396. Have Turks And Caicos Delivered Their Royal Baby?

  I have mentioned previously the somewhat preposterous stamp issue prepared for The Turks And Caicos Islands (Blog 340) which was intended, in its rather unusual fashion, to commemorate the birth of Prince George Of Cambridge and which the islands' philatelic agents on their website say was issued on 1 October 2013. However I have not seen any dealer or seller on the Internet offering this issue for sale and I wonder if someone in Turks And Caicos thought better of putting these items on sale and as a result declined to actually issue them. Cyberstamps, which handles material from this particular philatelic agency, features this issue on its website but does not have it available in stock to sell when an order for the issue is placed with them which may be significant. Does anyone know if this pair of items was actually issued in Turks And Caicos? (post scriptum - see comment below from Peter (USA) ).

 Also looking back to last year, in Blog 334, I mentioned some issues of 2013 from Anguilla but I had not seen these offered for sale till now but Bombay Philatelic Inc., which I find to be an excellent source of  Commonwealth new issues, has now listed 3 sets and 1 miniature sheet for sale. I mentioned 2 of the issues in Blog 334 and Bombay Philatelic is selling both of those plus a third set of which I was not previously aware:-

  2013 (precise date not yet known) - 60th anniversary of Secondary education in Anguilla - 4 stamps:-

  25 November 2013 - Anguillan seafaring captains - 8 stamps and 1 miniature sheet:-

  11 November 2013 - Bicentenary of Methodism in Anguilla - 3 stamps:- 

  So, 3 excellent sets of stamps which are totally relevant to Anguilla and as such are very interesting and highly collectable and no Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe or Parrots of the World stamps in sight.  

  The Bombay Philatelic Inc. site also features a new $1 Trinidad And Tobago surcharge which is the $2.50 bird definitive depicting a Bay headed tanager, with 1990 imprint. Again, I have not seen this stamp mentioned anywhere else before and so I do not yet know the date of issue:-

  In Blog 393 I detailed some new issues from St. Kitts and among other things, complained that a sheetlet of 6 stamps was being issued for the territory on the subject of hummingbirds but none of the featured species occur in the islands while the 3 that are found there are not depicted on the stamps! The Bombay Philatelics Inc. site features yet more recent issues from St. Kitts - 1 sheetlet of 4 stamps and 1 accompanying miniature sheet on the subject of "Marine mammals of the Caribbean" - according to Wikipedia, only 2 cetacean species are found in St. Kitts waters - Fraser's dolphin and Risso's dolphin - and yes, you've guessed it - none of the depicted marine mammals featured on the 4 stamps is either of those 2 species. However - good news - the West Indian manatee which appears on the $9 stamp of the miniature sheet is actually a St. Kitts species so anyone buying the miniature sheet will be actually obtaining a locally relevant stamp though whether or not it will be on sale in St. Kitts for use on ordinary mail is another question altogether:-

  Also listed by Bombay Philatelic Inc is a sheetlet of 5 different stamps and 1 accompanying miniature sheet which depict "Orchids" (issued 26 August 2013) - whether or not they are locally occurring species I can not say:-

  Everywhere, it seems, stamp collectors as well as mail senders are having to face a rise in postage rates - I have recently shown new stamps associated with increased prices in Britain, Australia, Canada and even Guyana, and on 7 May 2014, New Zealand will join this list with an array of new stamps in new values to meet the needs of increased postage rates. Four new gummed stamps and 2 self-adhesive stamps from booklets of 10 will be released and will depict New Zealand scenery:-

  On the same date, 2 gummed stamps (80c and $2.50) will be released in the now familiar "All Blacks" designs and it is also apparently necessary to issue a miniature sheet to accompany this pair which includes 2 of each value:-

  Naturally, it is also necessary to release Greetings stamps and so, also on 7 May 2014, 2 sheetlets of gummed stamps will be issued in the new values - one consists of 8 x 80c stamps and the other contains 2 x $2 and 2 x $2.50c stamps:-

  To keep up with what is happening in the highly complicated world of Royal Mail Machin Head definitive stamps it is vital to follow Norvic Philatelics Blog and their blog of 15 April points out to its readers that so far during 2014, there have been 18 new varieties of the series issued across post office counters. 

Norvic's Blog lists the following:-

  2nd class coil printed by Walsall Sec Ptrs with security code M12L MRIL

  2p from Locomotives prestige booklet M13L MPIL (Blog 352)

  5p from Locomotives prestige booklet M13L MPIL (Blog 352)

  2nd class counter sheet M14L

  81p, 97p, £1.47 and £2.15 new values (see Blog 376)

  2nd class large ex-business sheet MBIL

  1st class from booklet of 12 MTIL

  10p MPIL, 20p MPIL, £1 MPIL from Buckingham Palace prestige booklet (Blog 362)

  1st class MCIL from Buckingham Palace mixed retail booklet (Blog 362)

  10p M14L MAIL from counter sheet

  20p M14L MAIL from counter sheet

  £1 M14L MAIL from counter sheet

  £1.28 M14L MAIL from counter sheet.

  All except the last 2 items seem to be currently in their stock available to purchase.

395. New Universal Mail UK Stamps And Commonwealth Europa Stamps.

Pakistan issued a stamp on 6 April 2014 which commemorated the late H M Habib, a banker:-

  The first stamp issue of 2014 by Zimbabwe is a set of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on the subject of export crops of Zimbabwe. The date of issue was 11 March 2014:-

  Cyprus will issue 2 stamps on 2 May 2014 as its contribution to the annual Europa omnibus. Fitting in with the Europa theme for 2014 the stamps depict musical instruments. A booklet of 10 stamps (5 of each design) will accompany the basic stamps. Other 2014 Europa stamps are mentioned in Blogs 385 (Guernsey, due 8 May), 386 (Northern Cyprus - due 23 May, details awaited), 371 (Jersey, issued 25 March) and 335 (Isle Of Man, issued 6 January).

  Gibraltar's Europa issue will be released on 2 May 2014 and its "national instruments" are actually instruments which are part of the British military forces stationed in Gibraltar - an interesting interpretation of the theme:-

  An Post, the mail service of Ireland will issue 2 Europa stamps on 8 May 2014 in the values of 60c and 90c but other details of the proposed issue are awaited.

  Universal Mail United Kingdom has produced a large number of new airmail postcard stamps principally as bespoke stamps for English Heritage and other individual tourist attractions but there is also a series of booklets each devoted to a county in the south west of England (UK 0101 to 05) and to the Lake District (UK 0094). As always each booklet contains 5 self-adhesive stamps.

 The subjects of the bespoke stamps are:- Audley End (UK 0081), Battle Abbey (UK 0082),  Carisbrooke Castle,(UK 0083), Dover Castle (UK 0084), Hadrian's Wall (UK 0085), Kenilworth Castle (UK 0086), Kenwood (UK 0087), Old Sarum (UK 0088), Osborne House ((UK 0089), Tintagel Castle (UK 0090), Whitby Abbey (UK91) and Wrest Park (UK 0092) (these are English Heritage issues), Cawdor Castle (UK 0093), Cortauld Gallery (UK 0095), Birmingham Library (UK 0096), Warwick Castle (UK 0097), Stratford-upon-Avon (UK 0098), Carrick-A-Rede (UK 0099) and HMS Victory (UK 0106). The non-bespoke "regional" issues were put on sale from 14 April 2014.

  For some reason, while the English Heritage and Bespoke England issues have a depiction of the Union Jack and not the cross of St. George on them, the Cawdor Castle stamps depict the Scottish saltire and the Carrick-A-Rede issue depicts a generic view of the Northern Irish countryside in place of the Union Jack. The non-bespoke new English booklets stamps however include the English St. George's Cross flag in their designs rather than the Union Jack and feature:- The Lake District (UK0094), Wiltshire (UK0100)), Gloucestershire ((UK0101), Somerset(UK0102), Devon (UK0103), Dorset (UK103) and Cornwall (UK104). I can not understand why an organisation calling itself "English Heritage" rather than "British Heritage" would choose to place the Union Jack on its bespoke designs rather than St. George's Cross. Using flags (and maps) on stamps is always fraught with danger and a potential source of controversy - stamp designers never seem to learn that lesson.

  Universal Mail United Kingdom sells the "Regional" counties of the south west booklets directly to collectors and they are now available to buy but the bespoke stamps must be bought directly from the organisations which have arranged for their production such as English Heritage which is a real pain and offers something of a challenge to those who wish to obtain them - it was described to me as going on a "treasure hunt". I was also told that as these new booklets have only just been produced it may several weeks before they are available to buy from the various sources so there is no point in rushing to order for a little while:-

UK 0082 Battle Abbey

UK 0085 Hadrian's Wall

UK 0083 Carisbrooke Castle.

UK 0094 The Lake District.

UK 0092 Wrest Park.

UK 0093 Cawdor Castle

UK 0095 Courtauld Gallery..

  Britain's second largest city, vibrant Birmingham, makes an appearance on UK 0096 with the booklet featuring the city's newly opened library which is a beautiful modern building and of great architectural merit. Other tourist attractions close to the great Midlands city are featured on UK 0097 and UK 0098:-

UK 0096 The magnificent new library in Birmingham.

UK 0097 Warwick Castle.

  Having complained in several previous blogs because Royal Mail is not planning to issue stamps during 2014 to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare I am pleased to see that booklet UK0098 will feature the beautiful Warwickshire town of Stratford-upon-Avon where Shakespeare was born and died and so even if Britain's main postal carrier has failed to acknowledge the important literary anniversary though it has commemorated, ridiculously, the 40th anniversary of the children's cartoon character, Bagpuss, at least Shakespeare makes an appearance on these Universal Mail stamps. The Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford is depicted in the upper-most stamp, his birthplace on the 2nd stamp, a statue of the Bard on the 3rd stamps and Holy Trinity Church were his body is buried is shown on the fourth stamp. A very collectable stamp issue in this important anniversary year:-

UK0098 Stratford-upon_Avon

UK0099 Carrickfergus

UK0106 HMS Victory.

394. Bonaparte - The Beginning Of The End.

After all the new issue horrors described in the the previous Blog, what a relief to have one's mood lifted by Pobjoy Stamps/Creative Direction and the news that they are launching a set of 4 stamps as the second part of Ascension's Bicentenary of Settlement issue which came about because of the British need to fortify the island as part of the security to keep Bonaparte safely caged on St. Helena, his place of exile after his defeat at the Battle Of Waterloo. This issue covers events from the Treaty of Amiens in 1802 to the Battle of Wagram in 1809. 

  My only complaint about the issue is that it is running a little behind the story as it unfolded 200 years  ago. Principally, its date of issue on 28 April 2014 really coincides with the events that had seen the overthrow of the defeated Bonaparte during April 1814 - his first abdication in favour of his son on 4 April 1814 and his subsequent unconditional surrender on 11April and exile on the island of Elba and, at the end if the month on 26 April 1814, the landing of King Louis XVIII at Calais on his return to France from England. What a pity these events of April are not commemorated exactly 200 years later rather than the issue dealing with earlier events.

  The stamps were designed by Andrew Robinson and lithographed by BDT International. The stamps are produced in an attractive arrangement as a sheetlet of 8 stamps with a depiction of The Battle Of Trafalgar in the margins:-

  Meanwhile, news of yet another daft gimmick from Jersey Post. Six very attractive stamps and 1 miniature sheet will be issued on 6 May 2014 on the subject of "Remembrance" which coincides with the centenary of the beginning of the First World War. The watercolour painting stamps are designed beautifully by Katharine Asher though admittedly they are rather similar in idea to the previous British stamps featuring poppies and also on the subject of Remembrance:-

  Royal Mail se-tenant strip of 3 stamps issued on 6 November 2008 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War:-

  Royal Mail definitive-sized Poppy stamp issued 23 October 2013:-

  Sadly Jersey Post has chosen to include a gimmicky addition to two of these beautiful designs - the 2 lowest values will have real poppy seeds affixed to the stamps - I'm sure the excellence of these designs and their worthy subject matter makes them best sellers without the need to do this and one can not help but fear that these vegetative additions, while providing a talking point, will do little to enhance the appearance of the stamps themselves. 

  Jersey becomes the second Commonwealth territory to feel the need to stick seeds to its otherwise very satisfactory stamp designs - Trinidad And Tobago used a similar gimmick but with sorghum seeds on stamps which were issued at the end of 2013 (see Blog 366):-

  I now also illustrate the stamps which Jersey will issue on 23.April 2014 to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, an important anniversary which Royal Mail (as I have complained about several times previously) does NOT consider worthy of commemoration by the issue of British stamps. The Jersey stamps are certainly original if a little eccentric - I'm not sure what the recipient of a letter with a stamp depicting a dagger dripping blood (46p value) affixed to the envelope would think and even more so what fears a stamp with a human skull on it (56p) might cause if one receives a letter so adorned. The 62p and 70p also look rather bloody but at least things brighten up with the butterfly depicted on the 91p value. I have already depicted the accompanying miniature sheet in Blog 373.

  Returning to new issue announcements from Pobjoy Stamps, Ascension Island, Bahamas, Tristan Da Cunha and The Falkland Islands will issue stamps on 21 May 2014 to commemorate the christening of Prince George Of Cambridge. These will be the first issues of these four territories to feature the Prince as, unlike so many other postal administrations and philatelic agencies, these islands did not issue stamps to mark the birth of the Prince - an example of the restrained and sensible new issue policies these territories follow under the guiding hand of Pobjoy Stamps. All four sets of 4 (note, there are no overpriced miniature sheets to accompany the stamps) were designed by Andrew Robinson and lithographed by Cartor. The interesting designs of each territory do not only depict scenes of Prince George's christening but also scenes of the christening of his father, grandfather and great grandmother. An excellent series:-

  Canada Post will issue 2 se-tenant self-adhesive stamps printed in booklets of 10 (5 of each value) on 14 April 2014 to commemorate the centenary of the Royal Ontario Museum. The designs will also be combined in a gummed miniature sheet. The stamps were designed by Entro and lithographed by Lowe Martin:-

  An issue will be released on 1 May 2014 which commemorates the centenary of the holding of the ship, the Komagata Mara, in Burrard Inlet, Vancouver, during which Canadian officials prevented over 300 passengers, mostly South Asians, from landing in Canada and eventually having the Royal Canadian Navy escort the ship away from the harbour. The date of issue will be the first day of Canada's "Asian Heritage Month". The self-adhesive stamp was lithographed in booklets of 6 stamps by the Canadian Bank Note Company and designed by Paprika:-

   Two self-adhesive stamps will be issued on 23 April 2014 which depict roses. Things are not as simple as that since the stamps will be sold in booklets of 10 (5 of each stamp) and self-adhesive coils as well as in a gummed miniature sheet. The designer of the stamps is Isabelle Toussaint and the issue was lithographed by Lowe Martin.

  One interesting thought about this issue is that the date of release is St. George's Day (patron saint of England among others) and the rose is the national flower of England so is there a secret Anglophile in Canada Post who put this little package together? Or is the combination of the roses and the date of issue Canada Post's unspoken tribute to the Shakespeare anniversary the subtlety of which is aimed at not upsetting Canada's French speakers - after all...a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.