New issues.
🇵🇰 Pakistan Post -
13 September 2023 - 75th anniversary of the establishment of Pakistan’s diplomatic relations with Turkey - 1 stamp. Designed by Mughiz Khan & lithographed by National Security Printing Corporation, Karachi and perforated 13. Rating:- ***.
🇩🇿 Aures Collections.
This Algeria-based purveyor of numerous philatelic products, many of which are very expensively priced, appears to collaborate with the notorious Stamperija in selling items, said to be postage stamps and associated products such as booklets, postcards, sheetlets, miniature sheets and ‘deluxe proofs’, with the names of countries whose postal administrations have contracts with Stamperija. The Aures Collections items are produced to look much more convincing as postage stamps than the trash which normally emanates from Stamperija - they are of a sensible size, often produced in normal sheets and usually feature subjects of local interest to the countries named in the products. However the ‘stamps’ are produced in multiple formats, many of which are made available in very limited numbers at very high prices and the basic ‘stamps’ are sold in perforate and imperforate formats, the latter costing double the price of the former.
I view these products as highly dubious unless evidence emerges of them being made clearly available at post offices in the countries whose names appear on them and of them being used on normal mail. At present they appear to be exploitative and nothing more. Products emanating from Aures Collections with the name of Sierra Leone have now emerged on an internet auction site (most products of this Commonwealth country clearly originate from Stamperija). I will deal with them here to illustrate their excessive nature and the ridiculous prices being asked for them. Subsequent products from this source will not be mentioned in future editions of the Blog. As always, caveat emptor.
🇸🇱 Products inscribed Sierra Leone (all rated:- 0). Note - other products including items of postal stationery were issued alongside the items detailed below. Apologies for any products which have been overlooked - there are so many products, it is not difficult to miss something.
11 August 2023 - ‘Pre-Olympic Year 2023’ - 6 stamps each sold for €5, 2 miniature sheets containing all 6 stamps (1 perforated, edition of 300, sold for $15, the other imperforate, edition of 50, sold for €29), 1 ‘Deluxe proof’ containing all 6 designs sold for €29.
11 August 2023 - Post COVID-19 recovery of wildlife in Sierra Leone - 17 stamps - 9 x Le50 from 1 perforated miniature sheet (cost €22.49) and 9 from 1 imperforate miniature sheet (cost €39), 8 from 1 perforated sheet of 16 (2 sets of Le35 values, cost €35) and 1 single stamp miniature sheet (costing €9.99 perforated and €18 imperforate) and 4 ‘Deluxe proofs”.
11 August 2023 - Election of Sierra Leone to be a new non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council - 2 stamps (1 perforated, the other imperforate sold together for €10), 2 miniature sheets, each containing 8 identical stamps (1 perforated version sold for €19.99, 1 imperforate version sold for £33.51), 1 imperforate’Deluxe proof’ containing a single stamp design sold for €39.00 and 1 booklet costing €25.
11 August 2023 - Venomous and poisonous species - 2 miniature sheets (perforated and imperforate each containing 6 different stamps, costs €19 and €39 respectively), ‘Deluxe proof’, containing 1 of each stamp, cost €34 and 1 booklet costing €25.
11 August 2023 - Birds of Sierra Leone - 8 stamps (perforated, sold in block of 8 for €15) from 2 miniature sheets containing 2 of each value (perforated sold for €29 and imperforate sold for €49), ‘Deluxe Proof’ of the 8 designs sold for €29
11 August 2023 - Reptiles and amphibians of Sierra Leone - 10 stamps (5 perforated from miniature sheets of 10 - 2 of each stamp, cost €20 - and 5 imperforate from similar miniature sheets, cost €39), 6 “Deluxe proofs”, one for each stamp and the other containing all 5 stamps (total cost €98) and 1 booklet costing €25
🇱🇹 Stamperija itself continues to issue large numbers of products with the name of Sierra Leone printed on them. Among the latest barrage of rubbish is the following particularly distasteful item -
