Commonwealth Diamond Jubilee Stamps Come Flooding In.

More Diamond Jubilee stamps from Commonwealth countries have been issued. On 1 April 2012, The Turkish Republic Of Northern Cyprus issued a very attractive single stamp to commemorate the royal event. We must recall that Queen Elizabeth II was Queen of Cyprus from 1952 until 1960 when the island of Cyprus became an independent republic.

CASCO has announced two further issues, both released on 12 June 2012. A set of 4 has been issued by St. Helena. This set has a more locally relevant feel to it than the first set of 8 diamond-shaped stamps and 2 miniature sheets which was issued on 6 February 2012 because the second issue features artwork by local school children. The stamps were designed by Andrew Robinson and were printed in lithography by Enschede.

 

 

Meanwhile, from The Cayman Islands comes a very attractive set of 4 stamps (25c, 80c, $1 and $1.50) along with a booklet of 10x 25c stamps which are self-adhesive. This issue was again designed by Andrew Robinson but lithographed by BDT International Security Printers.

   

I have not yet seen the designs of the two issues from Pitcairn Island and Vanuatu which both consist of 2 stamps. Doubtless, there are still a good number of Commonwealth countries to release stamps to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee.

Peter To Rot, Diamond Jubilee And Other New Issues.

In my blog of 15 May 2012, I mentioned the new set of stamps from Kenya which depicts insects of various types. A staggering 100 different stamps are included in the set which consists of 4 sheetlets of 25 stamps each. I think this must be the second biggest commemorative stamp issue in Commonwealth philatelic history (on 13 April 1992, Tanzania issued a set of 120 stamps - 10 sheetlets, each of 12 different stamps - which depicted various papal visits). While I find the high price of this new set to be annoying, now that I have received them, I have to admit that they are absolutely fascinating. Each stamp features a photograph of a different local insect taken by Robert Copeland of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Nairobi. The stamps commemorate the 40th anniversary of ICIPE. In 2010, Robert Copeland and a colleague, Andrew Kirk-Spriggs of the Kenyan National Museum, re-discovered the world's rarest fly, the Terrible Hairy Fly, Mormotomyia hirsuta, which had only ever been collected twice before, in 1933 and 1945, and is only found in a single site in Kenya and nowhere else in the world. The fly is effectively wingless which makes it rather a bizarre creature. Sadly, and perhaps surprisingly, the hairy fly is not included in the 100 illustrated species but the set certainly includes some amazing, and rather unnerving-looking creatures and I could not resist depicting some of the most worrying-looking ones below. Pleasingly, not all animals depicted on recent Commonwealth commemorative stamps are quite so unsettling. Who could not help but adore the labrador retriever puppy which was depicted on a sheetlet of 3 stamps (part of a set of 7 "Dogs of the world" stamps and 2 miniature sheets) which was issued by Grenada on 24 April 2012? Montserrat issued its Diamond Jubilee set on 18 April 2012 in the same format as the sets released by Antigua-Barbuda and Grenada. The theme of the Montserrat issue is Queen Elizabeth's coronation which took place on 2 June 1953. In the past few years Papua New Guinea has issued a very large number of stamps of relatively high face value. The sets usually take the form of 4 stamps issued in ordinary sheets, 4 differently designed and/or face valued stamps issued in a miniature sheet and an additional miniature sheet usually containing a single, again different, stamp. About 12 sets are released per year with an approximate cost to the collector of over £20 per set. This is clearly excessive but rather surprisingly most issued stamps have a direct local relevance, often apparently being designed by local designers and they generally make up a collection which tells you a lot about Papua New Guinea, its culture, its wildlife and its history. Sadly a couple of issues per year seem to emanate directly from the New York philatelic agency which handles their stamps and these generally have no relevance to PNG itself (usually aspects of American culture which are likely to appeal to American collectors). Such issues can be ignored but the locally relevant stamps are well worth obtaining despite their cost. One such issue is that which was released on 5 March 2012 which commemorated the centenary of the birth of the Blessed Peter To Rot who was probably born in 1912 at Rakunai in New Britain in New Guinea. His family was closely attached to the Roman Catholic Church and Peter attended St. Paul's College, Taliligap in 1930 and was appointed catechist to the parish of Rakunai in 1933. In January 1942, the Japanese occupied New Britain and interned the European missinaries there and Peter To Rot became responsible for the mission there, leading the people in prayer, baptising and cathechising children and adults, officiating at weddings, teaching, visiting the sick and taking food to internees and prisoners of war. In 1943, the Japanese occupiers became intolerant of the Christian faith and began to restrict To Rot's activities on security grounds. After March 1944, he resisted the new rules that forbade any form of religious observance and built an underground shelter on his property at Taogo and there he held religious services. He particularly resisted the Japanese legalisation of polygamy which the local chiefs were in favour of, and his rejection of it resulted in him being denounced as "malign and uncooperative" with his resulting imprisonment. In June or July 1945 he was murdered by 2 officers of the Japanese military police, assisted by an army doctor who administered a lethal injection to him. His body was buried in the mission cemetery. On 17 January 1995, To Rot was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Port Moresby during the papal visit to Papua New Guinea. The various events of Peter To Rot's life and his beatification by Pope John Paul II are shown on a set of 4 stamps, a sheetlet of 4 different stamps which depict stained-glass windows and a single stamp miniature sheet which were issued on 5 March 2012. The 2 miniature sheets are depicted below. Finally, another Diamond Jubilee set has been issued - 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet, very similar in design to the issue of The Falkland Islands, released by South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands on 28 May 2012. Like the Falkland Islands issue, this is a very attractive and well-produced set.

The Olympic Games & Great Britain Stamps.

  With the Diamond Jubilee celebration issues behind it, Royal Mail, the British Post Office can now concentrate on its outpouring of stamps to commemorate the Olympic Games to be held shortly in London. This will be the third Olympic Games to be held in London and there is a large number of British stamp issues which have drawn attention to all three occasions when the games were held in London. The first time the games were held in London was in 1908. No commemorative stamps were issued by Britain at the time.

  However, a sheetlet of 10 "Union Jack" stamps with illustrated labels attached, was issued by Royal Mail on 24 July 2008 to commemorate the centenary of the first London Olympic Games. The sheet, designed by Neon Design, is both very interesting and very collectable for Olympic Games collectors.  

 

  The fifth label in the left hand column depicts the US Tug of War team. The event was included in the games from 1900 to 1920 and it seems to me that it would be rather a fun event to reintroduce to the Games. All 3 medals were won by British teams in 1908.

   

  The middle label in the right hand column depicts a splendid woman called Louie Dod who won a silver medal in archery in 1908 but in addition had won the Wimbledon tennis competition 5 times, won a national golf title and helped to found the England women's hockey team. If ever there was a sporting hero, Louie Dod qualified to be called that. 

 

  After the end of World War 2, London staged the first Olympic Games of the new peacetime in 1948. The Post Office issued a set of 4 stamps to commemorate the event on 29 July 1948 and the designs caught the art deco spirit of the age. The designers were Percy Metcalfe, Abram Games, Stanley D.Scott and Edmund Dulac and the stamps were perfectly printed in photogravure by Harrison and Sons. 

  The ever increasing greed for financial profit, at whatever the cost, resulted in The Post Office issuing 2 stamps on 7 April 1992 to commemorate for the first time an Olympic Games held in a foreign country. The stamps marked the Olympic Games which were held in Barcelona that year and depicted the flags of the British Olympic and Paralympic teams.

 

  The issue was accompanied by 5 definitive stamp booklets with the British Olympic and Paralympic logos on their covers - 4x 2nd class stamps, 10x 2nd class, 4x 1st class and 10x 1st class. They were printed in lithography by Walsall Security Printers and issued on 21 January 1992 while a 10x 1st booklet, printed in photogravure by Harrison was also issued on the same day. A sixth booklet, another 10x 2nd booklet, was released on 31 March 1992 and was printed by The House Of Questa. 

 

  On 9 July 1996, 5 rather uninspired stamps were issued in a setenant strip to commemorate the participation of the British Olympic and Paralympic teams at the games in Atlanta. 

These designs were reused in an even more uninspired miniature sheet which was issued on 5 August 2005 to commemorate the award of the games to London.

     

  On 22 August 2008, at the end of the Beijing Olympic Games, Royal Mail issued a miniature sheet as a joint issue with The Chinese People's Republic, which contained 4 stamps and which commemorated the hand over of the Olympic flag by Beijing to London. The designs featured landmarks in London and Beijing including the London Eye and the Tower of London.

   

The first stamps to commemorate the 2012 Games were issued on 22 October 2009 and consisted of 2 setenant strips of 5 stamps each, a different sport of the Olympic or Paralympic Games being featured on each stamp. Each design was produced by a different artist although the overall designs were produced by Studio David Hillman. The set was the first part of what amounted to 30 stamps, 10 more being released in 2010 (27 July) and 10 more in 2011 (also, 27 July).

 

  Twelve of the designs were also issued in self-adhesive format in 6 booklets which each contained 2 different Olympics stamps and 4x 1st class definitives. They were issued on 7 January 2010 (judo & archery), 25 February 2010 (track athletics & basketball), 27 July 2010 (paralympic rowing & paralympic table tennis), 12 October 2010 (football & cycling), 27 July 2011 (wheelchair rugby & paralympic sailing) and 15 September 2011 (gymnastics & fencing).

 

  On 27 July 2011, a "stamp sheet", sold for £13.80p, was issued and contained all 30 stamps released between 2009 and 2011. It is so big it is impossible to decide how to incorporate it in one's collection. But it is rather colourful, I suppose. On 5 January 2012, 4 "Olympic definitives" were issued (previously described in the blog of 8 January 2012). Still to come is an Olympics and Paralympics "souvenir sheet", comprising 16x 1st stamps and 4x "Worldwide" stamps to be issued on 7 June 2012, Olympic and Paralympic "Welcome" issues, Olympic and Paralympic "Memories" issue on 27 September and, most worryingly, the "Team GB Gold Medal Winners" miniature sheets to be released within 24 hours of a Briton winning a gold medal. I feel particular alarm since an article in the June 2012 Philatelic Exporter states that "Team GB Gold Medal Winners stamps for both (ie Olympic and Paralympic (will be) produced and ready for sale the day following the victory". I hope this is not right.           

  Up until now Royal Mail has suggested to collectors that there will be about 20 miniature sheets produced for Olympic victories but if they are also produced for Paralympic winners, then we might be truly stung if we want an example of each since Great Britain was the second biggest Gold Medal winner in Beijing with 42 Paralympic champions. We may find that added to the £68.40p Royal Mail expects to obtain from each collector for the Olympic winners issues, a further £165.60 will be extracted for the Paralympic stamps. Surely this can not be so. 

  Remember too, that there are 6 different printers of these miniature sheets and many collectors will probably require an example of each printer's work which would amount to a total cost of £410.40 for the Olympics set and, wait for it, £993.60 for a Paralympics set (grand total £1404.00p!!!). Surely, Royal Mail can not really be planning to maul collectors in such a fashion. It is all a far cry from the modest set of 4 stamps which Great Britain issued for the 1948 Olympics,total cost: 1 shilling and 11 pence-halfpenny (just under 10p).

 

Commonwealth Diamond Jubilee Stamps Checklist.

 

With the main part of the diamond jubilee celebrations now completed it is worth seeing what stamps have so far been issued by the countries of The Commonwealth to commemorate this historic event:- Antigua and Barbuda, issued 26 March 2012, 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet; Ascension, 6 February 2012, 6 stamps and 1 m.s.; Australia, 3 April 2012, 2 gummed stamps, 2 self-adhesive coil stamps, 1 self-adhesive stamp ex-booklet and 1 gummed m.s.; Bahamas, July 2012, 4stamps which also commemorate the jubilee visit of Prince Harry; Barbados, 12 March 2012, 4 stamps and 1 m.s.; Belize, 6 February 2012, 6 stamps and 2 m.s.; Bermuda, 9 February 2012, 6 stamps and 2 m.s.; British Indian Ocean Territory, 6 February 2012, 6 stamps and 2 m.s.;

Canada 16 January 2012. 1 stamp and 1 m.s., and on various dates until 7 May 2012, 6 m.s.; Cayman Islands, 12 June 2012, 4 stamps and 1 booklet of 10x 25c self-adhesive stamps; Cook Islands, 6 February 2012, 6 stamps and 2 m.s.; Falkland Islands, 10 May 2012, 4 stamps and 1 m.s.; The Gambia, 6 different stamps in a sheetlet; Gibraltar, 6 February 2012, 6 stamps and 2 m.s., 14 September 2012, 1 m.s. containing 3 different stamps which commemorates the Jubilee visit of The Earl and Countess of Wessex to Gibraltar; Grenada, 8 February 2012, 4 stamps and 1 m.s.; Grenada Grenadines, 2013, sheetlet of 4 stamps and 1 m.s.; Guernsey, 22 February 2012, 6 stamps and 1 m.s.; Isle Of Man, 6 February 2012, 6 stamps and 2 m.s., 3 June 2012, 1 m.s. commemorating the Jubilee Regatta; Jersey, 6 February 2012, 2 stamps and 1 m.s., 1 June 2012, 1 stamp (price £10); Kiribati, 4 June 2012, 4 stamps (issue to commemorate the Queen's 80th birthday overprinted by The Malvern Press in Harlow, Essex 

in a limited edition of less than 3000 stamps); Malaysia, 13 September 2012, 2 stamps and 1 m.s. (also commemorates the Jubilee visit of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge); Montserrat, 18 April 2012, 4 stamps and 1 m.s.; Mozambique, 1 sheetlet of 6 different stamps and 1 m.s.; Nevis, 1 sheetlet of 4 identical stamps and 1 m.s.; New Zealand, 9 May 2012, 6 stamps and 1 m.s.; Niue, 23 May 2012, 2 stamps and 1 m.s.; Norfolk Island, 20 August 2012, 1 miniature sheet containing 3 different stamps; Pitcairn, 1 June 2012, 2 stamps;

Papua New Guinea, 7 November 2012, 6 stamps and 1 m.s. (sheet containing a single K10 stamp);

  St. Helena, 6 February 2012, 6 stamps and 2 m.s.; 12 June 2012, 4 stamps depicting local childrens' artwork; St. Kitts, 1 October, 5 stamps and 2 m.s.;

 Saint Lucia, 6 February 2012, 6 stamps and 2 m.s.; St. Vincent And The Grenadines, 1 January 2012, 3 stamps and 1 m.s.; Solomon Islands, 5 June 2012, 9 stamps in 2 sheetlets and 1 m.s.; South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands, 28 May 2012, 4 stamps and 1 m.s.;Tokelau, 23 May 2012, 2 stamps and 1 m.s.; Tonga, 6 March 2012, 1 stamp and 1 m.s.; Tristan Da Cunha; 6 February 2012, 6 stamps and 1 m.s.; Turkish Republic Of Northern Cyprus, 1 April 2012, 1 stamp; Turks And Caicos, 1 sheetlet of 4 identical stamps and 1 m.s.; Tuvalu, 18 September 2012, 1 sheetlet of 5 stamps and 1 m.s. commemorating the Jubilee visit of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Tuvalu, 31 December 2012, 1 sheetlet of 4 different stamps and 1 m.s.; Vanuatu, 1 June 2012, 2 stamps; United Kingdom Royal Mail, 6 February 2012, 1 short-term "Jubilee" definitive and 1 booklet and 1 m.s., 22 February 2012, 6 limited edition "Post and Go" stamps, 25 April 2012, 1 short-term "large letter" definitive, 21 May 2012, 1 "Union Jack" "Post and Go" label sold in 6 values, 31 May 2012, 8 stamps and  1 retail booklet of self-adhesive stamps and 1 "prestige booklet" (price £12.77), 26 September 2012, "Union Jack" "Post and Go" stamps additionally inscribed "Diamond Jubilee 1952 - 2012" and "Union Jack" produced by Hytech machine with variant script (both issues only available at Autumn Stampex 2012), both issues available for 6 different postal rates; 1 October 2012, booklet of 6 x 1st definitives with quotation inside the front cover;

 

Universal Mail United Kingdom, June 2012, 1 self-adhesive stamp in a booklet of 5:-

 Doubtless more stamps to commemorate the event will appear over the next few months and add to this very interesting (if expensive) collection.

The Jubilee Coup.

In Britain this weekend, the celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth are in full swing and on 5 June 2012 a service to mark the jubilee will be held in St. Paul's Cathedral which will be attended by many people including Commonwealth leaders. This is reminiscent of the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977 when many Commonwealth leaders were in London to attend the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting. For one of them at least, it was to be a disastrous occasion. Seychelles had achieved independence on 29 June 1976 and became a republic within The Commonwealth with James Mancham as its first president and his political opponent, France Albert Rene, as the first prime minister. The philatelic consequences of these events were that while still using the Crown Agents to produce some of its stamps, the Seychelles Post Office also allowed a large New York-based philatelic agency to produce and market stamps on its behalf. The result was that a number of issues which appeared were more relevant in subject matter to the USA than Seychelles. One such issue was a pair of stamps which not only commemorated the independence of Seychelles but also commemorated the bicentenary of the declaration of independence of The United States. The pair are depicted below cancelled on the first day of issue at Victoria, capital of Seychelles. Both stamps include a portrait of President Mancham which was also a feature of the set of 8 stamps produced by The Crown Agents to commemorate Seychelles independence (the highest value featuring the first national flag is illustrated at the head of this blog).

The following year was, as stated above, the year of the silver jubilee and President Mancham left Seychelles to attend the celebrations in London. On 5 June 1977, Albert Rene took moves to depose Mancham and make himself president and Mancham was exiled in London. A set of 8 stamps, 4 depicting items of the crown jewels and 4 depicting the Queen and distant views of islands of Seychelles, and a miniature sheet was due to be released by Seychelles to commemorate the silver jubilee but due to the fact that they depicted James Mancham, their release was delayed. The stamps were eventually released on 5 September 1977 with Mancham's portrait removed.

We get an impression of the original design of these stamps because the Crown Agents Bulletin had already published illustrations of some of the stamps as they were intended to be issued with the portrait of Mancham illustrated on them.

Apart from some overprinted definitives which had originally been issued in 1969, the first definitive set of The Republic Of Seychelles was issued on 10 November 1977 and consisted of 16 stamps which depicted Seychellois natural history.

The release of this set was severely delayed by the coup as The Crown Agents Bulletin had illustrated the set at the same time as depicting the silver jubilee issue in 1976, again with President Mancham's portrait depicted on the stamps.

Another startling immediate philatelic result of the coup was the issue of a stamp and miniature sheet with a distinctly revolutionary look about it, which was printed at the State Printing Works in Moscow and commemorated the 60th anniversary of the "Great October Socialist Revolution". The items were typical in appearance of issues produced by The Soviet Union at the time. At least this issue heralded the end of any influence the New York Agency might exert on the type of stamps coming from Seychelles.

So, this political event had substantial outcomes for the contemporary and future stamp issues by Seychelles. If it had not occurred, we may well have seen countless later issues which depicted Mickey Mouse, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and other American icons.

Albert Rene himself was only depicted on 1 postage stamp issued by Seychelles. The stamp was one of a set of four issued on 2 June 1984 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Rene's political party, the Seychelles People's United Party (SPUP). The stamp also showed the new national flag which was adopted after the coup on 29 August 1977, being an adaptation of the party flag of the SPUP (this is another example of the change of a national flag following a political change as discussed in the previous blog). The R2 value depicted a rather unimpressive ironwork statue, the "Zombre Libre"which had been erected in Victoria. The name in Creole does not mean the "Free Zombie", as you might think when you look at this horrible piece of modern art, but instead it means "Free man". For years the air of radicalism hung over Seychelles and "Liberation Day" was celebrated annually. On 5 June 1978, a set of 4 stamps was released to commemorate Liberation Day and the designs had a distinctly revolutionary air about them which seemed quite out of step with the peacefulness of the beautiful islands. It really did not seem fitting to depict guns with bayonets fixed and soldiers with rifles on a Seychelles issue.

The subject also clashed terribly with the fact that Seychelles wished to attract tourists - the illustration below shows one of the 1978 Liberation Day stamps, admittedly less militaristic than the 2 values depicted above, postmarked rather incongruously by the slogan "Tropical Island Holidays Seychelles Indian Ocean".

No doubt Commonwealth leaders in London for the diamond jubilee celebrations of 2012 will hope that they do not suffer the fate of James Mancham and fall victim to a "Jubilee Coup".