262. Nelson Mandela.

In South Africa, the apparently deteriorating health of the man usually seen as the father figure of the modern South African state, Nelson Mandela, continues to cause great concern to the people of that country. After many years of imprisonment by the previous governments of that country whose policies were based on separate development of the different races which make up South Africa, a policy known as Apartheid, Mandela was eventually released by his jailers and was elected the first President of the newly democratic South Africa in 1994. A set of 4 stamps, issued on 10 May 1994, commemorated Mandela's Presidential inauguration and a portrait of him appeared on the 45c value as shown above, while the other values depicted the new South African national anthems (70c), the new national flag (95c) and the Union Buildings in Pretoria (1R 15c).

  Mandela's dignity and remarkably wise leadership ensured that in the early years of its democracy South Africa followed policies which resulted in a peaceful transition to a modern state and this made Mandela a much respected and greatly loved figure across the entire Commonwealth and rest of the world so that many countries have issued stamps in recent years which depict him, such as the Maldives stamp illustrated below:-

  Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday in 2008 was a cause of great national celebration in South Africa and the South African Post Office marked the occasion with the issue of 2 excellent miniature sheets which depicted 2 portraits of the grand old man. The items were issued on 15 July 2008 and were designed by Halden Krog and Cyril Coetzee:-

  There can be little doubt that there will be a large number of Mandela stamps issued by countries from all round The Commonwealth in the future and there can be few subjects which are so deserving of philatelic commemoration as this heroic figure.

  The latest stamp issue of Malta is a set of 2 stamps which depict wild and domestic fauna. The 2 stamps, the E0.37 of which is also issued as part of the annual SEPAC series, were released on 29 June 2013 and were designed by Cedric Galea Pirotta and lithographed by Printex of Malta. The 2 creatures depicted are a rabbit and a Maltese ox:-

  The latest set of stamps from Mauritius was issued on 29 May 2013 and was a set of general anniversaries and events commemorative stamps. Two of the lowest values, the Rs2 and Rs6, commemorated  Maurice Ile Durable, the Rs3 commemorated the 150th anniversary of the International Red Cross and the Rs18 value commemorated the hosting by Mauritius of the FIFA Congress on the island.  The Mauritius Post Office provided 2 first day covers for the set - the 3 lowest values were included on one cover and a special additional cover was provided for the FIFA set. It has been noted that the lowest values of the set do not cover any particular postal rate and it is thought that they may be intended as make-up values for an impending rise in postage rates in Mauritius.

261. Quiet Summer For Canada.

Australia's latest issues comprise 2 sets; the first, pictured above and on the subject of Christmas Island flowering shrubs, is inscribed Australia Christmas Island and consists of 4 gummed stamps from sheets as well as the two 60c designs in self-adhesive format sold in booklets of 10 (5 of each design). The date of issue was the 18 June 2013 and the artwork was by Dierdre Bean with stamp design by Simone Sakinofsky. A second issue from Australia Post is inscribed Australia Cocos (Keeling) Islands and was released on 4 June 2013 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first Cocos (Keeling) Islands stamps. The set comprised 5 values which were also combined in a large miniature sheet, shown below, and was designed by John White and lithograph printed by RA Printing. The lower half of the miniature sheet also depicted stamps of the original issue:-

Recent issues from Great Britain's Royal Mail comprise the 6 stamps depicted above which commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Each stamp shows a different portrait of the Queen and the set was issued on 30 May 2013, being designed by Atelier Works and printed in photogravure by Walsall Security Printers. Just over 2 weeks later Royal Mail churned out another issue on 18 June 2013 which comprised 4 stamps contained in a miniature sheet which depicted Northern Ireland locomotives and the issue was accompanied by a £3.60 retail booklet which comprised of 4 x 1st (60p) definitive stamps and 2 x 1st stamps from the Northern Ireland's trains set. The issue was designed by Delaney Design and printed in lithography by Cartor.

  Royal Mail will issue 6 Post And Go stamps on 25 June 2013 which will necessitate collectors to actually buy 12 stamps since they are produced in 2 forms - digitally by Wincor-Nixdorf machines situated in various post offices and in lithography by Walsall Security Printers, the latter being sold in special collectors' packs as has previously happened. This will be the second of the sets designed by Kate Stephens which features freshwater creatures. Just 15 days after the Post and Go sets, on 10 July 2013, Royal Mail's next set will appear - 10 stamps which feature British butterflies. That set is designed by MARC AND ANNA (sic) and is lithographed by Cartor.

  I have just received my latest copy of Canada Post's magazine, "Details/En Detail", an excellent (and free) quarterly publication which carries features on the latest stamp issues from Canada as well as publicising the various items which Canada Post has for sale. Pleasingly, the number of new issues to be released during the summer of 2013 is very modest (Australia Post and Royal Mail could take lessons in self-control as regards the release of reasonable numbers of new stamps from the excellent Canada Post).

  The new issues are:-

  5 July 2013 - Children's literature, "Stella" - 2 self-adhesive stamps from a booklet of 10 domestic rate stamps and 1 gummed miniature sheet. Designed by Q30 design Inc. and lithographed by Lowe-Martin.

  19 July 2013 - Canadian recording artists - 4 self-adhesive stamps from booklets (there are 4 different booklets, each one dedicated to a different musical group) and 1 gummed miniature sheet which contains 1 value of each stamp. The groups which are depicted on the stamps are Rush, The Tragically Hip, The Guess Who and Beau Dommage. The stamps were designed by Paprika and lithographed by Lowe Martin.

  28 August 2013 - Centenary of the birth of Robertson Davies - 1 self-adhesive stamp from a booklet of 10 domestic rate stamps. Davies was the author of novels which include Fifth Business (1970), Manticore (1972) and World Of Wonders (1975) which together constituted The Deptford Trilogy. He was born in Thamesville, Ontario and was the founding master of Massey College which opened in 1963. The stamp is designed by Steven Slipp and lithographed by Lowe Martin.

260:- Recent Commonwealth Stamps And "Philatelic Items".

.Guyana:- On Steven Zirinsky's website, there are an increasing number and variety of stamps which have been surcharged '20c' which he is offering for sale. Some of the items are quite expensive which no doubt reflects the rarity of some of them but they make a fascinating collection and well worth studying although I fear that there is such a lot of them and the total cost mounting up to quite a number of hundreds of dollars that it will cost an enthusiast who wants to form a collection of these stamps quite a lot of money to accumulate a comprehensive collection of them. I have obtained several of them but such is the cost that I will have to be satisfied that I have acquired "a representative collection" of these interesting items rather than "a comprehensive collection". It is fascinating that the Guyana Post Office has been driven to produce stamps for actual use on mail in such a way while it has a foreign philatelic agent which is busy producing large numbers of philatelic items with the country's name printed on them which do not seem to be available for ordinary postal use. It seems to me to make the point that before buying modern new issues, the collector should be happy that what they are buying are actually postage stamps rather than philatelic productions which may be vaid for postage but which do not actually receive postal usage. Philatelists generally see themselves as collectors of postage and, sometimes, fiscal stamps and if some new issues do not actually fulfill those roles then they do not deserve a place in a collection of postage stamps (or fiscal stamps) and it would be better to recommend to collectors that they buy one or two Guyana or Fiji surcharges than countless sheetlets of colourful philatelic items which stand no chance of being affixed to an envelope and being used as receipts for the payment of postage which is what postage stamps are defined as being.

Other recent issues - you decide whether or not they are true postage stamps or philatelic items with potential postal validity:-

Sri Lanka:- 2013 (date not yet known) Sri Lanka Peace Pada Yatra - 1 stamp:-

India:- 2013 (date not yet known) - 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet:-

14 April 2013 Chaitya Bhoomi, Mumbai - 1 stamp:-

Republic Of Ireland:- 2 May 2013 Europa, Postal vehicles - 2 stamps. Designed by Steve Simpson and lithographed by Irish Security Printers:-

25 April 2013 Visual Art - Booklet of 4 different designs (1 of each 60c design). Designed by Ger Garland and lithographed by Irish Security Printers,

16 May 2013 - Dublin, UNESCO City of World Literature - 1 stamp. Designed by Stone Twins and lithographed by Irish Security Printers,

6 June 2013 - 50th anniversary of the visit to Ireland of the late President Kennedy of The United States, whose family was of Irish origins - 2 stamps. Designed by Steve Simpson and lithographed by Irish Security Printers.

The Gambia:- 2013 (date not yet known) - "Famous (foreign ) castles" - sheetlet of 5 different philatelic items and 1 miniature sheet:-

20 February 2013 - "Turtles" (although some of the designs actually depict tortoises) - sheetlet of 4 philatelic items and 1 miniature sheet:-

2013 (date not yet known) - NASA (North American Space Agency) - sheetlet of 4 different philatelic items:-

Finally, the ever-active Stamperija philatelic agency has announced its latest philatelic products for The Solomon Islands - another 48 philatelic items (12 sheetlets each containing 4 different designs) and 12 miniature sheets which commemorate impressionist painters) - the artists depicted with some of their paintings are:- Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Paul Signac, Felix Vallotton, Henri de Tolouse-Lautrec, Emile Bernard, Georges Lemman, Henri Edmond Cross, Georges Seurat, Pierre Bonnard, Theo van Rysselberghe and Paul Serusier. By 3 May 2013 therefore, 234 "stamps" and 55 miniature sheets (totalling 289 items) have been produced by that philatelic agency in the name of The Solomon Islands Post Office during 2013.

259. Recent Kenya And Upcoming Jersey.

In a previous blog, I drew attention to the first stamp issue of 2012 from Kenya which was a set of 3 stamps to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the United Nations Environmental Programme. The set was issued on 20 April 2012. Subsequently two further sets on the same subject were released during 2012:- Part II on 22 June 2012 and Part III on 30 July 2012. Each set consisted of 3 values and both sets were printed in lithography by the Austrian State Printer in Vienna. The designs depicted below show both sets - the vertical designs are from Part II and the horizontal designs from Part III. I have not yet seen these stamps being offered for sale by any of the big general new issues dealers in Britain or the USA:-

Kenya issued a further single stamp on 25 September 2012 which commemorated the late Professor Wangari Maathi, a Kenyan who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. This stamp was also lithograph printed on Vienna. It is depicted at the head of this blog.

The river of new issues from Jersey continues at flood tide with another set of 6 stamps which are to be released on 4 July 2013 this time on the subject of dragon flies and damsel flies. They clearly depict some excellent artwork but with the small island having already issued 46 stamps and 5 miniature sheets so far in 2013, it is hard to work up any enthusiasm for this particular issue:-

258. New Zambian Stamps.

  Currently on sale on E Bay are three sets of stamps which have been issued by Zambia in 2012 and 2013. I have not seen any news of these items before and of course Zambia has not released any new stamps since the last SAPOA issue in 2010 although there have been several stamps with surcharges applied due to a shortage of certain values.

  The new items appear to be a definitive set which depicts Zambian wildlife and which consists of 18 different stamps which, if I can focus clearly on the illustration which accompanies the sale on E Bay, seem to include 4 x K1000 values, 2 x K1500, 4 x 2500, 4 x K3500 and 4 x K4950. It is not clear why it is necessary to produce multiple versions of each value but I presume that all the values have been chosen to address specific postal rates. An imprint in the lower margin gives the date "Oct. 2012", although whether this signifies the date of printing or the date of issue I do not yet know:-

  

This issue seems to have been superseded in 2013 by the whole set being revalued by surcharging to address what appears to have been a revaluation of the national currency so that the K1000 values are revalued to K1.00, the K1500 to K1.50, K2500 to K2.50, K3500 to K3.50 and K 4950 to K4.95:-

  An article in The Galloway News (dated 21 March 2013) describes the evolution of the design of the second Zambian stamp issue of 2013 where a man from Castle Douglas, Mr Peter Westwood, is reported as having convinced the Zambian Post Office that it should produce a stamp to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of the explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone, having failed to persuade Royal Mail of the appropriateness of commemorating him philatelically with a dedicated stamp issue (as discussed in a previous blog). The commemorative issue, a miniature sheet of 4 different stamps, is currently offered for sale on E Bay at an alarming price of £30 (total face value is K145 but whether that is from the old currency or the old currency I'm not sure - the values seem to sit half way between the two). The miniature sheet is depicted at the head of this blog.

257. Australia Goes A Whole Month Without A Stamp Issue.

Australia Post's latest issue was released on 11 June 2013 and was on the subject of State Government Houses. The 4 stamps were issued in gummed form as well as self-adhesive from both coils and booklets, so, as usual, 4 designs made 12 different stamps for the collector to buy. The designs by Sonia Young feature the Government Houses in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania. The designs are well executed and quite attractive but are generally unremarkable. What is remarkable is that this is the first Australia Post issue since 11 May 2013 - the organisation has actually allowed a whole month to elapse between 2 consecutive stamp issues. Australian collectors must have been developing withdrawal symptoms but presumably Australia Post's profits made from sales at the Australia 2013 exhibition were great enough to allow the philatelic programme planners to feel relaxed about not issuing any new stamps for a whole 4 week period.

  From Gibraltar a surprisingly understated and cheap  issue (face value 52p) to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Treaty Of Utrecht - just 2 stamps to commemorate possibly the most significant event in the history of the territory since it was by that treaty that Great Britain gained control of the Rock from Spain. The 42p value has a quotation from the treaty, "for ever, without any exception or impediment whatever", thus illustrating the political point that Spain having ceded the territory to the British crown has no claim to Gibraltar now, which may be fair enough but the Treaty also has another few lines in it which say, quite remarkably and quite unacceptably, in this modern age, "And Her Britannic Majesty, at the request of the Catholic King, does consent and agree, that no leave shall be given under any pretence whatsoever, either to Jews or Moors, to reside or have their dwellings in the said town of Gibraltar...". Clearly if the Gibraltar government followed that provision in the treaty then it would be behaving in a flagrantly racist manner and find itself in trouble with the European Court of Human Rights. So, one presumes, Gibraltar is likely to be in breach of the Treaty Of Utrecht if it allows Jewish or African people to live in the town so if Gibraltar breaks the terms of the treaty, no matter how reasonable the reason, then Spain may too. How very complicated it is to adhere to a 300 year old treaty - perhaps that is why the commemorative issue is so minimalist but it does not seem like a good idea to me to have placed a quote from the treaty on the stamp. The stamps were designed by Stephen Perera and lithographed by Cartor and will be issued on 20 June 2013:-

Also to be issued on the same date, are 4 stamps which are Gibraltar's contribution to the 2013 Europa theme - postal vehicles. These are excellent designs by the artist John Batchelor whose work has been arranged to the stamp format by Stephen Perera and again lithographed by Cartor. The postal vehicles featured are historical and very interesting. I like these stamps most of all the Commonwealth country Europa designs for 2013.

256. New Issues From New Zealand, Singapore, Cyprus And Solomon Islands.

New Zealand Post's next stamp issued will be released on 3 July 2013 and will consist of 5 stamps and 1 miniature sheet which depict honey bees. The stamps were designed by Strategy And Design, Wellington and printed in lithography by Southern Colour Print:-

The next issue from Singapore will be released on 17 June 2013 and consists of 5 greetings stamps which depict sign language. There is also an accompanying $2.55 booklet which contains 10 1st Local stamps (2 of each design).  The stamps were designed by Tiang Wen Cheng and printed in lithography by Secura, Singapore:-

  Other recent new issues from Singapore are:-

  20 March 2013 - 2 new definitive stamps (1st and 2nd Local) in gummed form from ordinary sheets with the 1st local also sold in booklets in self-adhesive form. Designed by Eric Kang and printed in rotogravure by Enschede:

  10 May 2013 - "Australia 2013" International Philatelic Exhibition (1 miniature sheet). This is a very clever item because it includes the Year Of The Snake stamps with 2 boomarangs in the background, their shape and colour closely resembling the snakes featured on the stamps - an excellent design:

  28 May 2013 - The Marine Bay Skyline (4 stamps and 1 "Collector's Sheet"). Designed by Brainwave Design and lithographed by Southern Colour Print:

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  Cyprus issued a set of three stamps on 5 June 2013 on the subject of "Organisms of The Mediterranean Marine Environment Cyprus"which is quite a long-winded title for 3 modest little stamps which nevertheless are interesting and attractive as is usually the case of the issues of The Republic Of Cyprus:-

I illustrate below some of the latest items produced by Stamperija, a Lithuania-based philatelic agency, on behalf of the Solomon Islands Post Office as I detailed on Blog 255. The first 2 items are the sheetlets which commemorate the Royal Visit by The Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge which took place in 2012. The stamps, as I have previously written, look as though they could quite easily be used on real mail and it will be interesting to see if genuine commercial mail turns up with them applied to the envelopes:-

I also feature two other items - the first is the sheetlet which is devoted to the former South African President, Nelson Mandela, but has the added theme so that he is shown with "African minerals" though what the link between the two is I can not imagine and why Solomon Islands should be chosen to link the two subjects together will probably remain a mystery for ever:-

An equally perplexing riddle is why Solomon Islands was chosen to feature English medieval castles on its philatelic items, there being no connection between the country whose name appears on these philatelic items with the subject matter whatsoever, as far as I can see:-