Thursday, 6 February 2025

2661.πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Royal Mail Commemorates Yet Another Veteran Music Act.

 


New Issues 

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Royal Mail -

18 February 2025 - Commemoration of the vintage popular Australian music group, AC/DC - 8 stamps (4 se-tenant pairs, face value £14.60), 1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps costing £6.60, 1 booklet of 4 identical self-adhesive stamps (cost £6.60), 1 Prestige booklet containing 4 panes including 1 pane of King Charles III stamps (1 x 5p, 1 x 1st Class, 1 x 50p and 1 x £1), sold for £26.60 and 1 ‘Deluxe’ limited edition Prestige booklet costing £49.99 and 3 Collectors sheets, one costing £15.80 and the other two costing £7.50 each  and 1 ‘Platinum miniature sheet’ costing £149.99. Total cost of one each of all of the above (excluding Platinum sheet) - £134.59p. Designed by Royal Mail Group Ltd and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 14. 

Rating:- 0. Charmless, ugly and pointless, and that’s just the stamps.






























Wednesday, 5 February 2025

2660. πŸ‡­πŸ‡° New Hong Kong Definitive Issue.

 

New Issues -

πŸ‡­πŸ‡° Hong Kong Post -

18 March 2025 - New definitive series, Buildings in Hong Kong - 16 stamps, 2 miniature sheets and 1 booklet containing 10 x HK$2.20 values in self-adhesive format. Designed by Bon Kwan and lithographed. Rating:- *****.















πŸ‡²πŸ‡² Myanmar Post -

1 February 2026 - Butterflies of Myanmar, 10th issue, the Green spotted triangle - 1 stamp. Designed by Cho San Lin And Ahmonoo and lithographed by Security Printing Works (Myanmar) and perforated 14. Rating:- *****.




Death of Aga Khan IV 

Look out for issues in the coming weeks and months which honour Aga Khan IV after his death on 4 February 2025 at the age of 88. The Aga Khan was a generous international philanthropist and was the Imam of the Nizari Isma’ili sect of Islam. He and his acts of international philanthropy have been commemorated on the stamps of a number of Commonwealth countries in recent years.





The late Aga Khan IV





Sunday, 2 February 2025

2659. πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦ Canada Starts 2025 ‘s Year Of Philatelic National Self-Recrimination.

 


New Issues -

πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦ Canada Post -

31 January 2025 - Black History Month, Commemoration of Marie Joseph AngΓ©lique - 1 self-adhesive stamp issued in booklets of 6. Designed by Alexis Eke and Nathalie Cusson of Scooter Design and lithographed by Lowe Martin. Rating:- **.






More guilt-trip issues to follow in 2025 from Canada Post - see Blog 2656, repeated here - 



πŸ‡ΆπŸ‡¦ Qatar Post -

29 January 2025 - Katara Cultural Village, Arabian horses in Qatari culture - 2 stamps. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.




πŸ‡±πŸ‡Ή While wokeness is breaking out all over in the Canada Post 2025 new issue programme, the Lithuanian purveyor of philately-related products - the infamous Stamperija - has released a pair of sheetlets depicting possibly the most unwoke British comedian of modern times - too unwoke, one suspects, to be commemorated on a Royal Mail stamp in the foreseeable future - Benny Hill, on the centenary of his birth. Fashions and culture change quickly in the West in these present times and while Hill was considered a comedy genius in the 1980s, his heyday, his type of humour is now considered to be far beyond the pale and much of it offensive at the very best. It may be argued, I suppose, that if a comedian is not offending someone or the other, then he/she is not doing their job especially in this present era when so many people are actively in search of something to be offended by. Perhaps, after another four years of Trump, the pendulum may swing in the other direction. For what it’s worth, Stamperija has printed the name of Sierra Leone on these products - 

πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡± Products inscribed ‘Sierra Leone’ -

12 February 2024 - Birth centenary of the late Benny Hill, British television comedian - 2 sheetlets, each containing 9 different stamps. These products were released as part of an issue of 44 sheetlets and/or miniature sheets publicised on 30 January 2025. Rating:- 0.