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.

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.

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.

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.

Update on Irish Stamps 2021 (Part Two)

Following on from a post dated 13th June 2021, the story of 2021 is generally living with COVID and things generally getting better.

The issues shown above are “For People, For Planet” (two stamps), Europa (Endangered National Wildlife) (two stamps) which were available in self adhesive sheet format.

The PRIDE atamps were only available in booklet form. Five stamps (four at N rate and one at W rate). There was an Irish (“Bród”) and English (“Pride”) version of the N rate stamps.

Issues above are Centenary of Truce (two stamps at N rate).

Irish Singer-Songwriters at Glastonbury featured in a booklet of four stamps and depicted Christy Moore, Sinéad O’Connor, Lisa Hannigan and Andrew Hozier Brown.

Four stamps were issued to commemorate 150th Anniversary of the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin.

The Christmas stamps were only issued in booklets. The N stamps were issued in two different booklets, one at €5.50 (five stamps) and one at €20 (ten stamps). While the cheaper booklet only featured two designs, the more expensive booklet featured all four designs.

The W stamps were issued in a booklet of five stamps in both designs.

Two N Rate stamps were issued to mark the Centenary of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Portadown Stampex

Good news that Stamp Fairs are taking place again after the Covid Pandemic.

And good to see our local fair was back on Saturday 14th May.

Portadown Stampex

This is actually the second Fair I have attended recently.

A major Stamp & Coin Fair took place in the RDS in Dublin over three days 22nd-24th April. I was underwhelmed. Maybe expectations were too high after nearly two years without a Fair.

I went to Dublin for the first day of the show…Friday. My intention was to go back on Saturday or Sunday.

The atmosphere was not very good. Dealers were unhappy at the fee for a “table”. And seemed to anxious to make sales to clear their overheads. So few bargains on offer.

In contrast, Portadown was a pleasant experience. All very low key. Most dealers were selling postcards so I was able to pick up twelve cards from the Golden Age…a term I use for the period circa 1900-1922 (Independence).

“Golden Age” Postcards

Three postcards are shown above…Newry (1901), Ramelton (1906) and Dromahair (1906).

So a good day.

SOARs: Mission Accomplished

Happy to say that I now have at least one “used” Stamp on A Roll from all 933 post offices currently operating in Republic of Ireland. For the record the last SOAR on my list was Templederry in County Tipperary.

Ireland: 2022 Stamp Programme

January

100 Years of History (3) Ulysses 100 (2)

February

LOVE (1)

March

Irish Women in Sport (6) Irish Oscar Winners (4)

April

Irish Breakfasts (4)

May

Coláistí Samhraidh (2)

June

Centenary of the Irish Civil War (1)

August

Centenary of Death of Michael Collins

September

Urban Street Art (4) Europa (Stories & Myths) (2)

November

Christmas (6) Centenary of Death of Erskine Childers (1)

December

Centenary of Estblishment of Saorstát Éireann (1)

A New Definitive Series will be issued during 2022. The date is not yet available. The theme will be Art)

A Good Week

Mission Improbable

With 934 post offices in the Republic of Ireland, it was always a long shot that I would collect Stamps on a Roll (SOAR) from them all.

A week ago, I had a Wants List of just 25 and thanx to a very successful exchange (see pic below) with a collector in the north of England, I end the week with just six SOARs to find.

SOAR Exchange

With another exchange that I can arrange with a collector in South East Ireland, completing the SOAR collection is now “Mission Very Possible”.

Mission Impossible

I am still taking photographs of post offices. I travel twice a week to Dublin. On Tuesday, I travel onward to a major city (usually Cork) and I can get photographs of maybe four post offices. There are maybe two still to visit in Cork City but there are up to ten in the hinterland.

On Thursday, I have usually stayed in Dublin or surrounding counties. Last Thursday I took a photograph of Sallynoggin, the 136th post office of 138 in County Dublin. The two remaining post offices are in a rural area of the county and the logistics of public transport are not easy in the winter months. I was also in County Wicklow (Greystones, Ballywaltrim and Newtown Vevay).

The total is now 597 photographs of a possible total of 934.

So photographing all of the post offices in the Republic of Ireland is now “Mission Almost Impossible”.

SOARs: Progress

On 24th October, I wrote that I still needed 39 SOARs (from 11 counties) to complete my collection.

Slowly but surely I am making progress.

I now need just 28 SOARs.

The missing SOARs are Cork (14), Tipperary (6), Wexford (4), Carlow (2) and Wicklow (2).

Obviously, there will be fewer opportunities over the winter months and some of the post offices are a long distance from where I live.