681. Endurance Ice-bound, Santa in St. Helena And Monkeys In Botswana.

  The first issue of special stamps of 2016 from Royal Mail will be an excellent set of 8 stamps which is on a subject very worthy of being featured philatelically - the Centenary of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition which was led by Ernest Shackleton whose ship, Endurance, was ice-bound from January 2016. Those on board were eventually forced to abandon ship and endure many hardships. Finally  Shackleton was able to rescue his men who were trapped on Elephant Island having set out himself with 5 other men in an open boat for South Georgia.

  This important commemoration will be issued on 7 January 2016 and was designed by Robert Maude and Sarah Davies and lithographed by International Security Printers. Rating:- *****.

  The St. Helena Post Office issued a set of 5 Christmas stamps on 25 November 2015 all of which depicted Father Christmas. Rating:-****.

  St. Helena's "Main Street paintings" set (see Blog 665) was issued on either 15 or 21 May 2015 (2 dates are given on the St Helena Philatelic Bureau website) but "This issue ... due to printing problems and delays has only just become available to purchase". Presumably these are the same problems which also affected the Napoleon issue as mentioned In Blog 661 about which I have not seen any further news.

  Botswana Post issued a very attractive set of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 20 November 2015 on the subject of Vervet monkeys. Rating:- *****. 

  The miniature sheet was also issued with an added inscription for the 31st International Asian Stamp Exhibition held in Hong Kong from 20 to 23 November 2015 - presumably the sheet was issued on 20 November 2015.

  The latest philatelic delights from the Lithuania-based philatelic agency, Stamperija, have been produced in the names of 3 Commonwealth territories. 

  Firstly Maldives which has been blessed with having its name printed on 10 "sheetlets", each made up of 4 different "stamps" and each accompanied by a "miniature sheet". The "designs" generally feature birds and fish of Maldives/the Indian Ocean - Sharks, Wading birds, Fish (4 sub-sets), Birds of prey, Terns, Ducks and Seabirds. The stated date of issue is 9 December 2015. Rating:- 0.

  Sierra Leone  is blessed with 10 "sheetlets", each of 5 different "stamps" and each with an accompanying "miniature sheet". The designs depict various types of birds - Waterbirds, Eagles, Parrots, Bee eaters, Owls, Hummingbirds, Seabirds,  Kingfishers, Birds of prey and the White- breasted guinea fowl. The stated date of issue is 23 October 2015. Rating:- 0.

  Mozambique is even more fortunate in that its name is printed on a total of 15 "sheetlets", each containing 4 different "stamps" and with 15 accompanying "miniature" sheets. The stated date of issue is 15 August 2015 and a wide range of subjects is covered, many of which are irrelevant to Mozambique - the Achievement of Quuen Elizabeth II in becoming the longest reigning British monarch, Dogs, 70th anniversary of World War II, African fauna, African trains, Air ambulance services, Tigers, Trains, Cats, Expo Milano 2015, Fire engines, European Football Championships 2016, Mahatma Gandhi, Automobiles and Lighthouses. Rating:- 0.

                                                           

                                              

  The US-based philatelic agency, IGPC, has produced a new and very long list of philatelic products which it has produced in the name of its various client territories. Most of the items, as usual, have little or no relevance in subject matter to the territories whose names are printed on them.

  Ghana - 2 November 2015 - Butterflies (part 2) - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0

                                             

                                                

  - 21 December 2015 - Space missions to deep space - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                           

                                           

  - 2 November 2015 - Wild cats of Africa - 1 sheetlet of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                                           

                                           

  - 2015 - Centenary of the sinking of RMS Lustania - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                                   

                                                   

  - 21 December 2015 - Aircraft of The First World War - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                                             

                                             

 - 21 December 2015 - Birds of the world, art by Seema Goldstein - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                               

                                              

  - 21 December 2015 - Fish of the Caribbean - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheets. Rating:- 0.

                                                             

                                             

  - 21 December 2015 - Chinese art - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                                              

                                                

  - 21 December 2015 - "Solar power" - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                           

                                           

  - 21 December 2015 - Underwater volcanoes - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- ***.

                                                 

                                                

  - 21 December 2015 - "West Indian Manatees" - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- **.

                                              

                                                   

  - 21 December 2015 - 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill. - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                                      

                                                      

  Grenada Carriacou And Petite Martinique - 21 December 2015 - Birds of Grenada - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- **.

                                        

                                       

    Guyana - 21 December 2015 - Chinese New Year - 2 stamps ( issued in sheetlets of 8 stamps (4 x each design) and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                       

                                       

  31 December 2015 - "Star Trek Deep Space Nine" (American television programme) - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                           

                                      

  Nevis - 7 December 2015 - Achievement of Queen Elizabeth II in becoming the longest reigning monarch - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- **.

                                        

                                   

St. Vincent And The Grenadines - 31 December 2015 - Bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                   

                                   

  - 31 December 2015 - Coral reefs - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheets. Rating:- 0.

                                   

                                    

 - 31 December 2015 - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                          

                                  

  - 31 December 2015 - Flamingos - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. No species  of flamingo is found in St. Vincent And The Grenadines. Rating:- 0.

                                 

                                   

  - 31 December 2015 - The Great egret - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. This is a species found in St. Vincent And The Grenadines. Rating:- 0.

                                          

                                 

  - 31 December 2015 - Sharks - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                  

                                  

  - 31 December 2015 - Cape hunting dogs of Africa - 1 sheetlet of 3 stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                  

                                   

  - 31 December 2015 - "World famous paintings - 1 sheetlet of 3 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

                                        

                                

  Turks And Caicos Islands - 1 December 2015 - Chinese New Year - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps. Rating:-  0.

                                 

- 1 December 2015 - Christmas - 4 stamps. Rating:- *.

                                                           

                                                           

680. Norvic Philatelics Identifies 47 New Machins In 2015

  

                                             

  I have been very pleased to download recently the latest (December 2015) update of the extremely well set out, thorough and highly useful Norvic Philatelics Security Machin Checklist which gives collectors a splendid and easily accessible listing of all the British definitives of recent years and, more especially, all the varieties issued by Royal Mail during 2015. 

   From Ian Billings' up to date listing it appears that there have been 47 new definitive varieties (self-adhesive and gummed) issued during the year, one of which is only known to him in a used state (2nd class blue from coils M15L MRIL). I originally counted a total of 42 but Ian pointed out a further 5 stamps to me.

  The self-adhesive list includes 4 x 2nd Class Blue (M15L MAIL from counter sheets, M15L MBIL from business sheets, M15L MTIL from booklets of 12 and the above mentioned M15L MRIL from coils), 5 x 1st Class Red (M15L MAIL from counter sheets, M15L MBIL from business sheets, M15L MTIL from booklets of 12, M15L MSIL from booklets of 6 and M15L MCIL from mixed booklets of 6), 3 x 2nd Large Blue (M15L MAIL from counter sheets, MA15 MBIL from business sheets and MA15 MFIL from booklets of 4), 3 x 1st Large Red (M15L MAIL from counter sheets, MA15 MBIL from business sheets and MA15 MFIL from booklets of 4) plus 11 other values all with code M15L MAIL - 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, £1, £1.33p, £1.52p, £2.25p, £2.45p and £3.30p).

  The other self-adhesive values are the Special Delivery items - Royal Mail Signed For 1st class, Royal Mail Signed For 1st Class Large and Special Delivery 100g (these 3 are all M15L) and the "Long To Reign" values - 1st amethyst purple from counter sheets (REIGN), 1st amethyst purple from retail booklet of 6 (REIGS) and 1st amethyst purple from mixed booklets (REIGC).

  Finally there are the gummed stamps:- 2nd class Blue from Star Wars booklet (M15L MPIL), 1st class Red from Star Wars booklet (M15L MPIL), 1st Class amethyst purple from Long To Reign miniature sheet (O15R REIGM), 1p from Great War booklet (M15L MPIL), 5p from Great War booklet (M15L MPIL), 10p from Waterloo booklet (M15L MPIL), 50p from Waterloo booklet (M15L MPIL), £1 from Waterloo booklet (M15L MPIL) and, finally, £1.33p from Great War booklet (M15L MPIL). Phew!

  It is easy to lose track of what is appearing from Royal Mail and Norvic's checklist is the most useful tool in ensuring we are able to keep up to date with what is out there and what needs to be tracked down to fill gaps in our collections. I shall be going through the list and seeing if Norvic can help me fill some of those empty spaces.

12 December 2015 - Post scriptum. Ian Billings has now published a summary of the complete list of 47 new stamps on the Norvic Philatelics Blog site - an invaluable summary for anyone interested in these stamps.

  Sri Lanka Post issued a pair of stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 6 December 2015 to celebrate Christmas, as it usually does. The exuberant miniature sheet depicts Father Christmas and rather jolly it is too though when I think of Sri Lanka the figure of Father Christmas has never before come to my mind. Rating:- ****.                                       

                                                

                                                

  Campost, the postal service of Cameroon, has issued a single stamp (date of issue not yet known) which commemorates the deep water harbour at Kribi. Rating:- ***.

                                          

   Nampost, the postal service of Namibia, issued a miniature sheet containing 3 different stamps on 20 November 2015 to commemorate its participation in the 31st Asian International Philatelic Exhibition in Hong Kong which was held from 20 to 23 November. The theme of the miniature sheet, which itself has perforations around its edge, is "Working Together For Conservation". Rating:- *****.

Whole miniature sheet

Stamps from miniature sheet.

   Meanwhile Hong Kong Post itself issued a set of 4 stamps on 8 December 2015 which depicts early Chinese scientists. The pre-issue publicity illustrations show a design error on the $5 value which commemorates Li Shizhen who wrote "Compendium of Materia Medica" although the illustration is inscribed "Compenium of Materia Medica". Rating:- *****.

                                                 

                                                 

  Bhutan Post issued a sheetlet of 8 different stamps on 11 November 2015 on the subject of the wildlife conservation work of the 4th King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuk . The stamps are based on marvellous photographs of some of Bhutan's fabulous wildlife. I thoroughly enjoy collecting the recent issues of Bhutan Post - they are mainly based on photographs rather than original art but the photographs are very well chosen and the subjects of the issues are always relevant to Bhutan and usually interesting and frequently exciting. Rating:- *****.

                                 

                                           

                                           

                                          

679. Gibraltar Issues Post And Go Stamps In Christmas Stamp Designs.

  

  What is the point of a Philatelic Bureau? Not, it seems, to be of any useful benefit to stamp collectors.

  Why does a postal administration issue stamps which its philatelic bureau can not be bothered to sell to stamp collectors? Is it expecting too much (apparently it is) that a philatelic bureau might provide a specialist service to its philatelic customers whereby they can obtain stamps (the key word is stamps) from the bureau  which they can not buy themselves from the post office's counters because they don't actually live anywhere near the point of sale?

  Hence buyers of stamp-related tat might be able to buy from a philatelic bureau ultra-expensive versions of, for example, stamp booklets sold in metal cases with holograms stuck on their covers or even tea-towels or bags with stamp illustrations on them but the bureau does not provide the collectors with, for instance, varieties of current definitive stamps which collectors view as important because they have a range of annually changing, visually obvious security codes on them. 

  A new source of complaint about its lack of usefulness to collectors is the Gibraltar philatelic bureau. The Gibraltar postal administration has spent a lot of time this year promoting its "Post And Go" philatelic products which for several months were not even available from a kiosk sited in Gibraltar itself. Then 2 kiosks were finally sited in Gibraltar - at the Main post office and at the Parcels Office. Excellent! - at last, real Post And Go stamps from Gibraltar except that collectors and dealers who did not actually live in Gibraltar, or were perhaps visiting the territory, could not actually obtain any of the real stamps because the Gibraltar philatelic bureau, for whatever reason, was not handling them.

  Is it expecting too much for a bureau employee to stand in front of the 2 kiosks and obtain Collectors' strips from them for onward sale to collectors who would like to buy these stamps? 

  And now, without any publicity of which I am aware - certainly not from the philatelic bureau - it appears that Christmas "Post And Go" stamps (see Blog 656) in 2 designs have been dispensed from the local kiosks since 16 November 2015. It was only by looking at Internet auction sites that I became aware of the existence of these stamps. The designs used for the Post And Go stamps are taken from 2 of the designs of the 2015 Christmas stamp set and, as before, there is a total of 12 different values available from the kiosks which means that there are 24 new Post And Go stamps to obtain deriving from this issue. Still they are quite interesting given that they represent Gibraltar's first special design, apart from the Gibraltar Flag design, to be used on the territory's Post And Go stamps.
  If only the Gibraltar philatelic bureau would sell these items there would probably be more sales to be made from them. Here's a little free advice to the manager of the Gibraltar philatelic bureau - get on top of things and despatch one of your employees off to the Main post office and Parcels office and set them to work producing a few of these strips so that you can provide a good service to your (potential) customers and do this with every new Post And Go issue that appears. You might be surprised and not only increase sales income but also make collectors happy. It's all about providing a service.
  By the way, Q Post, the Qatari postal service appears to be just as guilty as the Gibraltar postal service in not providing a worthwhile service to its philatelic customers when it comes to "Post And Go" stamps since its philatelic sales office is not offering stamps from its kiosks situated in the main Qatari post office after they were moved there from the previously mentioned philatelic exhibition (see Blog 643).

  Gibraltar Main Post Office strips:-

  Gibraltar Parcel Office strips:-