In 1905, Mr Harry Turner made local Guernsey postal history by arranging to be conveyed as a postal item from Guernsey to Sark. At that time, the General Post Office permitted, under special circumstances, the conveyance of individuals by Royal Mail, provided they were accompanied by a Post Office telegraph messenger. With official approval granted, Mr Turner embarked on the Sark boat alongside his postal escort. Upon arrival in Sark, the pair enjoyed a carriage drive and luncheon at the Dixcart Hotel before returning to Guernsey later the same day. This unusual journey, completed at a cost of 5 shillings and 10 pence [equivalent in today’s money to about 47£ or 55€], remains a remarkable and little-known episode in the history of postal services in the Channel Islands.
Thirty five years later, in February 1940, several months prior to the German occupation of the Channel Islands, civilian travel between Guernsey and Alderney had become severely restricted, with most transport requisitioned for military use. Major Palmer found himself stranded in Guernsey for two weeks, unable to secure passage on the Courier ferry service to Alderney. Determined to return to his family, Major Palmer consulted the Post Office Guide and concluded that there was no explicit prohibition against being sent by post. Acting on this interpretation, he presented himself at Guernsey Post Office and formally requested to travel as a parcel. Although reluctantly accepted, arrangements were made for him to be escorted by a postal worker to the harbour. Initially, the ferry captain objected on the grounds that Major Palmer was neither cargo nor mail. However, when only two of the twelve booked passengers presented themselves, the captain permitted him to travel, though he was consigned to the hold. Upon arrival in Alderney, Major Palmer was duly taken to the postal sorting office before being formally “delivered” to his home by a local postman [Texts taken from the Guernsey Post Office web site].
To honor the ‘flexibility’ of the Post, Guernsey issued two separate joint issues on the same day of September 1, 2026, one involving Alderney and the other involving Sark, illustrated with comics, and entitled “Man posted to …”. Stamps were issued in miniature sheets of 5 se-tenant pairs and mixed FDCs became also available.
However, even if these stamps are identical and issued on the same day, Sark and Alderney are territories strongly postally linked to Guernsey, with production of stamps controled by Guernsey. These stamps must be considered as a Territorial Twin issue [TD] and will be filed under references [D20260901a] and [D20260901b] respectively, similarly to the Alderney – Guernsey Christmas stamps issued on October 30, 2019 [D20191030]. This is also the first joint issue in which Sark is involved. Sark is a very small island with 500 inhabitants, part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a self-governing British Crown Dependency, with its own set of laws based on Norman law, and its own parliament. It was a royal fiefdom until 2008, when the Constitution of Sark went into effect.
The following provides some information to complete description from issues released over the part couple of yeras and provided by friend collectors.
Kenneth Sequeira (Dubai) discovered a new stamp from Iraq to be added to the 80th Arab League anniversary series issued on March 22, 2025. The stamp is available in panels of 4×6 stamps and officially cancelled covers were also produced, but those do not show a date. We do not know the exact date of issue of this stamp, but of course it has been integrated in the catalogue. As 22 countries are members of the Arab League and as so far, only 10 countries have issued a stamp in the frame of this anniversary, it can be expected that other countries can be discovered as having participated. In particular, philatelic programs for Bahrein, Jordan or Oman, which are used to participate to such anniversaries, should be explored. Thanks for any feedback.
The Azerbaijan souvenir sheet, counterpart of the Türkiye souvenir sheet from June 10, 2026, appeared on Delcampe. At this stage we are missing the exact date of issue, but there are great chance that it could be the same as for Türkiye. For that reason, this issue remains filed as a Twin issue [T]. The two souvenir sheets are identical, but with mirrored illustrations.
A Mauritania – Morocco joint issue was supposed to be released on June 23, 2026. Eventually, the stamps from Morocco became available on July 29, 2026 and the Moroccan description notice is stating that this would be the second North-African joint issue involving Morocco, confirming indirectly the participation of Mauritania. Unfortunately, so far, no information is available from the Mauritanian side. The Moroccan stamps issued in se-tenant pairs and in miniature sheet of 5 pairs represent the City of Aït‑Ben‑Haddou Ksar, Morocco and the Chinguitti Mosque, in the capital city of the Adrar Wilaya, Mauritania. Both sites are listed as UNESCO world heritage (information provided by Roland Montagne, France). Any additional information is welcome.
In the frame of the Euromed stamp series dated July 13, 2026, Jordan issued three stamps in a same souvenir sheet as well as a non-perforated smaller souvenir sheet. Actually, in parallel, it was discovered that Jordan issued also four different illustyrated postal cards (postal stationery). These products have been added to the catalogue (Information provided by Fabio Bonacina, Italy, and Med Achour Ali Ahmed, Algeria).
We are still missing information about Albania and Egypt, two countries that were supposed to be involved in this same 2026 Euromed series. At the level of the 2026 Europa stamps we are also missing information about Albania, as well as Ireland (but this one is supposed to be issued by September 10, 2026).
The Croatia – Spain stamps that were originally announced to be issued on June 18, 2026, were finally released on August 10, 2026. They show two types of sailing boats (Betina – Crotia and Baleares – Spain). The Croatian stamps were issued in miniature panes of 6 pairs [2px3]. Spanish stamps were printed in panes of 14 pairs, i.e., [3px5] with the central pair replaced by two labels with flags.
The France – Thailand twin issue was released as announced on August 28, 2026, with general sale at post counters in France on the following Monday, August 31, 2026. The stamps represent the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River in Paris and the Wat Arun Tempel and the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. Thailand stamps are produced in miniature sheets of 5 se-tenant pairs (printed 65,000 pairs), while French stamps became available in two miniature sheets of 10 stamps each (printed 2×350,000 stamps. Additionally, France released also a souvenir sheet of 200×90 mm containing both French stamps, produced at 15,000 samples.
The postal administrations of Ascension Island, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Tristan da Cunha have teamed up once again with a joint stamp issue reminiscent of that issued by these territories in November 2021.
The commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the United Kingdom’s Blue Belt Programme includes four stamps from each territory: these are issued both in individual sheets of ten stamps with a white edging and as souvenir sheets (with the design bleeding into the sheet border). This design is very close to the 2021 issue. The release date is scheduled for September 9, 2026. The territories currently involved in the initiative on top of the three countries listed above include Saint Helena, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory and Pitcairn Islands. Additional participation from some of these countries could be announced within the next days or weeks but nothing has been published so far (information provided by Adam Paish, UK).
On June 30, 2026, Romania and Türkiye celebrated relationship with joint stamps depicting local gastronomy. Both countries issued two stamps with the same design. The postage stamp with the theme of Romania reproduces three representative products with European recognition: Topoloveni Plum Jam, Ibănești Telemea and Smoked Bighead Carp from the Land of Bârsa. On the stamp background are illustrated Corvin Castle located in the southwestern part of Transylvania, in the centre of Hunedoara County, and a miniature image of the Arch of Triumph in Bucharest, bearing the Romania’s flag. The postage stamp to the Republic of Türkiye, depicts the world-renowned Döner kebab, alongside a serving of eggplant moussaka and the traditional dessert known as baklava, set against an iconic view of Istanbul featuring the Galata Tower with a Turkish flag.
Turkiye issued the pair of stamps as se-tenant included in a souvenir sheet produced at 100,000 samples. As usual, Romanian production is more complicated with both stamps produced in panes of 32 units (2x[8×4]) (2×8,768 stamps corresponding to 2×274 panes), but also in two miniature sheets containing three stamps each above three different labels (2×2,925 miniature sheets issued), as well as a souvenir sheet with both stamps se-tenant (4,500 souvenir sheets).
Big surprise with the Indonesia Uruguay joint issue scheduled initially for release on March 30, 2026 and remaining without news since: both designs appeared now on the web. Both countries issued a miniature sheet with 8 different stamps, showing as announced, handicrafts with jewelry. The stamps were issued on July 20, 2026, and for Indonesia apparently only at 3,000 samples.
The stamps do show the items displayed based on the original proposal, but the overall design has been greatly modified. Below is a reminder of the image we had in hands since beginning of the year.
Regarding the 2026 Europa series [T20260508], Bosnia Herzegovina issued stamps on June 25, 2026 (and not on May 8 as initially scheduled). Bosnia Herzegovina issued two stamps, one with the common design, in panes of 10 stamps (2x[2×5]) and in a souvenir sheet containing both se-tenant stamps.
On July 10, 2026, Ukraine‘s Europa stamps were also released in forms of two different designs, available in miniature sheets of 4 stamps (2x[2×2]), a booklet with a souvenir sheet containing both stamps (issued at 1,700 samples) and a similar souvenir sheet with both stamps, issued at 4,400 samples (and available only for yearly Ukrainian stamp subscribers).
On August 6, 2026, Germany and Lithuania will celebrate with a joint issue, the existence of the Nida Colony, a Lithuanian coastal village that hosted numerous of artists since the end of the 19th century (at that time part of Prussia). The designs of the stamps became already available and show a painting from Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884-1976).
In the most recent issue of the the journal Pacifica (July 2026, Vol 64 N° 256), from the Pacific Islands Study Circle (PISC), B. Allen Shaw, a specialist of Norfolk, describes over two pages (p43-44) a surprising constant error in the panes of the Norfolk stamps from the July 22, 2014 joint issue with Australia [catalogue Vol 12, D20240722]. On that date, the Norfolk Island Philatelic Bureau, and Australia Post, produced four stamps of two designs featuring the emblematic Norfolk Island Pine. Endemic to Norfolk Island. The two designs featured were: a view of the Norfolk Island Pines on Cottesloe Beach, in Western Australia; and a view of the Norfolk Island Pines surrounding the Old Military Barracks, on Norfolk Island. The values of the Norfolk Island stamps were: 20c for the Cottesloe Beach design; and 70c for the Old Military Barracks design. The Australian counterparts were 70c and $1.40 respectively. The stamps were printed by RA Printing Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia, on Tullis Russell gummed paper in sheets of 50; two panes of 25 separated by a gutter, and the gutter having the printers colour dots only. The quantity of Norfolk Island stamps printed was 12,000 for each value. This equates to 240 sheets of 50 stamps each.
An error occuring on each sheet of Norfolk Island 70c stamps was discovered: stamp #21, located in row 5 and position 1, was actually the Australian counterpart of this joint issue. The stamp is inscribed “Australia”, with the value of “$1.40”, in error. The remaining forty-nine stamps are correctly inscribed “Norfolk Island”, with the value of “70c”. The items (full panes) were discovered in the archives of the Norfolk philatelic offices. With the very low number of printed sheets (240) and the late discovery, it is possible that this archive sheet will remain unique. So, do not lose time to try finding another sample, but if so, do not hesitate to tell us.
Mario Moni (Italy) enquired about an explanation regarding the absence of description of some colonial Italian issues in the catalogue, while others, such as the 700th anniversary of the death of Saint Anthony of Padua [D19310507], the Graf Zeppelin’s airship journey [D19330505] or the Naples Colonial Exhibition [D19341016] are present. Mario’s additional list includes the following: Dante Alighieri Society, March 14, 1932 with additional value issued on August 6, 1932; Giuseppe Garibaldi, April 6, 1932; 10 years of Rome March, October 27, 1932; Balboa Cruise, May 20, 1933; Football championship, May 24, 1934; 100 years of the Courage Gold Medal, September 6, 1934 and 2000 years of August Emperor on September 23, 1937.
By re-checking the Italian colonies that have used the similar topics and stamps as basis (including Aegean Islands, Cyrenaica, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, Italian Ethiopia, Italian Libya, Italian Somalia and Tripolitania), it appears that none of the rare stamps issued at the same occasions as listed above can be considered as joint. Stamps issued at different dates with different designs (e.g. Balboa Cruise) are excluded on the basis of the definition of joint issues. Also, overprints of existing stamps from another country are not to be considered as joint as well. In particular, this is the case for the Aegean Islands stamps which are all overprinted Italian stamps. As a conclusion, the list of Italian territorial series [D] from the period 1927-1937 described in the catalogue seems to be complete already.
Since more than 15 years now, the European, Asian and African countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea are issuing common stamps around the 9th of July with, each year, a specific related topic. This year, the participating countries have decided to focus on traditional mosaics of the Mediterranean. The most common issue date was July 13, 2026 and the first stamps were released as early as July 1st. The designs are all different and so far, 14 countries have already issued their stamps, namely Bosnia Herzegovina (July 13) – Croatia (July 14) – Cyprus (July 10) – France (July 3) – Greece (July 13) – Jordan (July 1) – Malta (July 9) – Montenegro (July 13) – Morocco (July 16) – Portugal (July 13) – Slovenia (July 13) – Spain (July 8) – Tunisia (July 7) – Türkiye (July 7).
The issue from Egypt was announced (July 14) but details are missing. Albania will probably issue its stamp with one year delay as for the previous series, so we can expect these stamps to become available only during the year 2027 (the Albanian Euromed stamp from 2025 is still not available yet). No information is available from other countries that participated to earlier common issues such as Lebanon or Palestine, while Algeria will apparently not participate.
On June 12, 2026, Serbia and Slovenia issued a similar souvenir sheet containing one single stamp entitled “Humanitarians, Queen Marija Karađorđević and her court lady Franja Tavčar”. The Serbia souvenir sheet, 100×67 mm, was issued at 10,000 samples while the Slovenian souvenir sheet was printed at 18,000 samples. (Information was provided by Janko Stampfl, Slovenia).
Russia and the Philippines celebrated their 50th anniversary of diplomatic relationship on June 2, 2026 with an issue on June 18, 2026 of stamps representing fauna: the Russian Greater jerboa (Allactaga major) and the Philippine mouse deer (Tragulus nigricans). To date, no information from the Philippines postal administration is available, but Enzo Cafaro (Italy) was able to provide a copy of the Philippines miniature sheet, confirming that it could translate in either a twin or a concerted issue. Any additional information is welcome.
Moldova and Romania celebrated the centenary of the first flight of the Bucharest – Galați – Chișinău airmail service, illustrated by a Haviland DH-9 plane. This is a nice twin issue released on June 24, 2026. Romania released two stamps, showing either a plane over a landscape with a bridge (design A), or a flying plane, next to the names of the three towns from the airmail line, as well as a cancelled cover (design B). These two stamps were issued in panes of 32 stamps, or in miniature sheets of 3 stamps and a label. Additionally, a souvenir sheet with a single stamp showing the design A, with flag, cancelled cover as well as a black and white photograph became also available. Moldova released the same two stamps A and B in miniature sheets of 8 stamps (with two additional labels) and a souvenir sheet containing the design B, together with a map.
Note that 2×3,200 Romanian stamps (A and B) were printed in panes of 32 stamps, i.e., in 2 sheets showing 4 lines of 8 stamps. The third line was intentionally printed upside down, making possible to create 8 pairs tête-bêche out of each each pane. These printed stamps represent only 100 panes of 32, from which a maximum of 2×8 tête-bêche pairs could have been isolated, resulting in a maximum of 2×800 tête-bêche pairs possible. The real number of tête-bêche pairs will definitely remain far below that figure.
On June 10, 2026, Türkiye issued a souvenir sheet showing the portraits of Yunus Emre (1240-1320), Turkish folk poet, and Hakani-I Sirvani (1126-1199), actually Afzal al-Dīn Badīl ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿOthmān, commonly known as Khāqānī, Persian poet, entitled ‘joint issue with Azerbaijan‘. Unfortunately, by the time of publishing this page, no information has been made available from this country.
The situation is similar with a joint issue involving Morocco and Mauritania, which illustration was provided by Eric Contesse (France). On the Moroccan stamps, it is clearly stated that it is a joint issue. These stamps are also supposed to be released during the month of June and information from Mauritania is missing so far.
Another Türkiye – Romania joint issue was announced in the Türkish philatelic program, expected to be released on June 30, 2026, but no counterpart is mentionned in the Romanian philatelic program. On the other hand, Romania still describes a joint issue with Kazakhstan scheduled for June 2026 (Biosphere reserves), but there are no news that came up recently from both countries about this issue.
The first year of office of the Pope Leo XIV announced originally by the Vatican State as a joint issue with Italy, was eventually reduced to an anniversary issue from Vatican alone, on May 8, 2026, and this entry had to be removed from the poten,tial 2026 issues.
All the above news were introduced in the catalogue which is now available in an updated form in the appropriate section.
Since beginning of the year, Kenneth Sequeira (Dubai) is providing information about the countries issuing stamps at the occasion of the centenary of the International Federation of Philately (Fédération Internationale de Philatélie – FIP). Indeed two countries issued on February 6, 2026, almost identical stamps at this occasion, namely Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, already reported in the catalogue under the entry T20260206.
Romania issued a stamp on February 26, 2026, but with a completely different design. Among the countries that have announced issues of stamps at this occasion, and that were reported by Kenneth, one can already count : Belarus (), Bosnia Herzegovina (Bosnia) (June 16), Bosnia Herzegovina (Serbia) (October 9), Brazil (June 18), Bulgaria (April 29), Cyprus (May 11), France (June 11), Greece (April 22), Monaco (May), Saint Pierre et Miquelon (May 23), Serbia (May 25), Slovenia (May 8), Spain (June), Thailand (June 18), Uruguay (May 6). Unfortunately, all these stamps have in common only the use of the FIP logo and have been issued at local initiative. Therefore, they cannot be included as part of a joint issue. We provide some illustrations for collectors interested in the topic.
The Federation has even opened a special web site on this topic with illustrations of these stamps. Obviously, other countries will join in the course of the year, probably even later during the year 2027, but not to be considered as joint.
Year 2026 stands with a common Europa stamp design at the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the first Europa stamp issue. Over the past 30 years, countries found an agreement for the topic of Europa-CEPT/PostEurope stamps while the date of issue was left upon decision of individual countries, Since this change, Europa stamps are not anymore considered as joint issue. Over the recent period, only three Europa series were considered as joint (same design, with a large number of stamps issued around May 9 of each year), namely during the years 2000 (‘Millenium issue’ [T20000509a]), 2016 (‘Think Green’ – [T20160509]) and 2023 (‘Peace: the highest value of mankind’ [T20230509]). Only those three series are fully described in the catalogue.
The 2026 stamps are based on a design selected during a contest which was won by Finnish designer Klaus Welp. The countries that have issued stamps so far include the following (date of issue between brackets). The full details will be provided in the catalogue pages of Vol XVII (2026).
Ukraine will issue its stamp during the month of July, Ireland on September 10, and Albania probably during the year 2027. The stamps from Bosnia-Herzegovina have not been seen so fat, although have been announced to be released on May 8. The following countries did not or will not participate to this joint issue in 2026: Belarus – Denmark – Great Britain – Iceland – Norway – Russia. One has to take in account that Denmark and Iceland are not issuing stamps at all anymore and that Russia, supported by Belarus is in war and for both countries, their PostEurop membership was suspended.
The following illustrates all countries having issued the common design stamp.
Additional souvenir sheets were issued on the basis of these stamps
Some countries issued more than one stamp, usually on the basis of the designs that remained among the other proposals for the countest:
All these stamps will be described in details in the catalogue within the nexty days under the entry [T20260508].
Despite the fact that the mini-omnibus series related to the stamps issued by Ascension Island, Bahamas, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Tristan da Cunha, also associated to the Isle of Man, was considered as a non-approved joint issue [N] and will not be described in details in the catalogue, it appeared important to complete the information provided in the previous blog page. Actually, the apparently se-tenant issue released by the Isle of Man, triggered attention and raised more questions. So, a more detailed presentaion and additional explanations were provided by Adam Paish (UK). Here is what he says:
Nothing is ever quite as simple as it seems! My correspondent at the Isle of Man Post Office and I had a lengthy chat yesterday [April24, 2026] concerning some of the information relating to this mini-omnibus series in order to avoid it ending up catalogued with inaccurate data.
The five overseas postal administrations (Ascension Island, Bahamas, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Tristan da Cunha) issued four stamps each, and each individual stamp was issued separately in sheets of ten identical standard gummed stamps with traditional perforations. The widely circulated ‘mini-block’ illustrations were based solely on the press images originally provided by the printing company, Cartor Security Printers.
The Isle of Man issued a set of six stamps dedicated to the late Queen’s Fashion Legacy, the theme of a special anniversary exhibition which runs from April to October 2026 at the King’s Gallery in London’s Buckingham Palace. Again, these stamps were released separately in sheets of ten standard gummed stamps, and the design of the 93p denomination is based on a Marcus Adams photograph.
Within the ‘limited release collectable’, the twelve-stamp multi-territorial Marcus Adams sheetlet is in reality the left-side panel of a double-sized and folded pane of 24 self-adhesive stamps with die-cut perforations. The right-side panel incorporates twelve self-adhesive Isle of Man stamps (with designs based on previously issued Queen Elizabeth II stamps) and digital non-postal reproductions of the six 2026 stamps superimposed with a facsimile First Day of Issue postmark.
In other words, Isle of Man has produced a booklet sold at £35 that contains, on top of the Fashion Legacy stamps from this postal administration, some stamps (not all) from the five other postal administrations issued on April 21, 2026 (without doubt with their authorization), but this item cannot be purchased from them. It is only available from the Isle of Man postal administration and was produced in limited number. This is another reason confirming that this item was produced purely for marketing purpose and remains far away from true joint issue. Each collector will have to decide if this item will have to be part of his collection. Thanks Adam for the update.
Adam Paish (UK) did send a first complement of information relative to the 100th anniversary of QEII described in the previous page and involving the British Overseas Territories : “The enterprising Isle of Man Post Office is no doubt anticipating another profitable venture with the release of a pair of Queen Elizabeth II Birth Centenary stamp sheets, one featuring previously-issued Isle of Man stamps, the other incorporating a selection of the British Overseas Territories stamps with royal portraits by Marcus Adams (Ascension Island, Bahamas, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Tristan da Cunha) and one commemorative stamp, repeated twice, from the Isle of Man itself. The pair of sheets is being marketed as a “limited release collectable” at GBP35.00, and the image has been provided by the Isle of Man Post Office for illustrative purposes only. The Isle of Man stamp is one of a series of six celebrating the Fashion Legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, with the 93 pence denomination (based on 1941 portrait by Marcus Adams) reworked to fit into this multi-territorial commemorative sheet. The sheet concept is not dissimilar to the Devoted to Your Service souvenir released in 2021 to mark the late Queen’s 95th birthday which is illustrated in your 2019-2021 catalogue”
With the release of this souvenir sheet containing 12 stamps, i.e., 2 stamps per territory taken from the original blocks of 4 miniature sheets, this issue becomes a se-tenant series. However, this does not change the omnibus character and these stamps will remain being considered as non-approved joint issue [N]. Date of issue is April 21, 2026.
On April 27, 2026, Japan and Singapore will release a twin issue to celebrate their 60 years of relationship. To honour this journey, stamps features both national flowers: Japan’s cherry blossom and Singapore’s Vanda Miss Joaquim (orchid). Japan will release stamps in miniature sheets containg 5 of each of the stamps and produced at 400,000 samples (total of 4,000,000 stamps. The stamps of Singapore are available in miniature sheets of three pairs, but also in a souvenir sheet containing a pair of stamps.
A surprise came from Iran, a country presently in war, which finally released a stamp that was supposed to be joint with the pair of stamps issued by Oman on August 26, 2025. The exact date of issue of the Iranian stamp remains unknown, but it appeared at the beginning of April 2026 and became available in sheets of 8 stamps [2×4]. This series can now be attributed the entry code [C20250826] and is described in the 2025 year catalogue page (Information provided by Kazem Alamdari, Iran).
On the other hand, we are still missing information about potential counterparts of the Uruguayan diplomatic relationship stamp with Mexico (Uruguay stamps released on March 26, 2026), while the joint issue announced between Indonesia and Uruguay for March 30, 2026 has not been released. Also, it seems that the Laos stamp issued on March 20, 2026 celebrating the 70 years of relatioship with India will remain unilateral. Any additional information from these three countriues is welcome.
New countries are slowly making surface regarding some 2024 and 2025 omnibus series:
Stamps from Mauritania relative to the UPU 150th anniversary (apparently 4 stamps, only one seen so far – T20241009), and the 80th anniversary of the Arab League (4 stamps – T20250322) became available. Dates of issue are unknown. Only bad quality images are available so far. Note that the currency used on these Mauritanian stamps is wrongly expressed in “RMU” instead of the correct “MRU”, making these issues questionable. Additional information is welcome. At the same time Saudi Arabia issued also two stamps, one related to this same Arab League 80th anniversary (T20250322), but issued one year later, on March 22, 2026, and the other related to the Arab Postal Day (T20250803) and issued on March 14, 2026. Thanks to Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai and Ali Ahmed Med Achour, Algeria, for this information.Source of the Mauritania stamps’ illustrations is Busch Collectibles.
During the year 2025, we also forgot to mention the joint issue between the three United Nations offices of Geneva, New York and Vienna related to the 80th anniversary of the United Nations. As usual, when only these three offices are involved, we cannot consider those stamps as joint, but the catalogue mentions (in italics and gray color) all issues of these offices when design and illustrations are identical. So, we will complete the catalogue with this information (provided by Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands), but file it under N20251024. Issue date was October 24, 2025 and mixed first day covers were also made available.
From Adam Paish (UK): To celebrate the centenary of the birth of the late Queen Elizabeth II, similar commemorative mini-sheets will be issued, each containing four different stamps, by the postal administrations of Ascension Island, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Tristan da Cunha. The stamps depict photographic images by the British society photographer Marcus Adams (1875-1959) and are scheduled for release on April 21, 2026. The Bahamas postal administration also plans to release a set of four stamps in the same photographic style on April 16, 2026, but these may not be in an identical sheet format. This is not a true joint stamp issue, but definitely worthy of mention and will be described without details (omnibus series [PO]) in the catalogue.
New Zealand, Gibraltar and the United Kingdom have also released or will be releasing stamps to mark the anniversary, and no doubt other countries will follow.
Among the true joint issues, two were confirmed, but are involving Uruguay, another country from where it is difficult to obtain information. On March 26, 2026, Uruguay issued stamps jointly with Mexico (125 years diplomatic relations) and on March 30, 2026 with Indonesia (handicrafts) (Information provided by Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai and Enzo Cafaro, Italy). The Indonesia stamp designs have been available for a couple of months and the picture of the Uruguayan stamps related to Mexico became available recently, but all other information in particular from Mexico, is still missing. The catalogue pages will be updated as soon as information is more complete (it may take another two weeks).
This beginning of the year is very quiet. Next to the early Chinese New Year stamps involving China PR, Hong Kong and Macao, only two omnibus series where initiated, one related to the centenary of the FIP, the other to the 50th anniversary of the ECOWAS.
On February 6, 2026, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates issued similar stamps to celebrate the centenary of the ‘Federation Internationale de Philatélie’ (FIP – International Federation of Philately) with a design based on the FIP logo. This two first issues coincided with the Dubai 2026 World Stamp Exhibition, the first world exhibition celebrating this FIP centenary. Apparently other countries will participate – actually all countries could participate – and so far the following have already announced it: Bosnia Herzegovina (June 16, 2026), Serbia (), Brazil (June 18, 2026) and Bosnia Herzegovina (Serbia) (October 9, 2026). We do not know if these stamps will be of the same design. Romania already issued a stamp on February 26, 2026, but with a completely different design, so, not part of the joint issue (the FIP logo appears in the margin of a souvenir sheet).
On February 12, 2026, the ECOWAS countries came together to issue a commemorative stamp at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its creation (which actually took place on May 28, 1975). ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States, also known as CEDEAO in French and Portuguese) includes today 12 countries. All 12 countries participated to the issue with identical stamps bearing each a QR code to access further information. A 3×4 sheet bearing the 12 different stamps was issued at the same date, so including Benin – Cape Verde – Gambia – Ghana – Guinea – Guinea-Bissau – Ivory Coast – Liberia – Nigeria – Senegal – Sierra Leone and Togo. This information was provided by Kenneth Sequeira (Dubai). We now have to find information for all individual countries which remains always complicated for African countries.
Illustrations of the stamps to be released by Japan on April 26, 2026 in a joint issue with Singapore and of the Indonesia stamps to be relased jointly with Uruguay (date of issue still unknown) became already available thanks to Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai.
Enzo Cafaro (Italy), provided also the illustration of the future Europa stamp to be released by Armenia (exact date of release still unknown). In the meantime, some countries have already issued their 2026 Europa stamps or shown the future design: Aland (May 8, 2026), Belgium (April 13), Finland (May 6), Guernsey (April 1), Liechtenstein (March 2), Monaco (May 9) and San Marino (March 2).
Among the other interesting information, one has to note that Denmark has decided, from January 1, 2026 on, to dismantle the Post, which has for consequence that all post boxes have been removed and that this country will not issue stamps anymore. The postal services are taken over by private companies from now on (which apparently will not issue stamps, but work with labels and QR codes only).
Joint Stamp Issues 
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