758. Singapore "My Stamps" Commemorate Shakespeare.

  Singapore Post issued a "My Stamp" folder containing 8 stamps with labels attached on 23 April 2016 to commemorate the Quatercentenary of the birth of William Shakespeare. The 8 identical stamps feature a rose and the labels illustrate quotations from Shakespeare's plays - 

  "There's daggers in men's smiles" Macbeth

  "To be or not to be that is the question" Hamlet (see Blog 747)

  "All that glisters is not gold" The Merchant Of Venice

  "Romeo Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo?" Romeo And Juliet

  "The course of true love never did run smooth" A Midsummer Night's Dream and

  "My salad days when I was green in my judgement" Anthony And Cleopatra.

  Rating:- *****.

  Singapore Stamps will then issue a set of stamps and a "Collectors sheet" on 25 May 2016 as the second part of its ongoing "Myths and Legends" series. The subject of this issue is the legends associated with the Sisters Islands and Kusu Island Rating:- *****.

  Pleasingly Singapore Post has reduced drastically its commemorative stamp new issue programme for 2016 - its remaining programme for the rest of the year is:-

1 July - 50th anniversary of Singapore Youth Festival

8 August - National Day

21 September - Nature series

9 October - Joint issue with Japan

21 November - Festivals.

  Let's hope that the philatelic departments of other large postal administrations follow Singapore Post's shining example in 2017 and onwards.

  Sri Lanka Post issued 4 new surcharges on 9 May 2016 on 4 former definitive stamps which had first been released on 7 October 2007 (Constellations "Orion" stamp) and 12 December 2012 (Guard tone and balustrade stamps). Rating :- ***.

  Sri Lanka Post also issued a single stamp on 13 May 2016 to commemorate the Centenary of the World and Sri Lankan Cub Scouts. A cheerful, if rather busy, design. Rating:-***. 

  Bad news from Norfolk Island - not only has it lost it's self-governing status but from 1 July 2016 Australia Post will lay its greedy hands on the post office there and take over running the island's postal service and stamp issues. Over recent years, the stamps of Norfolk Island have been a joy to collect with stamps being released with strictly local themes as well as being reasonably conservative in both numbers issued per year and annual face value. Collectors will dread finding out what will happen once money-grabbing Australia Post is let loose on the island's philatelic programme. I hear a bell tolling in the distance.

  Post Fiji Ltd has issued a se-tenant strip of 4 different stamps with a label at the centre of the strip to commemorate Chinese New Year. The stamps depict monkeys to fit in with The Year of The Monkey but there are no species of monkey found in Fiji. I do not yet know the date of issue.

757. Jersey Post Offering £445 Worth Of "Commemorative Sheets" For Sale.

  Yet more stuff from Jersey Post. A "Commemorative sheet" of 20 "Jersey Crest" stamps was issued on 12 May to commemorate the Centenary of the Muratti Vase which is an annual inter-insular football competition involving Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney. The stamps have labels attached to them which feature motifs relevant to the subject. The cost of this item is £12.50. Currently Jersey Post has 40 commemorative sheets dating back to last year for sale on its website with a total cost of approximately £445 (plus tax!) - they don't seem to be selling them very quickly! I wonder why. 

  Not content with all that, Jersey Post intends to issue a set of 8 stamps and an accompanying miniature sheet on 7 June 2016 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Jersey Old Motor Club. The cost of this large set will be £6.41p for the stamps and £2 for the miniature sheet (plus - of course - tax) making a grand total of £8.41.

  The issue was designed by Interabang and Andy Gresley and lithographed with additional silver metallic ink. Rating:- ****.

  It isn't often that a postal administration or a philatelic bureau will give its customers a free gift but Australia Post has done just that. A free imperforate $1 miniature sheet is being distributed to those customers who signed up to become a Collectables Newsletter subscriber. The design features the stamp which commemorates the 50th anniversary of the introduction of decimal currency in Australia.

  The card which is sent with the miniature sheet also informs the collector that they will receive the Australian Philatelic Bulletin in digital format, "exclusive offers and Collectable products and deals", access to collecting tips and article, "access to the digital gallery" and "details of the latest stamp events".

  Thank you, Australia Post, for my free gift.

  There are a number of issues from Royal Gibraltar Post Office to mention:-

    19 February 2016 - 90th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II - 1 x £5 stamp. Designed by Stephen Perera and lithographed by Lowe-Martin. Rating:- **. See also Blog 715.

  

  16 May 2016 - Centenary of the Battle of The Somme - 5 stamps. Designed by Stephen Perera and lithographed by Cartor. Rating:- ***.

  16 May 2016 - Fifth wedding anniversary of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge 1 miniature sheet. Designed by Stephen Perera and lithographed by BDT International Security Printers. Rating:- **.

756. Two New Post And Go Museum Sites.

  New Zealand Post will issue a sheetlet of 10 different stamps on 22 June 2016 to provide new values and some new designs for its Personalised Stamps. The stamps were designed by New Zealand Stamps and lithographed by Southern Colour Print, perforated 14. Rating:- **.

  The Royal Mail "Post and Go" extravaganza continues unabated. From 1 June 2016 two new kiosks will begin dispensing labels on both of the tiresomely familiar  Machin Head and Union Flag designs. Both kiosks will be situated at Royal Navy museums - at HMS Trincomalee in Hartlepool (kiosk A006) and at HMS Caroline in Belfast (kiosk A008) - and the labels will be dispensed with the inscription "Royal Navy". Just to double the cost to collectors, the labels will have the additional inscription "Battle of Jutland" which will be used only until 30 June 2016. 

  HMS Trincomalee was built in India due to a shortage of oak in Britain resulting from the Napoleonic Wars and launched in 1817 and on her maiden voyage visited St. Helena in 1819 where it took on board John Stokoe, a surgeon who attended the deposed French tyrant Bonaparte who was exiled there (I see the likely subject for a stamp issue from that island coming up in 2019). The ship was placed in reserve until 1845 and then served on the North American and West Indies station. While there the ship participated in quelling riots on Haiti and prevented an invasion of Cuba and served in the anti-slavery patrol. The ship then served off Newfoundland and Labrador and later as part of the Pacific Squadron off the American west coast. The ship ended its Royal Navy service as a training ship and was withdrawn from service in 1895 and sod for scrap in 1897 but its private buyer restored it and it remained in service until 1986 and it has now become the historic dockyard museum in Hartlepool.

  HMS Caroline is a decommissioned cruiser which was launched in 1914 and saw active service in the First World War. The ship served as an administrative centre in World War II and was finally decommissioned in 2011. The ship was a static headquarters and training ship for the Royal Naval Reserve based in Alexandra Dock in Belfast and is the last surviving ship of The Battle of Jutland.

  The Caroline was turned into a visitor attraction in time for the centenary of the Battle of Jutland.

  It is quite appropriate therefore that the "Post and Go" labels at the HMS Caroline site in particular should have The Battle of Jutland  additional inscription but isn't it time that these museum "Post and Gos" were printed on labels which have more interesting illustrations? - surely it can't be that much more expensive to produce individual designs for each site rather than the excruciatingly boring Machin Head and Union Jack designs - punters buying these labels might then feel as though they're getting value for money.

  IGPC, the USA-based philatelic agency has produced some more philatelic items with the names of various Commonwealth territories printed on them:-

  Ghana - 1 March 2016 - Commemoration of Muhammad Ali (US boxer) - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

  Grenada - 16 May 2016 - 90th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II (Queen of Grenada) - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- ***

  16 May 2016 - "NY 2016" Philatelic Exhibition, New York, USA - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

  Grenada Carriacou And Petite St. Martinique - 1 May 2016 - 50th anniversary of the Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Terechkova becoming the first woman in space - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

  1 April 2016 - 90th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II (Queen of Grenada) - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- *.

  30 May 2016 - "NY 2016" Philatelic Exhibition, New York, USA - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- 0.

  St. Vincent And The Grenadines - 11 April 2016 - Achievement of Queen Elizabeth II in becoming the longest reigning British monarch (she is also the Queen of St. Vincent And The Grenadines) - 1 sheetlet of 3 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Rating:- **.

  Collectors of stamps of The Commonwealth have been spared any new items produced by the notorious Stamperija this week but I reproduce one of the products which has appeared, with the name of Niger printed on it, which is said to commemorate the 90th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. The design is incredibly appalling and includes monstrous depictions of The Queen which verge on being insulting.

Who buys this stuff? Is anyone out there prepared to admit to it?

755. World War I Memorial Features On BFPO Post And Go.

  The "Post And Go" kiosk, M001, at the BFPO Headquarters at RAF Northolt (see Blog 750) has been dispensing from early May a new stamp - a second class value with an added illustration which depicts a replica of the statue "Letter to an aunknown Soldier" or "Letter from Home" by Charles Sargeant Jagger, a Sheffield sculptor, which is placed outside the BFPO Headquarters. Presumably in time this logo will also be used on the First class values.

  The original bronze statue is sited at Paddington Railway Statue and is officially called the Great Western Railway War Memorial so, in a way, this stamp is of interest to collectors of railway stamps.

  I like this item as it is dispensed from a kiosk serving a genuine postal need and find it to be very interesting. Rating:- *****.

  See also Blog 499D.

  "Post and Go" kiosks situated at the 4 Royal Navy museums will dispense labels with additional inscriptions applied to them (Union Flag and Machin Head designs) which commemorate the Centenary of the Battle of Jutland. These will be dispensed from 31 May to 30 June 2016.

  Meanwhile Guernsey Post "Post and Go" kiosk GG02 situated at Envoy House in St. Peter Port will dispense strips of "Guernsey Flag" stamps inscribed "HM The Queen Happy 90th Birthday" from 6 to 30 June 2016.

  Jersey Post issued a £14.98 "Prestige booklet" on 21 April 2016 as part of its issue which commemorated the 90th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. This was in addition to the 10 value commemorative set it also issued which had a sale price of £7.49p (see Blog 733). The total cost of the issue therefore is the large sum of £22.47p. Rating:- 0.

  Isle of Man Post Office will issue 4 stamps, each with the surprisingly high face values of £1.24, on 23 May 2016 to commemorate the Olympic Games to be held in Rio De Janeiro in a few weeks time. The total cost will be £4.96 but collectors will also have the pleasure of spending a further £4.96 to buy a sheetlet containing the same 4 stamps. I am not aware that Isle Of Man will be sending its own team to the Olympic Games. Rating:- 0.

  Recently on sale on an Internet auction site were some commercial covers from Uganda on which were placed some commemorative stamps which I have not seen previously. The covers were dated 2016 and seem to commemorate the visit of Pope Francis to Uganda which took place in 2015. Four stamps in all were depicted on the covers. Each stamp includes a small Ugandan flag in its design and the set looks very much as though it is a local issue rather than the sort of stuff which emanates from one of the foreign philatelic agencies which Posta Uganda has used in the past. Presumably we will see unused examples of these stamps coming on to the philatelic market in the future. Rating:- *****.