1076. 🇧🇩 Bangladesh Issues 71 Shocking War Crimes Stamps.

  🇧🇩 It's very difficult for collectors to find news of new issues from some postal administrations and it isn't always easy to find timely information about what Bangladesh Post has released on to the market. Sometimes the first inkling of something new comes from dealers' price lists. Herrick Stamps produce a fortnightly price list of worldwide new issues and there's usually something to interest one among the 300 or 400 sets featured every 2 weeks. This week, Herrick Stamps has come up with something quite spectacular but quite awful and tragic from Bangladesh Post.

  Herrick is offering for sale a sheet of 71 different stamps with no less than 18 accompanying miniature sheets which make up an issue titled "War Crimes in Bangladesh by Pakistan Army and their Collaborators 1971". Many of the images depicted on the stamps are extremely shocking and upsetting. There is no stamp in the position of the first stamp in the top row and this explains why a sheet which should contain 72 stamps has only 71. I presume that the 71 stamps is intended to recall the year of the terrible events - 1971.

  As regards the miniature sheets, each one contains 4 stamps except one that has a single black label as is found in the main sheet.

  Having found this issue listed by Herrick's I found a Bangladesh Post item which confirms the issue of these stamps and illustrates all 71 stamps and all miniature sheets.

  This is a powerful issue and quite unprecedented. The designs of some of the individual stamps are awful and upsetting and very painful to look at. There has never been a stamp issue quite like this. 
  The 18 miniature sheets are depicted below along with 42 of the individual stamps. I will depict the remaining individual stamps in the next Blog. Be aware that some of the images are extremely disturbing and could make anyone weep. 
  Rating:- *****.

  🇦🇬 Herrick's latest list also features 2 miniature sheets released by the philatelic agency, IGPC, each containing 4 different stamps on the subject of "Fruits of the Caribbean". The name of Antigua And Barbuda is printed on these items and, unusually, the designer has made an attempt to tie the stamps to Antigua And Barbuda by writing a short text in the margins of the sheet which refers to the fruit found in the territory. Rating:- *.

  🇧🇹 The latest Herrick's list also contains a number of new issues from Bhutan Post which are illustrated below. I do not presently have any details about these issues but as usual they are interesting, locally relevant and relatively inexpensive.

  2017 - Fruit of Bhutan - 1 sheetlet of 8 different stamps and 1 single stamp miniature sheet:-

  2017 - Pilgrimage sites in Bhutan - 1 sheetlet of 9 different stamps and 1 single stamp miniature sheet:-

  2017 - Prayer wheels - 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 single stamp miniature sheet:-

  2017 - Traditional utensils of Bhutan - 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 single stamp miniature sheet:-

  🇲🇼 Finally, in Blogs 1048 and 1051 I mentioned the new surcharges issued by Malawi Post on 1 July 2017 and I now provide much better quality illustrations of these 4 stamps:-

1075. 🇳🇿 Ross Dependency New Issue Features Explorers' Historic Huts.

  🇳🇿 New Zealand Post will issue a set of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 20 September 2017 on the subject of Historic huts of Ross Dependency. These historic huts, used during the Antarctic expeditions of Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott, have been preserved by the Antarctic Heritage Trust and are depicted on this excellent set in photographs and paintings. The issue was designed by Sean Garwood and lithographed by Southern Colour Print and perforated 14 x 14.5. Rating:- *****.

  🇹🇰 The Tokelau postal service will issue a set of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on the subject of Reptiles of Tokelau. Another excellent issue prepared for Tokelau by New Zealand Post, it was designed by Jonathan Gray and lithographed by Collectables and Solutions Centre and perforated 13.5. Rating:- *****.

  🇳🇺 New Zealand Post has also prepared the latest issue from the Niue postal service which will also be issued on 20 September 2017 and which is on the subject of Butterfly fish of Niue. Another delightful set which features well chosen photographs- these stamps were designed by Jonathan Gray and lithographed By Collectables and Solutions Centre and perforated 13.5. Rating:- *****.

  🇯🇪 Jersey Post will issue a set of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet to commemorate the Centenary of the Jersey Beekeepers Association on 3 October 2017. This is a colourful and attractive set and was designed by Interabang and lithographed with "honey scent" applied to the stamps (!) - more gimmicks to attract collectors in the face of an overwhelming tide of new issues. Rating:- ***.

  Below I depict the miniature sheet which was issued along with the 6 stamps issued on 10 July 2017 to commemorate the Bicentenary of the kaleidoscope. A colourful item but I still don't know why Jersey Post felt the need to commemorate this particular anniversary which doesn't seem to have any connection whatsoever with the island. Rating:- *.

  🇬🇧 As Autumn Stampex 2017 approaches the list of new issues connected with the event grows longer and longer. The Postal Museum will sell a Collectors strip of 6 x 1st of the "Mail by Air" Post and Go stamps from 13 September 2017 from kiosk A001 situated at the museum and also in a presentation pack to be sold for £10 (total face value £3.90p). Rating:- *.

  I depict below the revised Post and Go labels dispensed by kiosk A002 sited at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth which commemorate the arrival of the new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth and which I mentioned in Blog 1072:-

  🇲🇾 The miniature sheet issued by Pos Malaysia on 20 July 2017 and mentioned but not illustrated in Blog 1026 is now depicted below:-

  🇯🇪 Back to Jersey Post which has announced that its Post and Go kiosk, JE02 situated in Broad Street post office in St. Helier, will dispense its "Jersey Arms" labels (6 different designs) with an added inscription "Super League Triathlon 2017" from 18 September to 16 October 2017 to commemorate the holding of the first everSuper League Triathlon in Jersey. At least the issue commemorates a locally relevant event. Rating:- **.

  🇸🇱 Stamperija will issue a sheetlet of 4 different "stamps" and 1 accompanying miniature sheet to commemorate the Bandung 2017 Philatelic Exhibition held in Indonesia. The items, inscribed "Sierra Leone", depict endemic wildlife of Indonesia. Rating:- 0.

1074. 🇬🇧 Royal Mail To Commemorate Supreme Leader Snoke.

  🇬🇧 In a year when Royal Mail has commemorated ordinary British heroes and heroines of the First World War, it has now announced that it will philatelically commemorate Supreme Leader Snoke, a character that has nothing to do with worthy British heroes but everything to do with the worst in commercialisation.

  Royal Mail will issue a tip-of-the-iceberg set of 8 stamps on 12 October 2017 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the making of the American movie, "Star Wars" and the upcoming release of another episode in the ongoing Star Wars franchise which is to be called Star Wars The Last Jedi.

  The stamps depict artwork by digital artist Malcolm Tween and feature various robots and creatures which have appeared or will appear in the numerous movies. Included is a creature called Supreme Leader Snoke - not to be confused with Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un of North Korea who may, any day, be about to end the world unless Supreme Leader Trump gets there first - who doesn't look like the usual sort of person to appear on British stamps. Neither does Maz Kanata or Porg for that matter though on the other hand, because this is the second Royal Mail set of stamps to highlight these movies, the likes of Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO are much more familiar to collectors of British stamps than important British historical figures such as Alfred The Great, Oliver Cromwell, Joseph Chamberlain and Charles Dickens who though he has had a couple of sets released over the years in his deserving honour has never himself been actually depicted on a British stamp.

  Well you can't really blame Royal Mail for trying to cash in on another potential money spinner and it's impossible to claim that the folk at Royal Mail haven't done their best to leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of financial profit from this issue.

  Hence there will be an "Ultimate Star Wars Collectors Sheet" which contains 20 different stamps from the new set and the original set and this will be accompanied by a "Star Wars Collectors Sheet - Droids, Aliens and Creatures" - the former will be sold for £13 and the latter for £7 (it is made up of 10 x 1st stamps, face value £6.50p).

  Collectors can also have the pleasure of spending £7.80p on 2 self-adhesive retail booklets (one titled "Aliens" and the other "Droids" with each containing 6 x 1st stamps - 4 x Machin Head red stamps and 2 x new issue Star Wars stamps each sold for £3.90p). 

  Additionally we can indulge ourselves in purchasing a £15.99p 26 page Prestige Booklet which includes a pane of Machin Head definitives (2 x 2nd Class blue, 4 x 1st Class red and 2 x £1.40p with a central label depicting the ubiquitous R2-D2 and C-3PO). This booklet is available in an even more prestigious and, of course, expensive format, sold for a trifling £75, presented in an embossed "silver metal clamshell case" and inevitably in a limited edition (1977). The Prestige booklets will be issued on 14 December 2017.

  Well, I suppose the greater the profits that Royal Mail makes from this collection, the more it helps to keep our postage rates down. It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good.

  Rating:- *.

  The previously mentioned Royal Mail Post and Go "Mail By Air" stamps Collectors strip to be sold in pack format on 13 September 2017 is now depicted below:-