The always excellent Pobjoy Stamps has released details of a set of 4 stamps to be issued by the South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands postal service on 4 May 2016 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of IAATO (International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators) with which the South Georgian government has worked for many years. In the 2015 - 16 tourist season over 8000 visitors travelled to South Georgia on IAATO cruise vessels and yachts.
This highly relevant and moderately priced set of stamps was designed by Bee Design from photographs by Kim Crosbie and Skip Novak and lithographed by BDT International Security Printers and perforated 14. Rating:- *****.
The 55p value features the MV Lindblad Explorer which was built in 1969 and became the first cruise ship to visit South Georgia. The 70p value is of interest to collectors of "Birds on stamps" since it depicts tourists aboard zodiac vessels looking at a penguin colony. The Lindblad Explorer is also featured in Blog 221.
MaltaPost will issue a miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps on 15 April 2016 on the subject of WWF (World Wide Fund For Nature), the stamps depicting a bird simply called "the shearwater" or its local name, "Ciefa". The stamps were designed by MaltaPost plc using photography by Fran Trabalon and lithographed by Printex. Rating:- ****.
Serious stamp collectors may find it difficult to have any interest in the sort of products that flood on to the philatelic market from some agencies which each have contracts to work in the name of a number of postal administrations but I like to record their products to keep myself informed of their activities. The USA-based agency, IGPC, has produced the following items with the names of various Commonwealth territories printed on them:-
Antigua And Barbuda - 1 March 2016 - Mushrooms - 2 sheetlets (1 of 4 different stamps and 1 of 6 different stamps) and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.
Ghana - 20 February 2016 - the Grey crowned crane - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- **.
20 February 2016 - "The Year of Mercy" (Popes Benedict XVI and Francis) - 1 sheetlet of 3 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.
Grenada - 1 March 2016 - 50th anniversary of Star Trek - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet (the miniature sheet design is very strange as it seems to show Mr. Spock's hand emerging from Captain Kirk's upper chest - more like a scene from Alien than Star Trek!). Rating:- 0.
1 March 2016 - Paintings of Jimi Hendrix - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 m.s. Rating:- 0.
Grenada Carriacou And Petite St. Vincent - 1 sheetlet of 7 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.
Guyana - 31 January 2016 - Elvis Presley (former US music performer) commemoration - 4 miniature sheets. Rating:- 0.
20 February 2016 - Muhammad Ali (former US boxer) - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 m.s. Rating:- 0.
20 February 2016 - Plants and flowers - 2 sheetlets (1 of 6 differents stamps and 1 of 4 different stamps) and 1 m.s.. Rating:- 0.
1 March 2016 - 125th anniversary of the death of Vincent Van Gogh - 1 sheetlet of 5 different stamps. Rating:- 0.
Nevis - 28 January 2016 - Marine mammals of Nevis waters - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 m.s. Rating:- **.
28 January 2016 - Shells of the Caribbean area - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 m.s. Rating:- 0.
Very nice stamps!!
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Brazil!!
Dear Brazilian Philately - Thank you for your message.
DeleteI hope he doesn't mean that IGPC junk! ;-)
DeleteI see that they raised the face values of the Caribbean souvenir sheets to $10 (GBP 2.61)... Well, still cheaper than Stamperija!
Dear stewie1911, thanks for your message. As you know, I rarely find any merit in IGPC products and the above fall into the same category for me personally. I don't usually have any feelings about other collectors' tastes and, when I do, don't really think it's fair to express them. I have to say however, having just looked at Spock's hand coming out of Kirk's chest, that that particular item summarises why stuff produced by the US agency is generally so poor while the wonderful ship stamp at the head of the piece symbolises why the Pobjoy-produced items are generally so very good. The price of the Caribbean miniature sheets is interesting - it doesn't really matter to me as I am unlikely to purchase any of them but I suppose there must be plenty of people out there ready to spend a lot of money on such items. I suppose it will all have to end one day in the future.
Delete