1354. 🇯🇪 Jersey Post Goes Back To The 1970s.

  🇯🇪 Jersey Post will release the next instalment of its ongoing nostalgic popular culture series on 18 January 2019. The theme for 2019 will be 1970s culture and the issue is made up of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet. It's eye-catching but wholly unnecessary and continues Jersey Post's overinflated new issue policy. Rating:- 0

  🇮🇳 India Post issued a single stamp on 18 December 2018 to commemorate Rajkumar Shukla (1875 - 1929) who was a farmer who persuaded Mahatma Gandhi to witness the plight of farmers, a significant incident in the developing struggle for Indian independence. Rating:-  **.

  🇬🇧 In Blog 1327 I mentioned the Royal Mail miniature sheet which is to be issued on 15 January 2019 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Royal Philatelic Society of London. Illustrations of the item which contains 6 different stamps each from a different reign are not shown on the internet. The issue was designed by hat-trick design and lithographed by International Security Printers. Rating:- *****.

  🇬🇧🇧🇭 In November 2018 Royal Mail and HM Armed Forces announced that they had inaugurated 'the newest and hottest postbox' in Royal Mail's service in Bahrain to 'ensure that British troops' stationed in the former protectorate 'can post Christmas messages back home to loved ones as well as having a small reminder of home'. The title of 'Royal Mail's hottest postbox' derives from the fact that temperatures can reach more than 50 degrees Celsius in Bahrain in summer.

  The British first established a base in Bahrain on 13 April 1935 as part of the port of Mina Salman. The base was named HMS Jufair and then part of the base was leased to the US Navy in 1950. The Americans took over the base completely when Bahrain achieved independence from Britain but in 2014 it was announced that HMS Jufair would be reestablished by the British and the base was officially opened on 5 April 2018 in the presence of The Duke Of York and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al Khalifa of Bahrain. The new facility can accommodate up to about 500 personnel.

  The postcode for HMS Jufair is BFP1 6BR and the BFPO number is UKMCC BFPO632.

  🇲🇻 Maldives applied officially to rejoin The Commonwealth on 7 December 2018 after the former leader, Abdulla Yameen, had been defeated in elections in the country in September 2018 and replaced by Ibrahim Mohamed Solih who was described as sharing the values and principles enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter. Since President Solih came to power, political prisoners of Yameen have been freed and exiled opposition leaders have returned home and the new leader has asked the regional power, India, for help while the former leader had drawn the Islands closer to China.

  Perhaps President Solih's new government could persuade the Maldives postal service to end its contract with its current much despised postal agency and start to issue stamps worth collecting again. In fact during the Stamperija hegemony Maldives Post has continued to issue stamps infrequently for use on mail in Maldives itself and it is worth keeping an eye on such emissions as Maldives may be a year or two away from being of interest to the Commonwealth collector again. These issues have often been related to the China-Maldives courtship and commemorated various anniversaries of China-Maldives diplomatic relations and have probably been gifts from China to the small Indian Ocean republic. Another such issue was released on 13 September 2018 to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the 2 countries and it is made up of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet which contains one of each stamp. The stamps are issued in 3 sheetlets each containing 2 of the stamps in 6 se-tenant pairs. The themes featured on the stamps are tourism, sport and bridges in each of the 2 countries.

  The timing of the date of issue of these stamps is of great interest as it was only 10 days before the unexpected loss of power of ex-President Yameen and the election of President Solih and the introduction of a foreign policy which leans much more to close relations with India rather than with China. An interesting issue. Rating:- *****.

  🇹🇹 Further to my detailing of new issues from the postal service of Trinidad And Tobago in Blog 1353 Gene W has pointed out to me another new release from T & T Post which is being offered for sale on an Internet auction site.

  This additional issue was released on 13 November 2018 as a set of 5 stamps sold in a presentation pack along with 2 first day covers to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum and the holding of the 20th Ministerial Meeting of GECF Countries in Port Of Spain. The contents of the pack are shown below though detailed pictures of the stamps are awaited.

  It's pleasing that T & T Post has rediscovered the benefits of issuing postage stamps but sad that it has not yet decided that promoting new issues to international collectors may also be a useful exercise. 

  Rating:- ***.

  🇱🇰 As reported by Stewie 1911in a comment at the end of Blog 1342, Sri Lanka Post reissued its recent Lighthouses miniature sheets with additional inscriptions in gold foil to commemorate its participation in the Thailand 2018 World Stamp Exhibition. The exhibition was held from 28 November to 3 December 2018 and so I assume that the date of issue is the same as that of the opening day of the exhibition.

915. Fascinating Freshwater Fish From New Zealand And Birds From Tokelau.

  🇳🇿 New Zealand Post will issue an interesting set of 5 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on the subject of Freshwater fish. The excellent issue was designed by Stephen Fuller and lithographed by Southern Colour Print and perforated 14.5 x 14. The issue will be released on 1 March 2017. Rating:- *****.

  🇹🇰 New Zealand Post has also produced an excellent set of four stamps and 1 miniature sheet on behalf of the Tokelau postal service on the subject of Birds of Tokelau. The wonderful designs were prepared by Jonathan Gray and the stamps were lithographed by Southern Colour Print and perforated 14.5. The issue will be released on 1 March 2017. Rating:- *****.

   🇬🇧 Norvic Philatelic Blog reports a new twist in the ongoing Post and Go story. Post and Go kiosk M011 has been set up at the Ministry of Defence offices at Abbey Wood in Bristol as a BFPO outlet. Obviously access to the kiosk is limited for security purposes and those who do have access to the machine are certainly making the most of the opportunity. 

  The stamps take the form of the "Machin Head" and "Union Jack" labels without any additional inscription and therefore, for the present at least, only identifiable by the kiosk number. "Collectors strips" of 6 different values are currently being offered for sale on E Bay at £60 each (face value per strip being just £7.75p) and £35 for strips of 6 x 1st Class rate (face value £3.84p). Other sellers are slightly less greedy - £29.50p for both strips of 6 x 1st (total face value £7.78p) or £27.50p per strip of 6 different values - mark up of a mere 355%. Such greed!

  It's such a pity that this situation has arisen as these BFPO "Post and Go" labels are very interesting and for them to be so inaccessible or only available at such prices precludes many collectors from adding them to their collections. I should like to see these BFPO kiosks rolled out to some more interesting locations such as the bases in the Sovereign Territory in Cyprus and even for use by military personnel in bases in places such as the British Indian Ocean Territory - now that would be very interesting.

874. Happy Christmas For BFPO Post And Go Kiosk Users.

  Illustrated at the top of this blog is the latest label to be dispensed from Post and Go IAR kiosk A003. Going on sale from 1 December 2016 the label bears the additional inscription "Seasons Greetings/From all at BFPO" and well may they celebrate as the highly restricted accessibility of the kiosk ensures that anyone with access to it can put these labels on sale on internet auction sites at highly inflated prices. Collectors strips of these are being sold for £35 and anyone selling a few of these will be guaranteed a very merry Christmas, me thinks. Caveat emptor. Rating:- 0.

  As detailed in Blog 863 kiosk A003 sited at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Somerset began to dispense specially inscribed "Union Jack" and "Machin Head" labels from 3 December 2016 to commemorate the first carrier jet landing by Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown on 3 December 1945. The Vampire jet in which he flew is displayed in the museum. The kiosk will continue to dispense the labels with these particular inscriptions until 3 January 2017. This issue seems to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the first landing which seems like an odd anniversary to commemorate and therefore the rating for the issue is:- 0.

  Also having a merry old Post and Go Christmas is the Royal Gibraltar Post Office which is dispensing Post and Go stamps with special Christmas inscriptions from both kiosk GI03 in the territory's Parcel Office and GI02 in the Main Post Office. There are no new designs for Christmas 2016 and instead the "Year of the Monkey" and "Christmas tree" (introduced in 2015) are reemployed, presumably therefore at very little cost to the Gibraltar Post Office but at some cost to collectors if they choose to buy "Collectors strips" of each design from both sites. No thanks. Rating:- 0.

  Barbados Postal Service will issue a set of 20 stamps and a miniature sheet containing another 7 stamps on 8 December 2016 on the subject of centenarians who live in Barbados. Things are not quite as bad as they sound as each stamp will only have a face value of 65c making a total face value of $16.50c which is equivalent to £6.48p which is less than many of the multitude of Royal Mail, Jersey Post and Isle Of Man Post Office stamps which have flooded on to the market during 2016.

  A presidential election has just been held in The Gambia, which left The Commonwealth in 2013, and in a shock result the current president Yahya Jammeh was defeated by the relatively inexperienced leader of a coalition of the 7 opposition parties, Mr Adama Barrow. Jammeh has ruled The Gambia in a tyrannical manner in recent years and has said in the past that if God wills it his presidency could go on "for a billion years". If Jammeh allows his victorious opponent to take power the hand over should take place in January 2017 and Barrow has said that he will support Gambia's rejoining of The Commonwealth which means that I shall have to consider collecting the country's stamps again. Perhaps the new president will change the philatelic agents which produce the country's postage stamps (hopefully not replacing IGPC with Stamperija!). 

755. World War I Memorial Features On BFPO Post And Go.

  The "Post And Go" kiosk, M001, at the BFPO Headquarters at RAF Northolt (see Blog 750) has been dispensing from early May a new stamp - a second class value with an added illustration which depicts a replica of the statue "Letter to an aunknown Soldier" or "Letter from Home" by Charles Sargeant Jagger, a Sheffield sculptor, which is placed outside the BFPO Headquarters. Presumably in time this logo will also be used on the First class values.

  The original bronze statue is sited at Paddington Railway Statue and is officially called the Great Western Railway War Memorial so, in a way, this stamp is of interest to collectors of railway stamps.

  I like this item as it is dispensed from a kiosk serving a genuine postal need and find it to be very interesting. Rating:- *****.

  See also Blog 499D.

  "Post and Go" kiosks situated at the 4 Royal Navy museums will dispense labels with additional inscriptions applied to them (Union Flag and Machin Head designs) which commemorate the Centenary of the Battle of Jutland. These will be dispensed from 31 May to 30 June 2016.

  Meanwhile Guernsey Post "Post and Go" kiosk GG02 situated at Envoy House in St. Peter Port will dispense strips of "Guernsey Flag" stamps inscribed "HM The Queen Happy 90th Birthday" from 6 to 30 June 2016.

  Jersey Post issued a £14.98 "Prestige booklet" on 21 April 2016 as part of its issue which commemorated the 90th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. This was in addition to the 10 value commemorative set it also issued which had a sale price of £7.49p (see Blog 733). The total cost of the issue therefore is the large sum of £22.47p. Rating:- 0.

  Isle of Man Post Office will issue 4 stamps, each with the surprisingly high face values of £1.24, on 23 May 2016 to commemorate the Olympic Games to be held in Rio De Janeiro in a few weeks time. The total cost will be £4.96 but collectors will also have the pleasure of spending a further £4.96 to buy a sheetlet containing the same 4 stamps. I am not aware that Isle Of Man will be sending its own team to the Olympic Games. Rating:- 0.

  Recently on sale on an Internet auction site were some commercial covers from Uganda on which were placed some commemorative stamps which I have not seen previously. The covers were dated 2016 and seem to commemorate the visit of Pope Francis to Uganda which took place in 2015. Four stamps in all were depicted on the covers. Each stamp includes a small Ugandan flag in its design and the set looks very much as though it is a local issue rather than the sort of stuff which emanates from one of the foreign philatelic agencies which Posta Uganda has used in the past. Presumably we will see unused examples of these stamps coming on to the philatelic market in the future. Rating:- *****.