big one

Stamps

90’s a big one

By John Hunter

1 990 will be a big year of anniversaries and major stamp shows. May 6 will be the 150th anniversary of Britain’s famous “penny black” stamp, the first and probably the most famous stamp in the world. Most Pacific countries will celebrate this event with stamp issues. Britain will be the foc al point of celebrations in May with a massive stamp exhibition at London’s Alexandra Palace. Closer to home Can berra will host the National Exhibition in March at the National Sports Centre.

However, the event of the year for the Pacific area is the New Zealand 1990 World Stamp Exhibition in Auckland from August 24 to September 2.

Of great importance to the Pacific area’s philatelic future is the Pacifica Stand at the New Zealand 1990 Exhibi tion. Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Is lands, Nauru, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Western Samoa will be in the Pacifica Stand.

There is hope that the New Zealand 1990 Exhibition will see the launch of a Pacifica stamp from Pacific countries where each Pacific country will issue a stamp for the Exhibition with the same theme and bear the title Pacifica. There is also hope that each Pacific nation will issue a Pacific stamp each year.

Already a step in this direction has been taken with the opening in Decem ber of a Pacifica Stamp Bureau in Syd ney. The bureau, will handle marketing, publicity and other related philatelic matters of Pacific Island stamp issuing nations. Initially the bureau will handle matters relating to the Forum Island Countries which are signatories to the Sparteca agreement with Australia and New Zealand. These are Fiji, Cook Is lands, Niue, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Tonga, Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Western Samoa and Nauru. It is hoped that the Bureau will be able to service other Pacific countries at a later time.

The bureau will co-ordinate and final ise plans for as many countries as possi ble to participate in the first “Pacifica” stamp series and will launch a quarterly Pacifica Stamp Bulletin which will con tain information and details of Pacific stamp issues.

The bureau will not sell stamps but

hopes at a later date to act as a Mailbox for people wishing to deal with Pacific countries in stamp matters.

The Bureau’s address is P.O. Box 316 Lane Cove NSW 2066, Australia Telephone (02) 2314583, Fax (043) 885620 This step is a milestone in the Pacific philatelic area. Most Pacific countries are experiencing sale downturns. This im portant move will assist in turning the spotlight on Pacific stamps and encour age existing and new collectors to begin collecting Pacific stamps.

New issues New Caledonia: January writers of New Caledonia, February butterflies, March museum exhibition, April aquarium, May World Soccer Cup, June 50th anniversary for a Free

France, July Petroglyphs, August

New Zealand 1990, October World of the Deep, November flora, De cember — painters.

French Polynesia: January 11 re sources, February 19 wildlife, March 14 The World of Maohl, May 3 Stampworld London, May 18 Centenary of Papeete, June 6 birds,

July 10 folk lore,

Septem

ber 2 Centen ary of the Birth of De Gaulle, October 9 Lions Club 30 Years, Novem-

ber 22 legends, Dec e m ber 5 Tahiti Tiara.

Tuvalu: February

trees, April ships of the war, May 150th anniversary of the first stamp, August mail ser vices (Pacifica), Octo ber flowers, N ovember Christmas.

Vanuatu: January flora, London 1990, 10th Anniversary of Inde pendence, Pacifica, New Zealand 1990, Christmas. □

For her

eyes only

A LAWSUIT was filed in the

French Polynesian capital of

Papeete by a young woman claiming that the use of a photograph of her on a 1989 stamp violated her right to privacy. The court agreed with her and ordered on July 1 I that the post office cease sales of the stamp.

The 55F stamp was released on March 16 and showed a French Polynesian woman clad in a bikini breaking open coconuts. The stamp design was taken from a photograph which had previously appeared in a book and no one had sought to secure a release from the woman authorising the use of the photo graph (violation of article 9 of the civil code).

This could be the first case like this in the world. However, the stamp will not be a rarity. Nearly 100,000 copies were sold before it was withdrawn. □