667. Yet More Post And Go's; Guernsey Post's 2016 Programme.

  The British Postal Museum and Archives will be dispensing new Post And Go labels from its A001 kiosk from 16 November 2016 in the form of the "Winter Fur and Feathers" issue but with the added inscription "The B.P.M.A.". There will be a "Collectors' Strip" of 6 different values in the 1st class strip so that each design appears 3 times within a strip, each with a different value. Meanwhile the 2nd class strip is really just a pair of labels, each with a different value - 8 values in all. Rating:- 0.

  MaltaPost will issue a set of 3 stamps on 14 November 2015 to commemorate Christmas. The stamps feature engravings by Albrecht Durer and were designed by MaltaPost and lithographed by Printex. Rating:- ***.

  It has been several months since Vanuatu Post released a set of stamps but a new set was finally released on 11 November 2015 on the subject of "Fine Cuisine". Vanuatu frequently issues sets which tie in with promotion of its tourist industry and this depicts 4 different leading restaurants in the islands along with some of the food which they produce. The excellent designs are by Denise Durkin and the issue was lithographed by Southern Colour Print. Rating:-*****.

  The South Georgia And South Sandwich Islands postal service will issue a set of 6 attractive and interesting stamps on 21 December 2015 on the subject of "Biodiversity". This is another excellent issue from the Pobjoy Stamps agency. Rating:- *****.

  India Post released 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 15 October 2015 on the subject of Gandhi and his spinning wheel or charkha which represented various qualities including self-sufficiency and interdependence. Rating:- ***.

  I like very much the recent single stamp issue from Pakistan Post which commemorates the restoration of Murree Post Office. The design by Adil Salahuddin depicts a very attractive building with the Post Office emblem fixed to it. The stamp was lithographed by Pakistan Security Printing Corp and issued on 4 November 2015. Rating:- *****.

  The previously mentioned stamp which commemorated the centenary of Urdu in Istanbul University was issued on 11 October 2015 and was designed by Adil Salahuddin and also lithographed by Pakistan Security Printing Corporation.

  Back to the overwhelming tide of Royal Mail's "Post And Go" labels. In Blog 646, I mentioned the new inscriptions on the labels dispensed at the various military museums. We have 4 museums, each with Collectors' strips of 6 labels (total of 24) with the new basic inscription on the Poppy designs plus the Trafalgar Day added inscription on the Union Jack labels for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Museum or the Union Jack labels without Trafalgar Day inscription on the Fleet Air Arm and Submarine Museums labels giving us a total of another 24 labels, making 48 new museums labels in all.

  Additionally we have the Paris Salon Philatelique D'automne "Euro Collectors' Strips" (limited sale from 5 - 8 November only) of 4 different values on 4 different designs depicted below - making 16 more stamps in all to be added to the 48 military museums labels. Rating:-0.

  A recent philatelic product to have emanated from the highly prolific US-based philatelic agency, IGPC, is sheetlet of 4 different "stamps" with the inscription "Antigua And Barbuda". The item commemorates the final defeat of the French tyrant, Bonaparte, at the Battle of Waterloo. I do not yet know the precise date on which the agency claims the item to have been released. Rating:- 0.

  Guernsey Post has outlined its upcoming stamp programme for 2016. In all there will be 13 new issues plus the inevitable "Post And Go" issues.

Inscribed "Guernsey":-

20 January - Chinese New Year - Year of The Monkey -  6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet,

17 February - Endangered species - Phillipine eagle,

9 May - Europa - "Think green",

25 May- Victor Hugo - Toilers of the Sea,

25 May - SEPAC - Seasons,

22 July - RAMSAR - Herm,

27 July - 500 years of postal history,

6 November - Christmas,

11 November - Centenary of the First World War (III).

17 February - "Post And Go" - Bailiwick life.

17 February - "Post And Go"  - Overprints for Spring Stampex 2016 and Envoy House.

Inscribed "Alderney":-

17 February - Longis nature reserve,

25 May - 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings,

27 July - History of the British monarchy,

6 November - Christmas.

Post scriptum - Guernsey Post has since altered the proposed dates of issue of the sets inscribed "Alderney" so that the proposed date of issue of the British monarchy set is now 25 May 2016 and the Battle of Hastings set will be 14 September 2015. The date of issue of the two Christmas sets has been changed to 8 November 2015.

666. Jeremy Corbyn Depicted On New Montserrat Sheetlet.

  From the New York-based philatelic agents, IGPC, come a sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet on the subject of Self Portrait paintings by various artists - whatever the relevance of the subject may be to Montserrat, whose name is printed on these items,  I do not know. Rating:- 0.

   It looks as though the new leader of the British Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has been depicted in the left hand border of the sheetlet but apparently it's actually Edouard Manet, another thin old man with a beard. 

                            

                                      

  Now appearing on Internet auction sites are the latest philatelic products to be offered for sale by Philatelic Collector Inc. and the first to appear is a miniature sheet inscribed "Samoa" to commemorate the "Year of The Monkey" which is in a similar style to last year's Lunar New Year Stamps. Again, the subject of the issue has little or nothing to do with Samoa so I won't be adding it to my collection. Rating:- 0.

                                    

  Hongkong Post  will issue 2 miniature sheets on 20 and 23 November 2015 respectively to commemorate the 31st Asian International Stamp Exhibition to be held in the territory between those 2 dates. Miniature sheet no.1 of the series was released on 18 September 2014. The issue was designed by Sherman Lai. Rating:- **.

                           

                           

   More upcoming philatelic products from IGPC are:-

  Grenada - 2015 - Warships and "Classic Ships of the World" - 2 sheetlets each of 9 different stamps. Rating:- 0.

                           

                           

  2015 - Centenary of the First World War, The Stokes mortar - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                           

                                     

  In Blog 664  I mentioned the Christmas sheetlets, cost £10.99 and £12.99 respectively (total £23. 98p) from Jersey Post and I now illustrate them below. The date of issue will be 27 November 2015. Rating:- 0.

665. Sri Lanka - Thailand Joint Issue; New Qatar Definitives And St. Helena Paintings Set.

  The Sri Lanka postal administration issued 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 2 November 2015 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and Thailand. This issue is a joint release with Thailand. Rating:- ****.

  India Post issued a pair of stamps on 2 November 2015 to commemorate the Bicentenary of the1st and 3rd Gurkha Rifles. Rating:- ***.

  I have previously mentioned that Royal Mail will issue its next Post And Go stamps on 16 November 2015 on the subject of "Winter Fur and Feathers" but I have not depicted the very attractive pack in which the 4 stamps will be contained. See Blog 645. Rating:- *****.

  Another excellent "Wildlife" item which I have not yet depicted is the very interesting and attractive (who would have thought that vultures would be described as "attractive"?) miniature sheet on the subject of "Save Botswana's Vultures" (see Blog 650). The date of issue was 28 September 2015. Rating:- *****.

   I like this issue so much that I also include an illustration of the first day cover:-

  Q Post, the postal administration of Qatar, issued 3 new definitive stamps on 10 August 2015 which depict Emir Tamin bin Hamid al-Thani who became the country's ruler on 25 June 2014 (see Blog 263). The stamps were lithographed by Cartor. Rating:-*****.

  Although Qatar is not a member of The Commonwealth, I mention these stamps as a follow-up to Blog 263 where I used Emir Tamin's succession as a reason to write about the pre-Independece stamps of Qatar. Also, recently, philatelic links between Q Post and Royal Mail have been highlighted by the former installing 2 Post And Go kiosks in the Head Post Office in Doha (see Blog 643).

  The St. Helena Post Office has issued an atmospheric set of 4 stamps in a se-tenant strip which depicts paintings of buildings in Jamestown, the island's capital. This looks like an excellent set which will give the collector a real feel for what it is to walk through Jamestown's streets. I do not know the date of issue - pre-publicity to collectors from the agency which handles St. Helena's new issues is usually very scanty and that again seems to be the case with this issue. Pity - this issue could be a very popular one if only collectors knew that it is available. Rating:- *****.

  I have not yet seen any news of the set which was due to be released in October to commemorate the Bicentenary of the exiled Napoleon Boaparte's arrival in St. Helena (see Blog 661) and presumably the island will also be issuing a set of stamps related to the Inauguration of the island's airport and the first flights to and from St. Helena.

664. Jersey 2016 - 14 New Issues Plus Post And Go.

  In a Christmas newsletter, the Jersey Post Group has announced that "We've had lots of great feedback about our stamp programme this year and have been listening to your comments and suggestions, reducing the overall number of stamps in 2016 whilst continuing to offer a range of products and additional Sheets and Post And Go".

  So during 2016, the postal administration of this small island is planning to only release.....14 new stamp issues plus 2 basic designs of "Post And Go" stamps. Fourteen sets .... yes, they've been listening, sort of.

   So the vital subjects which will be featured on Jersey Post's issues next year are:-

   5 January  - "Year of The Monkey",

   6 February - RAF Search and Rescue,

   9 March - "The Royal Legacy of Queen Victoria - King George V",

   29 April - Fifth Wedding anniversary of The Duke And Duchess of Cambridge,

   3 May - Europa - "Think Green",

   11 May - Einstein's Theory of General Relativity,

   7 June - Jersey Old Motor Club,

   5 July - Popular culture of the 1950's,

   4 August - Centenary of The First World War - Battles,

   22 September - Links with China (again!) - Waterfowl,

   6 October - Jersey myths and legends,

   4 November - Seasons - Winter,

   25 November - Christmas - "Father Christmas in Jersey",

   February - Post And Go - "Jersey Definitives - The Crest of Jersey",

   September - Post And Go" - "Beetles".

   From the point of view of my own collection, because of Jersey Post's excessive issuing of stamps in recent years, I decided that I would collect only new issues which commemorated important locally relevant anniversaries and events and I have to say that hardly any of the above seem to fit in with those criteria. It does not look as though Jersey Post will be relieving me of much money next year.

   Furthermore the assertion that Jersey Post is "reducing the overall number of stamps in 2016" barely applies to the number of issues since there seems to have been 15 sets in 2015 - only one more than is planned for 2016 and the extra set in 2015 is actually a set of definitives so the number of "special" issues will not be reduced at all and the absence of the 15th set will be compensated by producing 2 " Post and Go" sets instead of the single new design set of 2015. 

  The only way therefore that Jersey Post can live up to its promise is to reduce the number of stamps per set. I look forward to November 2016 when we will know exactly how much Jersey Post has listened to its customers' comments and acted on its promise to reduce "the overall number of stamps".

 There is to be the first Jersey Stamps Exhibition at the Jersey Museum's Link Gallery from 5 to 31 December 2015 with the stamp engraver, Martin Morck, being present there on 7 and 8 December.  

   Jersey Post has discovered "Commemorative Stamp Sheets" (see Blogs 597 and 658) and has now "produced Christmas Commemorative Stamp Sheets" using the local letter 'gift' and the UK Letter 'heart' stamps from our My Moments issue. Seasonal messages and phrases feature on the labels attached to the stamps and both sheets can be viewed on our website" (no they can't - not yet anyway). "Look out for more Commemorative Sheets throughout 2016". Oh dear!

  In Blog 498 I depicted 2 Horizon labels from Isle Of Man which dated back to 2005 and at the time I remembered receiving a differemt type of label a few years earlier than those. Unfortunately I had misplaced the item but I have just discovered its hiding place and now depict it below. The label is timed 15.43 19 DEC 01. When I wrote the previous Blog on the subject I remember finding an article on the internet which mentioned the period of use of this design but I can not find the information now. Still at least I have the stamp now in my Isle Of Man collection.

  In Blog 642 I wrote about "how to make your customers happy". Isle of Man Stamps And Coins have made me a happy punter by sending me one of their Christmas cards which I illustrate below. I have received a number of such items over the years and they make an interesting little collection in their own right. And for once a year they don't cost the customer anything. Much appreciated - Merry Christmas to Isle Of Man Stamps And Coins staff in return! 

Christmas card - front and back cover

  I have received recently the RM12 pack from Pos Malaysia which was issued on 7 May 2015 (see also Blog 569) to commemorate the Installation of The Sultan of Perak. The pack contains 2 miniature sheets, both of which contain partially imperforate stamps, with the yellow used on one of the sheets replaced by gold on the other. Rating:- ***.

Front cover

Rear cover