1616. 🇱🇰🇮🇪 Endangered Wildlife Of Sri Lanka And Pioneering Women Of Ireland.

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Post issued a sheetlet containing 20 different stamps on the subject of Sri Lankan wildlife species threatened by wildlife traders on 3 March 2020. Endangered flora and fauna are depicted on the issue. An interesting and important issue. Rating:- *****.

🇮🇪 An Post, the postal service of Ireland, issued a set of 5 se-tenant stamps on 5 March 2020 on the subject of ‘Pioneering Irish Women’. The designs, by Design HQ, depict the film actress Maureen O’Hara, the magazine editor Carmel Snow, the aviator Lilian Bland, Olympic sprinter Maeve Kyle and the artist Sarah Purser who was the first woman to be a member of the Royal Hibernian Society. The issue was lithographed by Enschedé and is perforated 14 x 13.5. Rating:- ***.

1615. 🇿🇦 South Africa Commemorates Inauguration Of President Ramaphosa.

  🇿🇦 The South African Post Office has released several issues apparently at the end of 2019 and in the first couple of months. The first commemorates the inauguration of President Cyril Ramaphosa who was elected as President on 15 February 2018 by the National Assembly after the resignation of his heavily corrupt predecessor, Jacob Zuma. Following a general election held in South Africa on 8 May 2019 in which President Ramaphosa’s party, the African National Congress (ANC), was victorious, the National  Assembly unanimously elected him as President for his first full term on 22 May 2019. President Ramaphosa’s official inauguration as President took place on 25 May 2019.

2019 - Inauguration of President Cyril Ramaphosa - 1 miniature sheet containing a single stamp. Rating:- ****.

2020 - Stars and constellations of the southern skies - 1 sheetlet of 10 different self-adhesive stamps. Rating:- ***. 

 2020 - Musicians, ‘Poets of Word and Sound’ - 1 miniature sheet containing 3 different stamps. Self-adhesive. Rating:- ****.

🇫🇯 Fiji Post issued a set of 4 stamps on 4 December 2019 on the subject of ‘Festivals of Joy’. The colourful set covers Eid-Ul-Fitr, Chinese New Year, Christmas and Diwali. A charming issue.Rating:- ****.

🇭🇰 Hong Kong Post will issue a set of 4 stamps, 1 miniature sheet and a Prestige booklet containing 2 different panes (each containing 2 different stamps) and sold for HK$48. The issue commemorates the Centenary of the Hong Kong YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) and was designed by Michael Miller Yu and lithographed by Enschedé and perforated 14 x 14.5. Rating:- ****.

🇫🇰 British Pobjoy Mint has corrected information about the issue from the Falkland Islands depicting ship wrecks which is due for release on 16 March 2020 (Blog 114). The original supplied illustrations showed incorrect face values but I assume that postal rates have been revised and that the new values depicted below reflect the change.

  Thanks to Juliet Warner for the new information.

Post scriptum Reply to comment by Eye On Wall. Hello. Subsequent to the Festivals of Joy issue Fiji Post did indeed issue a set of 4 stamps to commemorate the Year of the Rat apparently in cooperation with representatives of the Chinese government so it appears that the Fiji postal service does indeed intend to continue Chinese new year stamps for individual years.

1614. 🇮🇲 Manx Art To Be Depicted On New Issue.

🇮🇲 It is pleasing to learn that the Isle Of Man Post Office plans to issue a new set of stamps which commemorates an actual significant anniversary of local relevance to the island. The new issue is made up of 10 stamps and a booklet of 10 self-adhesive stamps and commemorates the Centenary of the Douglas School of Art as a public-funded educational establishment by depicting work by artists with connections with the island including a beautiful piece of work by Archibald Knox and a painting by John Miller Nicholson. Several of the stamp designs depict paintings with views of The Isle Of Man past and present. The issue will be released on 16 March 2020.

 The issue was designed by EJC Design and lithographed by Lowe Martin and perforated 13. One of the LARGE stamps is additionally inscribed ‘SEPAC’ as the Isle Of Man Post Office’s contribution to the 2020 SEPAC omnibus.:- *****.

 🇬🇬 Guernsey Post will issue a set of 6 stamps inscribed ‘Alderney’ on 18 March 2020 to commemorate the 250th Birth anniversary of the English poet William Wordsworth who, as far as I can see, had no connections with either Alderney or Guernsey. Because of excessive issuing by Guernsey Post and the lack of the subject’s direct relevance of this set to the territory this set is rated 0.

  It is also to be hoped that one of the designs featured in the publicity illustrations is corrected prior to issue - the word ‘POWERFUL’ is spelt ‘POWEFUL’ on the 85p value. Or maybe it’s a poetical version of the word.

  On the same date, 18 March 2020, Guernsey Post will also release a set of 6 stamps inscribed Guernsey on the subject of Mail ships to fit in with the Europa omnibus for 2020 which is ‘Ancient Mail routes. The 68p and 85p values have ‘EUROPA’ inscribed on them. These are very attractive stamps with direct relevance to Guernsey but sadly not commemorating any particular event or anniversary which given, Guernsey Post’s ongoing excessive release of new issues, means I shall not add it to my collection. Rating:- **.

🇵🇬 Post PNG, the postal service of Papua New Guinea, will issue two sets of ‘overprints’ on 6 March 2020 as its first issues of the year (these are genuine issues featured on the Post PNG philatelic website). The first set is 3 values from the ‘Yellowfin tuna’ set (I suppose this must be the Tuna fishing industry set of 2016) with new values - I assume the ‘overprint’ is a surcharge (K1.60, K5 and K6.90) - and the second is again the 3 same values but from the APEC set of 2017. The overprints were applied by Star Printers. Illustrations are awaited. Rating:- ****.

  Well done to Post PNG’s philatelic service for keeping collectors supplied with news of forthcoming issues.

Post scriptum - reply to comment by Gene (Blogger still won’t post my response to comments - I’ve no idea why) - The Philatelic Bureau manager did put out a newsletter after the issue of the Chinese fakes but he had already started publishing a newsletter prior to that. As I’m sure you know the Philatelic Website has featured new issues, with technical details for many years, but I think that this  is the first time that any overprints/surcharges have been mentioned on it.

1613. 🇮🇪 An Post Commemorates The Irish Abroad.

🇮🇪 An Post, the postal service of Ireland, issued a set of 5 stamps (a set of 3 horizontally se-tenant and a vertically se-tenant pair) on 27 February 2020 on the subject of ‘The Irish Abroad’. The issue ties in with the upcoming St Patrick’s Day celebrations on 17 March. The issue was designed by Zero-G and lithographed by Enschedé and perforated 13.5 x 14. Rating:- ***.

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Post issued a single stamp on 24 February to commemorate the birth centenary of  Kalsoori Panibharatha (1920 - 2005), a veteran traditional dancer. Rating:- **.

Commonwealth philatelic entities which have not yet issued stamps during 2020.

For those sort of people who like lists, such as myself, this is always fun. This year Maldives has rejoined The Commonwealth and so returns to the list of Commonwealth philatelic entities though it is not surprising that it rapidly disappeared from the list as Maldives Post allows the philatelically incontinent producer of paraphilatelic items, Stamperija, which is really a philatelic entity in itself, to to release items on its behalf which are usually frequently issued and numerous. This year I will also omit Gibraltar Swiss Post and Universal Mail United Kingdom which are second string philatelic entities though if any items are released by them during 2020 a mention of them will be made in the ongoing Blog.

 * indicates that issues are expected soon.

Anguilla

Antigua And Barbuda

Ascension 

Australian Antarctic Territory *

Australia Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Bahamas

Barbados 

Belize

Bermuda

Botswana

British Antarctic Territory 

British Indian Ocean Territory 

British Virgin Islands 

Brunei Darussalam 

Cameroon

Cayman Islands 

Cook Islands 

Cook Islands Aitutaki 

Cook Islands Penrhyn

Cyprus, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus *

Dominica

ESwatini

Falkland Islands *

Ghana

Grenada *

Grenada Carriacou And Petite Martinique *

Guyana *

Jamaica

Kenya

Kiribati 

Lesotho 

Malawi

Mauritius 

Montserrat *

Mozambique

Nauru

Nigeria

Niue

Papua New Guinea *

Ross Dependency 

St Kitts 

Saint Lucia

St Vincent And The Grenadines

Samoa

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Solomon Islands

South Africa

South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands

Tokelau

Tonga

Tonga Niuafo’ou 

Trinidad And Tobago

Tristan Da Cunha *

Turks and Caicos Islands

Tuvalu

Zambia

Fifty seven Commonwealth philatelic entities are therefore not known to have issued any stamps during 2020 up to the end of February.