1862. 🇺🇸🇱🇹 Duke Of Edinburgh - Philatelic Parasites Race To Cash In.

 🇺🇸🇱🇹 Two philatelic parasites are already trying to cash in on the sad death of The Duke Of Edinburgh. We’re not surprised but couldn’t they have waited a few days at least? All in very bad taste and shameless.

IGPC -

Stamperija -

1861. 🇬🇧 Duke Of Edinburgh Dies At Age Of 99.

 🇬🇧 In June we were expecting a number of issues from across The Commonwealth to celebrate the 100th Birthday of the Queen’s husband, The Duke Of Edinburgh. Sadly this morning Buckingham Palace announced the death of the frail prince just 2 months short of his birthday. Perhaps we will now have mourning stamps instead of celebratory stamps. His long life of extraordinary service certainly deserves philatelic commemoration.

1860. 🇳🇺🇳🇿🇨🇦🇬🇧🇸🇬 New Issues From Niue, New Zealand, Canada, Royal Mail And Singapore.

 🇳🇺 The postal service of Niue issued a set of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 4 stamps on 7 April 2021 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Boys’ Brigade in Niue. The issue was designed by Hannah Fortune and lithographed by the Collectables and Solutions Centre in Whanganui and the stamps are perforated 13.5. Rating:- ****.

🇳🇿 New Zealand Post will issue 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 4 stamps on 5 May 2021 on the subject of works by the botanical artist Sarah Featon (1848-1927). The issue was designed by Hannah Fortune and lithographed by Southern Colour Print and the stamps are perforated 13.5. Rating:- ****.

🇨🇦 Canada Post has revealed details of 3 more stamp issues. They are as usual all single stamp issues, all self-adhesive and sold in booklets.

8 April 2021 - 50th anniversary of the Junos, Canada’s music awards. Designed by Paprika with an illustration by Amanda Arlotta. Rating:- ****.

15 April 2021 - Centenary of the Discovery of insulin - designed by Subplot Design. Rating:- ****.

22 April 2021 - Eid festival - Designed by Lionel Gadoury, Andrew Conlon and Brad Pyne of Context Creative. Rating:- ****.

🇬🇧 Royal Mail has now placed details of its Classic Science Fiction set of 6 stamps on its Stamps and Collectables internet site. The information supplied confirms that the excuses used for producing this set include its relationship to the 75th anniversary of the death of HG Wells and the 70th anniversary of the publication of John Wyndham’s Day Of The Triffids. The issue uses the work of 6 different artists - Sabina Sīnko (Frankenstein), Francisco Rodriguez (The Time Machine), Timothy Danthony (Brave New World), Mick Brownfield (The Day of The Triffids), Matt Murphy (Childhood’s End) and Sarah Jones (Shakasta). The design is attributed to Webb and Webb who obviously didn’t have much to do and the issue was lithographed by International Security Printers and perforated 13.5.

🇸🇬 Singapore Post will issue 4 stamps depicting tetra fish on 23 April 2021 which it calls ‘high value definitives’. These are attractive stamps but with $5Singapore being equal to only about £2.72 they can hardly be described as ‘high values’. Rating:- ****.

1859.🇿🇼 Zimbabwe’s COVID-19 Awareness Issue.

 

🇿🇼 Zim Post, the postal service of Zimbabwe, issued a set of 4 stamps and an imperforate miniature sheet containing all 4 stamps, on 31 March 2021 on the subject of COVID-19 awareness. I have no other details of the issue at present. Rating:- ****.

  🇵🇰 As its first issue of 2021, Pakistan Post released a single stamp on 31 March to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the founding of Karnal Sher Khan Cadet College in Swabi. Rating:- **.

🇪🇬 I do not often mention the stamps of the postal service of Egypt (an informal British Protectorate from 1882 to 1914 and then a formal Protectorate for the relatively short period from 1914 to 1922 when it became a Kingdom but heavily under the influence of the British with British forces based in the country until the Suez Crisis of 1956) but a se-tenant strip of 3 stamps and a sheetlet of 22 different stamps with an accompanying miniature sheet was issued on 3 April 2021 and has caught my attention because of the spectacular event the issue commemorated. Over the past weekend a fabulous parade was held in Cairo in which the mummies of 22 ancient Pharaohs - 18 kings (including Ramses II) and 4 queens (including Hatshepsut) - were transported in motorised vehicles from the century-old Egyptian Museum to the magnificent new National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation. Snatches of it have been shown on the media here and it was certainly a memorable event. I’m afraid I have something of a weak spot for spectacle even if it’s sometimes a little tacky and it’s not too often that we are likely to see 22 kings and queens all travelling along together in a golden parade (even if they are dead). I might just buy this set and add it to my Egypt 1884-1922 collection just for the fun of it. I particularly like the fact that all 22 pharaohs are depicted on the stamps in the sheetlet. It’s all a bit lavish but it was indeed a very lavish and somewhat extravagant event.