1922. 🇧🇩 Bangladesh Recalls George Harrison’s Concert For Bangladesh.

 

🇧🇩 The postal service of Bangladesh issued a single stamp on 1 August 2021 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Concert for Bangladesh which was organised by the former member of the Beatles (a popular British music group of the 1960s), George Harrison, at the request of the Indian musician, Ravi Shankar, to raise awareness of, and money for the provision of aid to starving refugees of East Pakistan following the Bangladesh War of Independence. Harrison organised two concerts at Madison Square Gardens in New York on 1 August 1971 which were attended by a total of 40000 people with gate receipts of $250000 going towards the fund which was managed by UNICEF. An historic and interesting issue. Rating:- *****.

🇸🇨 The six Seychelles stamps discussed in Blog 1877 overprinted to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the the Island Conservation Society and thought to have only been available used on special covers are now being sold on an internet auction site in an unused condition by the same vendor in Seychelles who is selling the commemorative covers. The overprints on previous definitives are applied by hand and those on the covers appear to be have been rather more neatly applied than those on the unused stamps going by the illustrations shown on E Bay.

Unused stamps:- 

The stamps from the commemorative covers:-

🇸🇬 Singapore Post will issue 10 stamps (instead of five as I previously reported) as its second COVID-19 issue, this time on the subject of A Tribute to Frontline Heroes and I now illustrate all 10 here. The issue was designed by Agnes Ta and lithographed by Secura Singapore and the stamps are perforated 13. Rating:- *****.

1921. 🇯🇪 Jersey’s Parishes Feature On Latest Issue.

🇯🇪 For no particular specified reason Jersey Post will issue a set of 12 stamps on 17 August 2021 on the subject of the island’s parishes (administrative districts). The designs are cartoons representative of each parish and are by Lauren Radley. The stamps are self-adhesive and were lithographed by Cartor. No possible thematic subject has been omitted from this issue. Rating:- **.

🇬🇬 Guernsey Post will issue a set inscribed ‘Alderney’ made up of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 4 stamps on 1 September 2021 to commemorate the life of the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II. A dignified commemoration of the Prince’s life. Rating:- ****.

🇦🇺 Further stamps commemorating Australian gold medal winners at the Tokyo Olympic Games have been released by Australia Post on 2 August 2021:-

Swimming Women’s 4 x 100m relay 

BMX Cycling Men’s freestyle - Logan Martin

Sailing Men’s laser - Matt Wearn

1920. 🇦🇺 More Australia Medal Stamps.

🇦🇺 Australia Post issued the tenth stamp in its Tokyo Olympics gold medal winners series on 1 August 2021 to commemorate the victory of Kaylee McKeown in the Swimming women’s 200m backstroke event. As usual the stamp was produced in a sheetlet of ten. An eleventh stamp was then released on 2 August 2021 to commemorate the victory of Emma McKeon in the Swimming women’s 50 metre Freestyle event. Rating:- ***.

  With the Australian team having so far won 14 gold medals there are at least another 3 stamps to be issued.

 🇷🇼 Bogus Issues - Delcampe, the Internet auction site, is now featuring a large number of philatelic items from Francophone African states all on the subject of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the issues is inscribed with the name of Rwanda, the only Commonwealth member to have its name used on these items (the other countries are Madagascar, Benin, Mali, Côte D’Ivoire, Gabon and Congo. The illustrations on the auction site give the impression that these products are of reasonably high quality but considering that all these items are for African countries it is odd that so many of them depict white people who look like middle class North Americans. The dealer offering these products is based in China. It’s worth knowing about this stuff so that collectors will not waste their money on it.

🇬🇧 The first place to visit when you want to know anything about what is happening in modern British stamps is of course Norvic Philatelics Blog, and the information Ian Billings provides there is up to the minute and extremely detailed. The Blog is now showing illustrations of the various products associated with the Royal Mail new issue, due to be released on 12 August 2021, which commemorate some of the vast number of ways the British changed the world with their inventions of the Industrial Revolution. The issue commemorates such names as Richard Trevithick who was a pioneer of the use of high power steam which was the basis of the industrial revolution, Sir Henry Bessemer who revolutionised steel production, James Hargreaves who advanced textile production and Joseph Aspdin who brought cement to the modern world. 

  The issue also celebrates James Watt, a Scotsman who developed the steam engine, and moving to Birmingham after forming a partnership with Matthew Boulton, produced steam engines at the famous Soho Works in Handsworth. Boulton and Watt fired up the Industrial Revolution that ushered in the modern world and are fittingly commemorated on British postage stamps. It’s unfortunate that at the same time some people want to tear down a splendid statue of Boulton and Watt in the city because some of their machines were exported to the Caribbean and used by slave owners in British colonies in the processing of sugar cane thereby enabling it to be said that the industrialists benefitted from slavery.

  The issue was designed by Common Curiosity and lithographed by International Security Printers. As well as the 6 basic stamps (3 se-tenant pairs) and 4 stamp miniature sheet (which celebrates the British contribution to the Electricity Revolution) there is also a 4 pane Prestige booklet (sold for £18.03p) which includes a pane of Machin Head definitive stamps (2 x 5p, 3 x 10p, 2 x 20p and 1 x £1.70p). 

1919. 🇸🇬 Singapore’s Tribute To Frontline Heroes.

🇸🇬 Singapore Post will issue a second COVID-19-related issue on 6 August 2021 which is titled ‘A Tribute to Frontline Heroes”. The set will be made up of 5 stamps. Further details and illustrations to follow. Rating:- ****.

🇧🇳 Brunei Post, the postal service of Brunei Darussalam, issued a set of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 6 stamps on 31 May 2021 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces. The issue was 767 Major Mohammad Azan bin Haji Ahmad and lithographed by Southern Colour Print and perforated 13.5. Rating:- ****.

🇦🇺 On 31 July 2021 Australia Post issued the ninth stamp in its series commemorating Australian Gold medal winners at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Issued in a sheetlet of 10, this stamp commemorates Emma McKeon who won the Swimming Women’s 100m Freestyle event. Rating:- ***.

  The stamps suggest that the Australian women are being altogether more successful at the Games than the Australian men with seven stamps featuring female Gold medal winners and only two showing male success. Well done to the Australian women!