2885. 🇨🇾 Cyprus Commemorates Event Of The Greek War Of Independence.

 

New issues -

🇨🇾 Cyprus Post -

26 March 2026 - 75th anniversary of the Cyprus Red Cross - 1 stamp. Lithographed by Baltic Banknote High Security. Rating:-**.

26 March 2026 - Centenary of the Insurance Association of Cyprus  - 1 stamp. Lithographed by Baltic Banknote High Security. Rating:- **..

26 March 2026 - Bicentenary of the exodus of the free besieged of Messolonghi - 1 miniature sheet containing a single stamp. Designed by Dimos Morfou. Lithographed by Baltic Banknote High Security. Rating:- *****.

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Post -

26 March 2026 - Jathika Namal Uyana - 1 stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.

New issue programmes-

Spectre of Stamps has published the following new issue programmes for various Commonwealth postal authorities - 

Postal service of Kiribati -

Date not specified - Anniversaries - 250th anniversary of the third voyage of Captain Cook, 250th anniversary of the rebellion in the American colonies, 150th anniversary of Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone and Birth centenary of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Postal service of Barbados -

Date not specified -

Rum shops

60th anniversary of Independence 

Connections between Barbados and Carolina

Postal service of St Helena -

Date not specified - New definitive series (endemic invertebrates).

1118. 🇧🇧 Barbados' New Issue Full Of Energy.

  🇧🇧 The Barbados Postal Service issued an interesting set of 4 stamps on 6 November 2017 on the subject of Renewable energy. This is a pleasingly straightforward and relatively inexpensive set. Rating:- ****.

  🇭🇰 Hong Kong Post will issue a set of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 6 stamps on the subject of Bamboo carvings as part of its ongoing "Hong Kong Museum Collections" series. The issue was designed by Shirman Lai and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 13.5. Rating:- *****.

  🇵🇰 Pakistan Post issued a miniature sheet containing 2 stamps on 9 November 2017 as a joint issue with Turkey to commemorate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the 2 countries. The stamps depict the national poets of the 2 countries. The issue was designed by Adil Salahuddin and lithographed by National Security Printing Company, Karachi. The poets depicted on the stamps are Allama Muhammad Iqbal (Pakistan) and Mehmet Akif Ersoy (Turkey). Rating:- ***.

  🇸🇱 The latest paraphilatelic products to be sold by Lithuania-based Stamperija have the name of that unfortunate country, Sierra Leone, printed on them. The products take the usual form of 10 "sheetlets", each containing 4 different "stamps" and 10 accompanying "miniature sheets". The featured subjects this time are:- Waterbirds, Endangered animals, Mushrooms, Red Cross, Piranhas, Penguins, National parks of Sierra Leone, Sharks, Seals and Sea lions. The "date of issue" is stated to have been 29 September 2017. Rating:- 0.

904. India Post's Rapid Descent Into Excess.

  🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Post has released 3 new issues since the beginning of the year - each a single stamp issue.

  5 January - Golden Jubilee of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation - designed by Pulasthi Ediriweera. Rating:- ***.

  12 January - 30th anniversary of the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless. Designed by Pulasthi Ediriweera. Rating:- **.

  16 January - Centenary of Visakha Vidyalaya, a Buddhist Girls' school. Designed by Sanath Rohana Wickramasinghe. Rating:- **.

 

  Interestingly, Sri Lanka Post is currently advertising for foreign stamp agencies to take on the sale and promotion of Sri Lanka stamps abroad - there are one or two I pray will not be allowed to get a finger in the pie of Sri Lanka stamps - I suspect most collectors know who I mean.

  🇮🇳 India Post issued a single stamp to commemorate the Birth Centenary of Dr MG Ramachandran, the former Chief minister of Tamilnadu. Dr Ramachandran was previously depicted on an Indian stamp issued in 1990. This is yet another one of those unimaginative "head and shoulders" designs in which India Post seems to specialise. Rating:- **.

  It hardly seems credible but India Post released its next stamp issue, a Rs100 miniature sheet, on 18 January 2017, the day after the Ramachandran stamp. On the subject of "Coffee", the miniature sheet has the fragrance of coffee and this gimmick probably explains why the item has a relatively high face value for what we have come to expect from India Post. There does not seem any necessity for such an issue and it seems to reflect India Post's philatelic rapid downward spiral into excessive issuing. If I were them I should just put my stamp programme into the hands of Stamperija - less effort required to produce the same degree of excess. Rating:- 0.

  🇳🇿 Some items which I haven't mentioned recently are the "Personalised postage booklets" issued by New Zealand Post. These are self-adhesive pieces of paper which indicate the pre-payment of postage - which seems to me to be the definition of a postage stamp. New Zealand Post, however, says "As with Personalised Postage these booklets are not stamps but labels. They do not contain the words "New Zealand" or carry the official New Zealand Post unique identifier, the fern. As these are 

labels and not stamps they do not have a specific issue date. All booklets will be available for 

purchase as they are released through selected retail outlets, our website and the Collectables and 

Solutions Centre".

  Of course, that is complete rubbish. I repeat - they are gummed pieces of paper which act as a receipt for the prepayment of postage and if affixed to an envelope should ensure the carriage of that envelope i.e. Item of mail through the post. And of course every stamp has a day of issue - it may not be "an official date of issue" but there has to be a date on which the stamp becomes available for use even if it is only at a single site of purchase - the stamp has been issued on that date - it's a specific issue date no matter what New Zealand Post says about it.

  So these "labels" are postage stamps and therefore of interest to stamp collectors and are a part of a collection of the stamps of New Zealand Post which is the representative of New Zealand itself.

  Having established that, we note that a booklet of 10 x $1 stamps (2 x 5 different stamps) was issued (on a specific but not announced date) which commemorated the centenary of the New Zealand Red Cross. The booklet is being sold for $11 because $1 from that sum is donated to the New Zealand Red Cross. Rating:- ***.

  There are also 20 "Regional" booklets - 10 x $10 booklets (containing 10 x $1 stamps) and 10 x $22 booklets (containing 10 x $2.20c stamps) - each booklet contains 10 different stamps (the designs in the $10 and $22 booklets are the same) with the featured subjects being relevant to each area. The featured areas are Auckland, Canterbury, Eastern/Central North Island, Lower South Island, New Zealand iconic images, Western North Island, Top of South, Waikato, Wellington and West Coast. If a collector wishes to buy all 20 regional booklets (a total of 200 different stamps) the total cost would be NZ$320 (£186.63p). Being a collector of modern Commonwealth stamps isn't easy is it?

872. Pakistan Commemorates Rotary Centenary.

  Pakistan Post issued a single stamp on 20 November 2016 to commemorate the centenary of Rotary. The issue was designed by Mahru Arif Ali and lithographed by Pakistan Security Printing Corporation Karachi and perforated 13. The inclusion of an attractive flower makes this a pleasant design. Rating:- ***.

  Nampost, the postal service of Namibia, has announced its programme of stamp issues for 2017. As usual, it is relatively conservative with many excellent designs and beautifully produced stamps.

17 February - Centenary of Scouting in Namibia - 1 single stamp miniature sheet. Designed by Helge Denker.

9 March - Barbets (birds) of Namibia - 3 stamps. Designed by Helge Denker.

15 April - Hares and rabbits of Namibia - 2 stamps in a se-tenant pair. Designed by Helge Denker.

12 May - Quincentenary of Luther's Reformation - 1 single stamp miniature sheet. Designed by Helge Denker.

15 June - Flame lilies of Namibia - 3 stamps. Designed by Helge Denker.

18 July - Diamond trains of Namibia - 4 stamps. Designed by Elke le Roux.

1 August - Rollers (birds) of Namibia - 5 stamps. Designed by Helge Denker.

29 September - Small canines of Namibia - 5 stamps. Designed by Helge Denker.

  Pictured below is the Intelligent AR kiosk A009 which was installed recently in the gift shop at the birthplace of William Shakespeare in Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire. On 1 December 2016 the
 kiosk was dispensing Post and Go stamps in the form of the "Union Jack" design and the "Machin
head" design with the code MA15 both with the additional inscriptions which were detailed and illustrated in Blog 855.

  It's that time of the week again when Stamperija rears its ugly head again, this time with 9 "sheetlets", each containing 4 different "stamps", and 9 "miniature sheets" all with the name of Sierra Leone inscribed on them. The mixture of subjects has little if anything to do with Sierra Leone but there's no surprise in that I suppose. The featured subjects are Henri Dunant who founded the Red 

Cross, Paul Harris who founded Rotary International, Sir Winston Churchill, World Youth Day, Mother Teresa, European Football competition 2016, Cybathlon 2016 and Polo. With a total face value of Le456,000 or £64.34p these highly desirable items have a stated "date of issue" of 29 September 2016. Rating:- 0.

660. British Stamp Programme 2016; Mugabe Launches New Indian Issue.

  Having attempted to predict the 2016 Royal Mail new issue programme back in Blog 594, the real programme has now been revealed in the latest Norvic Philatelics Blog and shows that my crystal ball was rather cloudy at the time of my predictions but not entirely faulty!

  The real programme begins with an issue on 7 January which commemorates the Centenary of the Endurance Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton. 

  Then - 17 February - 500th anniversary of the Royal Mail;

  15 March - British Humanitarians (including Sir Nicholas Winton);

  5 April - Quatercentenary of the death of William Shakespeare;

  21April - 90th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II;

  17 May - "Animail"

  21 June - Centenary of the First World War;

  7 July - Music icons;

  28 July - 150th Birth anniversary of Beatrix Potter;

  16 August - Landscape Gardens; 

  2 September - 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London;

  15 September - 40th anniversary of the death of Agatha Christie;

  20 October - "To be announced";

  8 November - Christmas.

  Almost everything in this programme has featured on British stamps before (yawn, yawn) - in the past we've had Shakespeare (but this is a very notable anniversary), royal birthdays, First World War, music icons (album sleeves including Pink Floyd which, I speculate, may be featured again), Beatrix Potter, Agatha Christie, gardens and Christmas. As usual, London is singled out for a commemoration (Great Fire issue) - does Royal Mail believe that nothing worth noting has ever happened in the rest of The United Kingdom?

   As usual too, the whole panoply of pre-Tudor British history is ignored by Royal Mail - even the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings - one of the most important events ever in English history - fails to qualify for proper philatelic commemoration apart from one of those tiresome and enormously overpriced "commemorative sheets".

  The Post And Go stamps continue to be issued despite their growing lack of favour among collectors - the subjects for 2016 are eclectic - "Royal Mail Heritage Transport" (17 February), "Ladybirds" (14 September) and "Christmas" (14 November).

  New definitive values are scheduled to be released in March or April due to revised postage rates.

  So it looks like being a matter of "more of the same".

  Two miniature sheets, each of 6 different stamps, were released by India Post on 29 October 2015 to commemorate India's hosting of the Third Africa-India Forum Summit which was held from 26 to 29 October in the Indira Gandhi National Stadium Complex in New Delhi and attended by the leaders of 54 countries. The first miniature sheet was sold for Rs70 (4 x Rs5 and 2 x Rs25) and the second with the same designs but embossed in gold and silver was sold for Rs300. Three of the stamps feature wild mammals of India and the 3 others depict corresponding species from Africa. 

  The publicity launch involved the Indian primeminister, Shri Narendra Modi, and the tyrant of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, in his role of Chairman of the African Union. Rating:- *****.

  I have not yet mentioned this "Personalised" booklet which is being sold on the New Zealand Post philatelic website for $9 ( total postage of $8 + $1 donation to the New Zealand Red Cross). It has been issued some time during 2015 and contains 10 x 80c stamps in two each of 5 different designs depicting subjects relating to Red Cross activities. I presume this will be included in the annual pack of personalised stamps for 2015 which will doubtless appear in the first few months of 2016. Rating:- ***.

  You have to really want to collect Post And Go stamps/labels to be pleased with the products coming out of the Sindelfingen Stamp Fair held from 29 to 31 October 2015 (see Blog 646) since all 4 types of label being sold there by Royal Mail - Machin Head, Union Jack, Heraldic lion and Poppy - were dispensed with the added inscription "Sindelfingen October 2015", this time in new "European Collectors' strips" of 4 values with 2 extra higher values being dispensed separately - making a grand total of 24 new labels to buy. We must remember, as usual with these foreign philatelic exhibition souvenirs, that none of these items had any postal validity in the country in which they were being dispensed for a limited period of 3 days. Rating:- 0.

  Presumably we will see another 24 labels in 3 or 4 days time when Royal Mail sets up shop with its kiosks at the Paris philatelic exhibition where the same 4 designs will be put on sale with an inscription relevant to the new location.

  And matters go from bad to worse if you also add the Jersey Post Post And Go products coming out of Sindelfingen because not only did the JE01 kiosk situated there dispense the usual "Jersey Flag" labels as intended (see Blogs 646 and 658) but also in error produced "Collectors' strips" of the "Protected wildlife" labels with added "Sindelfingen" inscription. Thus Jersey Post, intentionally or otherwise, produced 12 new "Post And Go" labels at this exhibition where of course they also had no postal validity. Rating:- 0.