1452. 🇮🇲 Isle Of Man’s ‘Age Of Rebellion’.

🇮🇲 The  Isle Of Man Post Office plans to issue an interesting set of 6 stamps and a £15.08p Prestige booklet on 1 July 2019 titled ‘The Age Of Rebellion’. The unusual and nicely illustrated stamps tell the story of ‘Illiam Dhône’ (Manx for ‘Brown William’ referring to his dark coloured hair), William Christian, who was appointed to be the island’s Receiver General in 1648 by the royalist Earl of Derby, the then Lord Of Mann.

  After Derby’s capture by the Parliamentarians at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, his wife, Lady Derby, tried to negotiate with them to surrender the Isle Of Man to obtain her husband’s release. A rebellion against the Derbys then broke out under the leadership of William Christian and he then opened negotiations with the Parliament and its fleet arrived in Ramsey Bay in October 1651 and landed troops under Colonel Duckenfield. Lady Derby was forced to surrender Castle Rushen and Peel Castle while Christian remained in the post of Receiver General and was made Governor of the Isle Of Man in 1656.

  Two years later, with Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector, the ruler of England, Illiam Dhône, was accused of misappropriating money and fled to London where he was arrested and imprisoned for 1 year. Afterwards he returned to Isle Of Man when Cromwell was dead and the monarchy restored but where a new Earl of Derby had him arrested on charges of high treason. At his trial he was found guilty and then executed by shooting at Hango Hill in Castletown.

  My main problem with this set is that I can not find a reason for it to be issued at this particular time - 2019 - which does not seem to coincide with any particular anniversary related to this story. The year does not contain a special anniversary such as Christian’s birth or death anniversaries, a notable anniversary of the rebellion nor anything else of relevance. It’s as though the planners of Isle Of Man stamp issues were simply casting around to try to find subjects to be featured on a new issue so that a certain total of new issues could be reached just to address a target. These offshore islands will have to come to terms with the fact that collectors do not have bottomless pockets and are not as gullible as they may think. I like this issue but I shall not buy it because at this present moment there’s no reason for it to be issued. Rating:- **.

  The issue is particularly interesting as it features a cameo portrait of Oliver Cromwell who ruled England from 16 December 1653 as Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland to 3 September 1658 when he died from natural causes including, probably, malaria. Cromwell is one of only two rulers since Henry IV who has not featured on a British/Royal Mail stamp though he played a more significant role in English/British history than many of the kings and queens who have been depicted.   Cromwell’s campaign in Ireland during the Civil War makes him such a controversial figure so that despite his historical importance Royal Mail is unlikely to issue a stamp depicting him for fear of causing offence in Ireland.

  Cromwell did make another philatelic appearance when he was depicted on a stamp released by the postal service of St Helena on 29 January 2010 which was part of an issue which commemorated the 350th anniversary of the restoration of Charles II. The set also included a stamp featuring Cromwell’s son, Richard Cromwell, who succeeded his father as Lord Protector but was wholly unsuited to the role and abdicated on 25 September 1659 to make way for rule by a Council of State. I think that that is the only stamp to depict the younger Cromwell.

  People around the world are amazed at the present carryings on in British politics but current events pale into insignificance in comparison with events in the 17th century.

674. Malawi Flag Error On New Malta CHOGM Miniature Sheet.

  From 27 to 29 November 2015, Malta will play host to the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting, usually called CHOGM. MaltaPost plans to issue a single miniature sheet on 27 November 2015 to commemorate the important event, the second time the island has played host to this meeting having done so previously in 2005. 

  No doubt The Maltese government will also be preparing to apologise to the President of Malawi on behalf of MaltaPost for the serious diplomatic offence that will be caused by the depiction of the Malawi flag on the miniature sheet - the flag included in the design is the short-lived flag used between 2010 and 2012 when it was abandoned by the then Malawian President, Mrs. Joyce Banda (see Blog of 2 June 2012).

  Stamp designers are often tempted into incorporating flags into their designs and time and time again they perpetrate errors which are likely to cause offence to other countries. Suggestion to stamp designers and postal administrations:- consult a vexillologist before passing a stamp fit to issue.

  By the way, the sheet depicts the flags of Nigeria, South Africa, Mauritius, Zambia, Bangladesh, Tonga, India, Malaysia, Solomon Islands, Pakistan, Singapore, Bahamas, Antigua And Barbuda, Belize, Tanzania, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts-Nevis, Nauru, Sri Lanka, Trinidad And Tobago, Samoa, Cyprus, United Kingdom, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Botswana, Fiji, Kiribati, Saint Lucia, Malta, Seychelles, Maldives, Lesotho, Ghana, Cameroon, New Zealand, Maldives (again), Brunei Darussalam, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Zambia (again), Canada, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Malawi (2010 - 2012), Swaziland, Mozambique and Namibia. The designer, Sean Cini, seems to have forgotten to include St. Vincent And The Grenadines and Barbados. What a mess!

  India Post issued a single stamp on 16 November 2015 on the subject of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. Rating:- ***.

  

                                          

  The postal service of Brunei Darussalam has released 2 new issues. The first issue commemorates the Golden Jubilee of the Royal Brunei Navy and is made up of 3 stamps released in a se-tenant strip. The designs feature prominently the Sultan of Brunei. Rating:- ***.

                                                 

                                                 

                                                    

                                         

 The second set is made up of 3 stamps and 1 miniature sheet and commemorates the 70th anniversary of the United Nations. I do not yet know the date of issue of either of these sets. Rating:- *.

                                         

                                         

                                        

                                                                              

  

                                         

  The Post And Go labels produced by Royal Mail in kiosks situated at the 31st Asian International Stamp Show held in Hong Kong from 20 to 23 November 2015 are now also being sold from the Royal Mail Philatelic Bureau. The labels come in 2 forms - Collectors' strips of 6 labels with the Union Jack design and with the View of Hong Kong design both with the added inscription "Hong Kong November 2015". The price from the Bureau is £7.68p per strip or £15.76p for both sets. 

   These are actually quite interesting and important sets because, according to the Bureau, "This stamp was produced using a four colour digital press instead of the original gravure printing. Royal Mail is trialling this production method to assess its viability from a quality viewpoint and the potential of shorter production runs of specific designs".

  Hence these Collectors' strips represent a new development in the printing of "British" stamps and as such I feel I should add them to my collection especially as they are freely available to the stamp buying public (even if only from the Philatelic Bureau) and they are being sold in the country where they are postally valid (unlike those dispensed from the kiosk in Hong Kong where they clearly are not postally valid and were sold only for a limited time period to a restricted number of customers i.e. those actually attending the exhibition although, of course, these items provided them with pleasing souvenirs of their visit to the exhibition. Rating:- *****.

                                                 

                                                 

                                                     

  Montserrat Philatelic Bureau Ltd. has issued 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 accompanying single stamp miniature sheet on the subject of "Beetles". This follows a recent issue on "Bees" so it looks as though there's an avid entomologist involved in choosing subjects for Montserrat's new issue programme. Whether or not the featured beetles are actually found in Montserrat I can not say and presently I do not know the date of issue. Rating:- **.