754. A Guernsey Cow In New York.

 

  Guernsey Post will issue a charming £2 miniature sheet on May 2016 to coincide with the NY2016 philatelic exhibition to be held in New York from 28 May to 4 June 2016. The scene depicted could not be more removed from a typical New York scene showing as it does a handsome Guernsey cow lying calmly in a field which makes up a lovely Guernsey pastoral scene. A lovely miniature sheet - designed by Andrew Robinson and lithographed by BDT International, perforated 15 x 14. Rating:- *****.

  Details of other recent and upcoming issues from Guernsey Post are provided in Blogs 739, 741 and 748 and depicted below is the "Prestige booklet", price £14.80p  which is part of the issue inscribed "Alderney" which commemorates the 90th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II which is also to be released on 25 May 2016. The entire issue was designed by Mark Totty and lithographed by Southern Colour Print, perforated 14. Rating:- **.

  Jersey Post will issue 2 designs of "Post And Go" labels at the NY2016 exhibition. "Collectors strips" will be produced using the "Jersey Flag" and "Jersey Crest" designs with an added inscription "World Stamp/Show  NY2016" and the exhibition logo depicting the Statue of Liberty. As well as there being labels, which of course have no postal validity in New York, dispensed from kiosk JE01, "back-office"-printed labels (BO02) will also be sold byJersey Philatelic Bureau. The cost of each strip will be £4.38 and therefore the price of having both designs will be £8.76p or, if a real enthusiast must have strips from both JE01 and BO01, the total bill will be £17.52p (cheap at half the price!):- 0.

  Although I dealt with Royal Mail's next issue, the perplexing "Animail", I mention it again to give further details (date of issue:- 17 May 2016,; a remarkably large number of designers seem to have been involved in this ill-conceived but expensive (£6.04p) mediocrity - Osborne Ross, Andrew Ross, Magpie Studio and Owen Gildersleeve); lithographed by International Security Printers. Just what is it all about? Rating:- 0.

  The excellent website, Joint Stamp Issues, has reported that 15 members of  ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, have each issued a single stamp each all in the same design on the subject of the 40th anniversary of the Organisation. The participating states are mainly Francophone territories (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote D'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo) plus Liberia and the Lusaphone territories of Cape Verde Islands and Guinea Bissau. Additionally there are three Commonwealth territories involved in the issue - Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone plus the former Commonwealth state of The Gambia. Joint Stamp Issues reports that the date of issue was 17 December 2015 although a miniature sheet combining the stamps of all 15 countries was produced for presentation to ECOWAS officials and cancelled with a postmark dated 28 May 2015 which was the intended date of issue. The stamps were lithographed by Enschede.

  The report also states that each country produced a miniature sheet which contains single imperforate versions of the respective country's stamp. This looks like an interesting and important issue and while the design is pretty poor the Rating is *****.

  Hong Kong Post issued a miniature sheet on 10 May 2016 in its ongoing "World Heritage in China" series. The item depicts "The Grand Canal" and was designed by Michael Miller Yu and lithographed by Enschede, perforated 14. Rating:- ***.

753. Where No Lenticular Philatelic Item Has Gone Before.

  In Blog 749 I depicted the 7 stamps issued on 5 May 2016 by Canada Post to commemorate the Canadian connections with the US television series Star Trek which was first broadcast 50 years ago. There have also been a number of other items released with this issue - notably a $10 lenticular miniature sheet containing 2 stamps depicting the characters Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, a $8.50 booklet of 10 stamps (2 each of 5 different designs), a "Prestige"-style booklet sold for $19.95 containing 2 gummed panes (4 x Captain Kirk stamps and the second containing one each of the Mr. Spock, Scotty and Dr. McCoy  stamps), a $7.35 sheetlet containing the 5 stamps which depict Star Trek characters but gummed and 2 additional stamps depicting spaceships (shown in Blog 749) produced in coil format which are also issued together in a gummed miniature sheet.

  Canada Post has done for Star Trek what Royal Mail did for Star Wars or, more accurately perhaps,  Star Trek will do for Canada Post what Star Wars did for Royal Mail. Presumably this will be a very popular issue.

  Lenticular miniature sheets seem to be all the rage at present what with the similar item from New Zealand Post which commemorates the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II (see Blog 745). Rating for the complete issue:- *****.

752. Cyprus Europa And Irish Easter Rising Miniature Sheets.

  Cyprus Post will issue a pair of "Think Greenstamps on 9 May 2016 as its contribution to the Europa omnibus issue. The stamps were designed by Doxia Sergidou and lithographed. They were also issued in a booklet of 8 stamps. Rating:- **.

  Stamperija's latest stuff with a Commonwealth country's name printed on it has been produced with the inscription "Sierra Leone" and is said to have been "issued"on 25 March 2016. As usual there are 10 "sheetlets" each made up of 4 different "stamps" with 10 accompanying "miniature sheets". Featured subjects are Waterbirds, Hippopotami, Prehistoric water animals, Frogs, Turtles, Sea lions, Fish, Goldfish, Dolphins and Sharks. The over-arching theme of the "issue" is "Marine life" though it's clear that many of the depicted creatures are not marine at all. Rating:- 0.

  For An Post, the Post Office of Ireland, the Easter Rising is the gift that keeps on giving. In addition to numerous items detailed in various previous blogs (700, 731 and 736) An Post has released 4 miniature sheets, each containing 4 different gummed stamps from the Easter Rising definitive series. The 4 sheets are contained inside a presentation pack which is being sold for €15. Actually I do like this item and the 4 miniature sheets are indeed interesting so I thought I would find a place for it in my collection. Rating:-****.

  Following on from Blog 752, yet another "My Post" sheetlet of 12 identical stamps with attached labels from India Post, this time on the subject of the Godavara Pushkaram Bridge festival. The stamp, depicting as it does, a pleasant sunrise or sunset photograph is quite attractive for once and this is not a recent issue but one dating back to 2015. Rating:- *.

751. Excess - Another Manx Royal Birthday Issue And India Post Goes "My Stamp" Mad.

  The Isle Of Man postal administration has released (or will release) yet another miniature sheet to commemorate the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. This time the design of the sheet features a photograph of The Queen during her "Walkabout" in Windsor on 21 April 2016 and is sold for £2.17p. Previously a set of 8 stamps was issued on 6 February 2016 to commemorate the Queen's birthday (cost £6.76) followed by another miniature sheet (cost £1.70p). How many more "Royal Birthday"-related stamps/sheetlets/miniature sheets is the Isle Of Man postal administration planning to release?It's a good thing we have a Royal family - without them, what subjects would these petty postal administrations feature on their philatelic items to boost their income?  Rating:- *.

  India Post continues to pour out "My Stamp" stamps. As the stamps themselves mostly have novel designs I presume that these stamps should be collected as part of a collection of modern Indian stamps. The 13th My Stamp issue of 2016 was released on 27 April on the subject of the Tercentenary of the Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel. In line with most recent stamp issues from India Post the design is as dull as ditchwater. Rating:- *.

 The My Stamp sheetlet which commemorates the 150th anniversary of the High Court buildings at Allahabad was released on 13 March 2016 and contains 12 stamps with a total face value of Rs60 but was sold for Rs 300  (a substantial mark-up of Rs240). Rating:- *.

  The "My Stamp" overkill goes on with the 12th issue having been released on 22 April 2016 on the subject of Simhasth Kumbh Mahaparv and takes the usual form of offering a total face value of Rs60  but selling it for Rs300. How long is this going to go on for? Rating:-*.

 Meanwhile, the much more conservative Pakistan Post issued a single stamp to commemorate Dewan Bahadur S P Singha on 26 April 2016. The stamp was designed by Murghiz Khan and lithographed by Pakistan Security Printing Corporation, Karachi and perforated 13. The subject of the issue was a notable politician in Punjab as well as a Christian and this stamp's issue at this time is interesting given the amount of persecution of Christians which is currently taking place in Pakistan. An interesting subject but again, a pretty dull design. Rating:- **.

  New Zealand Post will issue a set of 6 self-adhesive stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 1 June 2016 to commemorate Matariki, the Maori new year. The subject of the issue is Kete, a Maori art form centred on containers. The stamps were designed by Rangi Kipa and Roy McDougall and lithographed by Southern Colour Print with the gummed miniature sheet being perforated 13.5. Rating:- ****.

  Sri Lanka Post issued 3 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 2 May 2015 to commemorate Vesak. The designs depicting stupas are by Palitha Gunasinghe. Rating:- ****.

  Malta Post will issue a pair of stamps on 9 May 2016 as its contribution to the annual Europa omnibus with its theme for this year of "Think Green". The issue was designed by Sean Cini and Doxia Sergidou and printed in lithography and perforated 14. A booklet of 5 x 59c stamps will also be issued. Rating:- **.