2124. 🇿🇲 More clarity on Zambia Issues

 

New issues.

🇿🇲 Zambia Post -

Since mentioning the Zambia Post surcharges in Blog 2122 Steven Zirinsky who is offering these items for sale on his internet shop site has made a comment on Stampboards saying, “As for Zambia, these are not 2022 issues. They were issued in 2016. Zambia has not issued anything since. And mail does get through. Takes four weeks”.

  Robert, to whom many thanks, has also kindly left a very helpful comment on a recent edition of this Blog on the subject of these surcharges and I reproduce it here to draw readers’ attention to it:-

I think in his comment, Robert probably means ‘Aardwolf’ rather than ‘Aardvark’ as I can not find, quite surprisingly, any Zambian stamps in my collection featuring an aardvark and, if so, the stamp he mentions has recently been offered by Steven Zirinsky. The others he mentions are illustrated above and below:-

  Thank you again for the input. It is always so helpful to receive information particularly on issues such as these surcharges which are the workhorses of the philatelic world in a number of Commonwealth countries. Such issues may become more common - and often not be announced to the philatelic world - as the full effects of the current financial problems affecting the world become apparent and postal services can not afford to pay for the printing of postage stamps. It will be interesting to see what happens in Sri Lanka, whose economy is so blighted that the situation has brought down the country’s president, as regards the future of its postal service and the issue of new stamps. Even the ‘big hitters’ - Royal Mail, Australia Post and so on - may see a big fall in their sales of philatelic items and collectables to the point where they are no longer worth producing as more and more people decide it’s more important to be able to heat their homes this coming winter than it is to possess an expensive ‘Collectors sheet’ depicting comic book characters. 

  The truth is that postage stamps are no longer needed to any great extent as letter writing gives way to the sending of the cheaper, faster, easier E-mail and if they are mainly produced for stamp collectors or collectible hoarders who can no longer afford them or have greater priorities such as the price of basic necessities then we may see many other postal administrations go the way that Steven Zirinsky tells us that Zambia has taken and go years without a new stamp issue or perhaps never ever issue one again.

  Take for instance this fascinating cover I received yesterday from Pakistan. It is a small package which contained a modest number of new stamps. Firstly, there are no postage stamps used on it but there is an interesting bar coded label inscribed PAKISTAN POST which I assume to be related to the packet’s registration. And secondly (though this digresses from the subject) there is some lovely tape inscribed ‘Home Office and ‘Border Force’ applied at one end where customs officials must have opened the packet to ensure there were no dubious items therein as well, I guess, to ascertain the true value of the contents. While I am basically a  stamp collector I am always delighted to add a few interesting covers to my collection if they contribute to telling the story of a country’s postal services.

:

🇬🇬 Guernsey Post -

Issues inscribed’Alderney’ - 

24 August 2022 - 175th anniversary of the Alderney breakwater - 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 4 stamps. The miniature sheet of the previously reported issue (see Blog 2118) is now illustrated below. Rating:- ****.

🇸🇬 Singapore Post -

8 August 2022 - ‘A Green and Resilient Singapore’ - further details awaited.

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.

955. Malta George Cross, Guernsey Cruise Ships And Namibia Rabbits.

  🇲🇹 Malta Post issued one of its greeting stamps depicting a map of Malta with an attached label which commemorated the 75th anniversary of the award of the George Cross to the island on 15 April 2017. Rating:- ***.

  A similar such item will be issued on 11 May 2017 to commemorate Malta Post's participation in the Essen 2017 stamp fair.

  🇳🇦 Nam Post, the postal service of Namibia, issued a pair of stamps on the subject of local hares and rabbits on 15 April 2017. The delightful designs are by Helge Denker. Rating:- *****.

  🇬🇬 The first of the Guernsey Post visiting cruise ship Post and Go stamps have now been issued and are being offered for sale on an internet auction site. Some of these ships are enormous and the thought of what would happen if the passengers from some of these behemoths all suddenly descended on Smith Street post office wanting to dispense their souvenirs from kiosk GG01 is truly mind-boggling. The first 2 ships are:-

   21 April 2017 - Caribbean Princess (Princess Cruises):-

   22 April 2017 - Azura (P & O Cruises):-

  The next cruise ship to visit Guernsey will be Le Soleal on 26 April and after that will be Caribbean Princess again on 2 May. That will give us chance to see for the first time how Guernsey Post deals with a ship's return visit.

  🇼🇸 A commentator on Stamp Boards has indicated that an informed source has revealed that Samoa Post has suspended the issue of any more stamps on its behalf by Philatelic Collector Inc. Princestamps states that the Samoan postal service took the action because PCI was not "issuing many suitable supplies, a lack of supplies locally and a high number of expensive and irrelevant issues that were drawing the Samoa name into disrepute".

  Interestingly, if one visits the Samoa Post website and enters the Philately Services section a list of pre-Philatelic Collector issues is shown and some of them are shown on a stock list - no PCI issues are mentioned on the site.

  Meanwhile, in the same thread on the subject of the need or otherwise for very high face value stamps, the expert Steven Zirinsky delivered what sounded like less positive news. He wrote, "I think you will soon see values from various countries that make this $90 value (from the previously reported issue by British Virgin Islands) pale in comparison. In fact, I know it. And they will be real. And they will be used primarily on large Parcel Mail because the meter machine broke down and no one bothers to fix them any more. But maybe I have said too much" 

  He then goes on to advise readers to "watch my newsletter or Linn's or Stanley Gibbons for an article by me in about a month's time".

  This seems like a very gloomy prophesy by Steven Zirinsky and we await the bombshell when it is dropped. It is interesting that the Stanley Gibbons Catalogue editor has recently been commenting on his approach to very high face value stamps and I guess we must now put it in the context of the article which Steven Zirinsky tells us is soon to be published in Stanley Gibbons Monthly. Presumably when he wrote about his ideas about listing very high face value stamps the editor was aware of what Steven Zirinsky had written in his article which he has foreshadowed in Stamp Boards and the editor is clearly thinking of how to deal with, as Zirinsky has written, "values ... that make this $90 pale in comparison".

  🇮🇳 India Post released at last its miniature sheet on the subject of Coffee on 23 April 2017. It is said to have a faint aroma of coffee attached to it. Rating:- ***.