417. Never Ending New Issues.

  The collection of Commonwealth new issue stamps is very interesting if only to see the way different postal administrations and philatelic agencies approach the choice of subjects to feature on the stamps which they release. Some stick strictly to a brief of producing stamps which celebrate truly important national events and anniversaries, some extend that brief to the depiction of various aspects of a country which are not necessarily linked to an important event or anniversary, some have no hesitation in celebrating significant international events or anniversaries which do not necessarily have a national relevance and then there are those which just pick a subject which they think has thematic/topical appeal to enough collectors so that there is a profit to be made from sales of such products.

   The last group frequently have no demonstrable relevance to the country whose name is printed on the stamp but as long as that country has allowed the agency to print such items in its name they can be said to have postal validity and are therefore postage stamps in the broadest sense of the word. Clearly many collectors are content to buy such products as the agencies which seem to pursue such policies continue to stay in business and therefore presumably are making a financial profit from these philatelic products. 

  A new wave of such products has just been released by the large New York-based philatelic agency, IGPC:-

  Grenada:- 

29 May 2014 - 150th Birth anniversary of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet of 2 different stamps:-

29 May 2014 - "Philakorea 2014" International Philatelic Exhibition, Industry in South Korea - 1 sheetlet of 8 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet:-

29 May 2014 -Canonisation of Pope John Paul II - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet :-

  Dominica - 

 1 May 2014 - Sea turtles - 1 sheetlet of 3 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. All 3 species of turtle depicted on these stamps are actually found in the waters around Dominica and lay their eggs on the island's beaches and this is therefore one issue which is of direct relevance to Dominica:-

  Nevis:-

3 January 2014 - Modern art (second part) - 1 sheetlet of  4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet:-

  St. Vincent And The Grenadines:-

19 May 2014 - Farm animals - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet of 2 different stamps:-

12 May 2014 - "Philakorea 2014" International Philatelic Exhibition, Taekwondo (second part) - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet of 2 different stamps:-

23 June 2014 - Sunflowers - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet of 2 different stamps:-

5 May 2014 - Canonisation of Pope John Paul II - 1 sheetlet of 3 different stamps:-

  Philatelic Collector Inc has just announced the release of a vast array of new issues for the 3 countries whose stamp issue policy is in the hands of the self-proclaimed "Boutique Philatelic Agency":-

  Samoa:-

10 April 2014 - Easter - 1 sheetlet of 4 stamps:-

9 May 2014 - Nelson Mandela commemoration - 1 miniature sheet of 2 different stamps:-

  Cook Islands - 

9 April 2014 - Easter - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 m.s.:-

9 May 2014 - Pacific Small Island Developing States - 3 miniature sheets each of 6 different stamps and 18 stamps:-

13 May 2014 - Nelson Mandela commemoration - 1 m.s. of 2 different stamps:-

  Cook Islands (Aitutaki) -

9 April 2014 - Easter - 6 stamps and 1 m.s.:-

  Cook Islands (Penrhyn) - 

9 April 2014 - Easter - Sheetlet of 6 different stamps:-

  Tonga - 

20 May 2014 - Pacific Small Island Developing States - 18 stamps and 3 m.s.:-

7 April 2014 - Easter - 1 sheetlet of 4 stamps:-

13 May 2014 - Nelson Mandela commemoration - 1 sheetlet of 2 different stamps:-

9 April 2014 - Chinese camel painting - 1 stamp issued in a sheetlet of 4:-

3 February 2014 - Space programme of The People's Republic Of China  (15th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Tonga) - 4 stamps:-

2014 (date of issue not yet known) - Official stamps - 24 stamps (contemporary definitives overprinted):-

  Tonga (Niuafo'ou):-

22 May 2014 - Parcel post stamps - "triptych" of 3 different high values:-

7 April 2014 - Easter - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps:-

13 May 2014 - Nelson Mandela commemoration:-

416. New Bird Definitive From Botswana And Namibia Commemorates Chinese Naval Visit.

    Botswana issued a new 14 value definitive set - what Botswana Post calls its 10th definitive series - on 13 May 2014. The designs all feature local species of birds and the subject repeats the theme of some of the previous definitive issues. Examples of unused and first day cancelled stamps of the set are depicted above and below:-

  Meanwhile, Botswana's neighbour, Namibia, will release a miniature sheet to commemorate the "Chinese Navy's first Visit to Namibia", although presumably the inscription on the sheet means that a representative ship will visit Namibia rather than the whole navy. This is another one of the increasing number of stamp issues from various African and Asian Commonwealth states which draws attention to the growing influence of The People's Republic Of China in those countries but at least this has a slightly different subject matter from most previous such issues which have mainly commemorated various anniversaries of the establishment of diplomatic relations between china and the respective countries. To increase the thematic appeal of the item, a bird seems to have managed to find its way on to the border of the sheet:-

  Malaysia issued a set of 10 stamps on 13 March 2014 on the subject of Museums and Artifacts:-

  Papua New Guinea has issued 2 provisional surcharge stamps by overprinting 2 of the Horse of The Year stamps which were originally released on 2 January 2014. I do not know the date of issue of the surcharges:-

  The Hong Kong China Heartwarming stamps which were issued on 23 January 2014 are available in a sheetlet format which contains 2 blocks of 6 stamps, one of each design, with attached labels as shown below:-

  The sheetlet of 4 stamps and miniature sheet of 2 stamps which was issued recently by Antigua Barbuda (see Blog 393) could be considered to be relevant to the country since not only do aloes grow on the islands but  an aloe plant has previously appeared on stamps which depicted the territory's colonial seal.

  The seal formed the principal part of the design of the set of 9 stamps which were issued in July 1903. The stamps were typographed by De La Rue on ordinary paper with Crown CC watermark and 8 of the values were reissued from 1908 to 1917 on chalk-surfaced paper with watermark Multiple Crown CA:-

  Seven small definitives were issued from 1921 to 1929 which depicted an aloe as featured in the territory seal. Again, these were typographed by De La Rue on chalk-surfaced paper with watermark Multiple Crown CA. Some of these stamps and additional values were also issued printed on chalk-surfaced paper with Multiple Script CA:-

  The aloe plant which featured in the colony's seal also appeared on the flag badge of Antigua which was placed on the British Blue Ensign after the dissolution of the colony of The Leeward Islands of which Antigua had been a constituent part from 1871 to 30 June 1956. The flag badge was used until 1958 when Antigua became a member of The West Indies Federation and then again from 1962 when The Federation was dissolved until 27 February 1967 when independence was achieved:-

415. Rare Bird Spotted In Guyana.

  In Zirinsky Stamps Newsletter no. 20, Steven Zirinsky draws attention to a $6 definitive stamp from Guyana which had wide usage on ordinary mail used by the Guyanan general public but was effectively unknown to collectors and catalogue editors. Presumably this ought to be quite common in a used state but is apparently very rare in an unused condition. Steven Zirinsky is offering the rare mint stamp at US$175:-

  The stamp should not be confused with a similar $6 value which was issued on 8 May 1995 as part of a set of 12 stamps all featuring birds. The original stamp (depicted below) was narrower and had the value to the left of the design rather than to the right. Steven Zirinsky does not say when the revised design was issued but says that it had been in use for some years. Presumably it was the similarity of the redrawn stamp to the first version that caused the redrawn issue to be overlooked:-

  Hong Kong China will issue a set of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 17 June 2014 on the subject of the Hong Kong Museums collections with the paintings by WU Guangzong being featured in this set:-

  Following that, on 21 August 2014, will be an issue which depicts Cantonese opera costumes and which comprises 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet:-

    Four stamps and 1 souvenir sheet follow on 9 October 2014 as a joint issue with Malaysia on the subject of local food:-

   And there will be 4 Christmas stamps, including depictions of Father Christmas and a reindeer, issued on 4 November 2014 along with a souvenir sheet, self-adhesive souvenir sheet and a self-adhesive sheetlet:-

  Finally, on 4 December 2014, comes a $10 miniature sheet as the third issue in the Chinese World Heritage sites series, which will depict China Danxia:-

  Finally, whilst looking for Shakespeare-related philatelic items on the Internet in this the 450th anniversary of his birth, I came across the cover depicted below which links last year's big Royal Mail seller - the numerous Dr. Who products - with Shakespeare. It is a cover produced and sold by Scificollector which has a cancellation of Cosmo Place in London and is dated 14 August 2007 and it commemorates the episode of Dr Who titled "The Shakespeare Code" which centres around a rather convoluted story about Shakespeare's "missing" play, "Love's Labours Won". The stamp used on the cover is a British greetings stamp with an attached label which features the actor David Tennant playing the role of the tenth Doctor Who.  Actually this is an interesting cover as later this year the play "Much Ado About Nothing" will be performed at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon with the title "Love's Labours Won" along with "Love's Labours Lost" and David Tennant recently appeared there in the eponymous role of Richard II so it is all very topical in this Shakespeare anniversary year and of course of interest to anyone who collected the 2013 Dr. Who stamps:-