648. Hong Kong's 2016 Programme Includes Olympics Stamps.

   Hongkong Post has revealed its philatelic programme for 2016. Notably there will be 4 stamps and 2 miniature sheets to commemorate the Olympic Games which are being held in Rio De Janeiro. This is the first set for this event the designs of which I have seen publicised (see below for date of issue). It is hard to believe that 3 years have already elapsed since the London Games made philatelically memorable by the very large number of stamps released by Royal Mail to commemorate the British gold medal winners in both the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games. Hopefully we will not see anything like that ever again. The programme is:-

    

   16 January - Lunar New Year (Year of the Monkey) - 4 stamps, 2 miniature sheets, 1 silk miniature sheet and "Heartwarming stamps":-

    

    16 January - End of Year of the Ram and start of the Year ofThe Monkey - 1 miniature sheet:-

    22 February - Centenary of  Girl Guides in Hong Kong - 4 stamps and 2 miniature sheets:-

   31 March - Public architecture in Hong Kong - 6 stamps and 2 miniature sheets:-

    14 April - Centenary of Hong Kong St. John Ambulance Brigade - 4 stamps and 2 miniature sheets:-

  10 May - World Heritage in China, 5th issue - the Grand Canal - 1 miniature sheet:-

    8 June - Hong Kong toys (1940s - 1960s) - 6 stamps and 2 miniature sheets:-

   

 6 July - 57th International Mathematical Olympiad 2016 - 1 miniature sheet:-

    5 August - Olympic Games, Rio De Janeiro - 4 stamps and 2 miniature sheets (see above)

    6 September - "A Tribute to Teachers" - 4 stamps and 2 miniature sheets:-

   13 October - Hiking trails - the Lantau Trail - 12 stamps, 1 miniature sheet and 1 booklet of self-adhesive stamps:-

    12 November - 150th Birth anniversary of Dr. Sun Yat-sen - 4 stamps, 2 miniature sheets and 1 prestige booklet:-

    6 December - Hong Kong Museums collection - pencil drawings by Kong Kai-ming -  6 stamps and 2 miniature sheets:-

  This week from Stamperija .... Maldives has once more been chosen to have its name appended to various products which take the usual format of 10 sheetlets each containing 4 different "stamps" along with 10 accompanying miniature sheets. Following on from the previous issue, described in Blog 639, which included items which depicted Christian saints and a painting of prostitutes, Stamperija has chosen to include provocative pictures of the American actress Marilyn Monroe which hardly seems appropriate on items which represent a devoutly Islamic country such as Maldives. 

  Other subjects in this collection are the Birth of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, 175th anniversary of the Penny Black, 155th anniversary of the Pony Express, 25th anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela from prison, 105th Birth anniversary of Mother Theresa, International Year of Light, Scouting in Maldives 1963 - 2015 (so that would be the 52nd anniversary - well, why not?), Achievement of Queen Elizabeth II in becoming the longest reigning British monarch and, finally, the 330th Birth anniversary of George Frederick Handel (German composer). Rating:- 0.

  The postal administration of Namibia, Nampost, issued a set of 4 stamps on 1 October 2015 on the subject of the group of birds called coursers. The as usual excellent issue was designed by Anja Denker. Rating:- *****.

578. Stamperija Features The Sacred and The Profane.

  On 2 June 2015 Australia Post will issue a set of 4 stamps and various other items as detailed in Blog 555 on the subject of "Islands of Australia". The featured sites are Bruny Island in Tasmania, Phillip Island in Victoria, Lady Musgrave Island in Queensland and the Buccaneer Archipelago in Western Australia:-

  The Gibraltar Stamps website has announced that it is now offering Collectors' strips of Post And Go labels for sale at a price of £6.24p and states that it is "now very proud to have joined the Post and  Go family". The website gives the date of issue as being 13 May 2015, the opening day of the Europhilex Stamp Exhibition 2015 in London, where Gibraltar Flag Post And Go labels were dispensed from IAR kiosk GI01 (see Blogs 570 and 574).

  The illustrations of the Collectors' strip show that the labels on sale on the website originate from the back office kiosk B002 which is situated in Bristol in England which is 1599.5 miles (by ferry and road) from Gibraltar. That's an awfully long distance for a Gibraltarian to travel if he or she wants to put a coin in the kiosk and buy a Post And Go label/stamp for use on a letter which of course has to be posted back home in Gibraltar (another journey of 1599.5 miles) and would not be valid for postage in Bristol.

   It really is complete nonsense. This really does seem like an Alice In Wonderland concept at least until a kiosk is established in Gibraltar itself - I have seen nothing to suggest that there is a prospect of that happening in the near future.

  The Cayman Islands postal service has released a set of 4 stamps and 4 accompanying booklets as the second in a series on the subject of local heroes. I do not yet know the precise date of issue:-

   Meanwhile Stamperija carries on regardless and has announced its latest release of philatelic products, this time with the name of Solomon Islands printed on them. There are the usual 10 sheetlets each containing 4 different "stamps" as well as 10 accompanying miniature sheets which feature an eclectic and random list of subjects which may or may not have anything to do with the Solomon Islands. For the record (and no other reason) the subjects featured in this latest outpouring are:- The Vietnam War, the Second World War, Alessandro Volta, the Wright brothers, Singapore 2015 World Stamp Exhibition, the Penny Black (see Blog 572), Taipei 2015 Philatelic Exhibition (wildlife of Taiwan - see Blog 576), Pope Benedict XVI, Mother Theresa and (presumably just to show Stamperija has a sense of humour and features on its products not only the Sacred - Pope and Mother Theresa - but also the Profane) Marilyn Monroe in a scantily clad and provocative state. The "date of issue" of these items is stated to have been 24 May 2015:-

Stamperija's latest offerings...

...the Sacred...

...the Even More Sacred...

...and the Profane...