769. Stamperija:- Trump vs. Clinton. Yes, Really.

  Sri Lanka Post issued a single stamp on 27 May 2016 which commemorated Visvalingam Veerasingham (1892 - 1964) who is acknowledged as the father figure of the co-operative movement in Sri Lanka. The stamp, another unimaginative head and shoulders portrait, was designed by A Rasiah. Rating:- *

  It is interesting to see which philatelic entities are represented currently at the New York 2016 Stamp Exhibition and who is representing them. There are one or two interesting features.

Represented by IGPC - Antigua and Barbuda, Brunei, Dominica, Ghana, Gibraltar, "Grenada and The Grenadines", Guyana, Kenya, Montserrat, Nevis, Papua New Guinea, St. Kitts, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Tanzania, Turks and Caicos, Tuvalu, Uganda and Zambia.

Represented by Stamperija - Maldives, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Solomon Islands

Represented by Herrick Stamp Company - Bermuda, Ireland, Jersey and Royal Mail

Others - Australia Post, Bangladesh Post, Bhutan Post, Canada Post, Gibraltar Stamps, Guernsey Post, India Post and Pitcairn Islands Philatelic Bureau.

  Interestingly, although the agency is fairly local to the exhibition, the client islands of Philatelic Collector Inc. do not appear on the exhibition's website's list of participating territories. Come to think of it, Philatelic Collector seems to be very slow in putting out new issues in 2016. I wonder what's going on there.

  I see Uganda, after its flirtation with Stamperija, is back solidly with IGPC. Gibraltar is represented by both IGPC and Gibraltar stamps. Kiribati has issued stamps to mark its participation in the exhibition but I did not see it listed with the other participating postal administrations. New Zealand Post, Singapore Post and other notable entities are not listed as participating in the exhibition but little Pitcairn Islands seems to be representing itself there. 

  Stamperija and IGPC have released philatelic items for the exhibition in the name of some of their client territories. I have mentioned some in previous blogs (see Blogs 764, 767 and 768) but further products are depicted below:-

  Ghana - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps. See also Blog 764.

  Guyana - 1 sheetlet of 5 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet.

  Maldives - some incredibly awful products on the subject of the upcoming US Presidential elections - 1 sheetlet of 4 different "stamps" and 1 miniature sheet.

  Nevis - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps (see also Blog 764).

  St. Kitts - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet.

  St. Vincent And The Grenadines - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet.

  Sierra Leone - Pope Francis' visit to New York - 1 sheetlet of 4 different "stamps" and 1 miniature sheet.

  Tanzania - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps, 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet.

  The English cricket player, Alastair Cook, recently became the 12th man in the history of the game, as well as the youngest, to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket. He also became the first Englishman to do so.

His predecessors are:- Sunil Gavaskar (1987), Allan Border (1993), Steve Waugh (2003), Brian Lara (2004), Sachin Tendulkar (2005), Rahul Dravid (2008), Ricky Ponting (2008), Jacques Kallis (2009), Mahela Jayawardene (2011), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (2012) and Kumar Sangakkara (2012). A number of these batsmen have been featured on stamps though not necessarily by their own country.

  Gavaskar was depicted on a St. Vincent stamp while Allan Border appeared on a stamp from St. Vincent Grenadines (his name was spelt incorrectly as "Boarder"). Brian Lara is the player from the list who has made most appearances on a stamp, notably from Trinidad And Tobago and Guyana. Sachin Tendulkar was commemorated by India Post after his 200th Test appearance and Ricky Ponting appeared with other players on an Australian stamp which commemorated the 2006-7 Ashes victory over England.

  The scoring of 10000 runs is a notable achievement in cricket and one wonders if it is time for another one of those Royal Mail "1st Class Sporting Success" miniature sheets which started and ended with the Andy Murray Wimbledon victory miniature sheet in 2013. I'm not a great cricket enthusiast but it seems to me that Alastair Cook's achievement is notable enough to receive philatelic recognition. It's a potential big seller especially as the cricket season reaches its midsummer heights.