493. Malta Commemorates Its Role In The First World War.

  MaltaPost issued a set of 3 stamps on 7 November 2014 to commemorate the Centenary of the beginning of the First World War. The designs, by Paul Psaila, are titled collectively "Nurse of the Mediterranean" and draw attention to the fact that during the war the island, which was home to 4 British military hospitals, took thousands of casualties from various theatres of war including Gallipoli from where the first 600 casualties arrived in Malta on 4 May 1915. Casualties were also brought to Malta from the Salonika campaign.

  The 2 latest issues from India Post are:-

  25 October 2014 - 150th Birth anniversary of Anagarika Dharmapala (Buddhist revivalist and writer) - 1 stamp:-

  4 November 2014 - Liver transplantation in India. The first such operation in India took place in November 1998 and since then 4500 liver transplantations have been carried out in the country - 1 stamp:-

  The latest philatelic products with Commonwealth connections to emanate from the prolific philatelic agency Stamperija number 10 sheetlets, each containing 4 different "stamps", and 10 miniature sheets all with the name of Maldives printed on them. The themes of these items on this occasion are dogs, cats, dolphins, lighthouses, minerals, butterflies, dinosaurs, turtles, orchids and mushrooms. The agency has stated that the "date of issue" was 14 October 2014. 

  The choice of dogs as a stamp issue subject for such a devoutly Muslim country as Maldives is surprisingly insensitive since dogs are considered ritually unclean in Islam and one questions whether a Maldivian would be prepared to lick a stamp with such an image on it even if this particular set actually finds its way to being put on sale at an ordinary Maldivian postal counter. This insensitivity to the devout Maldivian national Islamic character has previously been exhibited by another product from Stamperija - the depiction of immodest and provocative pictures of Marilyn Monroe on a set of Maldive "stamps" which was released in 2013 (see Blog 331).

  In Blog 491 I described the latest issue of Personalisable stamps from Papua New Guinea and below I illustrate all of the stamps from the set which depict local  birds of paradise. There is one additional item in which the stamp itself depicts a local man wearing a head dress (with feathers presumably obtained from one of the local birds) with the attached label also depicting a bird of paradise. The identification of the species in the captions is taken from the inscriptions on the stamps:-

Ciccinurus regius

Parotia Lawesi

Drepanornis albertsii

Paradisaea guilielmi

Rigianna

Astrapia stephaniae

492. Sierra Leone - Ebola And Birds.

High values 1 December 1992

  The recent history of Sierra Leone has been full of tragedy. From 1991 to 2002 the country experienced a terrible civil war which required foreign intervention to put an end to it, firstly by forces from other West African countries and then by British forces which finally defeated the Revolutionary United Front and retook the capital Freetown so that the Sierra Leone president, Ahmed Kabbah, was able to declare the war ended on 28 January 2002. Although Sierra Leone's foreign philatelic agents have issued many hundreds of stamps in the name of Sierra Leone in the years since the ending of the war, no philatelic items have ever been released to commemorate the end of the civil war or the nation's subsequent recovery.

  In the ensuing years Sierra Leone did indeed recover from the events of the late 1990's but now a new disaster has struck the country. In May 2014 cases of Ebola virus disease began to be reported in the country, the outbreak having started in the neighbouring country of Guinea a couple of months before. The disease rapidly spread and is now causing many deaths in Sierra Leone and its neighbours  and has affected the country's postal communications with other countries. 

  I have recently obtained a 2014 cover from Sierra Leone which I describe below and which is relevant to the current postal and philatelic situation of the country. The stamps applied to the cover are reprints of the current definitive set which depicts local bird species and which first appeared in 1992. This definitive set is one which has had one of the longest periods of continuous use in The Commonwealth and as such is of great interest to collectors. It is fascinating that one rarely sees covers from Sierra Leone to which the multitude of agency produced thematic stamps have been applied and the cover below is a fine illustration of how day-to-day postal requirements are met by long-serving definitive stamps and that most of the non-definitive stamps on the market are an irrelevance to postal needs.

  It is interesting to look at the 1992 definitive series and to reflect that it has become a surprisingly complex issue as the years have passed. The set originally comprised 21 values which were issued on 1 December 1992 and the excellent "Birds" designs were produced by the great artist and stamp designer, Jennifer Toombs, and printing was carried out by House Of Questa on unwatermarked paper. The values were 50c, Le1, Le2, Le5, Le10, Le20, Le30, Le40, Le50, Le80, Le100, Le150, Le170, Le200, Le250, Le300, Le500, Le750, Le1000, Le2000 and Le3000. All the designs are depicted above and below:-

  Five values (Le50, Le100, Le150, Le200 and Le300) were reissued in 1994 with a small "1994" imprint at the centre of the lower edge of the stamps. These were again printed in Lithography by House Of Questa:-

  These reprints were followed by 6 more (Le100, Le200, Le300, Le500, Le1000 and Le3000) in 1996 with a "1996 imprint at the centre of the lower edge:-

  Further reprints followed -  a Le50 value with"1997" imprint printed on cream coloured paper as well as 5 values with "1999" imprint (Le100, Le200, Le300, Le1000 and Le2000). Three new values (Le4000, 5000 and 6000) were added to the set on 18 February 1999, again designed by Jennifer Toombs and lithographed by House Of Questa:-

  A Le10,000 value was added to the series on 18 May 1999, this time depicting a Northern Shrike (Lanius excubitor). Again, the excellent design was by Jennifer Toombs and printing was in lithography by House Of Questa:-

  A number of further reprints were subsequently released - 9 values (Le100, Le200, Le250, Le300, Le500, Le750, Le1000, Le2000 and Le3000) with "2000" imprint and 6 values (Le250, Le500, Le1000, Le2000, Le3000 and Le5000) with "2002" imprints.

  Jennifer Toombs' Le300 design was used as the principal motif of a set of 4 stamps which was issued on 29 January 2004 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the work of the British Council in Sierra Leone. This set of 4 stamps was lithographed by BDT International:-

  The most recent reprint of these definitives was released with a "2006" imprint. On that occasion 9 values were issued - Le200, Le250, Le300, Le500, Le750, Le1000, Le2000, Le5000 and Le10000. The cover which I recently obtained, as mentioned above, has 7 of the Le1000 values of the 2006 reprints attached to it. 

  It is an airmail cover sent to The Netherlands and has a double ring cancellation of the town of Moyamba which is situated in the south-west of Sierra Leone and which had a population of 12000 in the 2004 national census. The postmark - "MOYAMBA SALPOST" - is dated 20 August 2014. This is an interesting date as regards the current Ebola outbreak since it is dated just 1 day before Royal Mail suspended its mail services to Sierra Leone after the suspension of international flights from The United Kingdom to Sierra Leone and Liberia. I suspect that mail services between Netherlands and Sierra Leone must also be suspended though I can not say if the date of suspension was the same as that as when Royal Mail services were suspended but if it were so then we may say that the cover illustrated here entered the mails only just in time for it to be carried to its intended destination:-

  This cover then is an interesting item of the modern postal history of Sierra Leone and not only relates to the Ebola outbreak but illustrates that the prepayment of postage in the country is mainly indicated by definitive stamps which have been in use for 22 years rather than any of the multitude of thematic stamps which are produced by the country's prolific foreign philatelic agency.

491. New Issues from Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, New Zealand And Sri Lanka.

   Post PNG, Papua New Guinea's postal administration, has issued another set of 15 Personalisable stamps during 2014 (see also Blog 419) which features a number of locally interesting thematic subjects. All 15 stamps are K1.30 values and the depicted subjects comprise 8 different bird of paradise designs, 3 marine life stamps (shark, crocodile and turtle), an orchid, the national flag, a local inhabitant and a volcano:-

  The latest issues from Pos Malaysia:-

  27 October 2014 - Malaysian folk tales - 6 stamps - designed by Hazel Design:-

  5 November 2014 - World Yourh Stamp Exhibition - 1 miniature sheet - designed by Reign Associates and lithographed by Percetakan Keselamatan Nasional:-

  New Zealand Post will issue a miniature sheet on 14 November 2014 to commemorate Baypex 2014 which will be held at Hawke's Bay from 14 to 16 November 2014. Three stamps from the First World War set are included in the sheet:-

  I have mentioned previously the "Penguins of Antarctica" set inscribed "Ross Dependency" which New Zealand Post will release on 19 November 2014 and I now illustrate the accompanying miniature sheet below. The set of 5 stamps and m.s. were designed by New Zealand Post and lithographed by Southern Colour Print. For real penguin enthusiasts New Zealand Post is offering a "Penguins of Antarctica" "Limited Edition" pack which will be sold for $135 and includes a "specially designed first day cover signed by Peter Beggs, Chief Executive, Antarctica New Zealand, a unique numbered imperforate miniature sheet and colour separations of the $3.00 stamp". In fact, the limited edition is not all that limited - totalling 2,000 - but New Zealand Post recommends that "you place your order today!". Interestingly, this is a joint issue with the Greenland postal administration on the subject of polar wildlife - polar bears are depicted on the Greenland issue.

  Recent new issues from Sri Lanka Post:- 

  3 September 2014 - Commemoration of Dr. Ronald Lionel Spitlel (physician, writer and naturalist) - 1 stamp:-

 15 September 2014 - Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Postal Union Executive Council in Sri Lanka - 4 stamps:-

  17 September 2014 - Anagarika Dharmapaia - 1 stamp:-

   

490. Malawi Commemorates Its 50th Anniversary Of Independence.

  Malawi issued a set of 5 stamps, 1 miniature sheet which combines all 5 values and a booklet on 5 July 2014 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the country's achievement of Independence. The central design of the set depicts Dr. Hastings Kamazu Banda, Malawi's first President and founding father:-

  We must also expect commemorative stamps from Zambia which celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Independence on 24 October 2014 but I have not seen details of any such issue yet. Malta celebrated the 50th anniversary of its independence on 21 September 2014 and released 1 miniature sheet on 15 May 2014 (see Blog 410). Grenada celebrated its 40th anniversary of independence on 7 February 2014 and 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet were issued which depicted the country's first prime minister, Eric Gairey (see Blogs 366 and 397). Brunei Darussalam achieved the 30th anniversary of its Independence on 1 January 2014 and its 30th National Day was commemorated on 23 February 2014 with the release of 4 stamps, 1 miniature sheet and 1 booklet (see Blog 387).

  The Gambia will celebrate its 50th anniversary of Independence on 18 February 2015 but left The Commonwealth in 2013 (see Blog 310) so even if its foreign philatelic agents produce stamps to commemorate the country's important anniversary (though that particular agency is far more likely to produce Gambian stamps which depict Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe) I shall not need to add any such stamps to my Commonwealth collection.

  Full marks to Gibraltar for its Christmas set of 5 stamps and 1 accompanying miniature sheet which will be issued on 3 November 2014. The designs are extracted from a collage constructed by 33 artists at the St. Bernadette Resource Centre in Gibraltar and celebrate International Day Of People With Disability which takes place on 3 December. The stamps were designed by Stephen Perera and lithographed by Cartor. These are colourful, attractive and festive stamps of important local relevance - if only other philatelic entities could copy this effort:-

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   In the last few weeks Jersey Post has been particularly greedy in trying to extract money from stamp collectors by releasing large numbers of new stamps and beyond a shadow of a doubt the amount of material that it is unloading on the new issue market must be considered to be grossly excessive (see Blog 484). I have collected the island's postage stamps since postal independence was granted in 1969 but now feel I must draw a line under my collection and stop buying most items that are released. I feel sad about this since many Jersey stamps continue to be very attractive and often interesting and I have collected the island's stamps for a long time but the amount of items produced and the total face value make continuing to form a collection of all Jersey stamps an unappealing activity. 

  I shall continue to collect some of Jersey's stamps but only when they are released to commemorate a locally notable and significant anniversary or event. By following this plan and choosing not to buy the last 4 issues of 2014, including 1 prestige booklet, I shall be saving the remarkable sum of £41.46  between October and November 2014 alone. I hope those who are responsible for Jersey's new issue programme will eventually come to their senses and return to a more sensible new issue policy. I have already started to follow this plan with the issues of Australia Post and I do not feel that my collection of Australian stamps is any the poorer for having done so.

  There are a number of booklets which have recently been issued by Commonwealth postal administrations. In Blog 487 I mentioned the set and miniature sheet which was issued by Brunei Darussalam on 9 October 2014 to commemorate the centenary of formal teaching in the country and those items were accompanied by a booklet containing a strip of the 4 stamps which was also issued on 9 October 2014. In Blog 488 I also mentioned a Malawi booklet which has been issued (although I can not yet give any details of it) which contains definitive stamps.

   It appears that the Cayman Islands Commonwealth Games set (see Blog 483) has also been accompanied by a $2.50 booklet of 10 x 25c self-adhesive stamps which feature a smaller version of the design which depicts a swimmer:-