1576. 🇮🇪 Ireland’s 2020 New Issue Programme.

🇮🇪 An Post, the postal service of The Republic Of Ireland, has announced its programme of new issues for 2020:-

9 April - Birth centenary of Liam Cosgrave - 1 stamp.

16 April - 25th anniversary of Father Ted (Comedy television programme) - 4 stamps.

16 July (this may be an error - it may be 16 May) - Europa, Ancient postal routes - 2 stamps.

11 June - Ireland’s ‘Pride’ movement - 2 stamps.

25 June - 9th Definitive series (History of Ireland in 100 objects), part 4 - 12 stamps.

August - Gaelic Athletic Association/County colours - 4 stamps.

September - War of Independence (part 2), Civil society - 2 stamps.

8 October- ‘U2 - A Celebration’ - 4 stamps.

29 October - Christmas - 6 stamps.

The issues of the first quarter of the year are listed and illustrated below although some of the illustrations are rather poor quality:-

23 January 2020 - Galway and Rijeka, European capitals of culture 2020 - 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Designed by Steve Simpson and lithographed by Enschedé and perforated 13.5 x 14. Rating:- ***.

30 January 2020 - ‘Love and marriage’ - Designed by Design HQ and printed in lithography with a special Kurz SP Stella (heart-shaped) finish with die cuts and perforated 11.5. Rating:- **.

20 February 2020 - ‘The Irish War Of Independence’ - 2 stamps. One value features the painting of ‘Men of the south’ by Seán Keating and the other notes the Centenary of the passing of the British Parliament’s Government Of Ireland Act. The issue was designed by Ger Garland and lithographed by Enschedé and perforated 13.5 x 14. A historically important issue. Rating:- ****. 

27 February 2020 - The Irish abroad - 5 stamps. Designed by Zero-G and lithographed by Enschedé and perforated 13.5 x 14. Rating:- ***.

5 March 2020 - Pioneering Irish women - 5 stamps in a se-tenant strip. Designed by Design HQ and lithographed by Enschedé and perforated 14 x 13.5. The women depicted are:- Maureen O’Hara (film actress), Lilian Bland (aviator), Sarah Purser (artist), Maeve Kyle (athlete) and Carmel Snow (Magazine Editor). Rating:- ***.

🇦🇺 I covered the issues expected from Australia Post in the early part of 2020 in Blog 1563 and noted that a set of 10 Special Occasions stamps (gummed and self-adhesive formats) was to be released on 2 January. Chris De Haer pointed out in a comment at the end of the Blog that the new greetings stamps were needed because of an increase in postal rates which included the domestic rate rising from $1 to $1.10c. I did not mention that the 10 stamps have been issued additionally in a miniature sheet as despite below. The issue was designed by Jason Watts, Jo Muré, Simone Sakinofsky, Sonia Young and Lynda Warner and lithographed by Ego and perforated 14.5 x 14.

🇭🇰 In Blog 1532 I illustrated many of the stamps to be issued during 2020 by Hong Kong Post but here now I mention again the Chinese New Year set due for release on 11 January 2019 with better quality illustrations. The issue was designed by Simon Chung. Rating:- *****.

Miniature sheet:-

‘Gold and silver’ miniature sheet (Year of Pig and Year of Rat):-

‘Silk’ miniature sheet:-

‘Heartwarming stamps’ - 2 stamps with attached labels each sold in sheets of 12 stamps.

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka released 2 separate issues to round off 2019:- 

21 December 2019 - Centenary Of The All Ceylon Buddhist Congress - 1 stamp. Rating:- **.

30 December 2019 - Nendungamamuwe Raja Tusker - 1 stamp. Rating:- ****.

🇲🇲 The postal service of Myanmar will release a colourful set of 3 stamps on 10 January 2020 to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the country’s achievement of Independence. Rating:- ****.

1575. 🇵🇰 Pakistan Commemorates International Organisation Golden Jubilee.

  Welcome to a new year and, even more interestingly, a new DECADE. I wonder what will be the state of stamp collecting after the decade has passed and we find ourselves in 2030. Will it be a Roaring Twenties for Commonwealth new issues or will there be just NO new stamps at all? Will many postal services even still exist? Come to that, will some countries actually still exist or will the likes of Kiribati, Tuvalu and Maldives sink beneath the waves as global warming proceeds and sea levels rise? How different will the Antarctic territories look as the ice melts? As I often write, Time will tell ....

🇵🇰  Pakistan Post issued a single circular stamp and 1 miniature sheet on 30 December 2019 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of  the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. The issue was lithographed by the National Security Printing Company. Rating:- ***.

🇬🇧 It appears that Royal Mail will include in its 2020 new issue programme a commemorative issue on the subject of the 250th Birth anniversary of the German music composer, Ludwig van Beethoven. As The United Kingdom prepares to leave The European Union at the end of January, Royal Mail will therefore issue stamps to commemorate the composer of the music of the European ‘national anthem’ - Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Bizarre but true. However, as I have pointed out in a comment on Stamp Boards, Beethoven actually wrote the 9th Symphony as a commission for the London Philharmonic Society, and the first performance of the piece of music was given in London in the spring of 1825. So Royal Mail could justify the issue by drawing attention to the fact that the British were responsible for the composition of the European national anthem by commissioning it from Beethoven. The German postal service has already released an issue to commemorate Beethoven but there again, as stated above, Beethoven was actually German.

🇸🇬 In addition to the miniature sheet which commemorates the 150th Birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi which has been featured previously it appears that Sri Lanka Post also issued the Colombo Lotus Tower miniature sheet with an additional inscription to commemorate the 2019 National Stamp Exhibition on 5 October 2019. Rating:- **.

I do not think that I have yet shown an illustration of the 2019 Cyprus refugee stamp and so, for completeness, I feature the modest little item below:-

🇮🇲 Isle Of Man Post Office will issue a set of 4 stamps on 15 January 2020 to commemorate the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Rat. There is no link between the Isle Of Man and the Chinese new year except that the designer of this issue, a Manxwoman named Megan Hindley, has painted a mural on the wall of the New Hong Kong cafe/takeaway in Douglas. Rating:- 0.

1574. 🇦🇺 Australia’s Apocalypse Now.

🇦🇺 One Commonwealth event which I did not cover in the 2019 philatelic review in Blog 1571 is the shocking and devastating fires which have been affecting vast areas of Australia in recent weeks as the country experiences higher temperatures than have ever been recorded there before. The calamitous fires are being associated with the phenomenon of global warming though the Australian prime minister, who was dragged back from holidaying in Hawaii while Australia burned, seems to have his doubts about the link. Given the short political life of Australian prime ministers one cannot help but think that his time in office is probably now somewhat limited.

  These almost apocalyptic fires are the latest in a series of dreadful natural disasters which have assaulted Australia in recent years and it seems likely that they will have philatelic consequences given that Australia Post has issued stamps on two previous occasions to help to raise funds to assist those affected by these natural disasters. Australia Post issues far too many stamps, often on inconsequential subjects, but it is unlikely that anyone would complain if an issue tied to this latest disaster were released to try to aid the victims of the fires.

 The first ever charity issue to be released by the Australian postal service was released on 27 January 2011 to raise funds for those affected by severe flooding in Queensland and the 5 stamps were sold in booklets of 10 (2 x 5 x 60c) for $8 with the $2 excess from each sheet being donated to the Queensland Premier’s Disaster Fund Appeal. Australia Post also developed plans for a scheme in which postal managers in areas affected by the floods would work with local community representatives to provide grants to reinstate community facilities damaged by the floods.

 On 20 September 2018 Australia Post issued a single stamp in a booklet of five for a quite different reason - a charity stamp to help deal with the devastating impact on farmers and communities in New South Wales, Queensland, north-western Victoria and eastern South Australia of a severe drought. For every $5 spent by the purchaser on a booklet of stamps Australia Post donated $2 to Rural Aid Ltd which provided support and assistance directly to affected farmers and communities.

1573. 🇸🇬 Singapore Post Starts 2020 With Attractive Collectors Sheet.

🇸🇬 Singapore Post’s Chinese new year issue commemorating the Year of the Rat due to be released on 8 January 2020 includes a very attractive ‘Collectors sheet’. I like Singapore Post’s ongoing series of Collectors sheets which are usually beautifully designed and produced and very attractive and though sold at prices above face value usually look very pleasing on an album page. Rating:- ****.

🇨🇰🇹🇴 Further to Blogs 1565, 1566 and 1572, the USA-based, self-styled “Boutique philatelic agency”, Philatelic Collector Inc., has added dates of issue for the numerous Birds of the World philatelic items it has released in the name of its client postal services, those of Cook Islands and Tonga. All of these items have been illustrated in the previous Blogs.

Cook Islands - 15 November 2019 - Birds of Prey part 2

                          20 November 2019 - Parrots

Cook Islands Aitutaki - 15 November 2019 - Birds of Prey part 2

                                         20 November 2019 - Owls

Cook Islands Penrhyn - 15 November 2019 - Birds of Prey part 2

                                          20 November 2019 - Parrots

Cook Islands Rarotonga - 15 November 2019 - Birds of Prey part 2

                                             20 November 2019 - Hummingbirds

Tonga - 18 November 2019 - Birds of Prey part 2

              25 November 2019 - Owls

Tonga Niuafo’ou - 18 November 2019 - Birds of Prey part 2

                                25 November 2019 - Birds Of Paradise.

Among its recently released products is a further issue which I have so far overlooked - the se-tenant pair of previously issued ‘Birdpex’ stamps inscribed ‘Cook Islands’ with 50c surcharges applied and stated to have been ‘issued’ on 11 March 2019. Rating:- *.

🇰🇳 It looks as though collectors who hoped that St Kitts’ postal service had escaped the clutches of the US-based IGPC may be disappointed as the agency which once named itself “The World's most respected philatelic agency” (no, that’s surely not hollow laughter that I can hear) has included an illustration of a sheet of stamps which commemorate the 150th Birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. No date of issue is identified alongside the illustration of this item but if it has been issued during 2019 then St Kitts disappears from the list of Commonwealth philatelic countries which have not issued stamps during 2019. 

  This is a typical IGPC product with the large margin on the right side of the stamp depicting the Mahatma Gandhi Bridge in Hamburg in Germany which says nothing at all about St Kitts’ links with Gandhi. What is good is that if this is a single value issue then the face value of 30c is very low and the addition of a single stamp from the sheet. to a St Kitts collection would be of minimal cost.