926. Hong Kong To Commemorate 20 Years Since Reunification With China.

  🇭🇰 Hong Kong Post will issue 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 1 July 2017 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The British withdrew from Hong Kong in 1997 and the territory returned to the sovereignty of The People's Republic Of China. Rating:- *****.

  🇬🇧 Royal Mail will issue a wonderful set of 8 stamps on 6 April 2017 on the subject of "Racehorse Legends". I am not at all interested in horse racing but I think that this is a beautiful set of stamps and even I have heard of almost all of the horses depicted on the stamps by 8 beautiful paintings which were specially commissioned by Royal Mail for use as designs of this set. Well done, Royal Mail! Rating:- ****** (yes, 6 stars).

   🇳🇦 Nam Post, the postal service of Namibia, issued a miniature sheet containing a single stamp on 6 February 2017 to commemorate Mandume ya Ndemufayo who was the king of the Oukwanyama from 1911 to 1917 who opposed European military actions in South West Africa. The issue marks the centenary of his death which occurred when British and South African attacked his residence. An interesting issue. Rating:- ****.

   🇬🇧 Whenever I am in Stratford upon Avon I like to visit the Shakespeare Centre to see what Post and Go kiosk A009 is up to. Generally it dispenses Machin Head labels with MA15 code though on its first day of activity it dispensed at least one reel with no code at all. I was surprised today to find that the Machin Head labels that appeared in response to my 64p were those with the code MA13 so Post and Go collectors now have 3 versions of the stamp to track down. Interesting isn't it?

  🇧🇹 Bhutan Post has released towards the end of 2016 two more issues which are delightfully colourful and locally relevant. The first commemorates the Druk Wangyel Festival which takes place annually in Bhutan on 13 December - presumably the date of issue of this set - and celebrates the achievements of King Jigme Singye Wangchuk. The issue is made of a sheetlet containing 8 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet with each stamp depicting scenes of Bhutanese people in colourful costumes and masks dancing. An excellent issue, rating:- *****.

  The second issue is on the subject of Prayer flags and is equally colourful and fascinating. The issue is made up of a sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 miniature sheet and the pictures depicted really capture a feeling of what Bhutan is all about. Rating:- *****.

   I was fortunate enough to pass a couple of weeks or so in Bhutan a few years ago and feel that Bhutan Post's current ongoing new issues tell collectors and other people all about Bhutan and what it's like - interesting, beautiful, even mysterious - if all postal administrations issued stamps that told us what their country is really like in the way that Bhutan Post does then our stamp albums would be all the more interesting.

  🇮🇳  India Post issued a single My Stamp on 3 March 2017 to commemorate Holi which is the Hindu spring festival and called the "Festival of Colours" or the "Festival of Love". The colourful stamp was issued in sheetlets of 12 stamps with attached labels at a premium above face value. Rating:- ***.

925. Diana Death Anniversary Exploitation Issues Begin.

  🇬🇭 When it comes to the philatelic exploitation of the memories of deceased celebrities no philatelic agency in the world is more adept and more bare-faced than the New York-based IGPC. And over the years no international celebrity's memory has been more exploited for the agency's financial gain than that of the tragic Diana Princess Of Wales and so the year of the 20th anniversary of her shocking death offers a fresh excuse to pour out stamp issues depicting the princess and IGPC has been quick to get started.

  Thus 3 single stamp miniature sheets have been released with the name of Ghana printed on them as a starter. The items are said to have been issued on 14 March 2017. Rating:- 0.

  🇦🇬 Meanwhile IGPC continues to pour out numerous Lunar New Year issues and issues commemorating the birth centenary of the former US President, John Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963. Nothing sells more stamps than a glamorous celebrity who died in tragic circumstances. From Antigua-Barbuda we have the following nonsense:-

10 February 2017 - Chinese paintings of the Monkey King - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps. Rating:- 0.

23 January 2017 - Lunar new year, Year of the Rooster - 3 sheetlets (1 of 2 x 2 different stamps, 1 of 4 identical stamps and 1 of 4 different stamps). rating:- 0.

  10 February 2017 - The Monkey King - 2 single stamp miniature sheets. Rating:- 0

23 January 2017 - Christmas 2016 (rather after the event I think) - 4 stamps. Rating:- 0.

🇬🇩 IGPC's exploitation of Kennedy's memory and tragic death takes the form of 2 issues with the name of Grenada and Grenada Carriacou And Petite Martinique printed on them:-

7 February 2017 - Birth centenary of former US President Kennedy - 2 sheetlets (1 of 6 different stamps and 1 of 4 different stamps). Rating:- 0.

🇹🇿 IGPC has produced a number of items with the name of Tanzania printed on them which have a lot to do with China but nothing to do with Africa - the Lunar new year (Year of the Rooster).

8 February 2017 - Lunar new year- 4 sheetlets (1 of 2 x 2 different stamps, 1of 2 identical stamps, 1 of 3 different stamps and 1 of 4 different stamps). Such nonsense. Rating:- 0.

  🇹🇻 Finally only one issue from IGPC which has been recently released and which has any meaning to the country whose name appears on it can be identified - a sheetlet of 6 different stamps from Tuvalu which draws attention to the country's dire straits as regards climate change. The inscription on the sheet says "Tuvalu is quickly becoming one of the victims of climate change and rising sea levels. Save Tuvalu and the Earth by following these simple rules. Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!" Which says everything really.

28 February 2017 - "Save Tuvalu, Save the Earth" - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps. Rating:- ****.

924. BVI High Values Were Intended To Be Revenue Stamps.

  🇻🇬 In Blog 879 I reported that the postal service of the British Virgin Islands had issued 2 extraordinarily high face value stamps to commemorate the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. This was a great shock for collectors particularly as the territory's postal service has long had a very conservative new issue policy and that the stamps were coming from the superb Creative Direction/Pobjoy Stamps stable. There were suspicions that either these items were intended to be used for fiscal purposes or that the values were not what was intended to be applied to them.

  It has now been made clear that these stamps were ordered by the British Virgin Islands government for use as Revenue stamps (though it may have been preferable if the inscription "Revenue" had been part of the design). The BVI government has stated that the intent of the high values was to "satisfy our needs, locally, here in the BVI, and not for money making on the international market". I believe

therefore that these stamps were fully justified for use as fiscal stamps but if the main purpose of their issue had been indicated on the stamps themselves then collectors may have been able to judge for themselves as to whether they should buy them to include them in their collection of postage stamps (actually I think that I would still have bought them even if postal usage is secondary to their fiscal role). What does seem clear is that they were issued with a practical purpose in mind rather than as a means of making a quick and large financial gain at the expense of stamp collectors. This is all very reassuring to collectors.

  BVI is planning three new issues during 2017 and these are expected to include their normal range of low values as well as some extremely low values (4c, 5c) which are needed to might local service needs. I think we can all heave a sigh of relief that the forces of philatelic good are still considering collectors whilst working in the service of their postal administration clients.

  🇨🇾 Cyprus Post issued a set of 4 stamps on the subject of "Wild Flowers of Cyprus" on 16 February 2017. The attractive set was designed by Melani Efstathiadou and lithographed by Veridos Matsoukis SA Greece. Rating:- *****.

  The 2017 "Refugee stamp" reprint was also released on 16 February 2017 with the date "2017" printed on it. Rating:- ***.

  🇬🇬 The Guernsey Post Lighthouses "Post and Go" stamps which were sold from kiosk GG01 at Spring Stampex 2017 are also being sold in the Envoy House post office in St. Peter Port in Guernsey itself and have the added inscription "Envoy House". They are being dispensed from kiosk GG02:-

   🇵🇰 Pakistan Post has issued a pair of stamps to commemorate the holding of the ECO (Economic Cooperation Organistation) Summit in Islamabad. This was the 13th summit meeting of the group and took place on 1 March 2017 which I presume was the date of issue of the stamps. The designs feature the flags of the participating countries - Pakistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Rating:- ***.

   🇸🇱 The latest paraphilatelic products to emanate from the notorious Stamperija include a set of 10 sheetlets, each containing 4 different "stamps", and 10 accompanying miniature sheets with the name of Sierra Leone printed on them. They are all broadly on the subject of art - specifically - the American impressionists, the Renaissance, Edgar Degas, Baroque, the Dutch golden age, Russian artists, 40th anniversary of the Pompidou Centre, Cubism, Realism and Impressionism. One of the subsets is depicted below and all the other subsets are similar in format. It is far too tiresome to reproduce illustrations of all 10 subsets. Of course none of these products has any relevance in subject matter to Sierra Leone. The "date of issue" is stated to have been 30 January 2017. Rating:- 0.

923. Royal Mail's 2019 Programme Choices.

A Leonardo for 2019?

🇬🇧 Royal Mail has produced a questionnaire which seeks the views of collectors about the subjects they would like to see featured on new stamps to be issued during 2019. One or two of the suggested subjects seem ridiculous and as usual several are London-centric. 

  These are the suggested subjects:-

  Category 1

  50th anniversary of the first flight of Concorde (in the year of Brexit an issue which features Anglo-French co-operation may either be a very good idea or a very bad idea depending on how negotiations have gone during the previous 2 years).

  The Victorians - Birth bicentenary of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

  50th Anniversary of the Harrier jump jet entering RAF service

  75th Anniversary of D Day

  The Romans in Britain

  Centenary of the Bentley car maker

  150th Anniversary of the a Royal Philatelic Society 

  Bicentenary of Burlington Arcade (Another London-centric issue which has no meaning to the rest of Britain)

  500th Birth Anniversary of Leonardo Da Vinci (this is ridiculous - great artist he may have been but British he was not. There are plenty of British artists who deserve philatelic commemoration before having to resort to featuring foreigners).

  Category 2

  50th anniversary of the movie, "The Italian Job". A fondly remembered film but not that great in the broad pantheon of British movies. Hardly worth a stamp issue.

  Ballet. Centenary of the birth of Dame Margot Fonteyn.

  50th Anniversary of the British television programme, Monty Python's Flying Circus. The Monty Python team was featured quite recently in the British Comedians set.

  Royal residences - Sandringham and Balmoral (in recent years Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle have had their own sets - I think the theme has been done to death already and I can't work up any enthusiasm for even more).

  Design classics

  50th Birth Anniversary of Alexander McQueen, fashion designer

  Tercentenary of the publication of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. A notable English literary work but fraught with modern-day political incorrectness in the way the white Crusoe treats "Man Friday".

  Cathedrals (hopefully outside London)

  Bicentenary of the birth of the author George Elliot

  Category 3

  Medical discoveries and innovations 

  Trees (centenary of the Forestry Commission)

  Birth Bicentenary of James Watt

  The Cricket World Cup, England and Wales 2019

  Major UK engineering projects (an excellent idea but of course as usual the set is London-centric since it is based on the London Crossrail Project)

  Great British scientists

  Long-distance footpaths of The United Kingdom 

  Sea mammals 

  40th Anniversary of the television programme, Life On Earth. I would prefer the sea mammals alternative to The Life On Earth since the former is to feature wild creatures of UK waters while the latter presumably will feature random random wildlife from various parts of the world. 

  So - please Royal Mail - use subjects which are British and remember that most of the population of the country does NOT live in London.

  The respondent to the survey must choose up to 3 subjects from 3 groups totalling nine but I find that I would pick more from one group than from another so my final list doesn't actually include my nine preferred subjects but if I do follow the rules then my list would be:-

  Roman Britain (as the second part of a British history series which begins with this year's "Ancient Britain" stamps)

  D Day

  150th anniversary of the Royal Philatelic Society (a great opportunity to depict classic philatelic items

  Ballet

  Cathedrals 

  Design classics

  Sea mammals

  Cricket World Cup

  James Watt

  (If I didn't have to pick 3 from each category I would ditch "Design Classics" and replace it with Long distance footpaths).

  Regardless of all the above, 2019 is shaping up to be a fascinating year philatelically since, as mentioned above, it will be the year when The United Kingdom leaves The European Union which may or may not have philatelic consequences. Alongside Brexit Scotland may well become an independent state if the Scottish Nationalists have their way which will give us a whole new country to collect and perhaps see a major reduction in postal rates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since citizens of those countries will no longer have to subsidise the highly expensive postal service in Scotland which ensures remote islands and the furthest reaches of The United Kingdom receive their mail at the same cost to the service user as if they lived in a large town in the south of England.

Post And Go - IAR kiosk A009 in the Shakespeare Birthplace gift shop in Stratford upon Avon will dispense stamps from 20 March to 21 April with an additional inscription to commemorate "School's week". The last date of issue may be significant as it allows for a new issue to be then released with an inscription marking the 503rd birthday of William Shakespeare which will be commemorated by a grand parade through the town on Saturday 24 April. The parade usually ends at Holy Trinity Church which is where the body of Shakespeare is buried along with members of his family.

   The Steam GWR Museum in Swindon will replace the Mail By Rail stamps on 15 March 2017 (dispensed by kiosk A010) with Machin Head Post and Go labels which will have the additional inscription, "King George V 90th". The Locomotive label will also be dispensed with the same inscription and the issue will be on sale until 14 April 2017. The issue commemorates the 90th anniversary of the construction of the locomotive "King George V".

  The previously mentioned installation of a refurbished A005 at the East Anglia Railway Museum will take place on 20 March 2017. The kiosk will dispense Locomotive and Machin Head labels with the additional inscription "EARM".

  I  visited the large central Birmingham post office in Pinfold Street yesterday to obtain a strip of NCR-printed Mail By Rail stamps which were are being sold currently from 4 of its 9 NCR kiosks. The strip of 6 x 1st Class labels obtained is depicted below with an IAR-printed strip from kiosk A014 which was situated at Spring Stampex 2017 in London for 4 days:-

NCR kiosk, Pinfold Street PO Birmingham

IAR kiosk Spring Stampex 2017

  I was surprised to find that 2 of the kiosks were selling "Poppies" Post and Go labels while the other 3 were dispensing Machin Head labels. Both Poppy labels were coded MA16 but the Machin Heads were being sold from one kiosk with a MA15 code and from another with MA16 code - the shade of colour of the 2 labels was very different from each other as shown below:-

MA15

MA16

🇸🇬 Singapore Post issued a set of 3 stamps on 17 February 2017 on the subject of local youth anniversaries. Subjects commemorated are:- the Centenary of Guiding in Singapore, the 50th anniversary of Outward Bound in Singapore and the Centenary of Lions International. The stamps were designed by Alynn Teo and lithographed by Secura and perforated 13. These are crisp, clear, straightforward designs as are so many of Singapore Post's new issues. Rating:- 0.