616. Pobjoy Omnibus Commemorates Queen Elizabeth II; Maldives Celebrates Independence Golden Jubilee.

  Pobjoy Stamps seems very much like the natural successor to the old Crown Agents philatelic agency and the omnibus issue which it has just announced is very reminiscent of the classic royal omnibus issues that we grew to know and love. A dynamic collection of issues of 4 different stamps from 6 territories covers events that occurred during the reign of the soon-to-be longest reigning monarch along with issues which stress the local relevance of the issues to each individual territory participating in the omnibus series. 

   The designs, as usual, are excellent and the subjects featured on the stamps are interesting. We have grown to expect this first class approach to modern stamp issuing from Pobjoy Stamps/Creative Direction and this highly collectable issue does not let us down. The participating territories are Ascension Island, Bahamas, British Antarctic Territory, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands and Tristan Da Cunha. All sets are due to be released on 9 September 2015 which is the actual date when The Queen achieves her remarkable record of equalling and surpassing the length of the reign of her great, great grandmother, Queen Victoria. 

  The stamps were all designed by Andrew Robinson and lithographed by BDT International. Rating:-*****:-

   Meanwhile, if Pobjoy Stamps can currently be viewed as the premier philatelic agency producing stamps for Commonwealth territories, many collectors may consider Stamperija to be the opposite with its vast numbers of philatelic emissions of no or little relevance to the territories whose names appears on such products. 

  However, from to time, the agency handles real stamps produced for the use of mail senders in their client territories (Solomon Islands, Uganda, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Maldives) and 6 stamps have just been announced as having been issued by The Maldives to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the country's independence. The set was released on 26 July 2015 and, unusually, was also issued in a special presentation pack which is depicted below. What a pity that Maldives does not stick with these locally relevant issues instead of the sort of stuff churned out by its philatelic agents on a regular basis which has no relevance to the country and is rarely, or even never, found to have received normal postal usage. Rating:- ****

  Malta Post  issued a single stamp on 14 August 2015 to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of St. John Bosco. The stamp was designed by Austin Camilleri and lithographed by Printex. Rating:- ***.

  Australia Post issued a set of 3 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 14 August 2015 to coincide with the opening of the Singapore 2015 philatelic exhibition and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Australian diplomatic relations with Singapore. The issue is a joint issue with Singapore Post and New Zealand Post (see Blogs 599 and 615). Rating:-****

  I derive no pleasure from seeing the latest products to be released by the US-based agency, IGPC, on behalf of their client postal administrations. The products generally have no real relevance to the countries whose names appear on them - the quality of production is slightly upmarket compared with the items which are released by Stamperija and the items are also less numerous but otherwise both agencies are very similar to each other. The following products highlight my comments:-

  Antigua And Barbuda:- 2015 - Commemoration of the late Elvis Presley, American entertainer - 4 miniature sheets. Rating:-0

  Ghana - 3 August 2015 - Singapore 2015 Philatelic Exhibition -Swans - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 3 different stamps and the other containing a single stamp. Rating:-0.

  Grenada - 2015 - 10th anniversary of the inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI - 1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps. Rating:- 0.

  St. Vincent And The Grenadines - 3 August 2015 - Singapore 2015 Philatelic Exhibition  - 1 miniature sheet containing 5 different stamps and 1 m.s. containing a single stamp. Rating:- *.

  Tuvalu - 3 August 2015 - Singapore 2015 Philatelic Exhibition - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 m.s. obtaining a single stamp. Rating:- 0.

615. Post And Go Issues Flood In And Brave World War I Animals Featured On New Sheet.

  In Blog 609 I mentioned the new RNSM Post and Go labels after a few weeks of a happy absence of new Royal Mail Post and Go issues. As summer draws to a close a new flood of Post and Go issues has begun. 

  28 July 2015 - the above mentioned kiosk A004 situated at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport - "Collectors' strips" of 6 different values in the "Machin Head" MA13 and "Union Jack" designs

  - total of 12 labels - face value of each:- £7.68 (total face value - £15.36). Illustrated in Blog 609. Rating:- 0.

  14 August 2015 - Singapore 2015 Philatelic Exhibition:-

  A. Machin Head design sold at exhibiton and from British Philatelic Bureau with added inscription "Singpex 2015 World Stamp Expo"

  B. Union Jack design sold at exhibition and from British Philatelic Bureau with added inscription "Singpex 2015 World Stamp Expo"

  The complete face value of this issue is £15.36p (see also Blog 618).Rating:- 0.

  Late August:- labels from kiosk A010 to be situated at a new site which will be a non-military museum. Details awaited.

  16 September 2015 - Sea Travel (views of foreign cities and sights from ships) :-

  A. From Series II machines situated at the Autumn Stampex Exhibition.

  B. From NCR machines situated in various post offices throughout The United Kingdom.

  C. In packs sold by the British Philatelic Bureau.

  The complete face value of this issue is £23.04.

  The views depicted are New York, Hong Kong, Sydney, Ha Long Bay (Vietnam), The White Cliffs of Dover and Venice. The issue was designed by Osborne Ross and printed in photogravure by International Security Printers. Rating:- ***.

  I must say that the choice of the subject for these items disappoints me immensely. Why are British stamps depicting views of foreign cities (apart from the White Cliffs of Dover)? Why not make a contribution to tourism promotion and depict interesting views of British ports and the British coastline on all 6 of the stamps? Or if Royal Mail really must depict foreign views why not include Singapore in the list so that the design could have been used in the kiosk being taken to the Singapore 2015 Philatelic Exhibition? Finally, why not depict views of British towns or the beautiful countryside not from ocean liners but from canal narrow boats? Such a big opportunity missed.

  The total face value all of the above issues on which details are available is therefore £53.88p.

  I have long given up buying Royal Mail's severely overpriced "Commemorative sheets" which are usually made up of 10 x 63p stamps (total face value £6.30p) but are actually sold for an astounding £14.95p (237% above face value). I can not understand why Royal Mail is so greedy in setting the price of these products. Many of them are very good and very interesting and if Royal Mail sold them at a somewhat lower price (say £9) I would be pleased to add them to my collection and I expect that this would be true of other collectors - what Royal Mail lost in profit from a single item would be made up for by selling a greater number of items. 

  Anyway, I have to admit that the latest commemorative sheet to be announced for issue on 17 September 2015 is a very appealing and tempting item - an issue on the subject of "Animals of the First World War" - highlighting the various roles of animals in the terrible conflict. The stamps in the sheet are the definitive-sized Union Jack stamps each with a different label attached to them. The 4th label in the 2nd row appeals to me particularly as it features an Airedale terrier, a breed which my family used to own until switching to labradors, but which I remember with affection. The Airedale featured in this issue is Jim who was trained for coastguard duties and who gave warning of the first Zeppelin raid on the Kent coast in 1915.

  The other labels highlight the roles of other brave animals in the war including carrier pigeons, other dogs, camels, mules, horses and a cat and fox cub which were both military mascots. A lovely issue - now, if only it were not so expensive. Rating:- *****.
  The subject featured on the sheet is nicely covered in the book "Animals In The First World War" by Neil R. Storey (Shire Library 2014).

Jim the coastguard Airedale is featured on label at lower right

Jim on coast guard duty as shown on the sheetlet label

Mickey I - the 1st White Knight Airedale

Mickey II - the 2nd White Knight Airedale

  Turning to Mauritius, the Rs7 value definitive has recently been reprinted with a "2015" imprint in the lower margin. This was the value for a domestic rate letter (1st 20 grams). However the domestic rate was raised on 1 August 2015 from Rs7 to Rs10 thus, I presume, rendering the new reprint somewhat redundant. It is worth noting that this is the first rise in postal rates in 6 years on the island (previous change was 9 July 2009) and overseas rates have similarly all been increased by Rs3. A non-philatelic cover with this reprinted stamp used on it during the short period between its issue and the change of postal rates might be an item of great postal history interest and value in the future.

  Despite previous reports that the South African Post Office was in such dire financial straits that it could not afford to continue to issue new stamps, another new issue has indeed been been released - a miniature sheet which was issued on 7 August 2015 to commemorate the Women's Charter which was announced in Johannesburg on 17 April 1954. Rating:- *.

  A lovely set of 4 stamps was issued by the postal administration of Namibia, Nampost, on 22 June 2015 which depicts very attractive small antelopes of the country. Not surprisingly, these beautiful stamps have been designed by the wonderful artist, Helge Denker, who along with Anja Denker, has been responsible for placing Namibia in the front rank of modern philatelic excellence. This corrects the mention in Blog 539 where I stated that the issue would be made up of a single stamp. Rating:- ***** (of course).

614. Royal Mail To Release Ashes Victory Issue?

  Following the England cricket team's memorable defeat of the Australian team in the 2015 Ashes series surely we must expect Royal Mail to issue a new commemorative issue, presumably a miniature sheet, following the precedent set after England's victory over Australia in 2005.

  The Ashes test series takes its name from the 1882 series held in England in which the Australian team achieved its first ever victory on English soil. An article published in the British newspaper, The Sporting Times, claimed that English cricket was dead and that "the body will be cremated and taken to Australia".

  Before the 1882 - 1883 series held in Australia, the English team captain, Ivo Bligh, said that he intended to "regain those ashes" and the English press dubbed the series "the quest to regain the ashes".

  After England had won 2 of the matches, Bligh was presented with an urn containing the ashes of a burnt wooden ball, "the ashes of Australian cricket", by a group of Melbourne ladies including Florence Mophy who would later marry Ivo Bligh. When Bligh died in 1927, his widow presented the MCC with a small terracotta urn which has been kept in the MCC museum at Lord's cricket ground ever since. The Australia-England cricket match series has long been known as "The Ashes" cricket series as a result of all of the above.

  The issue of stamps commemorating national victory in the Ashes series is a relatively recent philatelic phenomenon - see below. Details of the various series since 2002 are:-

  2002 - 2003. Held in Australia - Australia won 4 - 1

  2005. Held in England  - England won  2 - 1 (2 drawn matches) - stamps issued

  2006 - 2007. Held in Australia - Australia won 5 - 0 - stamps issued

  2009. Held in England - England won   2 - 1 (2 drawn matches) - no stamps issued

  2010 - 2011. Held in Australia - England won  3 - 1 (1 drawn match) - no stamps issued

  2013. Held in England - England won   3 - 0 (2 drawn matches) - no stamps issued

  2014 - 2015  Held in Australia - Australia won  5 - 0 - stamps issued

  2015  Held in England - England won.  (3 - 1 with 1 game yet to be played) - ?stamps to be issued

  

  In Blog 355 I detailed the previous issues by both Australia Post and Royal Mail which have been released to commemorate the two countries' teams fortunes in this long running contest but I summarise again here.

   Royal Mail - 6 October 2005 - 1 miniature sheet of 4 different stamps (excellent action-full photographs).

  Australia Post - 16 January 2007 - 2 gummed stamps, 2 self-adhesive stamps and 1 miniature sheet:-

   Australia Post - 20 January 2015 -2 gummed stamps, 1 self-adhesive stamp and 1 miniature sheet:-

  I do hope that Royal Mail will release a commemorative issue for this current sporting victory as this helps to build up a series of issues over the years which are rather fun in the way they demonstrate the constant and longstanding Anglo-Australian sporting rivalry and every Englishman likes to irritate the Australians just as every Australian likes to poke fun at the English. 

  Presumably Royal Mail will not release news of an issue before the end of the final game of this Ashes series but I suspect that someone is beavering away in the background preparing a 2015 "Ashes victory" miniature sheet. I do hope so. Perhaps David Cameron could present one to Tony Abbott when they both attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which will take place in Malta later this year. Or is that not very diplomatic?

  Apart from the miniature sheets which were issued in 2012 to commemorate British gold medal winners at the London Olympic Games, other items have been released by the British postal service in the past to commemorate British sporting success. 

  The forerunner is the single stamp issued on 18 August 1966 to commemorate the victory of the England Football team in the Jules Rimet World Cup finals held at Wembley (see Blog 420):-

  19 December 2003 - England's victory in the Rugby World Cup finals - 1 miniature sheet of 4 different stamps (see Blog 606):-

  8 August 2015 - Andy Murray's victory in the 2013 Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Finals (see Blog 272) - 1 miniature sheet of 4 different stamps:-