 700 years old and to be the oldest tree on the island. The set is comprised of 4 stamps:-

401. Pass Me The Vegetables.

  Tuvalu issued a set of stamps on 23 April 2014 on the subject of root vegetables. The issue consists of 2 sheetlets each of 4 different stamps and 2 miniature sheets each of 2 different stamps. They are very well designed with pleasing illustrations of the vegetables and each sheetlet has a recipe for a different dish in the margin of the sheet. I have not seen the name of the designer of this issue but it looks to me to have all the originality of approach to an otherwise rather mundane subject that we have previously seen in the work of Siobhan McDevitt (see Blog 388).

  But.....while the designs are excellent, why don't they show vegetables that are grown in Tuvalu? The depicted vegetables and featured menus are all relevant to what is served from western kitchens not what is available to the average Tuvaluan. Apparently there is quite a lot of effort being put into growing more vegetables in Tuvalu but from what I can glean from my reading, many of the depicted vegetables just can't be grown there. The major vegetable crops grown there are taro (for leaves) and bele with some other tropical and temperate species being cultured there to a limited extent (tomato, eggplant, chilli, potato, capsicum, cucumber, squash, cabbages, melons, lettuces and beans).Vegetable production is limited because most varieties grown there are not well adapted to tropical temperatures and are very sensitive to bacterial and viral diseases as well as local pests.

  It's very disappointing that such a well illustrated set has very little local relevance and tells the stamp collector very little about Tuvalu.

  It would also have been pleasing to have local recipes printed on the sheets rather than those that appear there. In 1989 a miniature sheet was released by Seychelles for Zil Elwannyen Sesel on the subject of Seychellois cuisine and local recipes were featured in the margins of the sheet which made it a very interesting issue. If only the agency which produces these issues could put some effort into injecting some local relevance into them as happened with the ZES issue then it would be much more worthwhile to obtain such stamps:-

  The vegetable crop continues with a sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet which contains 2 different stamps which have been issued by a Montserrat:-

  There is also a sheetlet of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet which has been issued by Montserrat to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the birth of Galileo Galilei, the Italian astronomer. I do not yet know the dates of issue of these 2 Montserrat sets:-

  Turning our attention to real stamps which are likely to actually be used on ordinary mail, Ireland issued a set of 2 stamps on the subject of the country's Viking heritage on 24 April 2014. This issue coincides with the millennial anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf (see Blog 373) and was designed by Ger Garland and lithographed by Irish Stamp Security Printers:-

  On 26 April 2014 Malaysia issued a special cover to commemorate the visit of the US president, Barack Obama, to Malaysia :-

  On 25 November 2013, another 15 sheetlets, each containing 4 different "stamps", with 15 accompanying miniature sheets were "issued" by Stamperija in the name of Mozambique thus ensuring that Mozambique beats Solomon Islands in the race to have released the most stamps produced by or for a Commonwealth country during 2013 (see Blog 398). The subjects of this new outpouring are:- Albert Schweitzer, The Taj Mahal, Airports, American impressionists, Big cats, Coral and fishes, Dogs, Eagles, Endangered species, Extinct species, Frank Sinatra, Garry Kasparov, Global warming, Gorillas and Tennis. Thus, Mozambique's stamp total for 2013 is now 598 stamps and 136 miniature sheets giving a grand total of 734 philatelic items.