2424. 🇫🇰 🇺🇬 Falkland Islands Aircraft And Uganda Family Remittances.

 

New issues.

🇫🇰 Falkland Islands postal service -

9 December 2023 - 75th anniversary of the Falkland Islands Government Air Service - 4 stamps. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.

🇺🇬 Posta Uganda -

See Blogs 2278 and 2406.

29 June 2023 - International Day of Family Remittances - 1 additional stamp and 2 miniature sheets. As originally suspected in Blog 2278, an additional higher value stamp and 2 miniature sheets were also put on sale to add to the 3 stamps reported in Blog 2406. These additional items are depicted below and are being offered for sale on the Delcampe internet site by Leo Lion. Rating:- ****.

2406. 🇸🇬 Singapore Commemorates Disabilities Movement.

 

New issues.

🇸🇬 Singapore Post -

1 December 2023 - 10ths anniversary of The Purple Parade, a local “ground-up movement to raise awareness, foster inclusion and celebrate the abilities of persons with disabilities” - 4 stamps. Designed by Sonny Lee and lithographed by Secura and perforated 13. Rating:- ***.

🇺🇬 Posta Uganda -

29 June 2023 - International Day of Family Remittances - 3 stamps. See Blog 2278. The seller Leolion is now offering this issue for sale on the Delcampe internet auction site. In Blog 2278 I conjectured that tis issue might be made up of between 4 to 6 single-stamp miniature sheets based on publicity illustrations but presently only 3 stamps are being offered for sale. Whether or not there are additional miniature sheets remains to be seen. The publicity photographs certainly showed a 10,000/- value. Rating:- *****.

🇱🇹 Stamperija (Lithuania-based purveyor and producer of paraphilatelic products under contract from the postal administrations of a number of sub-Saharan African countries). In most cases there is little or no chance that these products are ever sold normally at post offices in the countries whose names are printed on them or used on genuine mail posted in those countries.

🇹🇬 Togo -

Alleged ‘date of issue’ - 28 June 2023 - Coronation of King Charles III - 2 miniature sheets, the first containing 4 ‘stamps’ and the other a single ‘stamp’. Though Stamperija products are not usually mentioned in this Blog, this ‘issue’ is included here so that collectors are aware of all the products released by Commonwealth postal services, or released in their name, which relate to the king’s coronation. Although the price of these products is very high, collectors generally view these products as being worthless and of no resellable value. Caveat emptor. Rating:- 0.

2278. 🇱🇰🇺🇬 Sri Lanka Children’s Day; Uganda Day Of Family Remittances.

 

New issues.

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Post -

1 October 2023 - World Children’s Day - 1 stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.

🇺🇬 Posta Uganda -

29 June 2023 - International Day of Family Remittances - 4 single stamp miniature sheets. The illustrations here are the best presently available and are taken from photographs taken at the launch of this issue. As usual in many of these countries, the photographs taken at these launches give publicity more to the politicians and officials involved in them than to the stamps themselves. Rating:- *****.

  Better illustrations and more information will be published when they become available.

  It is possible that there are 2 other miniature sheets in this issue, as illustrated below, though these may only be posters promoting the single stamp miniature sheets - 

2270. 🇺🇬 Uganda-China Relations Anniversary Commemorated.

 

New issues -

🇺🇬 Posta Uganda -

2022 - 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Uganda and the People’s Republic of China - 2 stamps and 2 miniature sheets, one containing 2 stamps and the other a single stamp. Rating:- ****. The issue is featured on the Delcampe auction site being offered by a regular and reliable seller of South Sudan and Uganda stamps.

🇬🇮 Royal Gibraltar Post Office -

30 March 2023 - EUROPA, ‘Peace the highest value of humanity’ - 2 stamps, each issued in sheetlets of 6, and 1 miniature sheet containing the 2 stamps. Designed by Stephen Perera, Linda Bos and Runa Egilsdottir and lithographed by Bpost Security Printing. Rating:- ***.

1851. 🇰🇮 Kiribati Celebrates Island Life.

 

🇰🇮 These are the sort of new issues I like - stamps which illustrate and inform the collector about the country whose name appears on them - be it about the people, the culture, the wildlife, the scenery, the history, the architecture, the folklore and so on. A good sensible set of stamps, pleasingly but not over-cleverly designed, with face values that ensure a profit for the postal administration but which do not leave the collector feeling robbed. Is it too much to ask for? Alas, with so many postal services and philatelic agencies it is indeed too much to hope for to the ruin of the hobby.

  The postal service of Kiribati however has that fine attitude towards issuing stamps which do indeed highlight the country’s story. The latest new issue of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing 2 different stamps from the Kiribati postal service fully lives up to my hopes and has the title Island Life and illustrates various aspects of the way people live in the small island nation. It’s a great little set and was released on 1 February 2021. Rating:- ****** (yes, 6 stars).

🇺🇬 In Blogs 1797 and 1798 I mentioned the set of stamps from Posta Uganda which commemorated the 65th birthday of the Kabaka of Buganda. I initially speculated that the 2 stamps were accompanied by a miniature sheet but eventually concluded that the issue was made up of just the 2 stamps. Now it appears that there was indeed a miniature sheet which contained both stamps and this item is now being offered for sale on an internet auction site. Rating:- *****.

🇲🇿 A second item which has only just come to my attention is a single ‘real’ locally produced stamp from the postal service of Mozambique. This item dates back to 2017 and is on the subject of Children but the poor quality of the illustration on top of the poor printing of the stamp makes it difficult to read the inscription (and in truth my ability to read Portuguese is somewhat absent). Still, an interesting item. Rating:- *****.

1798. 🇺🇸 Philatelic Collector Inc’s Latest Issue Has Face Value Of £1341.21p.

 🇺🇸 The US philatelic agency, Philatelic Collector Inc, is up to its old tricks again and has released another round of tiresome and vastly expensive sets of 4 stamps with accompanying miniature sheets, one as usual containing the 4 stamps and the second containing 2 sets, on the subject of wildlife of the world. Featured species are not necessarily to be found in or in the seas around the territories whose names are printed on the stamps.

  As usual it has managed to release philatelic products for 6 philatelic entities though the stamps are for just 2 postal services - those of Tonga and Cook Islands.

  For Tonga and Niuafo’ou Tonga the issued stamps depict Butterflies of the World and come in 2 sets both containing 4 stamps and 2 miniature sheets as mentioned above.

  For Cook Islands and Penrhyn Cook Islands the depicted subject is Whales and dolphins of the World while the subject depicted on the stamps of Aitutaki Cook Islands and Rarotonga Cook Islands is Butterflies of the World.

  These stamps are similar to previous issues from these philatelic entities and there is no point in wasting time illustrating these latest emissions though I publish a couple of illustrations just to remind readers of the overall style of these products:-

  And here’s the good news, for anyone wishing to buy one set of 4 and one each of the 2 miniature sheets for each of the 6 philatelic entities the total cost for the 2 Tongan entities will be T$1376.80 (£446.25p) while the total cost for the 4 Cook Islands entities will be a staggering NZ$1696.00 (£894.96p) if bought at face value. Hence for the one of everything completeist the total cost is £1341.21. Philatelic Collector does not really need to sell many sets before it’s making a very large profit.

  I note that while Philatelic Collector Inc has been producing this material there has been no announcement that there is to be a philatelic commemoration of Tonga’s 50th anniversary of Independence. 

  Needless to say all the above are rated a big expensive 0. Who buys this stuff?

🇺🇬 The issue by Posta Uganda mentioned in the previous Blog which commemorates the Kabaka’s 65th Birthday appears to consist of just 2 stamps as illustrated below. The stamps were sold to the public from 17 December 2020. Rating:- ****.

  🇲🇿 In Blogs 1762 and 1767 I mentioned a stamp and a miniature sheet issued by the postal service of Mozambique to commemorate International Day of Family Remittances. Whether or not this has been actually sold to the mail-sending public of Mozambique I know not. It’s worth noting that a similar issue has been produced for almost all the Stamperija client territories so make of that what you will. It now emerges that the issue is made up of 1 stamp (sold so far in sheetlets of 9) and 2 miniature sheets, the sheets varying because they have different emblems on them. For the moment I am very suspicious about their provenance and will hold off buying them.

1797. 🇺🇬 Uganda Commemorates The Kabaka’s 65th Birthday.

 

🇺🇬 Posta Uganda has released an issue to commemorate the 65th birthday of the Kabaka of Buganda, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II. A comment on Stamp Boards includes the above illustration of one of the stamps. Details of the issue are not yet clear but at a celebration of the release of the stamp issue the new issue was presented to the Kabaka. The issue appears to be made up of 2 stamps depicting the Kabaka in what I guess to be his coronation gown, one design in horizontal format and the other in vertical form. A separate illustration appears to show what may be a miniature sheet containing 2 different stamps depicting buildings with the sheet having perforations all around it or alternatively it may be a poster depicting the 2 buildings stamps. These photographs were posted on the internet on 12 November and so one assumes that the date of issue was some time about then. Doubtless all will become clear.

🇬🇧 Juliet Warner of Pobjoy Stamps has confirmed that the 2 new issues from British Antarctic Territory mentioned in Blog 1787 were both released on 16 December 2020.

🇺🇸 The unashamed orgy of philatelic product-issuing in which the US-based agency, IGPC, has indulged in the past few weeks made possible by its having contracts with the postal administrations of some of the least well off postal services in The Commonwealth continues, alas, unabated. Needless to say, everything listed below is rated 0.

🇦🇬 Antigua And Barbuda. 

17 November 2020 - Commemoration of Dorje Chang Buddha III - 1 miniature sheet containing 5 identical stamps.

🇬🇲 The Gambia 

23 November - The Vietnam War - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp.

🇬🇩 Grenada

28 December 2020 - Chinese New Year, Year of the Ox - 1 miniature sheet containing 6 different stamps.

🇬🇩 Grenada Carriacou And Petite Martinique 

23 November 2020 - 600th anniversary of the Forbidden City, Beijing - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 3 different stamps and the other a single stamp.

🇰🇳 Nevis 

2 November 2020 - Starfish - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 5 different stamps and the other a single stamp.

28 December 2020 - Chinese New Year, Year of The Ox - 1 miniature sheet containing 6 different stamps.

28 December 2020 - The Fight against COVID-19 - 1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps.

28 December 2020 - 75th anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe at the end of the Second World War - 1 miniature sheet containing 5 different stamps.

28 December 2020 - 500th anniversary of the Death of Raphael, Italian artist - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other containing a single stamp.

🇹🇻 Tuvalu -

30 November 2020 - 250th Birth anniversary of Ludwig Van Beethoven, German music composer - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 5 different stamps and the other a single stamp.

30 November 2020 - 150th anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing a single stamp and the other 5 different stamps.

30 November 2020 - 75th anniversary of the United Nations Organisation - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 4 different stamps and the other a single stamp.

1535. 🇯🇪 Best Christmas Stamps Of The Year From Jersey?

🇯🇪 Jersey Post will issue what is probably the best set of Christmas 2019 stamps on 20 November 2019. The set depicts scenes from a children’s nativity play and the beautiful designs are by Sharif Tarabay and the stamps are printed in lithography with what are described as ‘kiss-cut’ perforations. Illustrations of the 8 stamps appear to depict them with conventional-looking perforations but the stamps are also to be sold in 8 sheetlets (each containing 10 stamps of the same value) and the illustrations of those suggest that they are rouletted. It is regrettable if Jersey Post has come up with an exceptionally attractive set but has found it necessary to issue them with two types of perforations hence doubling the cost to collectors.

  The perforation issue aside, this is a lovely set of stamps. Rating:- *****.

🇺🇬 Posta Uganda has recently added to its Facebook page the post depicted below which seems to be encouraging local businesses to sponsor postage stamps as a means of reaching ‘thousands of people per month’ by the message inscribed on the stamps, in other words, I assume, by using postage stamps as a means of advertising. I suspect that quite a lot of stamps now being released by some poorer postal administrations in particular are paid for by sponsors who are not necessarily commercial in nature but may be political (including donations by foreign states) or community groups.

  I followed the ‘shop now’ button at the bottom of the posting but found that it lead to a ‘We’ll be back soon’ sign which didn’t seem like a very good outcome both for Posta Uganda’s efforts to boost its business nor for businesses trying to boost their’s by promoting themselves through the medium of the postage stamp.

🇸🇬 Singapore Post will Issue 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet as a joint issue with the postal service of Poland. The stamps depicting birds were designed by Sonny Lee and Andrzej Gosik and lithographed by Secura and perforated 13. Rating:- ****.