575. Attractive British Postal Museum Souvenirs From Europhilex.

 My favourite souvenirs of Europhilex Stamp Exhibition 2015 are the 2 covers sold at the stand of the  British Postal  Museum and Archive (BPMA) with their souvenir "Post And Go" labels applied to them which had been released at the museum on 6 May 2015 to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the  world's first postage stamp, the Penny Black. Although I do not usually buy the "Post And Go" souvenir labels produced at an increasing number of museums I thought that these 2 covers made attractive and interesting souvenirs of a visit to Europhilex and provided an apt way of including examples of the museum's labels in my collection.

  I particularly liked the cover postmarked 13 May 2015 which commemorated Europhilex and which depicted a cover addressed to Malta with 5 Twopenny Blues attached to it. The two European rate labels were used appropriately on this cover and the cover demonstrated what a better use of one's cash it would be to save up to obtain some glorious old classic item for one's own collection than to constantly squander it on items churned out by certain notorious modern philatelic agencies or from machines situated at foreign philatelic exhibitions in countries where those items have no postal validity.

  The second of the covers commemorates the Penny Black's 175th anniversary and is illustrated with a portrait of Rowland Hill. The cover has an example of the museum's 1st class rate Penny Black Post And Go label and an example of the second class rate label with a 6 May 2015 cancellation. Again it is an interesting cover and a pleasing souvenir:-

  As mentioned in Blog 531, some Intelligent A R "Post And Go" kiosks (A006 and GG01) turned up at the Essen Stamp Fair  in Germany from 7 to 9 May 2015 prior to their appearance at the Europhilex Stamp Exhibition 2015 in London. Long suffering completist collectors of these exhibition souvenir labels (they of course had no postal validity in Germany) found themselves faced with the need to buy 3 Collectors' strips - 2 produced in the name of Royal Mail (the Machin Head labels with code MA13 and the Union Jack labels) and the third produced in the name of Guernsey Post (the Guernsey Flag labels). Ho hum:-

  Botswana Post issued a set of stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 24 February 2015 to commemorate the Okavanga's status as a World Heritage Site:-

  Australia Post's next issue will be released on 26 May 2015 on the subject of "Colours of the Australian Antarctic Territory". The issue of 4 gummed stamps and 1 miniature sheet is inscribed "Australian Antarctic Territory" and was designed by Jo Mure and lithographed by RA Printing:-

  Bhutan Post released an interesting issue on 29 April 2015 which was made up of 1 sheetlet of 8 different stamps and 1 accompanying miniature sheet on the subject of the remarkable polymath, Drubthop Thangtong Gyalpo, who, among other achievements, was a builder of iron chain bridges in Tibet and Bhutan as well as being a notable physician. Bhutan Post co-operated with the German Bhutan Himalaya Society and Permemed Switzerland:-

536. Bangladesh Commemorates Cricket World Cup; New Zealand Post Tourist Stamps.

  Bangladesh has issued a single stamp to commemorate the ICC Cricket World Cup (depicted above). The date of issue was 5 March 2015:-

  Post PNG, the postal administration of Papua New Guinea will issue a set of 4 stamps, 1 sheetlet containing 4 different stamps and 1 single stamp miniature during March 2015 on the subject of the 50th anniversary of the Christian Leaders Training College in Papua New Guinea.

  Post PNG is planning to release a total of 10 new stamp issues during 2015. A set of 4 stamps, 1 sheetlet containing 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet (a typical IGPC issue) was issued on 5 January 2015 to commemorate the lunar new year (see Blog 506).

  Pos Malaysia expects to release the following further new issues during 2015:-

  12 March - Endangered marine life - 3 stamps and 1 miniature sheet:-

  23 March - Coronation of the Sultan of Johore - 3 stamps

  6 April - Islands (3rd issue)

  23 April - Birds -stork and egret

  5 May - Public transport

  20 May - Self defence

  8 June - Joint issue with Thailand

  22 June - Installation of the Sultan of Perak

  7 July - Pearls

  17 July - Traditional dances (2nd issue)

  8 August - Joint ASEAN issue

  16 September - Founding fathers - Malaysia Day

  7 October - Malaysia festivals (3rd issue) Stamp Week

  11 November - Postman community

  7 December - 150th anniversary of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

  New Zealand Post has put on sale on its philatelic website a number of personalised booklets which are sold at various tourist sites. These seem similar to those which have been produced for a number of years by Universal Mail in New Zealand and which are, by now, very numerous indeed. The New Zealand Post versions are produced as booklets of 10 different stamps and the booklets are produced as several versions each containing different values - 10 each of 70c, 80c, $1.90c and $2, the same designs are repeated in each differently valued booklet. Thus the price of the booklets are $7, $8, $19 and $20 meaning that a set of all values for each site will cost the interested collector a total of  $54 (£26.89p). The sites featured in the booklets are Auckland Region, Canterbury Region, Eastern/Central North Island, Lower South Island Region, New Zealand Iconic Images, Taranaki Region, Top of South Region, WIkato Region, Wellington Region and West Coast Region.

   Hence with 10 regions being featured, each with 4 booklets, a total of 40 booklets is on offer costing $540 (£268.89) which is probably rather off-putting to collectors I should think. However, I suppose buying 10 booklets of the 70c value at a price of $70 (£34.86) is not quite so alarming. I think that these are very interesting items and the 100 stamps that one obtains from buying the 10 x $7 booklets certainly give a good philatelic tour of New Zealand to the collector who buys them.

   As a tourist in New Zealand I would be delighted to use these stamps on my mail back home and, as I have written in a previous Blog, I would be very pleased to see Royal Mail begin to issue such items in Britain so that when I visit various tourist sites I could use them on souvenir mail (though it would be pleasing perhaps not to be faced with the expense of fourty different stamps for each site as is the case with the New Zealand issues).

Cover of Auckland Region booklet

  

Auckland Region booklet.

Canterbury Region booklet.

Eastern/Central North Island Region.

Lower South Island Region.

New Zealand Iconic Images booklet.

Taranaki Region booklet

Top Of South Region booklet.

Waikato Region booklet

Part of cover of Waikato Region booklet.

Wellington Region booklet.

Part of Wellington Region cover.

West Coast Region booklet.

  On 6 May 2015 Royal Mail will issue some splendid items to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the first postage stamps - the Penny Black and the Twopenny Blue. The issue is centred around a miniature sheet which contains 4 x 1st stamps, 2 of which depict the Penny Black and 2 depicting the Twopenny Blue:-

Miniature sheet

  There is also an accompanying counter booklet with 6 x 1st Penny Black stamps as well as a "Generic sheet" containing 10 x Penny Black stamps and 10 x Twopenny Blue stamps. The design of this set is sheer genius - simple reproductions of the 2 classic stamps with the silhouette head of Queen Elizabeth II superimposed along with the "1st" value.

  This is one of the very best issues to appear from Royal Mail in many years and should be enormously popular with stamp collectors and general public alike - at last we will all get a chance to use a Penny Black on our ordinary mail. Anyone receiving mail from me in the months following the issue of this wonderful set can be assured that they will have a Penny Black (or possibly a Twopenny Blue) attached to the envelope in which I post their mail. 

  The accompanying booklet publicises the Europhilex Stamp Exhibition about which I felt little interest since I hate going to London, an extraordinarily unpleasant and expensive city, but this Royal Mail issue and the previously mentioned Tristan Da Cunha "potato stamp"stamps (see Blog 531) has put a new spin on it all for me and made me feel I might venture down to London for a few hours to go to the exhibition after all.

Counter booklet.

Generic sheet.

511. New Issues Feature Penny Black, Gandhi And Medicinal Plants.

  

  Isle Of Man Post will issue a set of 6 stamps on 17 February 2015 to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the world's first adhesive postage stamps, the Penny Black and the Twopenny Blue. Strangely the issue will also commemorate a less notable anniversary - the 175th anniversary of the birth of the British philatelic dealer, Stanley Gibbons. The issue was designed by Leanne Sherliker and lithographed by BDT International. The £2.30 value suitably depicts a Penny Black used on a cover to an address in the town of Ramsey and the £1.60p also depicts a Mulready cover (an item of pre-paid postal stationery issued along with the Penny Black) to an Isle Of Man address in Douglas:-

  India Post issued 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 8 January 2015 to commemorate the centenary of Mohandas Gandhi's return to India in 1915 after spending 21 years in South Africa where he developed his political views and leadership skills:-

  In Blog 506 I depicted the Collector's sheet issued by Singapore Post on 9 January 2014 to commemorate  the Lunar New Year which is the Year of the Goat. I now depict the set of three stamps  issued along with the sheet :-

  Pos Malaysia will issue a set of 3 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 20 January 2015 as the second part of its ongoing Medicinal plants series. The issue was designed by Reign Associates and printed in lithography by Malaysia Security Printers:-