1711. 🇳🇬🇧🇩 Joint Nigeria-Bangladesh Issue In Prospect.

🇳🇬🇧🇩 In an extremely helpful comment at the end of Blog 1697, Nejmeddine Boudaren of Aurescollections has very kindly informed us that NIPOST, the postal service of Nigeria, is intending to release a joint stamp issue with the postal service of Bangladesh in August 2020 on the subject of the countries’ bilateral relations. Further details are awaited.
  Nejmeddine also points out that the Senegal COVID-19 issue mentioned in an addendum to Blog 1697 is accompanied by a 5000F miniature sheet and 1000F stamp printed in sheets of 25.
  Very many thanks to Nejmeddine for this helpful and interesting information.

🇮🇪 An Post, the postal service of the Republic Of Ireland, issued a single stamp on 30 July 2020 to commemorate the Centenary of the birth of Liam Cosgrave who was the Irish prime minister from 1973 to 1977. I do not yet have further details about the issue but I suspect that the painting used in the design is that which the artist Edward McGuire painted in 1982. Rating:- ****.

🇻🇨 IGPC has added a pair of miniature sheets (one containing 4 stamps and the other a single stamp) to its internet site with the name of St Vincent And The Grenadines printed on them. These make up the first issue of 2020 for the country with the stated date of issue being 5 March 2020. The species is found in The Caribbean area. Rating:- 0.

A second issue also with a stated date of issue of 5 March 2020 has been announced but without any illustrations. The subject of this second issue is Bromeliads and the issue is made up of 2 parts - 4 stamps ($4, $5, $6 and $7) and 2 x $8 but it is not clear whether these items are issued in miniature sheets as would usually be the case or sold from ordinary sheets.

🇰🇳 The single 30c stamp commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi from St Kitts which was first mentioned by IGPC several months ago has reappeared now in its June 2020 list but still without a stated date of issue.

🇮🇳 A new My Post stamp was released by India Post on 26 July 2020 on the subject of myGov which is described as a “citizen engagement platform founded by the Government of India to promote the active participation of Indian citizens in their country’s governance and development. It is aimed at creating a common platform for Indian citizens to crowdsource governance ideas from citizens”. As usual this stamp is sold at a premium in a sheetlet of 12 stamps with attached labels.

Addenda. 

Response to comments below - To Brian Warren. Thank you very much Brian for your helpful information which you’ve kindly submitted in your comment. Best wishes, WK.

     To Aurescollections. Thank you very much, Nejmeddine,  for that piece of information and I and, I’m sure, many other collectors will be very interested in the news about the Nigeria issue and a sight of the scans when they become available. Best wishes, WK.

1697. 🇸🇸 New Stamps Soon From South Sudan?

🇸🇸 A comment on Stamp Boards by mpstamps has drawn my attention to the South Sudan Stamp Collectors Facebook page where Leo Van Dar Velden from whom I’ve purchased some excellent stamps in the past, unobtainable elsewhere, and who is a great expert on the stamps of South Sudan and also has links with the country, comments that he expects that the postal service of South Sudan will release a new set of stamps later in July 2020.

  He reports that a new issue titled ‘Struggle against COVID-19 pandemic:Tribute to Healthcare personnel” will be released and that it is part of a joint issue based on a common design by South Sudan and some other African countries. The South Sudan stamp design Committee has made alterations to the basic design to meet local needs and the issue will be made up of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Leo Van Der Velden reports that other countries participating in this omnibus series include Mali, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau and St Thomas and Prince. He reports that some countries are assumed to have already released their issues and he includes an illustration of stamp from the CAR with a first day cancellation (27 April 2020) applied to it.

  At this point alarm bells begin to ring as all the countries listed above have postal services which use the notorious Stamperija agency to produce and market their very numerous and frequently awful philatelic products. This issue was raised in a comment on the South Sudan stamp collectors Facebook page but Leo Van Der Velden reassures that Stamperija has not been involved with the South Sudan issue. The basic design in slightly different forms is illustrated below on issues from St Thomas and Prince, Niger, Djibouti and CAR. Other products accompany the basic stamp - from St Thomas and Prince there are a prestamped postcard and a miniature sheet containing a single stamp, from Niger there are another stamp (depicting Chinese health workers and not Africans) printed as a se-tenant pair with the basic design stamp, a miniature sheet containing both stamps and a stamp booklet and from Djibouti 2 other stamps (one depicting a health worker and the other an armed soldier - neither look African) printed as a se-tenant trio in sheetlets of 9 (3 x 3) and a single stamp miniature sheet depicting what look again like Europeans rather than Africans. The South Sudan designs themselves are awaited.

  Most of the above items are currently being offered for sale on an internet auction site by what appears to be an Algerian dealer, Aurescollections, which specialises in the stamps of some Francophone African countries. The dealer’s shop has a not insignificant number of Stamperija philatelic products for sale but pleasingly it appears that Aurescollections does not have any link at all with Stamperija. 

  South Sudan remains an applicant to join The Commonwealth and as the political and military situation in the country seems to be gradually stabilising the day may draw nearer when it is admitted to the organisation. I therefore continue to watch what is happening with the country’s very infrequent stamp issues and am pleased to read that an interesting new issue relevant to it and every country will soon be released. But one can not help but be anxious if there are hints that Stamperija might be lurking in the background.

  Finally I heartily recommend requesting to be admitted to the South Sudan Stamp Collectors Facebook page which is a source of invaluable knowledge on the subject of South Sudan stamps.

Addendum. Reply to Aurescollections (see below). Thank you very much for your comment. It is immensely helpful and makes it clear that although Aurescollections sometimes sells stamps from African countries which in recent years have allowed Stamperija to produce philatelic products in their name these particular stamps are nothing to do with Stamperija and Aurescollections is selling them as real stamps produced by those African countries. I think people were concerned about these issues but your comment has clarified their status and made it clear just how interesting they are. Of course the upcoming South Sudan issue is particularly interesting and collectors will look forward to news about it and if other Anglophone countries participate in the issue they will be of great interest to those who collect the stamps of Commonwealth countries. While I understand that your main interest is in the stamps of Algeria it is pleasing to discover a dealer who also makes available new issues from Africa which are often hard to track down and though this Blog is principally interested in stamps of the Commonwealth postal administrations I shall enjoy following your shop and seeing if any fascinating items come up for sale on it which otherwise collectors might not know about or be unable to obtain. The real new issues of Africa are always interesting and it is frequently hard to find out information about them. Once more, thank you very much for your extremely helpful comment. I would be very pleased if at any time you have news of new African stamps relevant to this Blog if you would consider being kind enough to leave a comment to make us aware of them. As I say, obtaining news of African new issues is very problematical and I am always grateful for input from others who have their noses to the ground. I look forward to seeing which other countries are participating in the COVID-19 issue. 

Best wishes, WK.

Addendum 2 - New items were offered for sale by Aurescollections on an internet website on 19 July 200, this time from the postal service of Senegal which certainly has no connections with Stamperija. The issue in the omnibus design was made up of a 500F value (sold it appears only in booklets of 10 with a date at the lower right hand border of the pane of 20 July 2020 which I assume to be the first day of issue) and a 1000F value in both perforate and imperforate formats.

  I have seen no further news of an issue from South Sudan yet.

535. Kenya Commemorates Don Bosco; New Issues From IGPC, Universal Mail, Post And Go's, South Asia.

  Kenya Post issued 1 stamp and 1 miniature sheet on 1 February 2015 to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco. Don Bosco was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who dedicated his life to helping street children and disadvantaged youth. He was canonised as a Saint in 1934:-

  The March 2015 list of IGPC issues wth the name of Commonwealth countries printed on them is not long this month:-

  

  St. Kitts - 31 December 2014 - Sunflowers (part 2) - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet (see Blog 521):-

  St. Vincent And The Grenadines - 2 March 2015 - "Taipei 2015" Philatelic Exhibition", sites and scenes of Taiwan - 1 sheetlet of 7 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet:-

   1 January 2015 - Centenary of the First World War, The Battle of The Somme - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Why the Battle of The Somme should be commemorated this year rather than in 2016 which will be the actual centenary year is a mystery to me:-

  Ghana - 2015 (no date given) - Horses part 1 - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and. 1 m.s. (see Blog 529):-

    Not all African or Caribbean post offices allow themselves to be exploited by philatelic agents who produce philatelic products in their name so that such "stamps" feature subjects which have no relevance to them. Contrast the "Battle of The Somme" items depicted above with St. Vincent's name printed on them and which feature designs which demonstrate that no attempt has been made to relate the events on The Somme in 1916 to St. Vincent itself with the stamps depicted below which were issued by Senegal to commemorate the First World War anniversary and which clearly depict subjects of direct relevance to Senegal and its role in the World War I.

   I do not often feature stamps of countries outside The Commonwealth in this Blog but this Senegal set makes the point that those who produce stamps from which they aim to extract a lot of money from collectors can produce extremely interesting stamps if they do the research rather than randomly choose subjects which are wholly irrelevant to those countries whose names are printed on the "stamps":-

  India Post is planning the following issues in the near future:-

  20 - 22 March 2015 - The Indian Ocean and Rajendra Chola I

  27 March 2015 - Engineers India Ltd

  March 2015 - Old Seminary Kottayam

  18 April 2015 - Patna High Court

  April 2015 - BHEL.

  Barely a day seems to go by without news of yet another Royal Mail stamp issue in general and "Post And Go" issue in particular (see recent Blogs 531, 532 and 534). Now there is further news of even more "Post And Go" exhibition souvenir labels - "Collectors' strips" of 6 labels in both the Machin Head and Union Jack designs will be released, both with additional inscriptions, to coincide with the annual congress of the Association of Scottish Philatelic Societies which will be held in Perth on 17 and 18 April 2015. These items therefore have a limited sale period of just 2 days and each strip will cost £7. 68p (total cost £15.36p). Kiosks A003 and A006 will be used at the congress.

  Jersey Post, never able to resist a revenue-generating opportunity, will also be selling "Post And Go" labels at Perth from its JE01 kiosk. Joyous collectors will be able to buy exhibition souvenirs, with no postal validity in Scotland, in the form of Collectors' strips of 6 values in the Jersey flag design with additional inscriptions relevant to the Perth congress, "86th Scottish Congress 2015".

  The total cost of Royal Mail postally valid philatelic items (see Blog 532) issued from 1 January 2015 to 1 April 2015 has therefore increased again to £157.24p.

  

  Universal Mail United Kingdom appears to have released a further 3 "Bespoke Booklets" which are only available at the sites which are featured on the respective stamps. This gives them a status similar to the Royal Mail "Post And Go" Museum souvenirs except that Universal Mail's products are much more interesting because they feature scenes and other illustrations relevant to the site where the booklet is being sold rather than being a standard design such as the Union Jack or Queen's head with an added inscription which is the nature of the "Post And Go" souvenir labels. The subjects of the 3 new booklets are:- Madame Tussaud's, the Science Museum in London and the National Railway Museum in York.

  While these booklets make attractive souvenirs of visits to sites of tourist interest in Britain and are valid for use on postcards mailed to overseas addresses, the limitation of their sale at a single site which makes it extremely expensive both in monetary cost and time to obtain them, means that I do not include them in my collection and view them like the "Post And Go" labels as tourist souvenirs rather than true postage stamps of general availability to ordinary members of the public for use on ordinary mail (see also Blogs 395, 410 and 426).

Madame Tussaud's, London.

Science Museum, London

York Railway Museum

 On 8 April 2015 Canada Post will issue the third part of its 5 year programme of stamp issues on the subject of Canadian photography. The 7 different designs are produced as self-adhesive versions available in a $8.50c booklet of 10 stamps which includes the 5 Domestic rate stamps, a $7.20 booklet of 6 x US rate stamps and a $15 booklet of 6 x International rate stamps. The stamps are also issued in gummed format as 2 miniature sheets, one of 3 different stamps and one of 4 different stamps. 

  My main complaint about these ongoing photography stamps is that the stamps are far too small to enable one to appreciate the photographs themselves though I suppose Canada Post would argue that if one really wants to see the fine details of the photos then one can always buy the accompanying set of 7 postcards at a price of $15 which I suppose is not too bad for a collection of Canadian historical classic photographs. The stamps were designed by Stepanie Huot and lithographed by Canadian Bank Note:-

  Here's an interesting question - why would a country that has absolutely no connections with The Commonwealth issue stamps to commemorate the 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow? I have no idea except that the country is Guinea and its philatelic agents are Stamperija. A territory's lack of membership of The Commonwealth and its not participating in the Games seem to be no barrier to the release of Games-related philatelic items which have its name printed on them - that is certainly the case when it comes to Stamperija and its continuing quest to make money out of naive stamp collectors. So  I depict below more philatelic items from a Francophone country, this time Guinea. As can be seen they are well worth spending money on if only because of the excellence of their designs (you may detect a note of sarcasm in that statement). One British dealer is offering these "philatelic gems" at an incredible price of £13.55p for the sheetlet of four and £10.80p for the miniature sheet which gives a total price of £24.35p to be paid by the collector who feels he or she can not live without these philatelic masterpieces. 

  Oh, by the way, another set produced by Stamperija with Guinea's name printed on it celebrates the Asian Games (!) (total price from the same British dealer also £24.35p) - does not the philatelic agent even know in which continent its client nation is located?

  Back to reality -  I depict 2 issues from Pakistan Post which were released at the end of 2014:-

  31 December 2014 - Centenary of the death of Moulana Altaf Hussain Hali, a writer and poet in Urdu (1 stamp):-

  25 December 2014 - Joint issue with Ukraine - a fascinating se-tenant pair depicting artifacts from prehistoric sites in the 2 countries:-

  I now illustrate 2 of the stamps issued by Bangladesh in late 2014 which I have mentioned in a previous Blog and additionally illustrate 2 other issues from 2014 which I have not previously mentioned (I do not know yet the date of issue of the latter 2 stamps):-

1 December 2014 - Asian Art Biennale in Bangladesh 2014:-

  16 December 2014 - Victory Day:-

   15 December 2014 - 75th anniversary of Bangladesh Betar (the state-owned radio broadcasting organisation in Bangladesh):-

  2014 - 50th anniversary of television in Bangladesh:-

  26 January 2015 - International Customs Day - (see Blog 517):-

  The latest Commonwealth philatelic products to have been announced by Stamperija have the name of Maldives printed on them. The "date of issue" of these items, on the subject of Wildlife of the Indian Sub-continant, is stated to have been 28 January 2015 and the "issue" is made up of the usual 10 sheetlets, each containing 4 different "stamps" and 10 accompanying miniature sheets. This time the themes are Owls, Snow leopards, Butterflies, Turtles, Fish, Asian elephants, Parrots, Tigers, Rare monkeys and Dolphins. Most of the featured creatures are not found on the land of or in the waters around Maldives.

  In previous blogs (524 and 532) I have depicted some stamps of the upcoming 10  "Comedians" set due for issue by Royal Mail on 1 April 2015 and the remaining stamps are depicted below:-