1287. 🇸🇭 St Helena Airport Stamps Mark First Flights To The Island.

  🇸🇭 In communications terms, probably the biggest event to occur - ever - to St Helena, apart perhaps from the first ever arrival of humans on the island, is the building, now completed, of the island's first airport. The St Helena postal service has recently released 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet as the third part of its series of stamps which commemorates the construction and opening of the new airport. This is undoubtedly a fully justified issue given how important the new airport is to the future of St. Helena. I do not yet know the exact date of issue. Rating:- *****.

  🇲🇼 In Blog 1284 I mentioned the Malawi Post mushroom miniature sheets currently offered for sale on an internet auction site and presumed that there would also be a sheetlet containing several different stamps as part of the set. This item is now offered by an internet auction site dealer and is illustrated below:-

  🇧🇸 I was interested to hear an item on a radio news programme about an ornithological expedition by scientists from the University Of East Anglia to Bahamas to search for the Bahamas nuthatch, a bird which had not be seen for 10 years and was thought to be possibly extinct. The expedition had seen this little bird on 6 occasions and were able to confirm that the bird still survived although in numbers as low as one or two possibly. There was optimism that the species may be saved by conservation efforts.

  Whether or not this species can continue to survive we at least have an excellent philatelic record of it in the form of a set of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet which were issued by the Bahamas postal service on 28 March 2006. 

  This is why I wish that postal administrations would take their new issue programmes seriously rather than putting them in the hands of cynical, exploitational philatelic agencies. New stamp issues give a country, through its postal service, the opportunities to create miniature historical documents by commemorating events and anniversaries of significance to that country as well as providing records of its contemporary culture, its wildlife, its art and architecture and its relations with the rest of the world. One day the records provided now in the form of postage stamp designs will be of interest to historians, naturalists and others and may well provide the only historical source of some little snippets of knowledge lost in other media. At least the little Bahamas nuthatch even if soon to be lost for ever will be remembered in the pages of a stamp collection of Bahamas postage stamps or a collection based on a bird theme. The issuing of new stamps is a responsibility which postal administrations and philatelic agencies should take more seriously than some of them actually do.

1286. 🇦🇺 Record Breaking Racehorse Featured On New Australia Post Issue.

  🇦🇺 Australia Post issued a single gummed stamp from sheetlets of 10 and a single self-adhesive stamp from booklets of 10 to commemorate the record-breaking 26th consecutive race win by the Australian mare Winx which outdoes a horse featured on a previous Australia Post issue, Black Caviar. The race took place on the day on which the stamp is stated to have been issued. Collectors can also buy a 'Cheque book' containing 200 stamps for the price of $200 if they are so inclined. Rating:- ***.

  🇬🇩 In Blog 1285 I mentioned an issue from IGPC which is inscribed 'Grenada' on the subject of The nutmeg, a subject of relevance to the island. It appears that there is another item also inscribed 'Grenada' on the subject the Cocoa plant. This issue takes the form of 2 different stamps printed in a sheetlet of six (3 x 2 different stamps) and a single stamp miniature sheet. Again, an issue of relevance to Grenada. Rating:- **.

  🇧🇹 Bhutan has had a chequered philatelic history since its first postage stamps were released in 1962 (fiscal stamps first issued in 1954 had been used as postage stamps for internal mail previously) and for many years after it became a fully independent state - that is - its peculiar treaty relationship with India and previously, United Kingdom, was terminated and it joined The United Nations, its postal service released countless items depicting subjects of little or no relevance to Bhutan - a situation made worse by it allowing the notorious IGPC to control its stamp issuing programme.

  Around 2010 a change of agency lead to a much more satisfactory new issue policy being adopted. While it is true that the result was that Bhutan continued to issue rather more stamps than perhaps it should have done, the issues were relatively inexpensive, extremely attractive and interesting in the main and always featured subjects of relevance to Bhutan and its place in the world. I have been collecting these stamps in recent years with a great deal of pleasure.

  However I was recently plunged into a very temporary state of despair when I spotted an item on sale on an internet auction site which at first made me think that Bhutan Post was returning to the bad old days. The item is a miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps produced by what looks like micro lenticular printing. The issue features a satellite and is clearly centred around a Space theme which clearly has nothing to do with Bhutan. Wrong! Further reading reassured me that the issue does indeed have a lot to do with this Himalayan kingdom - it appears that the little country has just launched its first satellite, Bhutan -1, and that it has made its way to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and will be operational from mid-August. The Bhutan government has built an earth station at the Ministry of Information and Communications in Thimphu.

1285. 🇳🇿 New Zealand Post To Commemorate 1918 Armistice.

  🇳🇿 New Zealand Post will issue a set of 5 stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 11 November 2018 to commemorate the Centenary of the Armistice which ended the First World War. The excellent issue was designed by Dave Burke and printed in lithography. Rating:- *****.

  🇬🇩 IGPC has issued or is due to issue 2 miniature sheets with the name of its client postal administration, that of Grenada, printed on them on the subject of the nutmeg. No argument that this subject is not relevant to Grenada since a stylised nutmeg appears on the country's national flag. For once the designs are well presented. Rating:- **.

1284. 🇲🇺 Mauritius Commemorates Its Links With India.

  🇲🇺 Mauritius Post issued 2 stamps on 18 August 2018 to commemorate the country's diplomatic relationship with India and the 11th World Hindi Conference. The two designs are excruciatingly unimaginative featuring, as they do, nothing more than a pair of crossed flags on the Rs8 value and the Conference emblem on the Rs20 value. Given the strong cultural links between the people of Mauritius and the people of India much more interesting designs could have been produced. Rating:- **.

  🇲🇼 Recently on sale on an internet auction site have been 6 miniature sheets issued during 2018 by Malawi Post on the subject of Malawi Mushrooms. These single-stamp sheets are similar to the recently issued items featuring Indigenous Birds (see Blog 1242) as well as similar issues released during 2016 and I presume there is also an additional miniature sheet containing several different stamps released with this issue. Rating:- ***.

  🇲🇾 Pos Malaysia will issue a pair of stamps and 1 miniature sheet on 31 August 2018 to commemorate the country's National Day. The designs are fairly uninteresting. Rating:- **.

  🇸🇿 Swaziland was granted independence from The United Kingdom on 6 September 1968 which means that we are very close to the country's 50th anniversary of Independence. I have not yet seen any stamps mentioned anywhere which will celebrate the anniversary. Of particular interest will be the inscription on the issue with the country's name on it. As we know, earlier this year the King of Swaziland, Mswati III, changed the country's name to The Kingdom Of e Swatini but I am not aware of any stamps (definitives or commemoratives) which have been issued so far with the new name of the country inscribed on them. The United Nations now includes the country in its list of member states as Eswatini (the Kingdom of) which I suspect will not be the way that the country's name is presented on its postage stamps. For now, unless its postage stamps suggest it is hopelessly wrong, the country will be referred to in this Blog as Eswatini. My extreme nerdiness makes this an extremely interesting subject to me for the present!

  Presumably we may soon look forward to a set of stamps commemorating the Independence anniversary and possibly another marking the 50th anniversary of Eswatini's admission to The United Nations (24 September), a definitive series with the new name inscribed on it and we will discover what the stamps reported to have been presented to King Mswati by the government of Taiwan when he was on a state visit there actually look like (see Blog 1241).

  🇬🇬 Guernsey Stamps 'tweeted' on 18 August 2018 that its Post and Go kiosk, GG03, was dispensing for that day only its Flowers stamps with an additional inscription to commemorate the return of the cruise ship Royal Princess. Whether or not the inscription applied is the same on this latest visit as for previous visits of this ship remains to be seen.

1283. 🇦🇺 Even More Stamps From Australia Post.

  🇦🇺 As always, there are many philatelic products to be released in the near future by Australia Post as revealed in this latest list:-

4 September 2018 - Vintage motor cycles - 4 gummed stamps, 4 self adhesive stamps from booklets (4 booklets each containing 10 of each design), 4 self-adhesive stamps from coils and 1 x $20.95c Prestige Booklet. Designed by Sharon Rodziewicz and lithographed by RA Printing and perforated 14 x 14.5. Rating:- 0.

21 - 24 September 2018 - Macau 2018, 35th Asian International Stamp Exhibition - 4 miniature sheets, one issued on each day of the exhibition.  Rating:- 0.

18 September 2018 - Invictus Games, to be held in Sydney from 20 to 27 October 2018 - $23 Stamp pack containing 2 panes, each of 10 'Map of Australia' greetings stamps with attached labels. Rating:- 0.

18 September 2018 - inscribed 'Norfolk Island Australia' - Cruise ships - 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing the 2 stamps. Designed by John White and lithographed by RA Printing and perforated 14 x 14.5. Rating:- ***.

18 September 2018 - 'Fair Dinkum Aussie Alphabet' - 5 gummed and 5 self-adhesive stamps (released in bookets of 10 - 5 booklets in all). Designed by Sonia Young and lithographed by Ego and perforated 14.5 x 14. Rating:- 0.

28 September 2018 - inscribed 'Australian Antarctic Territory' - 30th anniversary of RSV Aurora Australis. 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Designed by Stacey Zass and lithographed by Ego and perforated 14 x 14.5. Rating:- ***.

2018 - Various stamp packs - sold for $23 each -

'Paddington' - 2 panes each containing 10 'Balloons' greetings stamps with attached labels.

'Hot Wheels' - 2 panes each containing 10 'Map of Australia' greetings stamps with attached labels.

'90th anniversary of Mickey Mouse' - 2 panes each containing 10 'Heart of red roses' greetings stamps with attached labels.

Rating of all of above - 0.

2018 - Car stamp packs - $54 each - 3 panes each of 16 'Map of Australia' Greetings stamps, totalling 48 stamps per pack with attached labels - 1 pack featuring the Ford Mustang, a second featuring 'Holden workhorses' and the third featuring 'Holden Motorsport Legends'. Total cost:- $162!

Rating of all of above:- 0.