Barbados' Diamond Jubilee Stamps

The diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II has been philatelically commemorated by the Barbados Post Office with an excellent set of four stamps and one miniature sheet which are much more successful than the stamps issued by some other Commonwealth countries since two or three of them depict scenes of the Queen in her realm of Barbados including visits to the Barbadian parliament in Bridgetown although perhaps one of the designs might have depicted her meeting the ordinary Barbadian people rather than politicians and members of the armed forces.

The remaining value not depicted here has a face value of $1.40 and depicts a photograph of the young Queen Elizabeth seated inside a carriage. This is an excellent issue with designs that link the Queen with the country that is issuing the stamps. If only more Commonwealth territories could come up with something as nicely designed and produced as this set as well being of such a reasonable face value so that the set is a true tribute to the Queen rather than a rip off of stamp collectors.

Tonga Commemorates The Diamond Jubilee.

On 6 March 2012 Tonga released one stamp and one miniature sheet to commemorate the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The stamp is a $3.40c value and the miniature sheet has a face value of $6.00. The stamps feature a very dignified portrait of The Queen and pay a very pleasing tribute to the monarch.

The lower margin of the miniature sheet draws attention to The Most Illustrious Order Of Queen Salote Tupou III who attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953. Those who witnessed the coronation on the first ever television broadcast of a British coronation fell in love with the Queen of Tonga as she insisted on travelling to the abbey in an open carriage with the roof pushed back despite the falling rain, so that people could see her. Traveling in the same carriage with her, and also enduring the rain, was one of the Malayan rulers, The Sultan of Perak, I think. Famously, Noel Coward was watching the coronation with a companion who asked him who was the rather diminuitive man who was sitting in the open carriage beside Queen Salote and he responded irreverently that the little man was "her lunch, dear, her lunch".

In 1977 Tonga commemorated Queen Elizabeth's silver jubilee with a set of 13 free-form self-adhesive stamps in three different designs produced by Walsall Security Printers. The five postage values depicted Queen Salote as she looked when she attended the coronation in 1953 and in the background is a picture of her in the open carriage. The five airmail values depicted a photograph of Queen Elizabeth with King Tafa'ahau Tupou IV, son and successor of Queen Salote, which was taken when Queen Elizabeth paid a state visit to Tonga. The same tremendously relaxed photograph was also used on a stamp issued on 22 May 1986 which commemorated Queen Elizabeth's sixtieth birthday along with two other values which featured King Tafa'Ahau and Queen Elizabeth in a se-tenant pair.

Tonga also commemorated the golden jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 2002 with a miniature sheet of five stamps which was part of The CASCO omnibus series for the event.

Finally, we may also note that Tonga issued a miniature sheet on 29 May 1998 to commemorate Diana, Princess Of Wales which consisted of 4 values each depicting a different portrait of the Princess and also, on 22 May 2000 another miniature sheet was issued to commemorate the 100th birthday of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and this included two stamps, one featuring The Queen Mother and the other a portrait of Queen Salote. The issue coincided with the opening day of the "Stamp Show London 2000", the last great philatelic exhibition to have been held in Britain (I do not include the damp squib that was held in 2010).

Wikipedia Claims Chinese Error Resulted In South Sudan Stamp Not Being Issued.

In an article added to Wikipedia on 23 March 2012 which is titled "Postage stamps and postal history of South Sudan" a contributor, Leo Van Der Velden, an ex-patriate Dutchman who records that he has lived in Sudan and South Sudan intermittently from 1986 and most recently from 2009 to 2011, has written that the 2.5 SSP value of the first stamp issue which had been produced in China and donated to the government of South Sudan as a gift from The People's Republic, was not actually issued in South Sudan because the stamp featured the coat of arms of (north) Sudan rather than those of the new republic. This would certainly explain why no-one has been able to obtain the three values of the announced set although the other two values featuring the new national flag and the former leader, John Garang, seem to be freely available now on the internet although prices are terribly high at about £20 - £25 for the pair. I have seen only two complete sets for sale on E Bay, and the latter was being sold from China itself and, as previously reported made over £200 in the auction; the buyer seems to have acquired an unissued stamp for that high price and that may be quite reasonable for someone interested in obtaining what is clearly a rare item even if it was never sold at a South Sudanese post office. However I do not think that the Wikipedia explanation for the non-release of the stamp is quite correct since the design does not depict the emblem of (north) Sudan. The illustration below depicts the design of the stamp as prepared in China and it features an African fish eagle looking to its left placed behind an African shield and spears.

As can be seen this is very similar to the arms of South Sudan (depicted below) except that the true arms show the eagle looking to its right.

By contrast the emblem of Sudan is nothing at all like that featured on the unissued stamp, featuring as it does, a secretary bird bearing a shield typical of the period in the nineteenth century when the whole of Sudan was ruled by the Mahdi. The emblem of Sudan was adopted as long ago as 1970.

Therefore, I suspect that the truth is not that the stamp was rejected because it showed the emblem of the north, rather it was because the position of the eagle on the arms, in particular the direction in which its head is turned, was incorrect though why that should be is a mystery. Perhaps it is the case that there was a last minute change to the arms themselves and that when the stamp was designed the position of the eagle's head was correct at the time. In all events, it now looks as though collectors do not need to chase after the third value unless they wish to include a rare unissued stamp in their collection.

Prehistoric Britain.

In recent years the two postal services which actually issue stamps in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Universal Mail United Kingdom and Royal Mail, have issued a number of interesting stamps which depict features of Britain's earliest history, or, pre-history. A species of man is thought to have been present in Britain as long ago as 800,000 BC as judged by the discovery of bones and flint tools in Norfolk and Suffolk. At that time Britain was linked by land to continental Europe with The English Channel existing only as a large river flowing westwards and fed by tributaries which were to later become the rivers Thames and Seine. Remains of Homo Heidelbergensis have been found at Boxgrove in Sussex and using hand axes these people hunted elephants, rhinoceroses and hippopotami, herding them over cliffs and into bogs to more easily trap them. The onset of the Ice Age rendered Britain uninhabitable but humans reappeared in Britain during a warmer phase from about 300,000 to 200,000 years ago. The earliest remains of neanderthal man in Britain date from around 230,000 BC but subsequently sea levels rose and separated Britain from Europe and human activity in Britain gradually diminished and there is no evidence for any human activity in the islands during the period from 180,000 to 60,000BC. Subsequently, from 60,000 to 40,000 BC Britain was grassland populated by mammoths, giant deer and horses, rhinoceroses and wolves, bears and cats such as the sabre-toothed tiger. On 21 March 2006 Royal Mail issued a set of 5 stamps depicting prehistoric mammals from that period and as well as the stamps illustrated below the designs depicted a rhinoceros and a cave bear.

Subsequently humans reappeared in Britain but there was another severe ice age with much of Britain covered in ice and again mostly uninhabitable which was at its most severe from 22,000 to 13,000 BC. After the disappearance of the ice for the last time, with Britain once more attached to the continent, men returned in increasing numbers, first as hunters and then, from around 4000 BC, as farmers. It is from this later neolithic period that the designs for the rest of the stamps issued by the postal services are taken. Universal Mail produced a booklet of 5 stamps in July 2011 for sale by Historic Scotland which, as well as featuring the Scottish flag on each stamp, also depicted aspects of the neolithic settlement in Orkney. From 3300 BC the inhabitants of the islands constructed remarkable buildings even taking the form of whole villages, such as Skara Brae.

The village consists of eight houses all linked by a stone-lined passage. The houses even include stone furniture such as a "dresser" on which the residents would have shown off their prize possessions. Other sites in neolithic Orkney depicted on the Universal Mail stamps are the enormous monument of the Ring of Brodgar which now consists of 22 raised stones. This monument was also depicted on a stamp issued by Royal Mail as part of a set of eight which was a joint issue with Australia and released on 21 April 2005.

Close to Skara Brae, at Maes Howe, is a large passage grave:-

There are a number of other astonishing constuctions from that period on Orkney but the Universal Mail stamps also illustrate other aspects of prehistoric life in Britain and one of the designs depicts the "Orkney Venus" which dates from about 5,000 years ago. It is a small figure, 41mm tall, and it is the earliest known example of the carving of a human face to have been made on a figure in The United Kingdom. It is thought to have been made by shaping a sea pebble. Experts are not yet sure if it was carved as a sacred object, a simple figurine or even a toy.

On the mainland in England, the greatest stone age monument to be built was, of course, Stonehenge in Wiltshire, which was built in phases starting about 5,000 years ago first as a circular ditch with a bank heaped up around the outer edge and with two entrance gaps and a circle of 56 wooden posts. Later the timber was replaced by enormous stones, the bluestones, weighing one and half tons each, and brought from southern Wales. Later these stones were moved to make way for the sarsen uprights, as much as 40 tons each in weight, and then in the final phase the bluestones were returned as a circle within that of the new stones. This entire construction was a remarkable feat and is justifiably depicted on two stamps:-

The Royal Mail stamp is part of the above mentioned joint issue with Australia and that by Universal Mail was issued in September 2009 in booklet no. UK0011 (dated 05/09) which contained five different stamps depicting scenes of south west England. The final stamp of the Universal Mail "Orkneys" booklet depicts the Broch of Gurness. Brochs are massive, hollow-walled stone towers and date from 600 BC onwards. Their role is not known. That at Gurness is 12 feet tall although it is thought to have been 3 times taller when it was first built. Items found inside the tower give evidence that the local inhabitants were trading with the Romans and, by then, having passed through the Bronze Age, and being firmly in the Iron Age, the British Isles were indeed of interest to the Roman Empire. Many useful commodities were to be found in the islands.

In 55 and 54BC, the Roman General, Julius Caesar landed in Britain and attempted unsuccessfully to commence an invasion of the islands. It was not until AD43 that the Romans successfully established themselves in Britain and began their conquest of a large part of the islands. The Emperor responsible for this was Claudius and he was depicted on one value of a set of 4 stamps issued by Royal Mail on 15 June 1993 to commemorate the 1950th anniversary of the beginning of the Roman occupation which would last for 350 years.

Will These Be The Rarest Diamond Jubilee Stamps?

Further countries have announced that they are releasing stamps to commemorate the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II including three more of her "realms" - Antigua and Barbuda (4 stamps and a miniature sheet), Barbados (an excellent set of 4 stamps and one miniature sheet) and New Zealand which has not yet given the details of its issue but has published pictures which will be used in the designs of 2 of its stamps. Royal Mail also released a surprise issue (illustrated above) in the form of six "post and go" machine-printed stamps which were only available to those people who attended the Spring Stampex 2012 philatelic exhibition held at the Business Design Centre in Islington in London from 23rd to the 25th February. The stamps were printed by a Hytech machine. As these stamps were not available from any other source they must surely be the rarest of the stamps which have been, or will be, issued this year to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee and therefore are highly collectable for anyone forming a collection of issues which celebrate this historic occasion. Of course, with only 600 being produced, you might think of the Jersey real diamond miniature sheet as being another potential rarity but not surprisingly that item does not even get a mention in the catalogue listing which has been published in the latest (April) edition of Gibbons Stamp Monthly - the sheet is as relevant to postage stamps collecting as a celebratory mug would be (and some might say that mugs have bought them). Still, everyone is entitled to spend their money on whatever they want but I do hope that post offices around The Commonwealth will use the Diamond Jubilee as an occasion to honour Queen Elizabeth rather than as an opportunity to exploit stamps collectors.

Time Travel: Guyana To Commemorate The 75th Anniversary Of The Succession Of King Edward XIII - Yes Really!

There's usually something interesting to see on the monthly list of new issues produced by a New York based philatelic agency which among its outpourings of stamps issues there is usually some poorly researched design or item of such ridiculous irrelevance to the country whose name is placed on the stamps - for instance - a hot Caribbean island depicting Antarctic wildlife or an Indian Ocean coral island which barely rises above sea water issuing stamps to commemorate the Year Of Mountains (both of these have happened). Sometimes the design errors are funny but this month's is hilarious. The agency website is currently advertising a sheetlet of 3 stamps and 1 miniature sheet to be issued by Guyana which commemorate the 75th anniversary of the succession to the British throne of King Edward XIII - that's right, King Edward the Thirteenth (!). Presumably then this is either a set which is to be issued hundreds of years in the future and has travelled through time to be with us today or the designer can not tell the difference between the Roman numerals for five and ten. I suspect the latter since the picture of the monarch on the stamps looks remarkably like King Edward VIII, uncle of the present queen, who reigned for less than twelve months before abdicating to marry his mistress, the divorced Mrs. Simpson, who could never have been accepted as Queen of The United Kingdom. I wonder if these stamps will actually be issued with the current design error. I do hope so since it is a perfect illustration of how much cynicism is involved in the production of modern stamp issues so that those who do bring them to the market can not even be bothered to correctly incorporate something as basic as the correct Roman numerals on a stamp. As long as collectors are paying good money, why bother to give them a quality product? Actually, I might even be tempted to buy these items myself since they must represent one of the worst design errors in the history of philately. Sadly, they do not do much for the national reputation of Guyana which will forever be be known as the country that can't tell the difference between the numbers 8 and 13.

In response to the previous blog, a question was asked as to whether other stamps which incorporated holograms have been issued in the past. The answer is yes, and quite a lot. One such stamp that comes to mind is the 65p value of the set issued by the British post office on 2 October 2001 which commemorated the centenary of the Noble Prizes. The particular value was dedicated to the prize for physics and the hologram shows what I think must be an atom with electrons orbiting (if that's the right word) a nucleus. The hologram reproduces quite well on the scan included below.

This was one of the British post office's sillier sets since it set out to use a different printing method for each of the six values and we ended up with among other things a stamp, which if you rubbed it, gave off the smell of menthol (the prize for medicine (!) - how tentative is that connection?) and another stamp, the European rate value, "E", which was almost entirely white apart from a smear of green, and ostensibly depicted a dove (representing the peace prize) carrying an olive twig in its beak, the design being produced by embossing which really failed to make the design at all clear or understandable.

Sometimes you just wonder if there is anyone sane who is involved in modern stamp production. Maybe you can ask the same question about those who collect them!

The United States Invades Canada

Britain stood alone against a monstrous tyrant who had brought the whole of Europe under his power. Tens of thousands had died as a result of the dictator's ruthless efforts to control the continent. His forces were engaged in a bloody invasion of Russia. The United States stood aside in a neutral stance. It could not be long before Britain itself would fall under the power of the dictator. What year am I writing about? 1940 - when Britain stood alone against the monstrous Hitler and the Nazis? Well no, actually. 1812. When Napoleon had crushed Europe and only Great Britain stood against him and his forces of oppression, Bonaparte was marching on Moscow and the Americans were neutral and trying to continue trade with the French regime although the Royal Navy was blockading the French. The world was at a turning point and the Americans decided to fight Great Britain to resist the trade restrictions as well as seeing an opportunity to annex Canada and deal with the Native Americans whom the British were supporting in the face of American expansion into their territory. Thus began The War Of 1812 (which actually lasted until 1815). The Canadian Post Office has announced that it will issue a series of stamps to commemorate the events of the war which saw the British and the Canadians repel the Americans' attempts to invade and take over Canada. The successful outcome of the war gave Empire-oriented Canadians confidence and this led to a new sense of Canadian nationalism and this is the reason that the Canadian Post Office is making such a big philatelic occasion of the war. The first stamps in the series, a se-tenant pair, will be issued on 15 June 2012 and will depict one of the leading British commanders, Major General Isaac Brock, a Guernsey man (this will be a joint issue between Canada and Guernsey) and War Chief Tecumseh, a Shawnee, who had led an Ohio-Nations confederation which was trying to stop the Americans encroaching on First Nations lands. The American president, Madison, complained to the US Congress on 1 June 1812 about a list of grievances against Great Britain, including trade restrictions, and the Congress agreed to a declaration of war which Madison signed into law on 18 June 1812. This was the first, but not the last, time that The United States declared war on another country. On 12 July 1812 General William Hull led American troops in an invasion of Canada and occupied the town of Sandwich (now Windsor, Ontario). However, by August the force had retreated to Detroit and was captured by a force led by Brock and Tecumseh. The Americans lost control of Detroit and most of Michigan as a result. Several months later, the Americans launched a second invasion, this time on the Niagara Peninsula but were again defeated at the Battle of Queenston Heights but unfortunately General Brock was killed there. We will continue this account of the war in future blogs as the Canadian stamp programme progresses.