2160. A New Commonwealth Philatelic Era.

 

  Now that the remarkable state funeral of, and the period of mourning for, the late HM Queen Elizabeth II are passed and her reign of more than 70 years steps into history where she herself may become known as Elizabeth The Great, the Elizabethan philatelic era is also ended and the Carolean philatelic age begun.

  The Commonwealth, founded in 1949 with just a handful of members - United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and India - has now evolved into a unique international association of 56 countries, some of which were never linked historically to the old British Empire from which The Commonwealth was born.

  For many years the veteran stamp dealers, Stanley Gibbons, produced a catalogue, The Elizabethan, which included all the stamps issued by the various countries and territories of The Commonwealth during the reign of Queen Elizabeth as it proceeded down the years. Publication continued until, I think, the 1985 edition by which time, being entirely printed in book form and not available digitally - we were still of course in the pre-digital age - there were so many stamps to include that it was not feasible to feature all of them in an affordable single volume and publication of The Elizabethan ceased. 

  So let us start the new Carolean philatelic era with a new catalogue of Commonwealth stamps attempting to do what Gibbons’ Elizabethan did in the past - that is - to include in it all the postage stamps issued by the Commonwealth postage stamp entities during the reign of King Charles III which we date from 8 September 2022 when he succeeded to the throne. I will try to produce a list of stamps known to have been issued with a numbering system every couple of weeks or so. There will be some illustrations but many of the stamps will already have been featured in Commonwealth Stamps Opinion and so reference will be made to the edition of CSO in which the stamps were first announced and where they were illustrated to avoid repeating illustrating large numbers of stamps 

  The issues originating from exploitative philatelic agencies will not be included unless there is good reason to believe that they were sold freely to the particular philatelic entities’ general mail-sending public across ordinary local post office counters. The issues originating from IGPC  will generally be mentioned in a footnote only as will those produced and sold by Philatelic Collector Inc. Products released by Stamperija will not be included nor mentioned in footnotes unless there is good reason to believe that they were issued to address postal needs in the countries whose names are printed on them.

  Generally now, ‘countries’ do NOT issue stamps - they have them produced and sold on their behalf by governmental departments, private businesses or private philatelic agencies - and therefore it is more appropriate to include the issued stamps in the listing under headings which name the department or business or agency which release them rather than the country name; hence the stamps of Australia appear under the heading Australia Post and those of The United Kingdom under Royal Mail.

  These lists will include all present Commonwealth philatelic entities as well as those countries and territories with former, and often continuing, close links with Commonwealth countries, which made an appearance in the former Elizabethan Catalogue.

So let the new Carolean philatelic adventure begin. See Blog 2161.

  

1210. 🇬🇧🇸🇿 Gibbons Intoduces A 'Supplementary Appendix' And KingMswati Introduces eSwatini.

  🇬🇧 The editor of the Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogues has revealed that he has created a 'Supplementary Appendix' in the new 4th edition of Stanley Gibbons East Africa Catalogue to accommodate stamps which were originally placed in the Appendix section of the catalogue but have subsequently been found, sometimes years after their original issue date, to have actually been sold in post offices and to have received genuine postal usage.

  Mr Jefferies states that, "The listing uses temporary numbers and is unpriced as we are sure that there will be a great many more stamps to add to it".

  It's a difficult problem for the editor. He mentions that, "In recent weeks I have heard that Antigua And Gibraltar, to name but two, do not sell anything but definitives in their post offices" and questions whether or not "we should cease to list all their special issues". In reply to that one, I say that if the stamps are not being sold with the primary intention of their being used on mail, then they are 'Collectables' first and foremost and not true 'postage stamps' and therefore should be listed in the Appendix, so that collectors know that they exist but do not feel pressured to buy them just because they have a catalogue number.

  In all events, the status of new issues seems to have taken a very complicated turn when one now has 3 sections of a catalogue - main list with numbers, appendix and a supplementary appendix. I think it emphasises the point that 'completion', 'one of everything', is impossible in this modern day and age and wouldn't make for a very nice collection even if one did  have the inclination and money to pursue such a goal. Collectors should ensure that they know what they're collecting and make it clear in their mind about what they want to get out of a collection and not feel as though they have to follow a catalogue listing which is generally based on someone else's opinion and nothing more. That way leads to being able to derive maximum pleasure from one's collection and not to gloom which is associated with a collection full of stuff one's not interested in nor doesn't like.

  🇸🇿 King Mswati III, the absolute ruler of what up to now has been known as Swaziland, declared on 18 April 2018 that thenceforth the country would be known by a new name - The Kingdom Of eSwatini. Presumably this will have philatelic consequences, possibly an overprint of the new name on the current definitive series which depicts Trees and dates back to as long ago as 2007 so e-Swatini's postal service may wish to release a completely new definitive series without bothering with overprints. Presumably too all future stamp issues will be inscribed with the new country name including the set due on 6 September 2018 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the country's achievement of Independence. Time will tell.

  🇹🇷 The postal service of The Turkish Republic Of Northern Cyprus released its first stamp issue of 2018 on 6 April in the form of 2 values from the 'Struggle against Cancer' set of 2015 with surcharges applied to them. Rating:- **.

  🇬🇧 Royal Mail has commemorated the celebrations in Stratford upon Avon which mark the anniversary of the playwright's birth which take place this weekend by adorning a postbox in the town with quotations from some of Shakespeare's works. It's interesting for tourists to see and doesn't cost stamp collectors a penny. A free commemorative you might say.