2282. 🇫🇯 Fiji Notes Bangladesh Stamp Exhibition.

 

New issues.

🇫🇯 Fiji Post -

29 September 2023 - Bangladesh International Stamp Exhibition, 29 September to 2 October 2023 - 1 miniature sheet containing 2 different circular stamps (one depicting Mohandas Gandhi and the other Sheikh Mujibur Rahman). Lithographed. Rating:- *****.

🇮🇲 Isle Of Man Post Office -

6 November 2023 - ‘Back to the Moon’ - 8 stamps. Designed by Glazier Design using images from TBC NASA & BIG. Lithographed by bpost and perforated 11.5. Rating:- *.

14 November 2023 - Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla - 7 stamps. Designed by Glazier Design and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 13.5. Rating:- ****.

836. Post And Go At The Conservative Conference And Shakespeare Centre.

  India Post issued a single stamp on 6 October 2016 to commemorate the induction of the Lockheed-Martin C-130 J-30 Hercules Aircraft into the Indiam Air Force. This is an interesting stamp with a well chosen photograph of the aircraft on the ground with clouds of dust blowing around dramatically behind it. Rating:- ****.

  There has been a recent Royal Mail Post and Go surprise - a kiosk,  M007, was set up at the Royal Mail stand at the autumn annual Conference of the Conservative Party, held in Birmingham International Conference Centre from 2 to 5 October, and post and go stamps were dispensed with added location-specific inscriptions. Strips of the 6 "Postal Heritage" stamps and of the "Machin Head" designs were dispensed with the added inscription "Birmingham/2016".

  Apparently, Royal Mail also set up a stand at the Liberal Democrat Annual Autumn Conference which was held from 17 to 20 September in Preston and will also have a stand at the Scottish National Party Conference next week from 13 to 15 October. I have read nothing to suggest that a Post and Go kiosk dispensing site-specific stamps was in operation at the Liberal Democrat Conference nor whether there will be a kiosk at the Scottish Nationalist meeting.

  A photograph taken at last year's Conservative Conference held in Manchester shows that a Post and Go kiosk was located there along with a post box and a life-sized cardboard cut-out figure of the former British prime minister, David Cameron, but I have never seen that reported before and certainly I have never seen any Post and Go stamps with location specific inscriptions being offered for sale from that meeting - so presumably none were produced.

  The use of kiosks at political conferences would seem to be a new departure for Royal Mail especially if added inscriptions are applied to the  stamps dispensed at these meetings. The conferences of the big parties in particular are attended by thousands of conference delegates so such issues are accessible to the many people attending the conferences and therefore may be viewed as serving postal needs and thus should probably have a home in the collections of collectors of British and/or Post and Go stamps. Rating:- *****.

  But that's not all. It has been announced that Post and Go machine A009 will be installed at the Shakespeare Centre in Stratford-upon-Avon and will be operational from 1 November 2016. This is a very busy tourist site with tens of thousands of visitors from all around the world every year so the machine has a good chance of receiving considerable usage from those who wish to send postcards to home from Shakespeare's birthplace. The machine will dispense the "symbolic flowers" and Machin Head stamps with the additional inscription "Shakespeare Birthplace Trust". Rating:- *****.

  But that's not all. Post and Go kiosk A011 be operational at the Royal Corps of Signals at Blandford Forum from 31 October 2016. Labels in the Machin Head and Union Jack designs will be dispensed with the added inscription "Royal Signals" and with an added logo. Rating:- ***.

But that's not all. Labels dispensed from Royal Navy kiosks, though not those at the Fleet Air Arm and Submarine locations, now have the added inscription "Trafalgar Day" whichis being applied to them from 23 September to 23 October 2016. 

  Then on 24 October 2016 until 13 November 2016 the "Poppy" Post and Go stamps will be reintroduced and dispensed by NCR kiosks at ordinary post offices and IAR kiosks at Enquiry offices, the Postal Museum and Royal Navy sites. 

  The Hibernating animals stamps in 4 designs (see Blog 827) will be put on sale on 14 November 2016 and be sold from NCR kiosks in post offices and from IAR kiosks at Enquiry offices and the The Postal Museum.

  It is planned that kiosks will be sited temporarily at the following philatelic exhibitions during 2017:-

  15 - 18 February 2017 - Spring Stampex, Business Design Centre, London

  21 - 22 April 2017 - 88th Scottish Congress, Perth 

  8 July 2017 - MIDPEX, The Warwickshire Exhibition Centre

  13 - 16 September - Autumn Stampex, Business Design Centre

Post scriptum:- I have found a photograph of the Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, on his website  which was taken at the 2016 Conference in Preston (see above) which depicts him at the Royal Mail exhibition stand holding a large facsimile of one of the Beatrix Potter stamps - he is the Member of Parliament for South Lakes. Although 2 post boxes can be seen in the photograph there's no evidence of a Post and Go kiosk in the part of the stand that can be seen in the photo.

  I think that Royal Mail must also have had a stand at the Labour Party Conference since there is a quote from David Gold, Royal Mail's director of public affairs and policy, about Royal Mail's attendance at political conferences, "We've had a lot of shaking hands ....it's a very efficient way of getting around.  I have no regrets about being at all four; it was definitely the right thing to do".

   I suppose that we can deduce that the fourth must have been the Labour Conference in Liverpool from 25 to 28 September. Unfortunately I can not find any photographs of the Royal Mail stand at the Labour Conference and so have no idea if a Post and Go kiosk was set up there as well.

  An Post, the postal service of Ireland will issue 2 SOAR ("stamps on a roll") self-adhesive stamps on 3 November 2016, the designs being printed by Cartor. They have a somewhat original appearance to them featuring, as they do, religious subjects. Rating:- ****.

  An Post issued a block of four stamps on 6 October 2016 which commemorates the Commissioners of Irish Lights. The set was designed by Vermillion Design and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 13.5. Rating:- *****. A €13 "Prestige booklet" was also released as part of the issue.

831. Dead Sheep.

  A couple of days ago I passed a very enjoyable evening in the audience of the play "Dead Sheep" by Jonathan Maitland which is now on tour having enjoyed a successful run in London. The play, often very funny, told of the relationship between the former British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, and Sir Geoffrey Howe, who served her loyally in senior governmental roles for many years but eventually was instrumental in bringing about her political downfall by delivering a devastating speech in The House of Commons after he had resigned from her government.

  While Margaret Thatcher has by now been depicted on numerous stamps, I can think of only one philatelic item which has featured Sir Geoffrey Howe and this was issued by the most surprising of countries - China. 

  Sir Geoffrey appears in a photograph on a postcard issued by the Chinese Post Office which commemorated the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong which led eventually to the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. Sir Geoffrey can be seen standing behind Mrs. Thatcher and to the right of her.

  I don't suppose Howe will ever make an appearance on a Royal Mail stamp even though, as Chancellor of The Exchequor he played an enormous role in reshaping the British economy after the disastrous years of the 1970s and being to Thatcher what Brutus was to Caesar - in other words a highly significant modern historical figure. He was an outwardly quiet figure and famously it was said of him by a political opponent that being attacked by him was like being savaged by a dead sheep, hence the title of the play. Eventually, however, the dead sheep inflicted a fatal wound on the first British woman prime minister as recounted in the play. Important historical figures don't always get to be pictured on Royal Mail stamps unless they're footballers, popular musicians or children's television characters.

  Guyana Post will issue a sheetlet of 4 different stamp on 27 October 2016 to commemorate the Centenary of the discovery of bauxite in the country which was an important milestone in the country's economic history. Rating:- *****.

  News of fresh releases from the self-proclaimed "World's most respected philatelic agents", IGPC:-

  Ghana - 9 September 2016 - 30th anniversary of Voyager 2 - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

 

 Grenada - 9 September 2016 - 10th anniversary of New Horizons space probe - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

  16 September 2016 - Seabirds of the Caribbean region - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing 2 different stamps. Rating:- *.

  Grenada Carriacou And Petite Martinique - 9 September 2016 - Crabs and birds of the Caribbean region - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing 2 different stamps. Rating:- *.

  9 September 2016 - Flowers of Grenada Carriacou And Petite Martinique - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing 2 different stamps. Rating:- **.

  Guyana - 9 September 2016 - "Exploration of the exobiology of Mars" - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

  Leaving the depredations of IGPC behind us, we find that New Zealand Post has produced 2 new sets for the country's dependent territories. For the Niue Post Office there is a set of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet which commemorate Niue Language Week 2016. The issue will be released on 5 October 2016 and was designed by Jonathan Gray and lithographed by Collectables and Solutions Centre, Whanganui and perforated 13.5. Rating:- ***.

  There is also an issue on 5 October 2016 from the Tokelau postal service which commemorates Tokelau Language Week. This issue, again 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet, was designed by Richard Payne and lithographed by the Collectables and Solutions Centre and perforated 13.5. Rating:- ***.