Philatelic products released by some foreign philatelic agencies seem to grow increasingly excessive and, even worse, banal. The US-based philatelic agency, IGPC, in its ever more desperate attempts to flog off stuff to anyone who will buy it, has announced proudly that it has put out a sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet on the subject of "A Very Klingon Khristmas" (sic) and the name of Antigua And Barbuda has been inscribed on the items. No doubt the people of the Caribbean island state are proud to have their country's name linked to these products.
Presumably this is meant to be a Christmas set although the stated "date of issue" is a rather random 15 February 2016 which seems rather late to be used on 2015's Christmas mail and far too early for the 2016 Christmas posts. Rating:- 0.
IGPC has also released a sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet on the subject of "The Women of Star Trek". These products have the name of Tuvalu printed on them and are stated to have been issued on 28 January 2016. No doubt the population of Tuvalu will be as keen as the people of Antigua And Barbuda to see their country's name associated with such philatelic gems. Rating:- 0.
Antigua And Barbuda has also benefitted from the release of 2 sheetlets, each of 3 different stamps, as well as 2 miniature sheets on the subject of "World Famous Paintings". The stated date of issue is 2 February 2016. Rating:- 0.
In Blog 708 I mentioned a sheetlet from IGPC with the name of Guyana printed on it which contained 6 stamps on the subject of "First Stamps of the United Nations Member States" although the sheetlet did not include a design which featured the first stamp of British Guiana/ Guyana itself.
As expected this first sheet represented the thin end of the wedge and many more such items are being sold by the philatelic agency. This is a very heavy month for items with the name of Grenada printed on them with several "First Stamps" sheetlets being put on sale. The stated dates of issue are 13 July 2015 (1 sheetlet Honduras to Iran) and 21 December 2015 and 8 such sheetlets have been released in all. Rating:- 0.
Other products inscribed with the name of Grenada are:-
20 February 2016 - Commemoration of Muhahammad Ali and "the Rumble in the Jungle" - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.
31 January 2016 - Commemoration of Elvis Presley - 4 miniature sheets. Rating:- 0.
21 December 2016 - Owls (Part 2) - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0. (See Blog 695).
21 December 2015 - Starfish (Part 2) - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0. (See Blog 695).
31 January 2016 - The Roman Catholic Church's Year Of Mercy - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.
Guyana - 13 July 2015 - First stamps of the United Nations member states - 7 sheetlets, each of 6 different stamps. The stamp depicted as the "First stamp" of "St. Vincent And The Grenadines" is actually the first stamp of "The Grenadines of St. Vincent" but you would not expect the people who design this stuff to understand the difference. Rating:- 0.
St. Vincent And The Grenadines - 31 December 2015 - Birds - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- **.
28 January 2016 - Flowers and plants - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.
28 January 2016 - Marine mammals - 1 sheetlet and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- **.
28 January 2016 - Minerals - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.
28 January 2016 - Seashells - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.
Tuvalu - 28 January 2016 - Elvis Presley commemoration - 2 sheetlets. Rating:- 0.
28 January 2018 - Muhammad Ali commemoration - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps. Rating:- 0.
18 January 2016 - "The Olympic Champions" - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.
28 January 2016 - The visits of Pope Francis to Africa - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.
Had you gone on Thursday, you would have seen the show in a much busier state (and I'm told it was even busier on the first day). RM new issues bring the punters out. I went on both Thursday & Friday and estimate the show was about 4 times busier on the Thursday than the Friday.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you about the reduction in the sellers of modern material and the increase in those selling second hand album-fulls of doubtless picked over material. I wasn't that impressed by the exhibits this time around either.
Most of my money went to the same dealers as usual, BB, Vincennes, Arun Stamps etc, and doubtless I'll be back again in September
Dear Richard. Thank you. I'm glad to read that the show had better days than when I visited it. I left it feeling that it needed a good injection of vitality into it - I suppose it's possible to make it much livelier and exciting without costing the earth. It all looked so forlorn outside of the Royal Mail stand - some of the stands that you mentioned which were selling second hand albums and material contained in them made some parts of the exhibition look like a collection of junk shops manned by scruffy old men on their uppers. Do national exhibitions of other hobbies/activities/businesses etc look so unprofessional? Some clever fellow, or lady, must have some ideas on how to make stamp collecting more in line with the second decade of the 21st century and I don't mean the sort who think that printing thematic "stamps" for impoverished, exotic-sounding countries which will never get used there but can be sold by the producer for enormous prices.
DeleteBest wishes.
I checked those 'First stamp' stamps of Grenada, Guyana and also Liberia and Micronesia and there are so many errors! Most errors: NOT the first stamp!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Your observations don't surprise me. Researching a subject was never one of the strong points of the philatelic agency involved in producing this stuff.
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