XANTHE'S
STAMP MAGAZINE

Sometimes new stamps come out so quickly you can miss an issue. This happened with this issue. I was so looking forward to reviewing the Isle of Man's set about the life of John Harrison that I didn't notice that the Isle of Man Stamps and Coins had issued another set about National Treasures just ten days previously. It's easy to do when so many new issues come along at once. I know that I try to review every new issue from Royal Mail, The Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Alde

In the last few weeks there have been a few new European issues with a scientific theme. I am quite interested in science and I have decided to review all of them together partly because there is a shared theme and also because it is a really good thing to celebrate science. France: 400th Anniversary of the National Museum of Natural History, Botanical Garden The Jardin des Plantes, the botanical garden that is part of the National Museum of Natural History (Muséum national

The next issue from Jersey Stamps will be "British Grand Prix - 100 Years". It's a strange issue from Jersey Stamps, which normally focuses on local history and identity. This would be a much better fit for Royal Mail, which inexplicably doesn't feel 100 years of the British Grand Prix is worth celebrating, so I guess Jersey Stamps thought of the commercial possibilities... Design quality: The cars should make this an exciting set, but the busy splashes of colour and crowded

Here is the latest issue from the Isle of Man. This one celebrates the life and inventions of John Harrison (1893-1776). According to Isle of Man Stamps and Coins, John Harrison was a "self-taught Yorkshire carpenter and clockmaker whose extraordinary inventions transformed navigation. "The designs feature a 17th century French cannon linked to the 1707 wreck of HMS Association, a portrait of Harrison, his H1 marine timekeeper, a replica of his 1713 wooden clock, his 1726 wo

Apologies for not doing a few more reviews in the last week. There have been some fantastic new issues from around the world so Xanthe and I will try to update you with them in the next few days. The first one is from Tristan da Cunha and celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Blue Belt Programme. The programme has three "key pillars": Climate, Nature and People. The Tristan da Cunha Marine Protected Zone was established in 2021 and is an internationally recognised Blue Park.

Last year at Stampex I picked up this very unusual piece of military history. I meant to write about it months ago but didn't get round to it, so I apologise. But I thought it is better late than never, and this is such a great piece. I bought this from Stephen Taylor, who is a dealer speciaising in US postal history. He had a lot of military themed items, especially from World War II, which I was interested in. I bought a few things from him, but I found this very interesti

A few days ago, we wrote to Royal Mail to suggest some ideas for future commemorative stamps. You can read our suggestions here. Royal Mail has sent a response very quickly, and here is what they have to say (in a slightly abridged form): "Thank you very much for taking the tiume to compile and share such a thoughtful and wide-ranging set of suggestions for the Special Stamp Programme. We know a great deal of research and consideration has gone into these proposals, and we

To mark World Post Day (9th October), South Africa has issued a set of two stamps called "Love the Postbox". What is not to love about postboxes? I have never been to South Africa but they clearly have red postboxes too. And, if you look at the First Day Cover, you will see that they have a mixture of traditional as well as modern postboxes just like in the UK. Some of these are from the time when parts of South Africa were colonies of the British Empire, so perhaps it is not

I received this card today from Royal Mail. This new issue will be released on 17th September (next Thursday) and will celebrate Duran Duran. This is the latest in a series dedicated to Music Giants. In recent years we have had stamps for AC/DC, The Who, Iron Maiden, The Rolling Stones, Queen and Pink Floyd. This design was first used for a special set celebrating The Beatles back in 2007. The card says that "few bands have shaped sound, style and visual culture quite like Du

Like the Falklands Islands' Summer issue, this is another issue I discovered when looking for something to buy. I am not sure exactly when they were issued, but the Free Stamp Catalogue has only listed them this week so they are quite recent. Stamps showing birds are always very popular but there are also an awful lot of them and they can sometimes feel quite "samey". These are a bit different and it is helpful that in this photograph we don't just see the stamps but the full

I have recently started a thematic collection of penguins. If you're into penguins then you may like stamps from places like the Falkland islands, Chile and the Antarctic Territories as they often create issues about penguins. After all, they have quite a lot of them! Recently I ordered a lot of stamps from the Falkland Islands Philatelic Bureau. Some of these were for my collection of penguins but not all. One of the sets I bought was this one, which is their most recent iss

So, this is a set that I just HAVE to review. How many countries dedicate stamps to celebrate PHILATELISTS? Not many, although I have just discovered that Hungary has for many years and in 2017 Greece did the same with this interesting set (below). No women on there, I see... but fantastic to recognise philatelists. These stamps from Hungary are the latest in a serious of "personalised stamps" (I think a bit like the Smilers stamps some of you will remember) and they are bas

Tomorrow Switzerland will release nine new issues - yes, nine! That is a lot but of course it is worth pointing out that most of these are just single stamps, with two sets containing four stamps and one three. So that gives us a total of 17 new stamps - pretty much the same as when Royal Mail create a new issue with a miniature sheet. As there are so many of them on several different themes, I am not going to give detailed reviews, just a few sentences. Some of these are ve

This is a set of four stamps from Romania issued on 27th August 2026. They show prehistoric animals - although, if I'm being picky, I'd say that they show fossils of prehistoric animals and a modern illustration of what these beasts may have looked like. The four animals are: Deinotherium proavum (a proboscidean, a bit like an elephant), Ursus spelaeus (a cave bear), Megaloceros giganteus (a giant deer, often known as Irish Elk) and Macrospondylus bollensis (which looks a b

Some of you might remember that earlier in the year I wrote to Royal Mail about the stamp programme for 2026. I wasn't very impressed! I made some points about design quality and what I thought was a lack of creativity in recent issues. I also asked them about the high cost of buying stamps compared to other European countries, caused by Royal Mail's need to create huge sets 16 times a year. A few weeks after that, I received this response. I'll let you read over it if you li