1613. 🇮🇪 An Post Commemorates The Irish Abroad.

🇮🇪 An Post, the postal service of Ireland, issued a set of 5 stamps (a set of 3 horizontally se-tenant and a vertically se-tenant pair) on 27 February 2020 on the subject of ‘The Irish Abroad’. The issue ties in with the upcoming St Patrick’s Day celebrations on 17 March. The issue was designed by Zero-G and lithographed by Enschedé and perforated 13.5 x 14. Rating:- ***.

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Post issued a single stamp on 24 February to commemorate the birth centenary of  Kalsoori Panibharatha (1920 - 2005), a veteran traditional dancer. Rating:- **.

Commonwealth philatelic entities which have not yet issued stamps during 2020.

For those sort of people who like lists, such as myself, this is always fun. This year Maldives has rejoined The Commonwealth and so returns to the list of Commonwealth philatelic entities though it is not surprising that it rapidly disappeared from the list as Maldives Post allows the philatelically incontinent producer of paraphilatelic items, Stamperija, which is really a philatelic entity in itself, to to release items on its behalf which are usually frequently issued and numerous. This year I will also omit Gibraltar Swiss Post and Universal Mail United Kingdom which are second string philatelic entities though if any items are released by them during 2020 a mention of them will be made in the ongoing Blog.

 * indicates that issues are expected soon.

Anguilla

Antigua And Barbuda

Ascension 

Australian Antarctic Territory *

Australia Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Bahamas

Barbados 

Belize

Bermuda

Botswana

British Antarctic Territory 

British Indian Ocean Territory 

British Virgin Islands 

Brunei Darussalam 

Cameroon

Cayman Islands 

Cook Islands 

Cook Islands Aitutaki 

Cook Islands Penrhyn

Cyprus, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus *

Dominica

ESwatini

Falkland Islands *

Ghana

Grenada *

Grenada Carriacou And Petite Martinique *

Guyana *

Jamaica

Kenya

Kiribati 

Lesotho 

Malawi

Mauritius 

Montserrat *

Mozambique

Nauru

Nigeria

Niue

Papua New Guinea *

Ross Dependency 

St Kitts 

Saint Lucia

St Vincent And The Grenadines

Samoa

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Solomon Islands

South Africa

South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands

Tokelau

Tonga

Tonga Niuafo’ou 

Trinidad And Tobago

Tristan Da Cunha *

Turks and Caicos Islands

Tuvalu

Zambia

Fifty seven Commonwealth philatelic entities are therefore not known to have issued any stamps during 2020 up to the end of February.

1612. 🇸🇭 Tristan Da Cunha Commemorates UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

🇸🇭 The postal service of Tristan Da Cunha will issue an excellent set of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet depicting birds on 24 March 2020 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of

Gough Island and Inaccessible Island as UNESCO World Heritage sites. Designed by Andrew Robinson from photographers by Michelle Risi, Andy Schofield, Jaimie Cleland and Chris Jones and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 13.5 x 13 with production coordination by Creative Direction (Worldwide) Ltd.

🇫🇰 The postal service of The Falkland Islands will issue a set of 4 stamps on 16 March 2020 as the fourth part of its ongoing Ship wrecks series. The issue was designed by Tony Chater and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 13 x 13.5. Rating:- ****.

  Many thanks to Juliet Warner of Pobjoy Stamps for information about the above two issues.

🇺🇸 The USA-based philatelic agents, IGPC, has outlined the latest products it is letting loose on to the new issue market. In the past few months there seems to have been a fall in the number of ‘issues’ it releases with the names of its client territories printed on them and which have been produced by the agency itself (Grenada, Antigua And Barbuda and The Gambia for instance) rather than merely being sold by them but produced by someone else (Guernsey Post for instance). Perhaps the general collapse of the new issue market which has been the result of excessive stamp issuing over the years and which all started with the activities of IGPC itself is now resulting in a case of being ‘hoist by its own petard’. Thus we have only 5 new issues for Commonwealth philatelic entities:-

🇬🇲 The Gambia - 24 February 2020 - Chinese art of Dr Wang - 2 miniature sheets, one containing 3 different stamps and the other containing a single stamp. Rating:- 0.

🇬🇩 Grenada - ?2020 - Rabbits - 2 miniature sheets, one containing 6 stamps and the other containing a single stamp. Rating:- 0.

🇬🇩 Grenada Carriacou And Petite Martinique - ?2020 - Commemoration of HH Dorje Buddha III - 1 sheetlet containing 6 identical stamps. Rating:- 0.

🇬🇾 Guyana - ?2020 - Chinese New Year, Year of the Rat - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other containing a single stamp . Rating:- 0.

🇲🇸 Montserrat - ?2020 - Chinese new year, Year of the Rat - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other containing a single stamp. Rating:- 0.

🇬🇧 Moving on to the latest philatelic product to be revealed by Royal Mail - a miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps (1 each of the Scottish regional stamps) to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Arbroath (see Blog 1579). This item with its exquisitely uninspired design will be sold from 6 April 2020. Clearly Royal Mail was trying to save money on designer’s fees when this product was conceived. Rating:- 0.

1611. 🇬🇮 Gibraltar Commemorates Notable Birthdays And VE Day.

🇬🇮 The Royal Gibraltar Post Office has announced the issue of 2 new sets of stamps:-

25 March 2020 - Birth anniversaries, Centenary of Rosalind Franklin (English scientist and X-ray crystallographer who worked on the molecular structure of DNA and RNA), Bicentenary of Florence Nightingale and 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven - 3 stamps. Designed by Stephen Perera and lithographed by Cartor. Rating:- ***.

23 March 2020 - 75th anniversary of VE Day (Victory of The Allies in Europe in the Second World War) - 5 stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Designed by Stephen Perera and lithographed by BPost Security Printers.  Rating:-***.

🇮🇳 India Post issued a My Post stamp in the usual format of a small sheet of 12 with attached labels on an as yet unspecifed date in February 2020 on the subject of Brihadeeswarar Temple. Not without interest.

  Another My Post stamp was issued on 12 February 2020 also in the usual format and at a premium price. This particular issue commemorated the Centenary of NIBM (the National Institute of Bank Management). This is the best illustration I can provide at present:-

1610. 🇬🇧 New Royal Mail Definitives.

🇬🇧 Royal Mail will issue 15 new stamps on 17 March 2020 (in addition to the James Bond Stamps previously discussed) to deal with the change in postal rates which will take place on 23 March 2020. The 2nd Class internal rate will be increased from 61p to 65p and the 1st Class rate will rise from 70p to 76p. The new stamps are needed to cover other postal rates. Royal Mail describes the colours used for them rather imaginatively so that the new £1.42 will be garnet red, the £1.63 will be sunset red, the £1.68 will be tarragon green, the £2.42 will be purple heather, the £2.97 will be rose pink, the £3.66 will be harvest gold and the £3.82 will be holly green.

  The issue is printed in gravure by International Security Printers and perforated 15 x 14.

    In addition to the Machin Head definitives there will also be 8 regional stamps, two each for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. These are also lithographed by International Security Printers and perforated 15 x 14. These are depicted below.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England - 2 Stamps - 

🇬🇧 Northern Ireland - 2 stamps - 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland - 2 stamps - 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wales - 2 stamps- 

PS Reply to Ian Norvic’s comment (2 attempts to reply have both failed to publish). Thank you Ian. I have no idea why I mixed up the colours. I’m not very good at semi-precious stones even though I used to work every summer as a teenager in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham. I was paid £4 - 17 - 6d for a 40 hour week and very pleased with it I was too. It enabled me to buy my first ever copy of the Stanley Gibbons Part 1 Catalogue (1967 edition, cost 37/6d if I remember properly) as well as a new issue set of Gibraltar stamps with perforations in the shape of the Rock. These stamps were the pride of my collection until my father bought me a modest Penny Black for Christmas. 

  I will correct the error to avoid confusion. Best wishes WK. 

PPS. Nice poetry!

PPPS Reply to Chris de Haer’s comment - Hello Chris - Here are the new postal rates corresponding to the new stamps. It’s bizarre, isn’t it?, that Vladivostok is in the European Zone:-

1609. 🇮🇳🇱🇰🇵🇰 New Issues From Southern Asia.

🇮🇳 India Post issued a single stamp on 17 February 2020 to commemorate the centenary of the industrial city of Jamshedpur. The issue was designed by Smt. Alka Sharma and wet offset printed by Security Printing Press Hyderabad. Rating:- ***.

  There have also been two recent India Post My Stamps sold as usual in sheetlets of twelve at prices above face value:- 

17 February 2020 - COP13 (Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species, held in Gandinhagar 17 - 22 February 2020) - 1 stamp with attached label.

5 February 2020 - DEFEXPO20 (Defence Expo India 2020 held in Lucknow, 5 - 9 February 2020) - 1 stamp with attached label.

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Post issued 3 stamps on 20 February 2020 on 3 different subjects. The first commemorated the Birth centenary of Mohideen Baig (1919 - 1991), a notable Sri Lankan musician. Rating:- **.

  The second was on the subject of ‘Towards Sustainable Development 2020’. Quite a striking design. Rating:- ***.

The third stamp is possibly the most interesting being one half of a joint issue with the postal service of Nepal. The issue specifically commemorates the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The Nepali stamp, which was issued on 27 December 2019 is depicted beneath its Sri Lankan twin though the stamps are clearly not identical!

🇵🇰 Pakistan Post - 18 February 2020 - Birth centenary of Mahmoud Ali (politician) - 1 stamp. Rating:- **. (PA20.3).

17 February 2020 - High level International Conference in Islamabad, 40 years of presence of Afghan refugees in Pakistan - se-tenant block of 8 (4 different) stamps with 2 labels between 2 blocks of four. Rating:- ****. (PA20.4 - 7).