Forvik Island — population 1 — to issue own postage stamps?

By Eurostamper — June 23, 2008
See more about: Great Britain | Scotland | Forewick Holm | Forvik | Stuart Hill

Stuart Hill lives in a tent on Forewick Holm (a.k.a. Forvik Island), which is off the coast of Scotland. He is the island’s only resident.

He has announced that he is breaking away from Great Britain and the EU. Hill, who is also called “Captain Calamity”, cites as his authority to do so the 1468 AD marriage orchestrated by Norway’s King Christian and King James III of Scotland.

He announced plans to issue his own currency and postage stamps. Presumably he would design these stamps himself. He calls his new unit of currency the “gulde” (which he says will be “backed by gold”).

We’re not sure this will actually happen, but if it does you can be sure these will be some highly collectible issues.

2001 BBC story about a Hill shipwreck and rescue
Stuart Hill’s website announcing his declaration of independence

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Royal Mail of the U.K. issues stamps honoring cathedrals

By Eurostamper — May 17, 2008
See more about: Great Britain | New issues | cathedrals

Released this month (May 2008), a new series of stamps will honor famous cathedrals located throughout the United Kingdom.

The full list:
Belfast Cathedral (Northern Ireland) (48p)
Gloucester Cathedral (50p)
St. David’s Cathedral (Pembrokeshire, Wales) (56p)
Westminster Cathedral (72p)
St. Magus Cathedral (Orkney) (81p)
Lichfield (Staffordshire) (1st class)

In addition, St. Paul’s Cathedral in London features on a special sheet of four stamps, which together give a view inside the structure, photographed from under the famous dome. The St. Paul’s sheet contains two 1st class stamps and two 81p stamps.

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UK stamps to honor 100th anniversary of the SOS distress signal

By Eurostamper — May 15, 2008
See more about: Great Britain | New issues

The Royal Mail is releasing a set of six new stamps under the banner “Mayday - Rescue At Sea” to honor the men and women who risk their lives to save people on the high seas, and to commemorate the still-used “S.O.S.” signal’s 100th anniversary.

S.O.S. was chosen because it is easy to send in Morse code - S is three dots, O is three dashes.

The stamps will feature action shots taken from actual rescues over the years, as well as the three dots/three dashes/three dots around the border.

The issues are indeed exciting, and hopefully the stamps will shed some light on the difficult conditions faced by rescuers.

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Stamp Blog Review: “Aron R. Halberstam Philatelists, Ltd.”

By Eurostamper — February 28, 2008
See more about: Great Britain | Stamp Blog Reviews

This blog is a part of a larger site from a company in New York that specializes in buying and selling British Commonwealth stamps from before 1960.

The good news: the blog’s posts are long, detailed and informative, with pictures of interesting stamps and errors that the owners come across. The bad news: the posting frequency is dreadful; since June 2006, there have only been 28 posts. Often months go by without a peep.

But that doesn’t change the quality of the posts that are there. Highly specific, they are good for research if your research happens to lead you to those narrow avenues covered by the blog. (For example, one post begins promisingly, “I have wanted to write on the topic of the many shade varieties of the Falkland Islands for several weeks.”)

As a blog, it’s difficult to praise it too much since there isn’t much material. But as a series of interesting web pages, it is recommended. I couldn’t find any RSS feed, but it might be worth bookmarking and checking back to every few weeks. The blog seems to be Wordpress or something similar; the layout and design is customized and pretty pleasant. Comments are disabled, unfortunately; so the sense of community is nil. Just enjoy it for the information, which may fill the occasional hole in your research, but obviously will never approach comprehensiveness on any subject.

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$19,000 postage stamp - insured for only $5,000 - stolen by thieves

By Eurostamper — January 23, 2008
See more about: Great Britain

Howard Daly of England kept his precious Penny Black - the world’s first postage stamp, issued in England in 1840 - locked away in a safe in his home. Unfortunately, although the stamp is valued at around £10,000 ($19,000+), Daly only insured it for £2,500 ($4,900).

On January 22, thieves ripped the safe from a wall in his house and made off with everything.

At wit’s end, Daly decided to offer a reward of £1,000 (just under $2,000) for information about the robbery. Whatever happens, it seems that the stamp collector will be out a substantial amount of money.

This must be one of the worst cases of insurance “protection” we’ve seen recently. Pray, what was the point of insuring the stamp at all?

At any rate, Penny Black stamps in lesser condition than Howard Daly’s apparently was can easily be found for sale for affordable prices. A quick scan of eBay’s Penny Black page finds several under $100. This is actually affordable by real people, and seems a smarter way to own a real physical piece of history.

In any event, when buying insurance, be sure to take a step back and see the situation as a whole. If you can’t insure something for its real value (even a significant percentage) why give money to sleazy insurance weasels in the first place?

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Decades too late come stamps honoring James Bond creator Ian Fleming

By Eurostamper — January 10, 2008
See more about: Great Britain | New issues

The Royal Mail in England has issued a series of twenty-four sharp-looking stamps honoring the birth of Ian Fleming. Decades after James Bond became a worldwide superman-cum-ambassador for Britain, these issues honor six different Bond stories with four stamps each:

• Dr. No

• From Russia With Love

• Casino Royale

• Diamonds Are Forever

• For Your Eyes Only

• Goldfinger

But it’s been quite a delay for the Royal Mail, who have honoured past hometown heroes like the Beatles after similar delays (six Beatles stamps were issued in January 2007; the Beatles’ first LP was released in 1963, after the first James Bond movie was released).

With all the good will and attention that international phenomena like the Beatles, James Bond, Michael Caine, and others have brought to Britain over the years, it seems that commemorative stamps would be more generously forthcoming. Maybe it’s bureaucracy; maybe it’s a lack of resources, or a lack of concern.

Whatever the reason, it is good to see Fleming and Bond get their due from the Royal Mail. The stamps are available now for collectors, and full sets are quite cheap on places like eBay for easy purchase worldwide (less than $20 at the time of writing).

(See pictures and get your own James Bond stamps here. If you aren’t a member of eBay, don’t worry; you can register first here; it’s easy and free.)

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