1820. 🇳🇿 New Zealand Holidays At Home.

 

🇳🇿 New Zealanders have effectively been trapped within the confines of the country for close to twelve months now with no real chance of escape due to the present pandemic rampaging through the world. They therefore have little choice but to holiday in New Zealand itself if they wish to take a vacation and New Zealand Post therefore intends to issue a sheetlet of 9 stamps on 3 February 2021 on the subject of Holiday at Home. The stamps were designed in what publicity describes as a retro-chic style which does not strike me as being particularly attractive and which seems to suggest, thinking also of the sheetlet issued last year depicting baking products, that this enforced period of isolation is driving New Zealand Post into a phase of projecting an idealised, comforting, sentimentalised mid-20th century lifestyle image on its stamps. Hence, perhaps, New Zealand Post’s decision to feature teddy bears on its COVID-19 stamp issue as opposed to featuring the faces of exhausted care workers as MaltaPost has just done on its 3 magnificent COVID-19 stamps (see Blog 1819).  

  The Holiday at Home issue was designed by YMC Design of Wellington and lithographed by Southern Colour Print and is perforated 14.5. Rating:- *.

  One subject which would not have featured on a mid-20th century stamp is that of Gay Pride but, in tune with social attitude changes of the second half of the 20th century, New Zealand Post will issue a single stamp on 3 February 2021 which is simply titled Pride. The design features what is called the Progress Pride flag and the date of issue coincides with the time of the year in New Zealand when Pride parades and festivals tend to take place there. The unimaginative design is by Cam Price and the stamp was lithographed by Southern Colour Print. The design is at least more colourful than the anaemic Holiday at Home stamps. Rating:- **.

New Zealand Post’s planned programme for new issues for the rest of 2021 is:-

3 March - 150th anniversary of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron

7 April - 95th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II 

5 May - Sarah Fenton (1848-1927), botanic artist

2 June - 20th anniversary of the Lord of the Rings movie (the cash cow is still giving milk)

10 June - 100th Birthday of the Duke of Edinburgh

7 July - Matariki 2021

4 August - Paralympic Games, Tokyo

1 September - issue for Ross Dependency

6 October - Diwali

3 November - Christmas.

🇬🇮 The EUROPA issue from Royal Gibraltar Post Office, previously mentioned in Blog 1816 was designed by Stephen Perera and lithographed by Cartor . The issue is made up of 2 stamps plus the previously mentioned miniature sheet and is due to be issued on 5 February 2021.

1819. 🇲🇹 Malta Says Grazzi To Its Brave Health Workers.

 

🇲🇹 Amid the appalling debacle of the European Union’s attempt to vaccinate the citizens of its 27 member states and its miserable failure to do so, one EU country stands out as a shining beacon of how it should be done - Malta. At the time of writing the country has administered the vaccine to double the percentage of its population that Germany has managed to do and 3 times the rate than has taken place in France. And now MaltaPost has chosen to commemorate its frontline health workers with a set of 3 stamps depicting health worker portraits by Madeleine Gera and Andrew Micallef inscribed, simply, Grazzi (thank you). The set was released on 29 January 2021 and was lithographed by Printex and perforated 14. One can not help but feel admiration for this little country with its charming people whose bravery helped the island to hold out against merciless Nazi bombers during the Second World War and who now are bucking the trend of the rest of the European Union by organising a fabulously efficient vaccine delivery programme to the Maltese nation. This is a notable set of stamps to add to any collection.

Rating for set of stamps:- *****..

Malta’s success in administering vaccinations to its people compared with rest of the European Union:-

1818. 🇫🇯 🇸🇧 What’s Happening In Fiji and Solomon Islands?

 

🇫🇯 🇸🇧 In its latest new products update the notorious New York-based agency, IGPC, has included a miniature sheet containing 6 identical stamps featuring Dorje Chang Buddha III, who has appeared already on a large number of stamps from postal services whose stamp production is usually in the hands of that philatelic agency, with the name of Fiji printed on the item. This is distressing as Fiji has a long history of excellent high quality stamps issued as part of a conservative new issue programme and the last thing it needs is for IGPC to ruin its philatelic image and to shame the country. This vile item is said to have been issued on 26 January 2021. Rating:- 0.

Equally distressing is the appearance on the list of products of a miniature sheet inscribed Solomon Islands said to have been issued on 19 January 2021 also to commemorate Dorje Chang Buddha III. There is no accompanying illustration but I assume that the issue also takes the form of a miniature sheet containing several identical stamps like the Fiji product. This is very disappointing because the postal service of Solomon Islands seemed to have reformed itself as regards new stamp issues after it severed its link with the appalling Stamperija agency which had hijacked its stamp issuing programme for several unhappy years. Rating:- 0.

🇺🇸 IGPC, a philatelic equivalent of coronavirus, has also announced the release of another very large number of philatelic products from several ‘client’ postal services which are listed below and which are generally not worth wasting time illustrating here:-

🇬🇲 The Gambia - 

15 January 2021 - 150th anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower in North America (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 50th anniversary of the Range Rover car (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp), 600th anniversary of the Forbidden City ( l miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps) and 75th anniversary of the United Nations (1miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps). All of these products are rated 0.

🇬🇩 Grenada - 28 January 2021 - 

400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower in North America (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 50th anniversary of the Range Rover car (2 miniature sheets, I containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp), 600th anniversary of the Forbidden City in Beijing (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 75th anniversary of the United Nations (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps). All of these products are rated 0.

🇬🇩 Grenada Carriacou And Petite Martinique - 28 January 2021 - 

150th anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 150th Birth anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 2nd Wedding anniversary of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp), 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower in North America (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 50th anniversary of the Range Rover car (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp). All of these products are rated 0.

28 January 2021 - 95th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Grenada - 1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps. Rating:- **. 

The designs of the stamps include one featuring the Queen wearing facial covering when leaving Westminster Abbey having visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Armistice Day.

🇻🇨 St Vincent And The Grenadines - 30 November 2020 - Visit of US President Trump to India - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp). Rating:- 0.

🇹🇻 Tuvalu  - 20 December 2020 - 

20th anniversary of the Mini Cooper car (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp), 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower in North America (1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps), 40th anniversary of the Audi Quattro car (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp), 50th anniversary of the Range Rover car (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp), 600th anniversary of the Forbidden City in Beijing (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp), 70th anniversary of the Morgan Plus 4 car (2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp). All of these products are rated 0.

8 January 2021 - Chinese New Year, Year of the Ox - 1 miniature sheet containing 6 different stamps. Rating:- 0.

1817. 🇮🇳 India Commemorates 50th Anniversary of Statehood For Himachal Pradesh.

 🇮🇳 India Post issued a single stamp on 25 January 2021 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the achievement of full statehood of Himachal Pradesh. A colourful stamp. Rating:- ***.

🇹🇿 Recently on sale on an internet auction site were 3 previously unseen surcharges from the postal service of Tanzania. Two of the values were stamps from the set issued in 2017 to commemorate the Diamond jubilee of the Aga Khan. These stamps were issued in a se-tenant strip of 5 different stamps so it is quite surprising that only 2 stamps from the strip were surcharged. This may well have been the case or else the other 3 stamps may also exist with the 900/- surcharge applied. Something to look out for. The third stamp is one from the previously issued Wonders of Zanzibar set which features a baby red colobus monkey. I think that these stamps must have been issued during 2020. Rating:- ****.

🇲🇾 Pos Malaysia included a miniature sheet containing a single stamp in its set to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the Constitution of Johore which was issued on 27 January 2021 (see Blog 1807). Rating:- ***.

Pos Malaysia is planning to release the following issues in the early part of 2021:-

25 February - Cattle breeds in Malaysia

10 March - Frontline workers

25 March - The largest integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in Malaysia.

🇧🇩 There have been 2 more new issues from the postal service of Bangladesh.

25 January 2021 - 46th anniversary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s taking of the oath of office as President of Bangladesh. Rating:- ***.

24 January 2021 - 52nd Mass Upsurge Day - 1 stamp. Rating:- **.

🇮🇪 An Post, the postal service of the Republic of Ireland, issued a single intensely uninteresting self-adhesive stamp on 28 January 2021 as this year’s Love stamp. The stamp is sold to collectors in pairs and in booklets of 10. The stamp was designed by Design HQ and lithographed by Enschedé. Rating:- *.

1816. 🇬🇮 Gibraltar Monkeys To Feature On Europa Issue.

 🇬🇮 Having already issued 4 stamps in similar designs on 20 November 2020 depicting the Barbary apes which live on Gibraltar, the Royal Gibraltar Post Office is intending to issue a miniature sheet containing 2 additional stamps on 5 February 2021 as its contribution to this year’s EUROPA omnibus issue which is themed ‘Endangered wildlife’, a worthy enough subject I suppose. The issue was designed by Stephen Perera. This item would have been more attractive if better selected, coloured illustrations had been used. Rating:- *.

🇲🇿🇹🇱 Collectors may wish to note that during 2020 the postal service of Portugal issued a pair of stamps to commemorate the 30th anniversary of AICEP, Associaçāo Internacional Das Comunicações De Expressāo Portugesea, the Lusophone equivalent of The Commonwealth. Such issues have been released in the past to coincide with 5 year anniversaries of the organisation and from time to time joint issues from Portugal and some other Lusophone territories have appeared. In the past the postal service of Mozambique, which joined The Commonwealth in 1995 as a special case (because of its links with South Africa), has participated in some of the joint issues as has that of Timor Leste which in the past has been identified as a possible future member of The Commonwealth because of its links with Australia, and so it is worth collectors looking out for any such issues from these Lusophone territories. So far we have only seen the two stamps from Portugal itself but recently an issue reproducing the design of one of the Portuguese stamps has appeared from the Cape Verde Islands and lurking out there may be issues from other territories released as part of this apparent joint issue. Non-Stamperija stamps from Mozambique (produced locally) are often exceptionally difficult to track down (as are those from Timor Leste) so this latest possible Lusophone joint issue offers a mouth-watering challenge to collectors of these territories’ stamps.

🇨🇾 Cyprus Post has published its new issue programme for 2021:-

18 February - Airplanes

24 March - Bicentenary of the Greek revolution

24 March - Anniversaries and events

6 May - EUROPA, endangered wildlife 

6 May - The Lady of Lapithos Efrosini Proestou

8 July - Euromed, Handmade Mediterranean jewellery 

8 July - Cyprus Natura 2000

17 September - Cats

18 November - Christmas.

The miniature sheet to commemorate the birth centenary of the Irish artist Patrick Scott issued by An Post, the postal service of the Republic of Ireland, which was mentioned in Blog 1815 is illustrated again below to give an impression of the large borders which surround the stamps themselves:-

🇮🇳 India Post issued a single stamp on 23 January 2021 to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the birth of Chandra Bose, an Indian nationalist who raised an army to fight alongside the German Nazis and Japanese against the Western Allies. His honorary title of Netaji (‘Leader of Leaders’) was given to him when he was in Berlin in 1942. In India he is now viewed as a great national figure. Rating:- 0.

Bose with Hitler in Berlin, 27 May 1942.

🇯🇪🇬🇬🇮🇪🇮🇲🇨🇾🇹🇷 Apart from the above Gibraltar miniature sheet, other EUROPA issues from Commonwealth postal administrations known to be planned so far are:-

Jersey Post - 3 March.

Guernsey Post - 12 April - 2 stamps (to be issued as part of a set of 8 stamps).

Cyprus Post - 6 May.

Plus -

An Post (Republic of Ireland) - 6 May - 2 stamps.

It is also to be expected that there will be issues from Isle of Man Post Office and the postal services of Malta and The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

1815. 🇮🇪 Ireland Commemorates Artist Patrick Scott.

 

🇮🇪 An Post, the postal service of the Republic of Ireland, issued a single stamp in an unusual presentation on 21 January 2021 to commemorate the Birth centenary of the Irish artist Patrick Scott who was born in Kilbrittain in County Cork. The stamp depicts his work Meditation Painting 28 and has a face value of €3 but is issued in a format whereby 2 of the stamps are separated by a valueless label depicting the painting Gold Painting 21 at the price of €7 (thereby paying €1 above face value though the item, described as a miniature sheet though it does not look like one from the publicity photographs, is sold in a “premium grey folder and sealed with an attractive gold seal”).

  The item was designed by Oonagh Young and lithographed with cold silver foil and matt varnish by Enschedé. Rating:- ***.

🇬🇮 The Royal Gibraltar Post Office will issue a pair of stamps on 30 January 2021 to commemorate the Chinese New Year, The Year of the Ox. The face value of the pair amounts to a wholly unnecessary £6.40p especially as the subject matter is is of trifling relevance to the territory. Rating:- 0. 

🇮🇲 The Isle Of Man Post Office will issue a set of 6 stamps on 26 February 2021 to commemorate the 95th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. The set costs £8.77p and was designed by Andrew Robinson and lithographed by Cartor and is perforated 13. Rating:- **.

.

  If you’ve a further £45 to spend Isle Of Man Post Office will be delighted to sell you the Chinese New Year sheetlet of 20 triangular stamps in an imperforate state.The item was issued on 7 January 2021 along with the perforated version but is, of course, in a limited edition of 100. And just to prove it’s real there is an accompanying Certificate of Authenticity. Rating:- 0.

1814. 🇫🇰 Argentina Reasserts Philatelic Claim To The Falklands.

 

🇫🇰 I thought it would be interesting to start with a recent issue from a non-Commonwealth postal service for a change.The postal service of Argentina has issued recently a miniature sheet containing a single stamp depicting a map of the Falkland Islands to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the “first raising of the Argentine national flag in the Islas Malvinas”.

  Up until 1764 the islands had been visited by explorers of various European nationalities and the French then established a colony at Port St Louis and and named the islands the Îles Malouines after the port of St Malo in Brittany. In 1764, the English Captain John Bryant, unaware of the French presence at Port St Louis in East Falkland, landed at West Falkland, discovered a natural harbour which he called Port Edmonton and claimed the islands in the name of Great Britain. In 1766 Captain James MacBride established a permanent British base at Port Egmont..

  By a pact of 1766 the French agreed with the Spanish to leave the Malouines and handed Port St Louis over to the Spanish which they renamed Puerto Soledad in 1767. On 10 June 1770 the Spanish with 1400 troops in 5 ships forced the British to leave Prince Egmont hence precipitating the Falklands Crisis which came close to being an Anglo-Spanish war but in January 1771 Captain John Stott reestablished the British in Port Egmont when he arrived in HMS Juno, HMS Hound and the mail ship HMS Florida. Port Egmont subsequently became an important port-of-call for British ships rounding the Cape of Good Hope.

  Because of the pressures of the American revolution, British forces were withdrawn for redeployment from Port Egmont on 20 May 1776 but the Royal Navy officer, Lt Clayton left a plaque asserting British sovereignty over the Falklands. British sealers continued to use Port Egmont in the following 4 years but the Spanish destroyed the colony in 1780. The Spanish administered the colony at Puerto Soledad from Montevideo (in modern-day Uruguay) until they were forced to withdraw because of the pressures of the Peninsula War. The islands again became shelters for visiting whalers and sealers.

  In 1820, the American David Jewett claimed the islands in the name of The United Provinces of Rio De La Plata and on 6 November 1820 he raised the flag of the United Provinces at Port Louis. This event is commemorated by the present miniature sheet from Argentina illustrated below and above. Jewett did not stay in the Falklands for very long, departing in April 1821 having been accused of piracy and ultimately fleeing to Brazil. From 1824 the United Provinces attempted to settle the islands but the British sent Captain James Onslow aboard HMS Clio in 1833 who arrived on 3 January and replaced the flag of the United Provinces with the Union Jack. The United Provinces commander departed the islands on 5 January 1833. 

  The United Provinces/Argentine flag did not fly over the Falkland Islands again until 1982 when on 2 April Argentine forces landed on the islands and occupied the territory. The Argentine postal service reissued a previous stamp depicting a rosette of the national colours bearing the overprint Las Malvinas Son Argentinas in four lines 1982. A British task force set sail to liberate the islands and the Argentine commander in the Falklands surrendered on 14 June 1982 after the fall of the capital, Port Stanley. The flying of the Argentine flag over the islands on this second occasion was limited to a period of just over 2 months. 

  The restored Falkland Islands postal service subsequently issued a £1 + £1 (restoration fund) stamp on 13 September 1982 (see Blog of 14 June 2012) which depicted a map of the Falkland Islands. This stamp is very similar to that placed inside the latest Argentinian miniature sheet (see below).

  A short-term definitive set was also issued by the Falkland Islands Post Office in 1983 and the 1p value depicted the raising of the Union Jack in 1833 on the 150th anniversary of the reestablishment of British administration in the territory and of the actual flag raising and assertion of sovereignty.

 

  Interestingly the Argentine postal service has also issued recently another miniature sheet which commemorates General Manuel Belgrano (1770-1820) who unsuccessfully attempted to resist the British invasion of Rio de la Plata in 1806 when his troops fled at the single firing of a British cannon, escaping himself to Montevideo in Banda Oriental (modern-day Uruguay). The British as a result captured parts of Buenos Aires temporarily (the events are detailed in Blog 281). Ironically, during the Falklands War, the first vessel to be sunk on either side was the Argentine ship General Belgrano.

  These issues illustrate very nicely that postage stamps can be used, and frequently are, to serve not just as receipts for the pre-postage of mail items and as additional income for postal services through philatelic sales, but also importantly as a means of laying claims to territory and asserting sovereignty over territories as well as trying to achieve other political and diplomatic goals by broadcasting them on postage stamps. Some nations very ably use philatelic methods to assert their positions and status in the world while others are content to allow privatised postal services or foreign philatelic agencies to fully ignore this useful philatelic diplomatic tool in the sole pursuit of making money from postage stamps.

🇯🇪 For no obvious good reason Jersey Post will issue a set of 6 stamps on 17 February 2021 on the subject of Historic maps of Jersey. One of the stamps, the 70p value, will represent this year’s Jersey Post contribution to the annual SEPAC omnibus series. Rating:- **.

🇰🇾 Depicted below are better illustrations than shown before here of the 3 self-adhesive stamps, each issued in a separate booklet of 10, from the recently issued new definitive series released by the postal service of Cayman Islands. See Blog 1799.