2951. 🇳🇦 Chameleons Featured On Namibian Miniature Sheet.

 

New issues -

🇳🇦 Nam Post, postal service of Namibia -

8 May 2026 - Chameleons of Namibia - 1 miniature sheet containing 2 different stamps. Designed by Helge Denker & lithographed. Rating - *****.

🇬🇧 Royal Mail -

14 October 2026 - pure speculation, but the proposed issue for this date remains “TBA”. Those interested in history will recall that the date is the 960th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings when the last English king of England, Harold II, fought Guillaume le Bâtarde, the Duke of Normandy, for the English crown and was killed, possibly by being shot in the eye with an arrow, at the Battle of Hastings.

  This year, the Bayeux Tapestry, a monumental work of embroidery 70 metres in length and 50cm high  and depicting 58 scenes, produced in England possibly on behalf of the Norman Duke’s wife, Mathilde, in the years after the battle and subsequently taken to Bayeux Cathedral where it was housed for centuries and is now normally housed in a bespoke building, the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Bayeux, has been brought  back to England for the first time in 900 years and is on display in the British Museum for several months.

  The return of the embroidery to its homeland for several months is an important cultural event for the English and very worthy of a stamp issue. Perhaps therefore the TBA issue of 14 October will feature the Bayeux Tapestry and commemorate its return to England. Unlike the World Cup the Bayeaux Tapestry has finally made it home. Let’s hope the English do not have to wait 900 years for World Cup to arrive back in the Sceptred Isle although, according to the song, it appears to be perpetually “coming home”.

  Scenes from the  Bayeux Tapestry were depicted on the set of 8 stamps (a setenant strip of 6 plus two  singles (6d & 1/3d)) designed by the genius David Gentleman, issued by the British Post Office in 1966 to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings:-

  The end of the story is missing on the Bayeux Tapestry and so Guernsey Post released a set of 6 stamps and a very interesting miniature sheet printed on combed cotton inscribed Alderney which depicted likely scenes from the missing ‘final panel’. These had been featured on a real three metre-long embroidered ‘tapestry’ produced in Alderney. These were issued on 28 May 2014 and the collection included a prestige booklet sold for £14.44.

  Guernsey Post also released a set of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet, again inscribed ‘Alderney’,  designed by Nick Watton on 14 September 2016 to commemorate the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. The front cover of the presentation pack depicted William being crowned on 25 December 2025.

  The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) postal service issued a single stamp depicting the Battle of Hastings in 2010 as part of a set depicting important battles in British history (Diego Garcia is a strategically important US-British base hence military-themed stamps seem appropriate).

  And let us not forget the postal service of France’s single stamp released in 1966 to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.

2941. 🇺🇸 Colonial Rebels Make Unilateral Declaration Of Independence.

 🇺🇸 Postal service of the Thirteen Colonies akaThe United States of Artificial Intelligence -

  4 July 2026 - 250th anniversary of the illegal unilateral declaration of independence by the British colonists in North America - 4 stamps, 1 miniature sheet containing a single stamp and 1 label without value inscribed on it but sold for £5 in a special pack. The stamps show the rebel leaders debating the so-called ‘Declaration of Independence’, the rebel armed forces commander, Washington, crossing the Delaware river with his troops prior to the Battle of Trenton, the Battle of Yorktown where His Majesty’s forces surrendered and HM King George III discussing the loss of the colonies after Yorktown. The miniature sheet includes the King George III stamp with a depiction of the traitor Benjamin Franklin in the margin and the valueless label depicts the treacherous rebel army leader George Washington. Designed by Gemini. Rating:- *****.

Despite the illegality of the current regime in our 13 North American colonies we say “Happy 250th birthday” to the USA!

Meanwhile the postal service of United States of America itself is commemorating the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence by issuing a stamp featuring a hamburger which you can neither eat nor lick as it’s a self-adhesive stamp. From Washington to Hamburger, the story of a nation.

  Below is depicted a copy of the American rebels’ Declaration of Independence rediscovered recently in the British National Archives, one of only 11 surviving copies printed in New Hampshire. The document was seized by the Royal Navy on Christmas Eve 1776 when HMS Raisonable captured an American privateer, the Dalton, off the coast of Portugal, after pursuing it for seven hours -

2907. 🇲🇹 Malta’s Europa Stamp.

 

🇲🇹 MaltaPost -

9 May 2026 - EUROPA, 70th anniversary of Europa stamps - 1 stamp and 1 booklet containing 5 identical stamps. Designed by Klaus Welp and lithographed by Printex and perforated 14. Rating:- **. A horrible, tedious and incomprehensible design brings Europa stamps to an all time low - at least MaltaPost is only issuing a single stamp on this occasion.

🇮🇲 Isle Of Man Post Office -

7 May 2026 - 250th anniversary of the rebellion of Britain’s North American colonies - 6 stamps. Designed by Glazier Design and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 11.5. The stamps depict Manx people involved in the conflict. Rating:- ****.

🇲🇺 Mauritius Post -

2026 - Freshwater flora (reprint with 2026 imprint) - 1 stamp.Lithographed. Rating:- ***.

2026 - Seashells of Mauritius (reprint with 2026 imprint) - 1 stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.

2026 - Reprinted definitive, extinct species of birds with 2026 imprint in lower border (previously issued with 2024 imprint) - 1 stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.

  The above illustrations of the Mauritius stamps are taken from the internet auction site of Spectre of Stamps which are offering them for sale.

2781. 🇬🇧 Royal Mail New Issue Features Ducks.

 

New issues -

🇬🇧 Royal Mail -

11 September 2025 - Ducks (domestic and wild) - 10 stamps in 2 se-tenant strips of 5 (£12.85) and 1 Collectors sheet containing 10 different stamps with attached labels (£14.05).Designed by Michael O’Shea and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 14 x 14.5. Rating:- *. Quite attractive but another pointless set.

One that got away -

🇬🇧 Royal Mail -

4 September 2025 - 1100th  anniversary of the Coronation of Athelstan, the first King of England who ruled from 924 to 939AD. He united the Kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex, building on the work of his father, Edward The Elder (son of Alfred The Great) and aunt, Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, as well as adding the Viking kingdoms in Northumbria to form a fully United England. He defeated an invasion by a coalition of Scots, Irish Vikings and Strathclyde Britons at the Battle of Brunanburh in 934 and effectively became overlord of the whole of Britain. Though some territory was lost in the north, after Athelstan’s  death, his successors, Edmund I and Eadred, eventually restored the lost territories and established a permanently united Kingdom of England.

Extraordinary, isn’t it? that those who choose the subjects to be featured on Royal Mail stamps decide to issue British stamps depicting Peppa Pig, Batman, Peanuts and a forgettable Antipodean rock music band should choose to ignore a pivotal event and figure in English and British history. Well, given what has happened with British stamp issues in recent years I suppose it isn’t surprising at all. 

It’s hard to think that a figure with similar historical importance as Athelstan has for England would not be commemorated philatelicly by other countries on such an important anniversary. But that’s the state of things at present. 

Regardless, here’s Athelstan as depicted on a playing card from a set depicting English and British monarchs from Alfred The Great to Elizabeth The Great.