Monday 14 May 2012

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.

2 comments:

  1. Hello , just bumped into this blog, very nice ! I wanted if you may help regarding Ghana stamps u-20 football , I can't find them in any stamps catalog such as Michel can you help me with that ? I mean the 2 stamps 1.20, 1.40
    Thank you very much

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    Replies
    1. Hello Ronen, thank you for your comment. The 2 U20 Football team stamps are enlarged illustrations from a sheetlet of 8 stamps which is similar to the sheetlet of 8 illustrated in the Blog but which features The Black Stars. As far as I know the U20 sheet was issued in 2010. Unfortunately, my Stanley Gibbons West Africa Catalogue, first edition, dates back to 2009 and does not include the issue and I have not updated my West Africa Catalogue since then so I can not give you Catalogue numbers. Best wishes.

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