1091. 🇧🇿 Rare Event - New Belize Issue.

     🇧🇿 News of a rare event - a new issue from the Belize Postal Service. A pair of stamps was issued on 27 September 2017 to commemorate the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Belize and Mexico. The 25c value depicts the old bridge between Belize and its neighbour which was erected in 1964 and called "The Bridge of Friendship". The 60c depicts the new bridge between the 2 countries which was opened on 15 May 2013. The national flags of Mexico and Belize are depicted on both stamps.

  The issue was designed by Andrew Robinson from original artwork by the Belizean artist, Kirkland Smith, and lithographed by Cartor. Rating:- *****.

  🇯🇪 Belize, which has a population of about 366,000, has issued only 2 stamps during 2017 and issued none last year whereas, in contrast, Jersey Post which serves a population of about 100,000, has issued scores of stamps this year. And still they continue.

  Thus Jersey Post finds it necessary to release 6 stamps and 2 miniature sheets on 3 November 2017 to commemorate the Platinum Wedding Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh.

The designs depict the usual range of photographs that have been done to death on stamp issues in recent years - no originality at all - and were lithographed by Enschede. This is an eminently boring issue which hardly does justice to the Royal couple. Oh, and the total face value is £11.22. Rating:- 0.

  In the constant search for subjects which might yet attract the elderly who in Britain and its offshore islands make up the bulk of the stamp collecting population a big new area has come to prominence in the last couple of years or so on Royal Mail and offshore islands stamps. This area is NOSTALGIA - stamp designs which help elderly collectors to remember the pleasant days of the 1950s and 60s when they were young, life was altogether more innocent - superficially at least - and every young child had a stamp collection. Royal Mail has already mined the subject in a big way by depicting iconic old toys and "Ladybird" books on issues this year as well previously helping the same group of collectors relive their teenage years by depicting album covers of various now ancient music performers which they would have listened to in their adolescence.

  And now it's Jersey Post's turn to have a crack at Nostalgia as a subject for a stamp issue. Jersey Post turns to the nostalgia of Christmas as it would be remembered by elderly collectors and its new stamps draw on 1950s and 1960s-style images of family Christmases spent by a roaring fire with the snow lying about outside all deep and crisp and even. There's mince pies, Christmas pudding making, carol singing, Christmas tree dressing with not a hint of Auntie getting drunk on sherry and everybody falling out with each other over a Christmas afternoon game of Monopoly.

  In one respect the issue which depicts every Christmas cliche under the sun is rather dire but colourful and harmless and all rather silly. The set was designed from illustrations by Ruth Palmer and lithographed by Cartor. Rating:- ***.

  The total face value is £5.59p.

  🇬🇧 Dealers are now offering Post and Go stamps for sale on E Bay which are the Machin Head types with the additional inscription "Brighton" which as mentioned in Blog 1084 was where the Labour Party held its annual conference and where Royal Mail had a stand at which IAR kiosk M007 was situated and dispensing stamps for party delegates to buy and use on their mail. One imagines it was a slightly uncomfortable spot for Royal Mail to go to since the extreme socialist Labour Party leader has said that if Labour is eventually returned to power then it will renationalise Royal Mail along with numerous other industries. 

  The conference took place from 24 to 27 September 2017. The 1st Class rate stamp has a code of MA14 and the 2nd Class has a MA12 code. Rating:- **** (an interesting historical and Postal historical item).

  🇻🇨 Only the self-proclaimed "World's Most Respected Philatelic Agency", IGPC, could come up with something as distasteful and inappropriate as the item depicted below which exhorts us to honour the "Memory of Hugh Hefner, editor in chief of Playboy Magazine" who died recently. The unpleasant "flyer" publicises a sheetlet issued by the agency in 2003 depicting this grubby man with the name of St. Vincent And The Grenadines printed on it.

  

1090. 🇸🇬 Singapore Post Celebrates Opening Of New Post Office.

  🇸🇬 Singapore Post will issue a set of 4 stamps on 9 October 2017 to commemorate the opening of the new General Post Office at SingPost Centre. The colourful and interesting issue was designed by Wong Wui Kong and lithographed by Secura and perforated 13. Rating:- *****.

  🇲🇹 MaltaPost will issue a set of 3 stamps on 29 September 2017 as the fifth part of its "Maritime Malta" series. The stamps depict models of square-rigged sailing vessels dating back to when the island was ruled by the Order of The Knights of St. John. Photographs were taken by and used for the designs by Sean Cini and the stamps were lithographed by Printex and perforated 14. Not the most exciting of Ship stamp designs, I think, and the face value is rather high. Rating:- **.

  🇨🇦 Canada Post's seemingly interminable series of ice hockey issues continues with the release on 28 September 2017 of a set of 6 self-adhesive stamps issued in a booklet along with a miniature sheet containing all 6 stamps and 6 single stamp miniature sheets contained in individual foil packs similar to those we have seen in previous years. The issue, titled "Canadian Hockey Legends", was designed by Avi Dunkelman and Joseph Gault (MIX Design Group) and printed in lithography. Rating:- **.

  🇸🇧 Stamperija has announced that it has released some more paraphilatelic products with the name of a Commonwealth country printed on them, this time It is Solomon Islands. There are 13 sheetlets each containing 4 different "stamps" and 13 accompanying miniature sheets. The subjects depicted on the stamps are:- Christmas, Hornbills, Turtles, Butterflies, Owls, Prehistoric water animals, Shells, Lighthouses, Minerals, Mushrooms, Dogs, Bats of the world and Reef fishes. Rating:- 0.

1089. 🇹🇿 New Wildlife Issue From Tanzania.

  🇹🇿 After a couple of years of releasing nothing but IGPC issues, many of which had no direct or at best only tangential relevance of subject matter to Tanzania, the Tanzanian postal service has released a set of 6 stamps and 2 miniature sheets titled "Animals Series II" which have all the hallmarks of being local in origin although they were lithographed by Enschedé. The date of issue was 13 February 2017.

  It is an attractive, straightforward issue and I hope we see some more stamps like this from Tanzania than the dreary Princess Diana and Royal Family issues which its New York-based agency continues to pour on to the philatelic market. Rating:- *****.

  🇺🇬 The previously mentioned issue from Posta Uganda on the subject of "Primates of Uganda" was issued on 5 May 2017. It was made up of 13 stamps in total. Rating:- *****. See Blogs 1038 and 1059.

  🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Post issued 3 new definitive stamps for personalisation on 13 September 2017. The issue was designed by P Isuru Chaturanga and printed in lithography. Rating:- ***.

  🇫🇷 It's not often that France's La Poste features English kings on its stamps but a miniature sheet was issued on 7 July 2017 as part of its "Great moments in French history" series. One of the stamps included in the sheet commemorated the Treaty of Picquigny which was concluded between King Edward IV of England and Louis IX of France on 29 August 1475. At the time the English were allied with Duke Charles The Bold of Burgundy against the French and Duke Charles had asked King Edward to land English forces at Calais which he duly did on 16 July 1475. The scheming Louis countered the moves of Charles The Bold by offering a large sum of money to ensure that Edward would withdraw his forces and the 2 kings met on a specially constructed bridge with a wooden grill between them at Picquigny near Amiens. Louis offered Edward a sum of 75000 crowns and a yearly pension of 50000 crowns thereafter as well as paying the ransom of England's deposed Queen, Margaret of Anjou, wife of the legitimate king, Henry VI, whom Edward had had murdered.

  This bribe was all very acceptable to Edward and he duly withdrew his forces from France but several notable people on both sides viewed the agreement as being somewhat dishonourable.

  La Poste has depicted Edward IV shaking the hand of Louis through the grill on the bridge. Edward IV has also been depicted on a number of stamps from Commonwealth countries most notably on one of the six stamps in the "York and Lancaster monarchs" set issued by Royal Mail in 2008 (the unfortunate Henry VI, Edward's victim, was also depicted in the same set) and on a stamp in the remarkable "British monarchs" set of Barbuda which was issued in 1970 (depicted below, I can hardly believe that almost 50 years has passed since this set was released).