BVI AND HONG KONG BIRDS

The British Virgin Islands Postal Administration released on 1st February 2001 a Miniature Sheet (M/S) that belongs to an omnibus issue commemorating Hong Kong 2001 - an International Stamp Exhibition which was held last week. The Miniature Sheet contains two 50c stamps depicting the Bar-Tailed Cuckoo Dove (Macropygia unchall) of Hong Kong [stamp at lower left handside], and the White Crowned Dove (Columba leucoephala) found in the BVI.

The background on which the stamps are set features views from the picturesque Hong Kong waterfront and North Sound, Virgin Gorda’s Bitter End - B.V.I. Andrew Robinson designed the stamps, and Tim Tackeray arranged the background images. The Hong Kong picture was supplied by Travel Ink, and the B.V.I. Image was supplied by Jim Scheiner, Rainbow Visions Photography, B.V.I. The Miniature Sheet was printed by the House of Questa in litho-offset on CA Spiral watermarked paper. The Miniature Sheet will remain on sale at the General Post Office, Road Town, and the Branch Post Offices at East End and West End, Tortola, and The Valley, Virgin Gorda until 30 July 2001 or until stocks are exhausted.

The stamps are available at the BVI Philatelic Bureau, General Post Office, Sir Olva Georges Plaza, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Stamp collectors wishing to acquire earlier stamps, from 1866 to the mid-1990s may contact the BVI Philatelic Society, P.O. Box 704, Road Town, Tortola,
British Virgin Islands. Or e-mail: issun@candwbvi.net