Ireland: 2023 Stamp Programme

The first issue in 2023 of The Collector (An Post’s quarterly bulletin) features the planned progamme for stamp issues for the year.

The Collector 01/23

January	50th Anniversary: European Membership	1
February	Stamp for Ireland (Book of Kells)	2
March	Women in Public Life	4
March	Irish Country Music	5
April	Seán O’Casey (Three Dublin Plays)	3
April	Centenary: Birth of President Hillary	1
May	Junk Kouture	4
May	Europa: Peace	2
August	Bicentenary: Royal Hibernian Academy	2
September	Centenary: Ireland Accepted into League of Nations	1
September	Cancer Awareness	2
October	50th Anniversary: Sydney Opera House	1
November	Christmas	5
November	Centenary: Death of James Condon	2
TBA	Definitives: Art	12

2023 Stamp Programme

It is likely that a stamps will be issued for the (Women’s) Football World Cup (Ireland have qualified) and the (Men’s) Rugby World Cup (Ireland have qualified.

196 Countries

The second of the two items I purchased on eBay arrived today. Eritrea.

Eritrea

Very well priced at under £3. It is remarkablethat so much mail from smaller countries was sent to institutions like the BBC and to universities.

Mail from Eritrea during the Italian occupation and from the time Eritrea was part of Ethiopia are quite common but mail from the post-independence years are not readily available.

This leaves just three nations outstanding. PDR (North) Korea, Timor Leste and South Sudan.

195 Countries

Thru ebay, I bought some mail. Four First Day Covers from the tiny country of Palau (a population of just 20,000 people.

Palau

One is shown above. Normally I would not consider FDCs to be “mail” but these covers are actually addressed to England.

EasyPost

EasyPost is an alternative to buying stamps in a post office.

I took this photograph of an EasyPost printer at the October Coin Show afew weeks ago. It was being used at the Stampa table.

EasyPost Desk Unit

EasyPost Stampa 2022

The Desk Unit is hired from An Post and there is a maintenance charge. As far as I am aware, there is a minimum number of labels which must be purchased. The SOARs I bought at Stampa are shown above and you will note that “Stampa 2022” is shown in the bottom right.

EasyPost SOAR

The SOARs shown above are “regular” EasyPost labels issued in businesses. There is no way of knowing which businesses issued the SOARs but SOARs issued by businesses are easily identified by the frame around the stamp value.

The businesses using EasyPost include Banks and multi nationals and major employers.

My own totally unscientific reckoning is that about five per cent of all stamps found in kiloware are EasyPost SOARs.

In The Loupe

I recently purchased a “Loupe”. This is to magnify the date and mint marks on Coins.

That Was The Year That Was

So this Blog is completing its second year. It is actually getting some good readership stats. It would probably be even better if I was good at promoting it.

Of course, we do not live in a bubble. We have got used to COVID, get vaccinated and live the best lives we can.

So how has the last year gone. I have been to a couple of shows and fairs (most recently a low key STAMPA a few weeks ago).

STAMPS

I have kept up to date with the Irish stamp issues for 2022. On the downside, I have not made any progress with my “wants list” of Irish stamps. It is as much about availability as cost.

I have also completed my collection of SOARs from all current post offices.

Maybe only the mega rich are the only people who can complete a collection. Maybe collections are not meant to be complete. Maybe the early over-printed Irish stamps of “George V” are not Irish in the fullest sense of the word.

Irish stamps is a serious, obsessional interest. World stamps, cheap from kiloware is a relaxation but I have not been able to buy kiloware in recent years. Hopefully I will get some kiloware over the next couple of weeks and have some fun sorting them during the winter months.

AS things stand at the minute, I have about 23,000 non -Irish stamps in my collection. I would like to have around 24,000 by the end of 2023. Maybe I should think in terms of exchanging stamps again. Certainly I will have enough duplicates to send out maybe ten envelopes, each containing 50 stamps and that might mean receiving around 500 stamps in trade.

I am not convinced about exchanging stamps.

MAIL

I like to have authentic mail from around the world. But have made no progress with the five independent nations I still need. These are PDR (North Korea), Timor Leste, Eritrea, Palau and South Sudan.

So once again I appeal to anyone who is starting a jail sentence in North Korea to send me a postcard.

POSTCARDS

In Ireland, postcards are really only available in major newsagents/bookstores, souvenir shops and museums/galleries.

There is no real point in tourists sending postcards from Ireland. They can all capture more images on a cell-phone.

Yes, there is still the hobby of Postcard Collecting. And yes, it is possible to exchange postcards thru groups. But in 2022, I have maybe only exchanged five or six postcards. No real point unless the postcard is from an “unusual place” or has interesting stamps attached.

VINTAGE POSTCARDS

It is really all about the postmark. Limited progress this year. To recap, these are Irish postcards that are from the pre-independence era…say 1900 to 1922. They do reflect an era that was wiped away by Independence, not just in terms of image but themes such as “valentines”, “militaria”, “politics” etc but also British stamps and postmarks in the English language.

The first problem with such vintage postcards is that they often have postmarks showing Dublin, Belfast, Cork and other major cities or seaside resorts such as Bray, Bangor and Portstewart.

The second problem is the quality of card and postmark.

And the third problem is price.

Price is often related to where the card is bought. Best value is a car-boot sale or house clearance on market stalls. Worst value is thru specialist dealers.

IRISH COINS

I have made a lot of progress, maybe too much progress as buying coins can be a distraction from the my main hobby of …Stamps.

Really Irish Coins fall into two categories… Pre Decimal from 1928 and Decimal from 1971 to 2002. After 2002, is the “Euro” and arguably the Irish designs are a third category.

I have almost all of the Decimal coins and most of the pre-Decimal coins. Some of the older coins are rare and currently beyond my budget. But completion was never a big issue for me.

So …..modest progress.

October Coin Show

Yesterday 23rd October 2022, I was at the RDS in Dublin for the October Coin Show.

As I have often said, my interest in Coins is secondary to my interest in Stamps.

This was a one-day event and a little overcrowded. Not much room between tables. And not much room at tables. Some Stamp and Postcard dealers in attendance.

I only bought one coin (1971 50 pence) which leaves just five Decimal coins on my “wants list” and four are difficult and one is impossible. No progress at all with Pre-Decimal coins.

In terms of Stamps, the “Stampa” table was giving out some free First Day Covers (Sean O’Casey from 1980). And I bought twelve First Day Covers from Paddy Lineen, the best of which is Thomas Moore (1952).

Just one postcard from the “Golden Age”…Moate, County Westmeath (1915).

First Day Covers

Probably no more “shows” until Spring 2023.

COVID: “Stamp”

These labels were given to me a few weeks ago.

“Pensioner Mail”

Pensioner Mail. These labels were printed and applied to mail by senior citizens who were “cocooned” or confined to their houses on advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) for the duration of the COVID Pandemic.

Such persons were allowed the concession that their mail could be collected by the Postperson and delivered free by An Post within the Republic of Ireland. No postage was required.

These labels were printed by Paddy Lineen from County Mayo and used by him and others to indicate they were using the concession.

The labels were rarely postmarked. Cancels sometimes appeared on envelopes.

In Stamp Collecting terms, these labels are known as “Cindarellas”.

An interesting footnote to a period in our History when NPHET and An Post and indeed the entire nation worked together.

An POST: 100 Years of Irish Stamps (Book)

Interesting book from An POST to commemorate 100 Years of Irish Stamps.

“100 Years of Irish Stamps”

Stamp Collecting is not just about people and events commemorated. It tells us a lot about the time at which the commemorative stamp was issued.

For example the 1916 Rising was commemorated in 1941 (during The Emergency (WW2) and a paper shortage), 1966 (in elaborate fashion), 1991 and 2006 (both low profile) and in 2016 (again elaborate).

Of course the low profile years were during the Troubles in Norn Iron.

The 2016 designs had a theme of Remembrance, Reflection and Reconciliation.

The subtitle of the book is interesting. Are we Irish “dreamy idealists”? Are we “progressive people”? Are we both?

It is tempting to think that at some point we transitioned. But I prefer to think it was an evolution. At the idealistic foundation of the State, it was “progressive” and I think there was always an element of “internationalism” in the Irish approach to Life.

I do not fully go along with the notion that Ireland only became a progressive nation after joining the (then) Common Market in 1973.

By any Index…Democracy, Freedom, Human Rights…Ireland passes any test. Of course social norms do change but I think Ireland was pretty much involved and our stamps reflect that/

So….an interesting book. But I would say “Dreamy Idealists AND Progressive People”.

Some First Day Covers

I bought around twenty First Day Covers at Stampa.

The covers fall into two categories, Addressed and Unaddressed.

Addressed First Day Covers

Unaddressed First Day Covers

Which is better? Well, first off, I think it is about time period. Covers from the 1950s, 1960s and most of the 1970s seem to be addressed and have actually gone thru the mail. But Covers from some of the 1970s, 1980s are usually unaddressed and have either been (initially) purchased thru the Philatelic Bureau or Dealers.

I think this is significant. The first scan shows covers that passed thru the mail. The first FDC (MacCurtain-McSwiney) was posted in Wexford in 1970. There is a trace of a label indicating the name and address have been removed. The Freedom of Hunger FDC was sent from Limerick to Philippines in 1963 and made its way back to Ireland to be sold to me at Stampa last week. Again the Mother Mary Aikenhead FDC was sent from Dublin to a young person in Clontarf (north Dublin suburb) in 1958.

There is authenticity about these covers.

The second scan shows covers….illustrated covers with pictorial cancellations…which have never passed thru the mail. They are not even addressed.

So which is better? Well…I suppose opinions will differ. But I regard addressed covers as “postal history” and unaddressed covers as mere souvenirs.