1663. 🇸🇬 Singapore Mascots Stamps Delayed.

🇸🇬 Several planned sets of new issues have been postponed by Singapore Post because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. A set of 5 stamps on the subject of Mascots of Singapore was due to be released on 29 April 2020 but has been postponed to an as yet unannounced new date of issue along with a set that was due to be issued on 29 May on the subject of the Singapore Skyline and another set due on 30 June on the subject of Technology. A fourth set, commemorating the Tokyo Olympic Games, which was to have been released in July has been postponed until 2021 as the Games themselves have been put back until next year.
  Singapore Post is currently operating 24 of its 56 post offices which is an arrangement which will stay in place until 1 June which is when the Singapore government’s ‘extended circuit breaker period’  (aimed at limiting the virus’ spread) is due to end.

🇦🇺 The sheetlet of stamps issued by Australia Post on 29 April 2020 which commemorates the 250th  anniversary of Captain Cook’s voyage aboard The Endeavour is a strange item which may be made up of 5 x $1.10 or alternatively 10 x 55c. This item on the Australia Post Stamps website seems to explain the item’s true nature - “This unusual presentation of the $1.10 stamps sees the denomination halved and placed as design parts of 55c”. So that’s clear then, they are $1.10 stamps ... or are they?

Commonwealth countries/postal services which are not yet known to have issued stamps during 2020:-

Anguilla
Ascension
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bermuda
British Antarctic Territory
British Virgin Islands
Brunei Darussalam
Cameroon
Cayman Islands
Dominica
ESwatini
Ghana
Jamaica
Kiribati
Lesotho
Malawi
Mauritius
Nauru
Nigeria
Niue
Ross Dependency
Rwanda
St Kitts
Saint Lucia
St Vincent And The Grenadines
Samoa
Seychelles
Solomon Islands
South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands
Tokelau
Trinidad And Tobago
Turks And Caicos Islands
Tuvalu
Uganda
Zambia.

This makes a total of 37 Commonwealth countries whose postal services are not yet known to issued any stamps or have had any stamps released in their name so far in 2020.

🇦🇪 In this Blog I include the new stamps of many of the countries which have at one time or another qualified to be included in the Stanley Gibbons Commonwealth Catalogue, ‘Part 1’ but, when they gained Independence chose not to join The Commonwealth or have actually withdrawn from The Commonwealth or have not yet been granted membership - postal services from countries including Ireland, Myanmar, Sudan, Hong Kong, Eritrea, Libya, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Somaliland and Somalia. Also in this list are a number of the states which were former British protectorates in the Middle East and The Gulf - Palestine/Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and The United Arab Emirates. I have wondered from time to time about adding coverage of the new stamp issues of the Gulf State countries but never quite got round to it but do mention occasionally one or two interesting issues from the area. So I now mention here a new item I found to be on sale on an internet auction site from the postal service of The United Arab Emirates which fits in very much with other recent Blogs - a miniature sheet titled ‘#Thank you Heroes’ commemorating the frontline workers in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This is another interesting and important item for anyone forming a Coronavirus-themed thematic collection to track down to add to their collection. The item was issued on 10 May 2020. Note that the value is not placed on the central perforated part of the item but at the right of the lower margin.

🇰🇮 The postal service of Kiribati is planning to issue 2 sets of stamps in the course of 2020:-
Currently we expect - June 2020 - Solar energy, ‘Harnessing the power of the sun’
                                      October 2020 - 75th anniversary of the United Nations.

 🇿🇼 Zim Post, the postal service of Zimbabwe, was planning to issue a set of 6 stamps on 10 April 2020 to commemorate the the 40th anniversary of the granting of Zimbabwe’s Independence by The United Kingdom but I have not yet seen any illustrations of these items. The official independence anniversary celebrations were of course very restricted due the COVID-19 pandemic.

1662. 🇭🇰 Hong Kong Post Continues Museum Collections Series.

🇭🇰 Hong Kong Post will issue a set of 6 stamps and 3 miniature sheets (2 ‘souvenir sheets’ and 1 ‘mini-pane’ contains 2 sets of stamps) on 21 May 2020 as part of its annual ‘Hong Kong Museums Collection’. This issue is titled ‘Selection from the Chih Lo Lou’ Collection’. This very attractive issue was designed by Arde Lam and lithographed by Cartor. The $20 miniature sheet has been printed on special ‘cotton paper embedded with security fibres’. An excellent and interesting set but Hong Kong Post issues far too many stamps and since there is no specific local anniversary or event attached to this issue I shall not be adding it to my collection. Rating:- **.

🇬🇮 The Post and Go stamp with added inscription commemorating the 75th anniversary of VE Day issued by Royal Gibraltar Post Office on 7 May 2020 and which I mentioned in Blog 1661 is illustrated above.

🇱🇹 The notorious Stamperija agency claims to have ‘issued’ the first ‘stamps’ of the year with the name of Mozambique printed on them with a ‘date of issue’ of 15 April 2020. The ‘issue’ is made up of 40 ‘stamps’ (printed as 4 different stamps in a total of 10 sheetlets) plus 10 miniature sheets. There is no indication that these products have actually been put on sale in Mozambique itself. Although there has been a slowing down in the number of products emerging from Stamperija since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the ‘agency’ has so far claimed to have issued 315 ‘stamps’ and 74 ‘miniature sheets’ by the end of April in the name of its 3 client Commonwealth postal administrations which include Maldives and Sierra Leone as well as Mozambique. It has also released hundreds of other products in the name of its other client postal administrations in Lusophone and Francophone Africa.
  Stamperija is now releasing a number of products associated with the Birth centenary of Pope John Paul II. The stamps are being sold as ordinary-looking sets of 4 making them look more acceptable to traditional stamp collectors. The first such issue with the name of a Commonwealth territory printed on it was recently said to have been released on 27 February 2020 in the name of Sierra Leone. The principal religion in Sierra Leone by far is Islam and only 3% of the population practice Roman Catholicism and so it seems unlikely that a papal centenary is an appropriate subject for Sierra Leone  to commemorate philatelically. It appears to be unlikely that the products would be on sale at ordinary post offices in Sierra Leone.

1661. 🇨🇦 Canada Post Commemorates Art And Radio Centenaries.

  🇨🇦 Canada Post issued a set of 7 self-adhesive stamps in a booklet of seven on 7 May 2020 to commemorate the Centenary of the first show given by the Group of Seven artists, a memorable anniversary in the history of Canadian art. This lovely set was designed by Lionel Gadoury, Matthew Killin and Andrew Conlon of Context Creative. Rating:- *****.

  Canada Post’s next issue is planned to be released on 20 May 2020 to commemorate the Centenary of the first radio broadcast in Canada. The issue is made up of 2 se-tenant self-adhesive stamp sold in booklets of 10. The issue was designed by Soapbox Design and lithographed by Lowe Martin. Rating:- ****.

1660. 🇮🇲 Isle Of Man To Commemorate Nurses.

🇮🇲  The Isle Of Man Post Office will release yet another new issue, though admittedly a timely one, on 12 May 2020 to commemorate the WHO Year of the Nurse and Midwife and the 200th Birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale (a philatelic commemoration which Royal Mail has declined to make instead feeling that Star Trek is a more worthy subject for a 2020 British stamp issue). The issue is made up of 8 stamps which were designed by DM Design Isle Of Man and lithographed by Lowe Martin and perforated 12. Rating:- ***.

Nurses have appeared on stamps from Commonwealth postal administrations before - my favourites are those from Royal Mail in 2012 and Cayman Islands in 1970 both of which featured the rather disagreeable Sarah Gamp, a somewhat disreputable midwife who makes an appearance in Charles Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit. Even though 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of Dickens’ death I suppose it would be somewhat inappropriate to combine the anniversary with the Nightingale anniversary and commemorate International Year of the Nurse with a Sarah Gamp stamp!

Meanwhile for those building up a Coronavirus themed collection, the Isle Of Man Post Office has provided 2 ephemera which really ought to be added to such a collection.
  The first is a postcard sent out from the philatelic bureau with 2 stamps printed on it - a Carry Us Through stamp (see Blog 1647) and a Year of the Nurse Stamp - with a printed cancellation reading ‘NEW STAMP COLLECTIONS DOUGLAS ISLE OF MAN 4 MY 20’ and intended as an advertisement for the two featured issues:-

The second item is a very pleasing Greetings card sent by Isle Of Man Stamps & Coins to its customers with a montage of Manx stamps on its front and back and with the message, “We are thinking of you” on the front and inside, “Everyone here at Isle of Man Stamps & Coins extends a hand of friendship and support to you and your family as we face the challenges of these very difficult times together. Please take care, our thoughts are with you. The team at Isle of Man Stamps & Coins”. Facsimile signatures of the staff of IOM Stamps & Coins are also printed inside the card. A charming and thoughtful gesture.

🇲🇹 MaltaPost will issue a pair of stamps and 1 booklet on 9 May 2020 as its contribution to this year’s EUROPA omnibus series which is titled ‘Ancient Postal routes’. The set was designed by Miguel Farrugia of MaltaPost and lithographed by Printex and perforated 14. One of the stamps depicts Francisco de Tassis, a fifteenth century pioneer of European postal services, who was given the job of improving courier services in Burgundy and The Netherlands by the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I. “In time this new postal system grew as de Tassis founded new postal stations in major European cities, thereby guaranteeing a complete service over the years”.
  The subject of this stamp is interesting since de Agassi’s seems to have little direct relevance to Malta but is an important figure in European postal history, especially that of The Holy Roman Empire. By the issue of this stamp the Maltese postal service clearly establishes its ties to the modern equivalent of The Holy Roman Empire - The European Union.

🇬🇮 The Royal Gibraltar Post Office will also issue a pair of stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing both stamps on 8 May 2020 as its contribution to the 2020 EUROPA omnibus series. The designs by Stephen Perera and Beatrice Garcia depict mail-carrying sea vessels and the stamps were lithographed in sheetlets of 8 by BPost Security Printers. Rating:- ***.

  The Royal Gibraltar also issued new Post and Go stamps on 7 May 2020 which took the form of the Gibraltar Flag Stamp with the added inscription ‘VE Day 75th’ to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the defeat of the Germans at the end of the Second World War. The stamp is vended from the machine at the Gibraltar Philatelic Bureau Head Office and there are 6 values - 22p, 40p, 64p, 70p, 80p and £3. Rating:- 0. Illustrations are awaited.

🇬🇧 I had thought that the special postmark being used by Royal Mail to commemorate the 100th birthday of Hon. Colonel Thomas Moore (see Blog 1649) had been intended to be used during his birthday week but I received an envelope today with a ‘Captain Tom’ postmark dated yesterday, 6 May 2020.