Pacific stamp box

Terror and violence is always a part of the world scene these days. Horrific stories abound of bombings hijackings and the like.

Is there any good news today? There is, but you have to look hard to find it. It was a shock to the stamp world to hear that even the ‘staid world’ of stamp collecting is not immune from terror.

You will recall that this column was critical of Australia Post’s sale of archive material. Australia Post was to auction the material through the auctioneer Charles Leski. However, in late August, Mr Leski was beaten up and death threats made to his family. This dreadful incident forced Mr Leski to withdraw his services from one of the most lucrative auctioneer’s contracts in years as he valued the life of his family more than the financial interests of stamp sales and rightly so.

With other auctioneers too frightened to accept the auction, Australia Post is now considering other methods of selling the material. Gossip has it that Australia Post will opt for a sale by tender. The whole story must be one of the sorriest episodes in Australian philatelic history.

On August 4 Tuvalu issued a sheet of stamps marking the 15th anniversary of the South Pacific Forum. The sheet is very well produced and features 14

stamps. Each stamp bears the flag and a map of a member country. The 14 stamps surround a drawing of the South Pacific Economic Commission headquarters in Suva where this year’s 17th session of the Forum was held.

This is a must for Pacific Island collectors.

However, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia will not be very amused with the map featured on the Papua New Guinea stamp. Tuvalu has the words “New Guinea Papua” stretched across both i rian j aya and p apua New Guinea. A very careless and embarras- S j n g mistake. . .. , j thematlc c ° ec ors e J 3 ™' g ared f ° r a ra ? h ° f s , tam P s around J 6 Pacific to celebra e e s aging o e menca s lrs 0 e ' s e So '°™°" Is ' ands ’ which has launched a set ° , stamps. Yes, 50. e s amps were released simultaneously ,n Perth an , Honiara on ugus ’ as e Solomon s ands was se ec e as e onl P " a6on t 0 lssue the offlclal Amer ' lca s stam P s - August 22 is the 135th anniversary of the first America’s Cup race. The 50 different stamps appear on a sheet with denominations ranging from 18 cents to $1 and depict each of the 25 past winners of the cup. I don’t think the

PIM editor would give me several pages of space to illustrate this issue.

Australia issued its set of stamps in late September. The Solomon Islands have issued a set of overprint stamps to raise money for the victims of the devastating Cyclone Namu in which tens of thousands of people were made homeless, 100 killed and many still missing. The Queen mother $1 and Ameripex mini sheet have been over printed. Help this small nation by purchasing large quantities of these items.

Christmas Island has reminded us that Christmas will soon be here. On September 30 the island issued a set of 5 stamps featuring Father Christmas.

This set will be remembered, or hopefully forgotten, for the worst de signs I have seen in this area for a long time. Santa is seen fishing, playing golf, sleeping in a hammock, riding a speed boat, and relaxing in a deck chair.

Those thematic collectors who have collected past sets of the beautiful Christmas Island Christmas stamps will react in horror to this set. I think Christmas Island has let through a set of stamps quite out of character with past issues. Perhaps their Christmas present this year will be a load of unsold stamps. I won’t frighten you with an illustration.