1638. No News.

  As everything else in the world grinds to a halt (apart from the vital health and other services pressured as never before) as country after country becomes overwhelmed, or has to adopt measures to prevent itself being overwhelmed, by the Covid-19 pandemic, news of new stamp issues becomes scarcer and scarcer. It seems that the postal services of some of the wealthier (thus far) more developed territories may continue with their new issue programmes but many postal services have put a hold on the issue of new stamps or closed down their postal services completely. While Europe and North America are presently in the eye of the storm as it switches its fatal location from east Asia what is yet to be seen is the probably devastating effect of the countries of sub-Saharan Africa where health services are far less well developed.
  For all of us this means a possibly unrecognisable world politically and economically as we turn into 2021 and survey the devastation of the previous 10 months. Ways of working and communicating may change definitively and as electronic communications become even more normal than they are now, postal services and the need for postage stamps may finally become as redundant as telephone cards, the collecting of which was enormously popular but spectacularly ephemeral, did when mobile telephones became the norm.
  In previous Blogs we have seen how some countries, more often than not, issue no new stamps in any given year (the postal service of Rwanda, where the President has championed the population’s use of electronic communication methods rather than old-fashioned mail communication is about to arrive at the 10th anniversary of its most recent stamp issue) and some issue very few. Some countries allow greedy Philatelic agencies to have contracts to produce stamps with a theoretical postal validity and do so in their many hundreds per year but do not sell these items over their ordinary post office counters to their mail-sending public and therefore in reality issue very few or no postage stamps per year.
  In a comment at the end of Blog 991, which some readers may have missed, the Chief Executive Officer of Samoa Post wrote that servicing international parcels and express mail service (ems) items had become that postal service’s “primary and only focus” and that explained the issue of some exceedingly high face valued stamps. “Letters, associated with printing small denominations is becoming obsolete”. This implies to me that Samoa Post for one is barely operating a mail service apart from international parcels and ems. Collectors may not therefore expect to see Samoa Post issue any more postage stamps except high value items intended to be used on international parcel and ems mail. In short it is the end of ordinary postage stamps in Samoa. I assume that the needs of any ordinary mail senders, if they exist there, are probably met by a large stock of stamps issued in excess of needs some years ago. The statement also implies that Samoa Post has given up issuing stamps with the aim of making money from selling them to collectors. Some time ago a comment on Stamp Boards from Samoa Post indicated that it actually lost a lot of money on issue it produced because the costs were so great and, I assume, the market for them was not large enough.

  So it is just possible that the way postal services, and the governments which licence them, have used stamps as a means of making money, and more recently - in some cases - losing it; issue stamps as a means of obtaining national publicity (no longer necessary as this can be achieved instantaneously via the Internet); commemorate important national events and deliver political messages is all over. There are cheaper, more profitable and more efficient ways of doing these things  so stamps are gradually disappearing. In Blog 1635 I identified that 10 Commonwealth philatelic entities issued no stamps during 2019 and another 10 issued 4 stamps or less during the whole year. I expect these numbers of postal services which have lost interest in releasing new issues will increase during 2020.

  Frankly at the present time there is not any new issue news and I’m getting a little tired searching for it. So for a change I shall step back to see what the Commonwealth new issue scene was like 60 years ago in 1960. New issue releases were about to take off and did so as the sixties progressed. IGPC had come on to the scene in 1958 taking on a contract to produce and sell the stamps of the first newly independent black Commonwealth nation - Ghana - and then moved on to mop up the Maldive Islands. 

  I pick 1960 as it’s a significant anniversary - a diamond anniversary - and there was not any particularly significant royal event or anniversary taking place which would swell the number of new issues. Queen Elizabeth was well established on the throne of her various dominions and Africa was on the verge of wide scale Independence commemorations following a few years behind the Asian Commonwealth territories but some way ahead of most of the Caribbean and Pacific colonies. The British Empire had become The British Commonwealth. The Cold War was about to boil over into near-annihilation and the British and French still liked to needle each other and liked to believe that they were still important world powers although the Suez crisis had occurred 4 years earlier. Harold Macmillan was to speak about the Winds of Change.

  Using the first stamp catalogue I ever bought, the what now seems rather charming 1967 edition of Part 1 of the Stanley Gibbons Postage Stamp Catalogue, I discover that there were 85 Commonwealth philatelic entities in 1960 (in 2019 I identified there to be 87 such entities so little has changed in that respect though the names on the 2019 list are greatly changed from those of 1960). Between them these 85 territories issued only 326 stamps between them during the whole year. What a quiet life it was then! Only 41 of the territories issued any stamps which means that more than half - 44 - did not issue any stamps at all. 

  Below is a list of all the Commonwealth territories which could have issued stamps in 1960 and what actually happened with each one. It is fascinating to see the names on the list and to see that many stamps of the time included portraits of The Queen in their designs. Intaglio printing was still dominant but some photogravure-printed items are also to be seen. This in its turn would eventually give way to lithography. The number of miniature sheets issued could be counted on the fingers of one hand. A hint of what to come is shown by the Ghana and Maldive Islands list - bright, some might say gaudy, brash, more expensive to buy and accompanied by a miniature sheet or two. IGPC was giving notice of its future behaviour.
  So, will we soon return to a state where all the Commonwealth territories combined issue just over 300 stamps per year? Well probably not as long as businesses such as IGPC and Stamperija remain solvent and survive the likely post-Covid-19 financial crisis. But remember that in 2019, 20 Commonwealth Philatelic entities - almost 25% - issued only 26 stamps between them. How many more territories will issue very few stamps during 2020?

Aden - 0 stamps
Aden, Kathiri State of Seiyun - 0 stamps
Aden, Qu’aiti State in Hadhramaut - 0 stamps
Antigua - 1 January - 2 stamps, Introduction of new constitution.

Ascension - 0 stamps
Australia - 5 stamps - 18 August - 1 stamp - Golden Jubilee of the Girl Guide movement
                                    21 September - 1 stamp - Centenary of Northern Territory exploration
                                    12 October - 1 stamp - Centenary of the Melbourne Cup horse race
                                    2 November - 1 stamp - Centenary of the first Queensland postage stamp
                                    9 November -  1 stamp - Christmas
Australian Antarctic Territory - 0 stamps
Bahamas - 0 stamps
Bahrain - 1 July - 11 stamps, new Definitive series depicting Sheikh Sulman bin Hamed al-Khalifa

Barbados - 0 stamps
Basutoland - 0 stamps
Bechuanaland - 21 January - 3 stamps - 75th anniversary as a British Protectorate
Bermuda - 0 stamps
British Guiana - 0 stamps
British Honduras - 1 July - 3 stamps - Centenary of the British Honduras Post Office

British Solomon Islands - 28 January - 1 stamp - Definitive new value (1/3d)
Brunei - 0 stamps
Canada - 2 stamps - 20 April - Golden Jubilee of the Canadian Girl Guides movement - 1 stamp
                                 19 May - 300th anniversary of the Battle of Long Sault - 1 stamp
Cayman Islands - 0 stamps
Ceylon -  7 April - 2 stamps - World Refugee Year
Christmas Island - 0 stamps
Cook Islands - 1 April - 1 stamp - Definitive surcharge 1/6d on 5d ‘Rarotonga Airfield’ stamp
Cyprus - 18 stamps -  16 August - 15 stamps - Establishment of Republic and Independence (overprint on contemporary definitives)

                                    16 August - 3 stamps - Constitution of the Republic
Dominica - 0 stamps
Falkland Islands - 10 February - 15 stamps - Definitives depicting Birds of the territory

Falkland Islands Dependencies - 0 stamps
Fiji  - 0 stamps
Gambia - 0 stamps
Ghana - 21 stamps and 1 miniature sheet - 6 March - 4 stamps - Third anniversary of Independence
                                                                     15 April - 3 stamps - Africa Freedom Day

                                                                     I July - 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet - Republic Day
                                                                     15 August - 4 stamps - Olympic Games, Rome
                                                                     21 September - 3 stamps - Founder’s Day
                                                                     10 December - 3 stamps - Human Rights Day
Gibraltar - 29 October - 14 stamps - Definitives
Gilbert And Ellice Islands - 1 May - 3 stamps - 60th anniversary of the discovery of phosphate on Ocean Island

Grenada - 0 stamps
Hong Kong - 0 stamps
India - 7 stamps - 15 February - 1 stamp - Thiruvalluvar commemoration
                             22 June - 2 stamps - Commemoration of the poet Kalidasa
                             11 September - 1 stamp - Subramania Bharati commemoration
                             15 September - 1 stamp - Birth Centenary of Dr M Visvesvaraya
                             14 November - 1 Stamp - Children’s Day
                             11 December - 1 stamp - UNICEF Day

Jamaica - 4 January - 3 stamps - Centenary of first Jamaican stamp
Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda - 1 October - 16 stamps- Definitive issue

Malayan Federation - 4 stamps - 7 April - 2 stamps -World Refugee Year
                                                     19 September - 2 Stamps - National Rubber Research Conference   and 15th International Runner Study Group meeting held in Kuala Lumpur

Johore - 12 stamps - 10 February - 1 stamp - Coronation of the Sultan of Johore

                                  10 June-9 December - 11 December - Definitives with portrait of Sultan Ismail
Kedah - 0 stamps
Kelantan - 0 stamps
Malacca - 11 stamps - 15 March - Definitives with inset of Malacca badge
Negri Sembilan - 1 stamp - 19 July - 50c definitive with new perforations
Pahang - 0 stamps
Penang - 11 stamps - 15 March - Definitives with inset of Penang arms
Perak - 1 stamp - 24 May - 50c definitive with new perforations
Perlis - 0 stamps
Selangor - 0 stamps
Trengganu- 1 stamp - 26 June - 50c definitive with new perforations

Maldive Islands - 27 stamps - 20 August - 8 stamps - Olympic Games, Rome

                                                 15 October - 11 stamps - Definitives issue
                                                 15 October - 8 Stamps - World Refugee Year
Malta - 9 stamps - 9 February - 6 stamps - 1900th anniversary of St Paul's landing in Malta
                              1 December - 3 stamps - Centenary of first Maltese postage stamps

Mauritius - 0 stamps
Montserrat - 0 stamps
Muscat and East Arabia - June-October - 7 stamps - British ‘Wilding’ definitives surcharged
Nauru - 0 stamps
New Hebrides Condominium (English version) - 0 stamps
New Zealand - 23 stamps and 2 miniature sheets - 6 May - 3 stamps - Centenary of Westland Province
                                                                                11 July-1 September - 17 stamps - Definitives
                                                                                10 August - 2 stamps and 2 miniature sheets - Health (birds)
                                                                                 1 November - 1 stamp - Christmas

Nigeria - 1 October - 4 stamps - Independence
Niue - 0 Stamps
Norfolk Island - 10 stamps - 23 May-20 June - 5 stamps - definitives
                                              29 August-26 September - 3 stamps - provisional surcharges
                                              24 October - 1 stamp - Introduction of local government

North Borneo - 0 stamps
Pakistan - 16 stamps - 10 January - 2 stamps - Armed Forces Day
                                     23 March - 4 stamps - Definitives (map of Pakistan)
                                     7 April - 2 stamps - World Refugee Year
                                     10 October - 2 stamps - 60th anniversary of Punjab Agricultural College
                                     27 October - 2 stamps - Revolution Day
                                     16 November - 2 stamps - Centenary of King Edward Medical College, Lahore
Papua And New Guinea - 0 stamps
Pitcairn Islands - 0 stamps
Qatar - 26 April-28 September - 7 stamps  - British ‘Wilding’ definitives surcharged
Rhodesia And Nyasaland - 17 May - 6 stamps - Opening of Kariba hydroelectric scheme
Ross Dependency - 0 stamps
St Christopher, Nevis and Anguilla - 0 stamps
St. Helena - 0 stamps
St Lucia - 6 stamps - 1 January - 3 stamps- New Constitution
                                  18 December - 3 stamps - Centenary of the first St Lucia postage stamp

St Vincent - 0 stamps
Sarawak - 0 stamps
Seychelles - 0 stamps
Sierra Leone - 0 stamps
Singapore - 3 June - 2 stamps - National Day
Somaliland Protectorate - 5 April - 2 stamps - Establishment of the Legislative Council’s unofficial majority

South Africa - 6 stamps - 2 May - 4 stamps - 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Union Of South Africa
                                         2 May - 1 stamp - Centenary of South African Railways
                                         31 May - 1 stamp - Union Day
South West Africa - ?date - 5 stamps - definitives reprinted with new watermark
Southern Cameroons - 1 October - 12 stamps - Definitives, overprints on Nigerian definitives

Swaziland - 0 stamps
Tokelau - 0 stamps
Tonga - 0 stamps
Trinidad and Tobago - 24 September - 14 stamps - Definitives

Tristan Da Cunha - 1 February - 14 stamps - Definitives, Marine life
Turks And Caicos Islands - 1 November - 1 stamp - £1 definitive

United Kingdom - 16 stamps - 24 February- 1 stamp - 8d definitive
                                                  6 July - 10 stamps - ‘phosphor’ definitives
                                                  7 July - 2 stamps - Tercentenary of the establishment of the General Letter Office

                                                  19 September - 2 stamps - First anniversary of the European Postal and Telecommunications Conference
                                                  10 November - 1 stamp - ‘Wilding’ 2.5d definitive reissued with Multiple Crowns sideways watermark
Virgin Islands - 0 stamps
Western Samoa - 0 stamps
Zanzibar - 0 stamps.

1637. 🇬🇧 Entirely About Coronavirus I’m Afraid.

🇬🇧 My letter from the prime minister was delivered by our Royal Mail postman this morning (8 April 2020) (see Blog 1632). Perhaps not surprisingly the envelope was not individually addressed and has no postal markings but the inscription on it makes it perfectly clear what was contained inside it and makes this quite a historical item for postal historian’s collection. I have previously published the letter’s content but it will do no harm to depict it here again. And besides, it’s not everyday that you get a letter from the prime minister even if 29, 999,999 other households received the same letter from him at the same time.

🇮🇪 An Post, the postal service of Ireland, has postponed its upcoming new issues which were due to be released in the coming months. Doubtless this alteration in its previously stated new issue programme is associated with the ongoing Coronavirus epidemic. New dates of issue will be announced when the situation becomes more normal again. Two issues were previously expected to have been released during April 2020 - a single stamp due on 9 April to commemorate the Birth centenary of Liam Cosgrave, former prime minister from 1973 to 1977, and a set due on 16 April to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the television comedy Father Ted - the latter issue may have been rather pleasing to have had at this time of anxiety and darkness.

🇰🇾 Further to Blog 1631, the postal service of Cayman Islands has extended its suspension of services indefinitely. It is interesting to read that postal services in the territory are considered to be a ‘non-essential government service’. I would have thought that the maintenance of a postal service could easily be described as ‘essential’ for several reasons.

🇧🇲 The Bermuda government revealed recently its planned upcoming new stamp issues for 2020 to 2021 though the announcement predated the date when the Covid-19 pandemic began to take serious hold which may of course have an effect on any planned new issue programme. Five issues are planned which include sets on the subject of Bridges, a commemoration of the Quatercentenary of the Bermuda Parliament and the Centenary of the Bermuda Garden Club.

  Kindly I think, a dealer has sent me a letter with a thoughtful stamp on it which can not help but cheer everyone up at this time of anxiety.

  Pen-cancelled but nevertheless pleasing to see - the Morecambe and Wise stamp from the 2015 British Comedians set (actually issued on April Fools’ Day). Perhaps Royal Mail could reissue the set to cheer up everyone and to cancel out the effect of the recently issued gloomy Romantic Poets Issue.

1631.🇯🇪 Jersey To Commemorate The 75th Anniversary Of Its Liberation

 🇯🇪 Jersey Post plans to issue a splendidly colourful and celebratory set of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 6 stamps on 9 May 2020 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the island’s liberation from occupation by Nazi German forces. This very attractive and original set was designed by True North and lithographed with special blue metallic ink by Cartor. An excellent issue. Rating:- *****.

🇿🇲 With the world now largely shut down and what isn’t being in the act of doing so, news of new stamp issues taking place, or due to take place in the near future, is becoming harder and harder to find.

  In my searches I have just found on the Zambia Post Office Facebook page - placed there on 24 January 2020 - The Zampost Philatelic Bulletin, which seems to give an impression of what’s available from the Zambian postal service which will be of interest to collectors if they are able to track down the Zampost site which is actually selling the items. What the item seems to confirm is that there have been no stamp issues from Zampost since the very large 50th anniversary of Independence set which was released on 23 October 2014. 

  We do know of a K5 surcharge on the K4050 value of the 2010 SAPOA/FIFA World Cup which was said to have been issued only in Lusaka in March 2018 (Blog 1352) and it also appears that there were some surcharges issued in 2018 or 2019 once again in one city only though I haven’t heard which that is yet. The previously unreported stamps are all K5 values on the K4050 Livingstone stamp, the K3800 ‘Independence’ stamp (by which is meant, I assume, the 2014 issue) and three values of the set which commemorated the Centenary of the Jesuits in Zambia originally issued on 25 June 2005. I hope to be able to provide illustrations of these in the next few days.

🇳🇷 It appears that the Nauru postal service has issued at least two more previously unreported stamps. The issues are each made up of a single $5 stamp, one to commemorate Christmas 2019 and the other on the subject of the Pacific Forum. Again, I hope to be able to provide illustrations in the next few days.

1636. 🇭🇰 Hong Kong Features Chess Games.

🇭🇰 Hong Kong Post will issue a set of 6 ‘Children’s’ Stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 6 stamps on 21 April 2020 on the subject of ‘Chess Games Delight’. This attractive set was designed by Alex Ng from illustrations by Kenny Wong and lithographed by Enschedé and perforated 14. Rating:- ****.

🇱🇹 The despicable Stamperija philatelic agency has announced that it plans to cash in on the dreadful Covid-19 pandemic by issuing “stamps” on the subject. The agency has 3 Commonwealth country ‘clients’ - Maldives, Mozambique and Sierra Leone. The best thing for Stamperija to do would be to self-isolate .... permanently.

🇦🇮 The Anguilla Post Office closed the Anguilla GPO due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This has little effect on stamp issues since the Anguilla postal service has not released any new stamps since it issued a set of 8 definitives on 10 October 2016 having released a set of 6 stamps on 2 August 2016 to commemorate the Anguilla Summer Festival (the island’s postal service was to have issued a set of 4 stamps on 22 May 2017 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ‘revolution’ on Anguilla but plans to do so were abandoned probably because of the provocative subject of the issue and the likely proposed designs which featured arsonists burning down Government House and rioting). See Blogs 822, 927 and 1009.

🇬🇸 The philatelic bureau of the United Kingdom’s smallest overseas territory (based in New Zealand) - Pitcairn Islands - has announced that orders it sends out will be delayed because of cancelled air services in New Zealand.

🇧🇿 The Belize postal service suspended all of its services on 4 April. Again this has little effect on stamp issues as issues by that postal administration are very infrequent - 1 issue of 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 12 September 2019 and no issues at all in 2018.

🇰🇾 The Cayman Islands postal service announced that it would be closed from 25 March to 5 April but presumably the length of closure will be extended after that date.

1635. 🇸🇱 The Commonwealth’s Greediest Stamp Issuing Territories Of 2019.

🇸🇱 For the third consecutive year Sierra Leone wins the title ‘The Commonwealth’s Greediest Stamp Issuing Territory’, this time for the year 2019. Not surprisingly, the two top philatelic entities in the list of Commonwealth territories which issued most stamps and other philatelic items (miniature sheets, booklets, personalised stamps, Post and Go stamps, ‘Collectors sheets’) during 2019 were ‘clients’ of the notorious philatelic agency, the Lithuania based Stamperija. 

Greatest number of items:-

1. Sierra Leone - 1566 (Stamperija) (1169 in 2018 #1, 1239 in 2017 #1)
2. Mozambique - 765 (Stamperija)  (748 in 2018 #2)
3. Guernsey (includes Alderney) - 342 (Guernsey Post) (300 in 2018 #5, 264 in 217 #5)
4. Australia (includes Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Norfolk Island) -  291 (Australia Post) (323 in 2018 #3, 242 in 2017 #6)
5. United Kingdom - 268 (Royal Mail) 257 in 2019 #6, 364 in 2017 #3)
6. Jersey - 159 (Jersey Post) (161 in 2018 #10, 125 in 2017 #9)
7. Isle Of Man -154 (Isle Of Man Post Office) (164 in 2018 #9, 120 in 2017 #11)
8. India - 139 (India Post) (183 in 2018 #8, 288 in 2017 #4)
9. New Zealand - 116 (New Zealand Post) (158 in 2018 #11, 112 in 2017 #13)
10. Singapore - 80 (Singapore Post)
11. Grenada (including Grenada Carriacou and Petite Martinique) - 73 (IGPC)
12= Canada - 71 (Canada Post)
12= Cook Islands (includes Aitutaki, Penrhyn and Rarotonga) - 71 (Philatelic Collector Inc)
14. Malaysia - 70 (Pos Malaysia)
15. The Gambia - 69 (IGPC)
16. Antigua And Barbuda - 67 (IGPC)
17. Gibraltar - 59 (Royal Gibraltar Post Office)
18. Sri Lanka - 55 (Sri Lanka Post)
19= Malta - 54 (MaltaPost)
19= Tonga (including Niuafo’ou) - 54 (Philatelic Collector Inc.)

  It is worth noting that both Stamperija and IGPC produce imperforate versions of most of the stamps they issue so the numbers of stamps released by the philatelic entities which are clients of theirs in the above list could probably be doubled. Guernsey Post’s total is boosted by the large number of Post and Go visiting cruise ships stamps which were issued during the summer of 2019. I assume that there will not be many cruise ships visiting the island this year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Least number of items:-

1= Anguilla - 0 (Anguilla Post Office)
1= Cameroon - 0 (Cam Post)
1= Dominica - 0 (Dominica Post Office)
1= ESwatini - 0 (ESwatini Post)
1= Lesotho - 0 (Lesotho Post Office)
1= Rwanda - 0 (Rwanda Post Office)
1= Samoa - 0 (Samoa Post)
1= Solomon Islands - 0 (Solomon Islands Post Office)
1= Turks And Caicos Islands - 0 (Turks And Caicos Post Office)
1= Zambia - 0 (Zambia Postal Services Corporation)
11= St Kitts - 1 (St Kitts Post Office)
11= Brunei Darussalam - 1 (Brunei Darussalam Post Office)
11= Seychelles - 1 (Seychelles Post Office)
14= Ghana - 2 (Ghana Post Office)
14= Nauru - 2 (Nauru Post)
16. Belize - 3 (Belize Post Office)
17= Barbados - 4 (Barbados Post Office)
17= St Helena - 4 (St Helena Post Office)
17= Saint Lucia - 4 (Saint Lucia Post Office)
17= Tanzania - 4 (Tanzania Post Corporation)

  The numbers in both groups speak for themselves. It is not desirable when thinking of the future of new issue collecting that territories issue no stamps in any given year as such a policy will inevitably lead to a falling away of interest - if there’s nothing new to add to one’s collection then it just becomes a lifeless possession to be eventually put away in a cupboard and forgotten about. On the other hand the issue of no new stamps is to be preferred to the release of 1566 new stamps or even 268 new items as is the case with Royal Mail.
  Who knows what effect the Covid-19 pandemic will have on the release during the course of the coming 12 months? The list of countries making up ‘The Commonwealth’s Greediest Stamp Issuing Territories In 2020’ may look very different from this year’s.

See also Blogs 1186 and 1405.

🇰🇪 Further to the mention in Blog 1628 of an issue of 3 stamps on 15 February 2020 by the postal service of Kenya which commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Aga Khan Hospital, it appears that another issue has also been released in the form a single stamp which commemorates the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Postal Corporation of Kenya.
  I do not know any details about this stamp, not even the date of issue, but the 20th anniversary of the postal service occurred in 2019 so this issue may date back to last year though it may equally have been issued in 2020. Rating:- ***.

🇮🇲 The Eu value of the Isle Of Man Post Office set of 6 stamps to be issued on 22April 2020 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers in America (see Blog 1633) is the Isle Of Man PO’s contribution to this year’s EUROPA omnibus series which is centred on the theme of ‘ancient mail routes’. The stamp will be issued in a special sheetlet of 10 as depicted below.