1105. 🇬🇭🇬🇩🇬🇾🇲🇸🇰🇳🇻🇨 Irrelevance And Silly Designs - It Must Be IGPC.

  🇬🇭 More products from the Beijing and New York-based philatelic agency IGPC.

  Ghana - 8 August 2017 - Chinese new year - Year of The Dog - 2 miniature sheets. Rating:- 0.

  - 11 September 2017 - Whales - 2 miniature sheets. Interestingly, the depicted species have been recorded in Ghanaian waters. Rating:- *.

  🇬🇩 Grenada - 6 October 2017 - Art by Rodrigo Diego Velasquez - 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

  🇬🇾 Guyana - 8 August 2017 - Chinese new year Year of The Dog - 2 miniature sheets. Rating:- 0.

  11 September 2017 - Sloths. While sloths are found in Guyana, bizarrely the species featured on these stamps are not! - 2 miniature sheets. Rating:- 0.

  🇲🇸 Montserrat - Diana Princess Of Wales - 31 August 2017 - 2 miniature sheets. Rating:- **.

  🇰🇳 Nevis - 28 September 2017 - The brown pelican, national bird of Nevis - 1 miniature sheet containing 6 different stamps. Rating:- ***.

  🇻🇨 St. Vincent And The Grenadines - 26 September 2017 - Death centenary of Ferdinand Graf Von Zeppelin - 2 miniature sheets. Rating:- 0.

  🇨🇦 In Blog 1098 I mentioned the 2 tête beche self-adhesive stamps released by Canada Post on 20 October 2017 on the subject of the History of Ice Hockey. An attractive gummed miniature sheet accompanied the 2 stamps. Rating:- *****.

🇧🇹 Bhutan Post issued a sheetlet of 8 different stamps and an accompanying miniature sheet on 9 October 2017 on the subject of the Blue Poppy, the national flower of Bhutan. Another attractive and interesting issue from that country. Rating:- ****.

 

  🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Post issued a single stamp on 19 October 2017 which commemorated DB Dhanapala, a pioneering Sri Lankan journalist and author. Not the most exciting stamp design. Rating:- **

949. Meanwhile, Back In Vilnius .....

  🇲🇻 🇸🇱 Writing is often carried out in trilogies and so this Blog could be viewed as the third part of just such a trilogy which started off with WOPA adding "Maldives" to the list of countries it works with and then, in response to negative comments from collectors, suspending Maldives products from its sales list. So, meanwhile, what has Stamperija been up to?

  This week, as usual, the Vilnius-based philatelic agency has announced that issues for another 3 of its client territories have been released although only one of them - Sierra Leone - is a member of The Commonwealth. Ten new issues, each made up of a sheetlet of 4 different "stamps" and 10 accompanying miniature sheets, have been released with the name of Sierra Leone printed on them. All are depicted below to give collectors an idea of the sort of products which are currently being produced and issued by Stamperija - collectors will reach their own conclusions about the number of items involved, the face value, the relevance of subject matter to Sierra Leone and the quality of design. Collectors will be able to form their own opinion about how right or wrong WOPA was to suspend its sales of issues of Maldives.

  The total face value of these 10 issues is Le792000 equivalent to £83.86p.

  The subjects featured are Chinese New Year, 20th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, 70th anniversary of the death of Paul P Harris, 500th anniversary of the Reformation, 75th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad, 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Cold War, Centenary of the first Battle of Gaza, 60th anniversary of the first space flight by an animal (the dog Laika), 180th Anniversary of Russian railways and 95th anniversary of the death of Ernest Shackleton.

  The "date of issue" is stated to have been 27 February 2017 though whether or not these items were actually sold across post office counters in Sierra Leone from that date has not been made clear. Similar issues were also announced at the same time as these "Sierra Leone" items from Maldives and Djibouti (total face value equivalent to £106.64p [Djibouti 48 stamps and 12 miniature sheets] and £76.64p [Maldives 40 stamps and 10 miniature sheets]. The total face value of this week's products is therefore £267.14p.

  Given that Stamperija releases similar items usually from 3 different territories every week and that 1000 of each may be produced (in the past the agency has boasted that its items are released in "limited editions" of 1000) this suggests the the agency attempts to market approximately £267,000 worth of "stamps" every week and £13,350,000 worth of such items annually. This does not include imperforate "deluxe" items sold at a considerable premium. Of course this attempted turnover must be weighed against the costs of design, production and paying client postal administrations for allowing Stamperija to use their countries' names on their products as well as marketing but the potential profits are extraordinarily large particularly if respectable agencies such as WOPA can be persuaded to promote sales of these products.

  Personally, I think what is depicted here fully supports WOPA's decision to suspend sales of "Maldives" items which seem to originate from the same source. My rating of these items is:- 0.

930. New Zealand's Darkest Hour.

  🇳🇿 New Zealand Post will issue the 4th part of its ongoing Centenary of the First World War commemorative series on 5 April 2017. The issue is made up of 10 different stamps issued in a sheetlet as well as a block of 6 x $1 stamps, 2 miniature sheets (one with 6 different stamps and 1 with 4 different stamps) and a $39.90c booklet which contains 12 different miniature sheets. The issue is titled "The Darkest Hour" and deals with the events of 1917 including the use of tanks in the war, the Palestine Campaign and the Battle of Passchendaele. Those interested in the theme of "Medicine on stamps" will be interested in one of the values which deals with plastic surgery and its use on some of the terribly maimed soldiers. This is an excellent and worthy set, beautifully designed by Strategy Creative of Wellington and lithographed by Southern Colour Print and perforated 14.5. Rating:- *****.

  From the sublime to the ridiculous:-

   🇲🇿 Stamperija issued a set of 14 sheetlets each containing 4 different "stamps" and 14 miniature sheets on miscellaneous subjects on 10 February 2017. The featured subjects had little or nothing to do with Mozambique which is the country whose name is printed on the items. The subjects are:- 20th anniversary of the death of Princess of Wales, Polar bears, Pandas, Minerals and volcanoes, Extinct birds, Sharks, Butterflies, 35th Anniversary of the death of Princess Grace of Monaco, 40th anniversary of the death of Charlie Chaplin, 90th Birthday of Pope Benedict XVI, 70th Anniversary of the death of Paul Harris (founder of Rotary), Commemoration of the late John Glenn, Centenary of the death of Ferdinand Von Zeppelin and the 105th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Some of the items are depicted below. Rating:- 0.