2960. 🇬🇧 Pets Of All Types From Royal Mail

New issues -

🇬🇧 Royal Mail -

20 August 2026 - Pets - 10 stamps issued in 2 se-tenant strips of 5 (5 x 2nd Class & 5 x 1st Class). Designed by Royal Mail Groups Ltd and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 14.5. Rating:- *.Total cost - an unusually restrained £13.55, there being no extra items such as booklets, miniature sheets, Collectors sheets etc etc.

Post scriptum - the comments below report that the photograph used for the goldfish stamp was previously used by the United Stamps Post Office in the design of one of the stamps it issued in 2016. The photograph was bespoke for use as the design for the United States stamp along with others which made up a set on the subject of Pets. The photographs for the set, including the goldfish stamp, were taken by Eric Isselée.

2958. 🇬🇧 First Look At Royal Mail Pets Stamps..

 

New issues -

🇬🇧 Royal Mail -

20 August 2026 - Pets - 10 stamps in 2 se-tenant strips (5 x 2nd class and 5 x 1st class). A local post office is showing a presentation pack of this upcoming issue on its Facebook page. Rating:- *.

🇭🇰 Hong Kong Post -

20 August 2026 - Hong Kong Past and Present, Kowloon - 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 4 stamps. Designed by Lai Wai-ting and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 13.5. Rating:- **.

🇯🇴 Jordan Post -

28 April 2026 - World Day for Safety and Health at Work - 3 stamps in a vertically se-tenant strip. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.

2886. 🇭🇰 Hong Kong Issues Children’s Stamps.

 

New issues -

🇭🇰 Hong Kong Post -

30 April 2026 - Children’s stamps, Animals in Chinese idioms - 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 4 stamps. Designed by Paul Lam & lithographed. Rating:- *.

🇲🇲 Myanmar Post -

27 March 2026 - Myanmar coffee - 1 miniature sheet containing a single stamp. Lithographed by Security Printing Works, Myanmar and designed by Myanmar Post and perforated 14. Rating:- ****.

Commonwealth countries not known to have issued, or had issued on their behalf, any legitimate postage stamps during 2026 up until the end of March- 

Anguilla 

Antigua and Barbuda 

Australia Cocos (Keeling) Islands 

Australia Norfolk Island 

Australian Antarctic Territory 

Bahamas 

Barbados 

Belize 

Bermuda 

Botswana 

British Antarctic Territory 

British Indian Ocean Territory 

British Virgin Islands 

Cameroon

Cook Islands including Rarotonga 

Cook Islands Aitutaki 

Cook Islands Penrhyn 

Dominica 

Gabon 

Grenada

Grenada Carriacou and Petite Martinique 

Guernsey Sark

Guyana 

Jamaica 

Kenya

Kingdom of eSwatini 

Kiribati 

Lesotho 

Malawi 

Maldives 

Mauritius

Montserrat 

Mozambique 

Namibia

Nevis 

New Zealand Ross Dependency 

Niue

Papua New Guinea 

Pitcairn Islands 

Rwanda

St Helena 

St Kitts/St Kitts Nevis

St Vincent and the Grenadines 

Samoa

Seychelles 

Solomon Islands 

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands 

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 March, 57 out of 88 Commonwealth philatelic entities (64.8%) have not issued, or had issued on their behalf, during 2026. This compares with 73.9% at the end of February and 76.1% at the end of March 2026.

2773. 🇭🇰 Hong Kong Commemorates Twin Panda Cubs.

 

New issues -

🇦🇪 Emirates Post (postal service of the United Arab Emirates) -

15 August 2025 - Inauguration of the first fully integrated digital government centre in Fujairah - 1 miniature shett containing 2 different stamps including one depicting Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Mohammed Al-Sharqi, Crown Prince of Fujairah. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.

🇲🇲 Myanmar Post -

20 July 2025 - Tiger preservation, noting a conference previously held in Russia - 1 miniature sheet containing 3 previously issued stamps. Lithographed by Security Printing Works (Myanmar) and perforated 14. Rating:- ***** (I do like this series of miniature sheets that Myanmar Post is currently producing).

🇭🇰 Hong Kong Post -

15 August 2025 - 1st anniversary of the birth of twin giant panda cubs in Ocean Park, Hong Kong - 6 stamps and 4 miniature sheets (2 containing all 6 stamps in gummed and self-adhesive format, 1 containing a single $10 stamp and the others a single $20 stamp. Designed by Wong Ka-Man and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 13.5. Rating:- ****.

2723. 🇬🇧 Royal Mail Commemorates 75 Years Of Narnia.

 

New issues -

🇬🇧 Royal Mail =

22 May 2025 - The Chronicles Of Narnia, 75th anniversary of the publication of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis - 8 stamps (2 se-tenant strips each of 4 different stamps), 1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps and 1 ‘Collectors sheet’ containing 10 self-adhesive stamps with attached labels depicting more illustrations by Pauline Baynes. Designed by Supple Studio using illustrations by Keith Robinson (stamps) or by Pauline Baynes (miniature sheet) and lithographed Cartor by and perforated 14.5 x 14 (stamps) or 14.5 (miniature shee).

Rating:-*****. A lovely issue, beautifully illustrated, commemorating a children’s book full of adventure written at a time when it was fun to be a child and when lots of children - even some girls (!) - loved to collect postage stamps. Lost innocence. See Blog 2716.

Cost of set - £13.60, miniature sheet £6.80 and ‘collectors sheet’ £18.20 - no chance of a schoolboy being able to afford that lot, I fear. Lost innocence indeed.