2872. 🇳🇬 Nigeria Commemorates The 50th anniversary of ECOWAS.

 

New issues -

🇳🇬 Nigeria postal service -

12 February 2026 - 50th anniversary of ECOWAS (joint issue with the postal services of other ECOWAS member states) - 1 stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.

The stamp is also included in a multi-national sheetlet of 12 different stamps - one each from the 12 member states - Commonwealth countries - Togo, The Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Nigeria - plus  Benin, Côte D’Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Liberia and the Cape Verde Islands. The specialist dealer of Nigerian stamps, C J Tern, is currently offering this interesting items on his internet site for a little over £50.

🇼🇸 Samoa Post -

2025, possibly August - Previously issued stamp with $3.00 surcharge applied in black. This illustration is taken from Zirinsky Stamps internet site where it has been featured recently. Rating:- ****5.

🇮🇳 India Post -

16 February 2026 - Centenary of Ol Chiki script by Pandit Raghunath Murmu - 1 stamp. Rating:- ***.

🇲🇼 Malawi Post -

?2025 - Another surcharge on the previously issued Butterfly definitives (K960 on K60) which I have overlooked. Thanks to Anonymous for drawing my attention to this stamp.

🇬🇬 Guernsey Post -

🇨🇶 Products inscribed Sark -

1 April 2026 - ‘An Artist’s View of Sark’ - Art by Louise Hill and lithographed by Brebner Print and perforated 14. Cost of set - £16.38. An attractive set but far too expensive, Rating:- *.

2871. 🇨🇦 Canada New Issue Features Cherry Blossom.

 

New issues - 

🇨🇦  Canada Post -

2 March 2026 - Cherry blossoms - 2 self-adhesive stamps from coile & 2 self-adhesive stamps from booklets of 10 & 1 gummed miniature sheet containing both stamps. Designed by Belisle Creative and lithographed by Lowe Martin. Rating:- *****.

🇲🇼 Malawi Post - 

Note -  Anonymous has kindly & correctly identified that these are not new issues and are actually first mentioned in Blogs 830 and 1038. I apologise for mistakenly thinking that therse are new issues. There are so many surcharges from Malawi currently on the market that it’s rather difficult to keep up with them & to recall items issued 10 years ago. I leave the post in place as it emphasises just how long we have been encountering these surcharged issues from Malawi as well as other countries such as Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Zambia, Samoa and Trinidad and Tobago.

2016 - surcharges on stamps from previous definitive issue - 2 stamps. Rating:- *****.

2016 - surcharges on stamps from previous definitive issue - 4 stamps. Rating:- *****.

  The above illustrations are taken from the internet site of Zirinsky Stamps and are offered for sale there.

🇸🇬 Singapore Post -

25 February 2026 - Hari Raya, My Stamps - 1 sheetlet of 8 identical stamps with labels attached sold in a pack containing other items. Lithographed. Rating:-***.

.

2870. 🇲🇲 Myanmar Commemorates Tea Industry.

 

New issues -

🇲🇲 Myanmar Post -

26 February 2026 - Myanmar Tea - 1 miniature sheet containing a single stamp. Designed by Myanmar Post from photographs by Thiha Lwin and lithographed by Wafi Security Printing Works, Myanmar and perforated 14. Rating:- *****.

🇧🇩 Bangladesh Post -

21 February 2026 - Martyrs Day and International Mother Language Day - 1 stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.

Commonwealth countries not known to have issued, or had issued on their behalf, any legitimate postage stamps during 2026 up until the end of February - 

Anguilla

Antigua and Barbuda

Australia Cocos (Keeling) Island

Australia Norfolk Island 

Australian Antarctic Territory 

Bahamas 

Barbados 

Belize

Bermuda 

Botswana 

British Antarctic Territory 

British Indian Ocean Territory 

British Virgin Islands 

Cameroon

Cayman Islands 

Cook Islands including Rarotonga 

Cook Islands Aitutaki

Cook Islands Penrhyn,

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus 

Dominica

Gabon

Ghana 

Gibraltar 

Grenada 

Grenada Carriacou and Petite Martinique 

Guernsey Sark

Guyana 

Jamaica 

Kenya

Kingdom of eSwatini

Kiribati 

Lesotho 

Malawi

Maldives 

Montserrat 

Mozambique 

Namibia 

Nauru

Nevis

New Zealand Ross Dependency 

Nigeria 

Niue

Papua New Guinea 

Pitcairn Islands 

Rwanda 

St Helena 

St Kitts/St Kitts Nevis

St Vincent and the Grenadines 

Samoa

Seychelles 

Sierra Leone 

Solomon Islands 

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands 

The Gambia

Togo

Tokelau 

Tonga

Tonga Niuafo’ou 

Trinidad and Tobago

Turks and Caicos Islands

Tuvalu 

Uganda 

United Republic of Tanzania 

Vanuatu 

Zambia

Therefore, at the end of February, 65 out of 88 (73.9%) of Commonwealth philatelic entities are not known to have issued, or had issued on their behalf, any legitimate postage stamps.during 2026. This compares with 82.8% at end of January 2026 and 76.1% at the end of February 2025.

🇮🇴 British Indian Ocean Territory -

Back last summer, it seemed that the British Labour government, now deeply unpopular, had successfully signed away the islands of the British Indian Ocean Territory to the Republic of Mauritius along with agreeing to lease back from Mauritius the strategically important United States airforce base there for a sum of over £30 billion pounds. As a result I removed BIOT from my list of Commonwealth philatelic entities and prepared to close the pages of my BIOT stamp collection for good.

However all is not as straightforward as it seemed. BIOT remains a British Overseas Territory with the potential to issue stamps (though the UPU has taken it upon itself to say that only Republic of Mauritius stamps may be used on the Chagos and other islands of the BIOT) (of course Mauritius has no post office there). The treaty with Mauritius has yet to complete its passage through the British parliament and recently the self-appointed Chief Minister of the BIOT, Misley Mandarin, and other descendants of the most recent inhabitants of the Chagos, called Chagossians, who were expelled from the islands in the early 1970s following the decision of Harold Wilson’s Labour government to do so to enable the building of the US airbase, have landed on Peros Banos, their ancestral home, and have settled there. The British BIOT administration attempted to expel them but this move has, for the present, been rejected by the BIOT Supreme Court.

But it was not only the Mauritius government which has been interested in gobbling up these strategically placed islands which Starmer seems determined to give away but also, to the north, the Republic of Maldives, which views the immense area of sea, a potentially massive fishing area, has withdrawn Mauritius’ claim to sovereignty over the Chagos Islands. Consequently the Mauritius government broke off diplomatic relations with Maldives.

This story looks like it will run and run but for the moment we still have the BIOT as a continuing page in the stamp album.

2869. 🇧🇹 Bhutan Commemorates King’s 70th Birthday..

 

New issues -

🇧🇹 Bhutan Post -

11 November 2025 - 70th Birthday of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk - 2 miniature sheets, one containing 6 different stamps and the other a single stamp. The issue notes the king’s interest in environmental issues. Lithographed. Rating:- *****.

🇱🇨 Saint Lucia postal service -

18 February 2026 - Commemoration of Julien Alfred, Saint Lucian Olympic Champion, 47th anniversary of Independence - 4 stamps. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.

Better quality illustrations will be added when available.

🇲🇾 Pos Malaysia -

24 February 2026 - Horses, second series, Chinese new year - the Year of the Horse - 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing a single stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- *****.

29 January 2026 - Chinese New Year, Year of the Horse, se temku personalised stamps issued in a special pack - 1 miniature sheet containing 3 stamps. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.

2868. 🇦🇺 Australia Commemorates Winter Olympics Gold Medallists.

 

New issues -

🇦🇺 Australia Post - 

2026 (precise date awaited) - Australian gold medalists at the Winter Olympic Games, hosted by Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo - 3 stamps, each issued in a sheetlet of 10 identical stamps each costing A$17. Rating ***.

🇧🇧 Barbados postal service -

10 November 2025 - We Gatherin’ event involving a year of encouraging individuals of the Bajan diaspora community to visit Barbados - 1 stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.

🇬🇮 Royal Gibraltar Post Office -

2026 (precise date awaited) - EUROPA, 70th anniversary of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations - at least 1 stamp. Lithographed. Further details awaited. Rating:- *.

🇸🇭 St Helena postal service - 

2026 - Spectre of Stamps stamp dealers has reported that a new definitive series depicting Endemic invertebrates will be issued during 2026 but no other details or illustrations are presently available.

🇮🇪 An Post (postal service of the Irish Republic) -

19 February 2026 - ‘Stamp for Ireland’, the Aran jumper - 2 self adhesive stamps. Designed by Sally Caulwell and lithographed by Enschedé. Rating:- ***.