2731. 🇮🇳 India Commemorates 50th Anniversary Of Sikkim Statehood..

 New issues -

🇮🇳 India Post -

30 May 2025 - 50th anniversary of the statehood of Sikkim - 1 stamp. Printed by Security Printing Press Hyderabad. Rating:- *****.

This is a historic stamp as it marks a significant anniversary of the enforced incorporation of a previously independent state into the Republic of India. Sikkim had been an independent kingdom until 1950 when its monarch, the Chogyal signed a treaty with Nehru’s government whereby it became an Indian Protectorate. The final Chogyal, Palden Thondup Namgyal, ascended to the Sikkimese throne in 1965 and in the coming years pressure for an increase in democracy in the kingdom brought with it rioting to the extent that troops from India intervened and Indira Gandhi’s government in India deposed the Chogyal in 1973 and annexed Sikkim, making it a state of India on 16 May 1975. Having put an end to British imperialism in its own territory, India showed that it was quite capable of indulging in imperialism itself.

  The design of the new stamp is stated to pay “homage to to the state’s scenic landscapes, vibrant traditions and its commitment to sustainable development”.

🇳🇦 Nam Post (postal service of Namibia) -

Centenary of the Namibia Scientific Society - 2 stamps. Designed by Anja Henker & lithographed. Rating:- ***.

5*s

🇮🇲 Isle Of Man Post Office -

28 May 2025 - First digital postmarking of Isle of Man Post Office stamps while in lunar orbit aboard the Space X Freedom Payload mission marking the first journey of IOM stamps to the moon - 1 sheetlet containing 12 different self-adhesive stamps. The item is sold in a folder for £22.60p. Rating:- 0.

Commonwealth countries and territories which are not yet known to have issued, or had issued on their behalf, any legitimate postage stamps during 2025. With the cession of British Indian Ocean Territory by the United Kingdom to Mauritius and the end of the existence of that territory, there are now 87 entities on this list.

Anguilla 

Antigua and Barbuda

Bahamas 

Barbados 

Belize

British Antarctic Territory 

British Virgin Islands 

Brunei Darussalam 

Cameroon

Cayman Islands 

Cook Islands including Rarotonga 

Cook Islands Aitutaki 

Cook Islands Penrhyn 

Dominica

Gabon 

Ghana 

Grenada Carriacou and Petite Martinique 

Guyana 

Kenya

Kingdom of eSwatini 

Kiribati 

Lesotho 

Malawi 

Mauritius 

Mozambique 

Nauru 

Nevis 

New Zealand Ross Dependency 

Nigeria 

Niue

Papua New Guinea 

Pitcairn Islands 

Rwanda 

St Helena 

St Kitts or St Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

St Vincent and The  Grenadines 

Samoa 

Solomon Islands 

South Africa 

The Gambia 

Tokelau 

Tonga 

Tonga Niuafo’ou

Trinidad and Tobago 

Turks and Caicos Islands 

Tuvalu 

Uganda 

United Republic of Tanzania 

Vanuatu 

Zambia

Therefore, at the end of May, 51 (58.2%) of Commonwealth philatelic entities appear not to have issued, or had issued on their behalf, any legitimate postage stamps during 2025. This compares with 63.6% at the end of April 2025 and 55.7% at the end of May 2024.

🇨🇦 Canada Post -

30 May 2025 - ‘Places of Pride’ - 4 self-adhesive stamps issued in booklets of 8 (2 sets of 4). Designed by Kelly Small of Intents & Purposes Inc from illustrations by Tim Singleton. Lithographed by Colour Innovations.

Post scriptum - A reader sent a Comment which I accidently deleted so I reproduce it here. By the way, thank you to everyone who kindly submits a relevant comment. When presented for acceptance or rejection, the choices are very close together and I occasionally touch the wrong location. Apologies when I do something clumsy like that -

2730. 🇵🇰 Pakistan Commemorates ‘Hockey Legend’.

 

New issues - 

🇵🇰 Pakistan Post -

16 May 2025 - Commemoration of Ustad Aslam Rodda, ‘Hockey legend’ and hockey coach - 1 stamp. Lithographed by National Security Printing Company Karachi. Rating:- ***.

🇳🇿 New Zealand Post -

19 June 2025 - Matariki (Māori festival), Dark skies - 1 sheetlet containing 6 different stamps. Designed by Nick Jarvie and lithographed by Brebner Print and perforated 14.5. Rating:- *.

🇴🇲 Oman Post -

27 May 2025 - Joint issue with the postal service of Iran, visit of the Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshikian, to Oman, mosques of Oman and Iran - 1 miniature sheet containing 2 stamps. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.

2729. 🇸🇬🇬🇬 Singapore New Issue Features Endangered Flora; Guernsey’s Royal Visit.

 

New Issues -

🇸🇬 Singapore Post -

30 May 2025 - Critically endangered flora of Singapore - flora of coastal forests - 4 perforated stamps and 1 ‘mini-pane’ containing 4 imperforate stamps. Designed by Teo Nam Siang and lithographed by Secura and perforated 13. Rating:- ****.

🇬🇬 Guernsey Post -

14 June 2025 - First anniversary of the Royal Visit of King Charles III and Queen Camilla - 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing 2 different stamps. Designed by Bridget Yabsley from photographs taken by Chris George and lithographed by bpost. Rating:- *****.

2728. 🇮🇴 BIOT - Now A ‘Dead Country’.

End of the British Indian Ocean Territory.

🇮🇴 Postal service of the British Indian Ocean Territory -

22 May 2025 - The fate of the Chagos Islands including Diego Garcia, location of a large, strategically important United States Airforce base, was finally settled on this date when the British prime minister signed an agreement to hand over the territory which had been a British possession since the Napoleonic Wars to Mauritius, an ally of China, along with a sum of money amounting to £30 billion. This agreement was generally against the wishes of the former inhabitants or their descendants (known as the.Chagossians) who had been given no formal say in the fate of the islands. Hence, British Indian Ocean Territory ceased to be a philatelic entity and became what stamp collectors have long termed, “a dead country”. The last stamps of the BIOT were issued in 2021 and featured Angelfish. See also Blogs 2580, 2312, 2260 and 2695 (April 1 edition).

BIOT’s final stamp, 2021.

New issues -

🇱🇹 Stamperija (or affiliate) -

🇸🇱 Products inscribed Sierra Leone -

Stated ‘date of issue’, 15 January 2025 - Further to the reports in Blogs 2720 and 2721, additional numerous and expensive products have appeared with the name of Sierra Leone printed on them on the following subjects:- ‘Biodiversity of Africa treasures of the wild’, ‘Amazing species’, ‘Animal camouflage art’ and ‘Birds of Sierra Leone’. To give an idea of what some of these products look like, some ‘first day covers’ are depicted below. These products are not otherwise dealt with in any detail and as ever, caveat emptor.

2727. 🇨🇾 Cyprus Joint Issue With Cambodia.

 

New issues -

🇨🇾 Cyprus Post -

19 May 2025 - A tweet by the Universal Postal Union on X has announced that Cambodia Post and Cyprus Post have launched a joint issue to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. At the launch the illustration of a stamp was shown but whether this is the design of a real stamp or when it was, or is to be, issued and all other details are not yet known. No such issue currently appears as part of the 2025 Cyprus Post new issue programme or on its internet site.

🇬🇮  Royal Gibraltar Post Office -

20 May 2025 - Gibraltar schools, second issue - 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 4 stamps. Designed by Stephen Perera and Karl Ullger and lithographed by Cartor. Rating:- **.

2726.🇧🇼 🇵🇬 Botswana New Issue Features Local Arts And Crafts; PNG Ferns.

 

New issues -

🇧🇼 Botswana Post -

27 February 2025 - Local arts and crafts - 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing a single stamp. Designed by Shathani Basupi from artwork by Omphile Sefako and lithographed by Brebner Print. Rating:- *****.

🇵🇬 PNG Post (postal service of Papua New Guinea) -

?August 2023 or more recently - Ferns in Papua New Guinea - 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheets,  one containing a single stamp and the other 4 different stamps. Lithographed. Rating:- **.