King Of Tonga's Short Philatelic Reign.

With all the philatelic activity centred around the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, I had overlooked the news that another Commonwealth monarch had died on 18 March 2012 - King George Tupou V of Tonga.

He had ruled the south Pacific Kingdom only since 27 September 2006 and his reign was characterised by Tonga's adoption of an extremely conservative policy towards the issuing of new postage stamps and apart from some surcharged stamps made necessary by a local shortage of certain values for use on ordinary mail only 6 stamps and one miniature sheet were issued by Tonga during the king's reign until the beginning of 2012 when a new philatelic agency took over control of the country's stamp issues and massively increased the output of Tongan stamps. Two stamps and a miniature sheet were issued in 2008 to commemorate the king's coronation which took place on 1 August 2008 (pictured above and below).

I have seen the date of issue of the stamps reported as the actual day of the coronation - that is - 1 August 2012 but I have an example of the $1.00 cancelled at Nuku'alofa on 25 July 2012 so that may have been the true date of issue:-

The royal predecessors of King George Tupou V have been depicted on a number of Tongan stamps over the years, notably on 2 sets of 4 and 2 miniature sheets produced by the Crown Agents for Tonga and Niuafo'ou and issued on 7 July 2004. In the mid-nineteenth century, there had been a protracted period of civil war in the islands and in 1845, George Tupou I became King of Tonga. He is depicted on the 30c value.

He was recognised as king from 1875 and was succeeded by his son, George Tupou II in 1893 and he in turn, by his celebrated daughter, Salote Tupou III, in 1918:-

When Salote died in 1965, her son Tafa'ahau Tupou IV succeeded to the throne and when he died his son George Tupou V came to the throne. The 80th birthday of Tafa'ahau Tupou IV was celebrated by 2 stamps issued on 4 July 1998 (one by Tonga and one by Niuafo'ou) and a miniature sheet which combined the two items:-

From July 2008 to June 2010, 10 different stamps were surcharged to produce 30s or 70s values (most have been described and illustrated in previous blogs) but no further commemoratives were issued until 23 December 2011 when 2 stamps each for Tonga and Niuafo'ou were released to commemorate Christmas; as I have previously pointed out, their appearance was a little late for use on Christmas mail.

Before the king died on 18 March 2012 in Hong Kong where he had been treated six months earlier for kidney cancer and subsequent leukaemia, Niuafo'ou had issued 2 sheetlets of 3 stamps each depicting local whales on 16 January and 4 World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) stamps on 12 March. Tonga had issued a definitive set of 12 stamps depicting local birdlife on 8 January 2012 along with a miniature sheet that contained all twelve values, a single stamp and a miniature sheet which commemorated the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 March 2012 and 4 WWF stamps depicting the thorny seahorse on 12 March 2012. Hence only 33 stamps and 3 miniature sheets were issued by Tonga with Niuafo'ou during the entire reign of King George Tupou V - remarkably few for this modern philatelic age (although more than 50% of them were issued in the last 3 months of his reign!)

The king's funeral took place on 27 March 2012 and black and gold dressed Tongans carried his funeral bier as illustrated below.

It is slightly strange to think that the last issue to be released by the Tongan Post Office before the death of King Tafa'ahau Tupou IV was a set issued on 4 May 2005 which depicted local whales (illustrated below) and that just two month's prior to King George Tupou V's death a set also illustrating whales was issued for Niuafo'ou. Perhaps the new king will feel a little anxious if the Tongan Post Office decides to issue more stamps which depict whales during his reign!

King George Tupou V was succeeded by his younger brother, Aho'eitu Unuaki'otonga Tuku'aho Tupou VI, to be known as Tupou VI, who is the third son of King Tafa'ahau Tupou IV and who was the prime minister of Tonga from 3 January 2000 to 11 February 2006.

I have not yet seen any news of stamps to be issued either in remembrance of King George Tupou V or to commemorate the succession of King Tupou VI but doubtless Tonga's new philatelic agents will spare no energy in capitalising on the new monarch's philatelic financial earning power.

Recent Malawi And Kenya.

During 2011 Malawi has issued several new sets of stamps, all locally relevant and interesting in subject matter. A set of five stamps printed in ordinary sheets in lithography by Enschede along with a miniature sheet which combines all the values was issued which depicted the "Big Five" - the great animals to be seen by tourists on safari in the country - the lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and water buffalo. The date of issue was 11 March 2011. A set of five stamps was also issued for Christmas 2011. These stamps were also printed by Enschede and again a miniature sheet was also released which combined the values from the ordinary sheets. I do not know the date of issue at present.

A further issue from 2011 was dedicated to the theme of eradication of the tsetse fly and trypanosomiasis (the name of the disease is horribly misspelt on the miniature sheet - "trypasonomiasis" - but correctly spelt on the stamps themselves). The set comprises four values with a unifying miniature sheet but the stamps from ordinary sheets are easily distinguished from those of the miniature sheet because they have white borders while the stamps from the sheet have coloured borders. I do not know the date of issue of this set at present.

The first issue of 2011 was released on 18 January and comprised two stamps and a combining miniature sheet which commemorated the 35th anniversary of the partnership of Malawi with The European Union. Elsewhere in Africa, Kenya has made a rather surprising issue which appears to comprise 4 sheetlets, each containing 25 different stamps. They seem to have been released some time in 2011 and feature various insects, the New York Agency which handles Kenya's stamps has described one sheetlet's theme as being "beetles", another as "butterflies", the third as "insects" and the other as "wasps". This is a rather surprising set given Kenya's usual conservatism in the issuing of new stamps - 100 stamps in one set is something very few of the most excessive countries have managed to achieve!

Superb Falkland Islands Jubilee Issue & Ghana World Cup Stamps.

On 10 May 2012 The Falkland Islands issued a set of 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. In my opinion it is the best set that has so far been issued to celebrate this event, the values are reasonable (although one may hesitate to say that about the £3 miniature sheet). The stamps show 4 charming pictures of the Queen at key moments in her reign - her accession, her silver jubilee, her golden jubilee and her diamond jubilee. All very straightforward and attractively designed - no silly gimmicks were felt necessary such as encrusting the stamps with tiny diamonds at shocking expense to the purchaser as the island of Jersey seemed to find it necessary to do.

Meanwhile, I have to say I was rather surprised during 2010 to find that Ghana, as one of the participating nations, had not issued any stamps to commemorate the Football World Cup held in South Africa. Well, now 8 stamps and a miniature sheet have appeared which were probably issued at the time after all. They note not just the national football team, The Black Stars, but also the Under 20 national team, the Black Satellites.

A new definitive set for Ghana, printed in lithography by Enschede, has also just appeared but at this stage I do not know the date of issue. The set is comprised of ten values (10c, 25c, 27c, C1.00, C1.10, C1.20, C1.30, C1.40, C3 and C5) and the designs depict various local fruits.

Caribbean Jubilee Celebrations.

The Diamond Jubilee commemorative stamps of the two Commonwealth countries of Antigua And Barbuda and Grenada have arrived and both take a similar format to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the accession of their ruling monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. Both consist of sheetlets of four stamps and one single-value miniature sheet. The Antigua And Barbuda sheetlet is devoted to the Queen's childhood and includes some rare photographs of the young princess. This set was issued on 26 March 2012 and is an interesting addition to a collection of Diamond Jubilee stamps.

Meanwhile, the set produced by Grenada and issued on 8 February 2012 takes the Queen's marriage to The Duke Of Edinburgh and their four children as the overall subject for the issue. Again, some of the photographs depicted on the stamps are unusual, I particularly like the coloured stamp at the far right of the sheetlet which shows the Queen with her eldest son, Prince Charles, as a small boy.

My only real complaint about these two sets is they do not illustrate the Queen's link with the two countries of which, as mentioned above, she is the Head of State. Additionally, I suppose, the sets are a little drab and are in the same style as the Guyana "King Edward XIII" commemorative set which I recently drew attention to, so I suppose we should be glad that the new stamps do correctly name the Queen as "Elizabeth II" rather than "Queen Elizabeth XII"! Meanwhile, another interesting issue has arrived from Grenada in recent weeks although I have not yet seen the exact date of issue. This set takes the form of 2 sheetlets of 9 stamps and commemorates Grenada's chocolate export industry. The stamps have the smell of chocolate instilled in them and each design within the sheetlet is subtly different from the other eight stamps. This is not the first time that chocolate-smelling stamps have been issued, I think Switzerland produced a similar item some years ago. I did not previously know that Grenada was a chocolate-producer so the stamps are a successful promoter of the island's export industry and are therefore acceptable to collect even if they are rather gimmicky.

Uganda Deluge.

A large New York-based stamp agency recently announced that it had produced a number of stamp issues for Uganda, mostly of tentative relevance in subject matter to the country whose name appeared on the stamps:- 15th death anniversary of Diana, Princess Of Wales (3 stamps and a miniature sheet), centenary of the sinking of The Titanic (6 stamps and 1 m.s.), US former President Abraham Lincoln (4 stamps and 1 m.s.), US musician Elvis Presley commemoration (4 stamps and 1 m.s.), 50th anniversary of the inauguration of former US President Kennedy (4 stamps and 1 m.s.), African orchids (4 stamps and 1 m.s.), African mushrooms (6 stamps and 1 m.s.), African endangered animals (5 stamps and 1 m.s.) and a commemoration of Jane Goodall who researches chimpanzees in Tanzania (8 stamps). I do not intend to add any of those "issues" to my collection. Now it seems that the Uganda Post Office has also given permission to "Stamperija", a Lithuania-based company to produce "stamps" with the name of Uganda printed on them. Stamperija has been producing such items for some time for a number of Portuguese- and French-speaking countries in Africa including Guinea, Togo, Central African Republic, St. Thomas And Prince Islands, Guinea-Bissau and notably the Commonwealth territory of Mozambique which consequently has had more than 1000 stamps issued per year in its name in the recent past. Now Uganda has joined that happy throng of African nations. The first "issue" was released on 30 March 2012 and consisted of 40 stamps and 10 miniature sheets on the subject of "Fauna of Africa". Ten sub-themes are included in the set, each being accorded 4 stamps and an accompanying miniature sheet. The subjects are Owls,

African elephants,

Butterflies, Birds of Prey, Endangered species, Freshwater fish, Kingfishers, Primates, Reptiles and Wild Cats. The price for the entire set comes to well above £100. Needless to say none of these "stamps" will be finding their way into my collection. Stanley Gibbons have not given catalogue recognition to any of the same sort of issues of Mozambique since 2004 apart from the 2010 WWF issue and accompanying miniature sheet depicting a large antelope.

Presumably this deluge of issues from Uganda (and doubtless there will be many more to come in the future) will suffer the same fate as regards catalogue status.

Royal Mail Olympic Winners Bonanza.

Royal Mail has announced that to commemorate any British success that may occur at the London Olympic Games in July and August this year, a miniature sheet containing six identical self-adhesive, first class value (60p) stamps will be issued to celebrate every British gold medal winner. Royal Mail plans to have a stamp designed within an hour of a British victory occurring and then having one of 6 regional printers digitally overprint a basic design pre-printed in lithography by Walsall Security Printers with the appropriate image and inscription for the successful individual so that the stamps will be ready for issue less than 24 hours after the athlete's success. The Post Office estimates that there will be 19 British gold medal champions (as in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing) and that the cost of a complete set of 19 miniature sheets will therefore be £68.40p, or if ordered before 31 May, a 10% discount will be applied therefore costing the collector £61.56p.

You may wonder why a miniature sheet of six stamps has to be issued rather than a single first-class value stamp. A complete set of first-day covers will cost £91.20p (£82.08p with discount) in Britain or £76 (£68.40p with discount) if sold to overseas buyers who do not have to pay British Value Added Tax. So, Royal Mail who were only recently boasting how they listen to their (complaining) customers and consequently postponed one of this year's stamp issues to 2013 have more than compensated for any loss they make from the postponed set by planning an additional issue which they hope will cost more than £60 per set! Of course British sportsmen are notorious for under-performance, so it is possible that Royal Mail's greed may be thwarted by the Olympians themselves or we may be surprised and find that British athletes will do better in the competition than we have come to expect so that the bill to collectors may be even bigger than Royal Mail predicts. And one final thought, with six different regional printers involved in producing the stamps, is it possible that we will see six different varieties of the finished products? Suddenly, collectors would be chasing all over the place to obtain each variety and the bill would soar astronomically. I've got a bad feeling about this.

Gallant Malta Commemorates Its George Cross.

On 14 April 2012, the Maltese Post Office issued a miniature sheet to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the award of the George Cross to the island of Malta "to bear witness to the heroism and devotion of its people" during the terrible German assault on the island during the Second World War. German and Italian aircraft launched continuous air-raids against the island during the period of the siege of Malta and the brave people suffered greatly and starved as Axis forces attacked convoys of Allied ships attempting to bring food supplies to the island. In honour of the peoples' bravery, King George VI made the award of the highest civilian honour to the island on 15 April 1942. Subsequently the distinction was marked by placing a representation of the medal in the canton of the island's national flag. The award is depicted on the 68c value of the definitive series which was issued on 29 December 2009 (above) and the 70th anniversary issue depicts a photograph taken at the presentation ceremony in 1942 (below).

Over the years Malta has made a number of stamp issues which commemorate the great honour. The first special issue to commemorate the award of the George Cross to the island was released on 15 April 1957, the fifteenth anniversary, and was designed by the great Maltese stamp designer, Chevalier EV Cremona. The set comprised three values:- 1-1/2d, 3d and 1/-. The stamps are in typical Cremona style and are typical of what was really a golden age of Maltese stamps.

Earlier, the 3d value of the 1953-57 definitive series had featured the letter from King George VI to the Governor of Malta which accompanied the award of the medal.

On 15 April 1958, the sixteenth anniversary of the award was commemorated by another set of three stamps again beautifully designed by Chevalier Cremona. The designs dramatically portrayed the siege with a convoy of ships being attacked appearing on the 3d value and searchlights lighting up the skies being depicted on the other two values.

The following year a further set of 3 stamps was issued on 15 April 1959 to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the award of the honour and was again designed by Chevalier Cremona.

Although no George Medal stamp issue was made in 1960, a fourth set designed by Chevalier Cremona was released on 15 April 1961.

Strangely the opportunity to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the award of the medal was missed in 1962 and no further issue was made on the subject until 1 March 1967 when the award's 25th anniversary was commemorated by the last stamps on this theme to be designed by Chevalier Cremona. In these the award is the central point of three interestingly shaped stamps.

The 50th anniversary of the award of the George Medal was commemorated on 15 April 1992 by three stamps designed by Harry Borg. These are certainly not up to the standard of those designed by EV Cremona but the medal featured prominently on each value. No issue was made in 2002 on the 60th anniversary of the award of the honour.

The issue of 1957 had not been the first to feature the George Cross. The medal made its first appearance appropriately on the two Victory stamps which were issued on 3 December 1946, next to the country name at the top of the stamp (a Maltese cross appears at the other end of the inscription).

The medal similarly appeared on the stamps issued on 4 January 1949 to commemorate the royal silver wedding anniversary and on the 4 stamps released on 10 October 1949 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union.

Finally, the three delightful stamps issued on 1 December 1950 to commemorate the visit of Princess Elizabeth also bore a depiction of the George Medal at the lower right of the stamp.

The valiant people of Malta endured immeasurable loss and suffering as a result of the vicious, prolonged assault on their island home and fully deserved the recognition they received from their king in the form of the award of the George Cross. The issue of this miniature sheet in 2012 is one stamp issue that is fully justified and not to be missed.