1708. Commonwealth New Issues Now Down By 29.2% Compared With 2019.

In Blog 1694 I showed that the total number of stamp issues released by all the Commonwealth postal administrations or their licensed agencies in the first 6 months of 2020 had been reduced by 22.8% (351 in 2019, 271 in 2020). This fall in new issues has continued in the seventh month of the year with the total number of Commonwealth new issues now having fallen by 29.2% in comparison with 2019’s total number of Commonwealth issues up to the end of July which was 418 compared with 296 in 2020). With 6 days of the month remaining, unless there is the sudden announcement of a flood of issues from one of the less respectable philatelic agencies which have Commonwealth postal service clients, collectors of new issues may feel that something good, at least from the philatelic viewpoint, has come out of the COVID-19 pandemic though, like the lurking background fear of a second wave of Coronavirus, there must be the worry that postal administrations will deluge the market with new issues in the coming months to make up for lost time.

🇮🇪 An Post, the postal service of The Republic Of Ireland, issued the 4th part of its ongoing History of Ireland in 100 Objects definitive series on 23 July 2020. The issue is made up of 2 strips each of 4 different stamps and was designed by Zinc Design Consultants and printed digitally by CCL Label Ireland Ltd.  and perforated 11 x 11.5. Rating:- ****.

      An Post also issued on 23 July 2020 a strip of 4 self-adhesive stamps which reused the designs of recent issues. The production details are the same as that of the above issue. Rating:- **.