The Carnation Revolution, called in Portuguese Revolução dos Cravos, also known as the 25 April (Portuguese: 25 de Abril), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo government on April 25, 1974 in Lisbon. It marked the beginning of a democratic life in Portugal and at the same time did put an end to the Portuguese colonial war.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of this important day, Portugal, associated to Angola and Cape Verde, released a joint issue on March 28, 2024, representing the symbol of this peaceful revolution, a carnation flower, and obviously entitled “25 ABRIL”. Each country issued two identical stamps. The Portuguese postal administration offers also a folder containing the 6 joint stamps, mint, a dedicated Portuguese miniature sheet with 6 different stamps, the two Portuguese stamps and the souvenir sheet, mint, issued at the occasion of the 40th anniversary in 2014 (price € 15.00).
From Adam Paish (UK): six commemorative stamps (and assorted ‘extras’) from the postal administrations of each of the United Kingdom’s Crown Dependencies (Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man) celebrate during the year 2024 the Bicentenary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). All have similar designs, and a common portrait of Sir William Hillary (1771–1847), who established the RNLI in 1824, adorns the top value of each set. The Isle of Man released its stamps on January 4, 2024. Jersey and Guernsey have announced March 4, 2024 for their issues. UK Royal Mail has ignored the RNLI anniversary. As Guernsey, Isle of Man and Jersey are three fully independent postal entities, these stamps must be considered as part of a twin joint issue [T1].
Unfortunately, the three postal entities issued a lot of by-products. Next to the 6 stamps per country available in miniature sheets of 10 stamps, first day covers and CTO products, there are also Prestige booklets that were produced, not even speaking about presentation packs, isolated sheetlets, and products including specific coins. By adding just the face value of the 18 stamps, the price of the three first day covers and the three prestige booklets, total amount reaches £144, and more than £360 if miniature sheets are included. Joint issue collectors are recommended to limit their purchase to the three common stamps, total value £10.28.
All other stamps represent rescue ships used on the different islands: Guernsey, B, 65p, St Peter Port Station, RNLB ‘Spirit of Guernsey’; C, 88p, St Peter Port Station, Gold Medal rescue to the ship ‘Bonita’; D, £1.20, Alderney Station, RNLB ‘Roy Barker’; E, £1.74, St Peter Station, RNLB ‘Arthur Lionel’; F, £2.08, St Peter Port Station, RNLB ‘JohnLockett’; Isle of Man, G, 1st, Port St Mary Station, RNLB ‘Gough Ritchie II’; H, £1.00, Peel Station, ‘B-536’; I, £1.50, Port Erin Station, RNLB ‘Muriel and Leslie’; J, £1.75, Ramsey Station, RNLB ‘Two sisters’; K, £2.00, Douglas Station, RNLB ‘Marine Engineer’; Jersey, L, 60p, St Catherine ‘s Station, RNLB ‘Eric W Wilson’; M, 98p, St Helier Station, RNLB ‘George Sullivan’; N, 98p, Jersey lifeguarded beaches, Le Braye Beach; O, £1.65, St Helier Station, RNLB ‘Howard D‘; P, £2.15, St Helier Station, Gold medal rescue to the yacht ‘Fanny‘.
Several new information have been reported over the month of February 2024, some of them even contradicting previously announced issues:
The first and most intriguing is related to the India – Israel joint issue initially scheduled for issue on February 13, 2024. From Uri Barlev (Israel), we learned that everything was prepared by Israel Post Philatelic Service, including printing and cancelling FDCs for release on that date. For some mysterious reason, there was a dispute between Israel and India postal services concerning the date of issue. India Post announced that the issue date would be in the third week of March. Hence, Israel Post withdrew the issue and recalled all distributed material. The Israeli material will be distributed on a new issue date, apparently May 7, 2024, and it is not clear yet if new FDCs will be prepared or the precancelled February ones will be used. No additional information is available from the Indian side.
The April 25th 1974 event was the overthrow of the Estado Novo government in Portugal. It led to the independence of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe. All those countries could have been part of the joint issue announced by Portugal. Very recently, it was confirmed that only Angola and Cape Verde will join Portugal in this new issue scheduled for April 2024. Exact date is not known yet, but it could indeed be the anniversary date of April 25, 2024.
Stefan Kepic, Slovakia discovered an additional 2022 October 9 World Post Day stamp with identical design issued by Guatemala on February 28, 2023 in miniature sheets of 10 stamps (now reported under [T20221009]).
Ehsan Mehmood (Pakistan) reported information about products linking Belarus and Pakistan celebrating the 30th anniversary of their relationship. Pakistan issued a stamp on February 3, 2024 while Belarus issued a postal stationery (cover) on March 1, 2024 with first day cancellation on March 4, 2024. Designs are different and there is no hint from both postal administrations that these products have been created jointly. Therefore and unfortunately we cannot recognize them as joint.
During the year 2023, PostEurop celebrated its 30th anniversary. Some countries had issued during the year stamps using an identical logo provided by PostEurop. Information was collected about such issues but we had to come to the conclusion that the countries having celebrated with stamps this anniversary have not done it in a coordinated way and therefore all these stamps cannot be considered as joint. For those still interested in these stamps, here is a list of countries having participated during the year 2023: Azerbaijan (July 10), Bulgaria (September 12), the Faroe Islands (October 23, logo on a stamp showing waterlilies), Kazakhstan (November 20), Moldova (May 20) and Serbia (September 5). The Isle of Man (July 5) added this logo on a their 2023 Europa stamp, while Poland (December 1) and Romania (August 31) have both issued a postal stationary. This list may not be complete and any additional information is welcome.
At the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Villa Madama agreement between Italy and the Vatican State, both postal administrations issued on February 13, 2024 an identical stamp. This agreement, also known as the New Concordat, was a political agreement signed on 18 February 1984 with the aim of updating the contents of the Concordat signed, within the framework of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy. The stamp represents the place where the agreement was signed (the Villa Madama), the signatures of the Vatican Secretary of State Agostino Casaroli (1914-1998) and of the Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi (1934-2000) and both coats of arms of involved states. Vatican issued stamps in sheetlets of 10 stamps [2×5] and official mixed first day covers became also available.
On February 13, 2024, Barid Al-Maghrib and Oman Post launched in Muscat, on the sidelines of the Postal Leaders Forum, a joint issue of a souvenir sheet of two postage stamps celebrating deep fraternal ties and history common cultural which unites the Kingdom of Morocco and the Sultanate of Oman. The designs highlight the first place where the sun rises in the Arab world in the Sultanate of Oman and the last place where the sun sets in the Kingdom of Morocco. The Oman design shows the main gate of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, the historic Sohar Ship, the sunrise view at Ras Al Hadd, as well as the ancient Sohar Castle and the Royal Opera House Muscat. The Moroccan design includes, in addition to the Al-Khair Mosque located in the locality of El Guergrat, which represents the last sunset viewpoint in Morocco, the exquisite architectural style, evident in the models of Moroccan doors.
Morocco issued 5,000 pairs of stamps and 3,000 souvenir sheets, while Morocco issued 10,000 pairs of stamps and as many souvenir sheets. The stamps are produced in miniature sheets of 4 pairs of stamps [2px2]. Details of this information was provided first by Ali Ahmed Med Achour (Algeria).
Several friends provided interesting information over the past weeks:
Kenneth Sequeira (Singapore) discovered an item based on an older Indonesia souvenir sheet, originally part of the Indonesia – Thailand joint issue from May 5, 2016, overprinted at the occasion of the Philatelic Exhibition “Thailand 2023”, that took place between November 27 and December 2, 2023. This is not part of a joint issue, but as material from a previous joint issue was used, the item needs to be described under this heading [T20160505].
The 60th anniversary of the relationship between Tunisia and The People’s Republic of China was celebrated by Tunisia with a dedicated stamp showing a panda with a text in both Chinese and Arabic characters. Unfortunately China did not issue any counterpart philatelic material and this unilateral stamp will not be reported in the catalogue (information received from Med Achour Ali Ahmed, Algeria).
During its 44th session in Cairo (Egypt) on January 11, 2024, the Permanent Arab Postal Commission decided to issue by Arab member countries a postage stamp in solidarity with Gaza. A commission was set up to discuss its design. No release date has been brought forward (information received from Med Achour Ali Ahmed, Algeria).
The UPU has launched the campaign of its 150th anniversary, announcing a possibility for all voluntary postal administrations to participate on October 9, 2024 with a common stamp. The suggestion is to use the logo of the anniversary which has been shown at the end of last year. So far, more than 20 countries have confirmed their participation, but eventually about 200 countries could participate. As this issue is created upon a kind of central invitation, not printed centrally and as there is some freedom to adapt the logo, but with the suggestion to release them at the same date, this issue has to be considered as a true twin issue. It looks like a future omnibus series. There will be hundreds of products available and it could be understandable that some collectors will not consider integrating these stamps in their collection. The design of the proposed common stamp became available.
Enzo Cafaro, Italy, found information about the next India – Israel joint issue dedicated to Purim Festival to be released on February 13, 2024 and he could already provide the design.
All catalogue volumes have been updated and are available on line. The list of additional issues expected to be released during the year 2024 has been integrated in the catalogue Volume 15.
On December 28, 2023, the last joint issue of the year was released by Oman and Saudi Arabia, which celebrated the opening of the land road between the Sultanate of Oman and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Both countries issued one stamp and a miniature sheet with 6 stamps. Oman issued a souvenir sheet as well. The stamp represents the two heads of states, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Sultan and Prime Minister of Oman, and Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia, the highway, a palm tree and several investment projects (information provided by Bu Khalaf, Kuwait and Kenneth Sequeira, Singapore).
Over the past weeks a series of new information could be gathered. Let us start first with the announcement of issues that could be released during the year 2024 out of different national philatelic programs. In most of the cases, there is not yet a confirmation from the counterpart country (Most information provided by Kenneth Sequeira, Singapore):
Croatia and Germany on October 10, 2024
Romania will issue together with Israel (April), Morocco (May) and India (September 2024). Note that the expected issue related to the anniversary of the death of Eugene Ionescu (1909-1994) involving France, Moldova and Monaco, does not appear in this official Romanian list for 2024
The 2024 UPU anniversary omnibus series (scheduled October 9, 2024) is growing every week and the present list of countries that have announced their participation includes already: Belarus – Belgium – Bosnia Herzegovina (Bosnia) – Croatia – Czech Republic – Germany – Greece – Guernsey – Hungary – Latvia – Lithuania – Moldova – Slovakia – Slovenia
At the same time, the South Korea India joint issue initially scheduled to be released on June 28, 2023, then rescheduled for December 8, 2023, was cancelled.
The Guatemala – Israel joint issue announced in a previous blog page was completed with the issue of the Guatemala stamp. Uri Barlev (Israel) could provide the images of the Guatemala stamps also released on the same day of December 12, 2023 with mixed documents, covers and Israel Souvenir Leaf. Apparently, the tab of the Guatemala stamp is provided with each stamp (miniature sheets of 15 stamps with 15 tabs, produced at only 800 samples/12,000 stamps+tabs) while Israel produced stamps in sheetlets of 15 stamps [3×5] with only 3 tabs at the bottom of the sheetlet – printing run unknown).
Also, as a surprise (discovered by Eric Contesse, France), the Australia Vietnam joint issue related to the 50 years of diplomatic relationship, which was removed from the catalogue because considered as a Vietnam unilateral issue, has to be reintegrated. In fact, Australia issued on September 6, 2023 a postal stationery (cover – Postage Paid Envelope PPE) with an indicium corresponding to the Vietnamese stamp. The Vietnamese stamps had been issued on August 27, 2023. The pair of products will be reported as a Concerted issue under the heading [C20230827] as the gap between the two issue dates is higher than one week.
In a same way, the unexpected counterpart from Poland of the Peru stamps (released on December 14, 2023) relative to 100 years of relationships came out as a postal stationery as early as September 27, 2023 (information provided by Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands). Following a mail exchange with the Polish philatelic department, Jaap received an answer stating that this office does not recognize this issue as a joint issue with Peru. Indeed, the designs of the stamp/indicium are different and only margins, cachet and cancellations show identical design fragments. Unfortunately, on this basis, we cannot consider these two products as part of a joint issue, but only a commemorative issue using common logo. However, one has to admit that by using the same logo and the same illustrated topics, there must have been a start of discussions and collaboration between the two administrations which eventually did not finalize in a common product and event. To avoid recurring questioning, this issue will be described in the catalogue, but in gray color, italic characters under the entry code [N20230927] (non-approved joint issue).
Sri Lanka and Egypt came also together for a joint issue released on December 8, 2023, at the occasion of 66 (!) years of diplomatic relations (first information provided by Med Achour Ali Ahmed, Algeria). Stamps are different, however showing two identical historical monuments, but date of issue is the same.
Correction to be updated in the catalogue: Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) provided a copy of the first day cover from Qatar with the stamp issued jointly with Georgia. The official issue date for Qatar is August 27, 2023, which is by far different from the date of issue of Georgia (June 18, 2023), and therefore needs for this issue to be reconsidered as Concerted [C] and not Twin [T] as described up to now in the catalogue.
Jorge Semprun (1923-2011) was honored by two stamps released by France and Spain respectively on November 20, 2023 and November 22, 2023. Both stamps look very similar as rtaken during the same photo shooting session. However none of the two postal administrations consider this issue as joint and no common event, common FDC was organized. The issue will be described in the catalogue but as Not-approved issue, in italics and gray color [N20231120].
Finally, the official issue of the Panama stamp joint with SMOM is December 4, 2023, not December 6 as erroneously reported in the catalogue (Information confirmed by Enzo Cafaro, Italy)
The catalogue pages will be updated with all this information by beginning of 2024.
A surprise joint issue was released by India Post and Oman Post on December 15, 2023, commemorating India and Oman’s friendship. The joint stamp depicts “Al Razha”, a traditional Oman dance form characterized by its graceful movements, intricate footwork and the use of swords. On the other stamp face, the Indian cultural dance depicted is “Dandiya Rass”, a popular folk dance from Gujarat, India, known for its energetic and rhythmic movements performed by both men and women in their native costumes using sticks. The stamps were released during the official visit of His Excellency Sultan Haitham bin Tariq to India (Information provided by Souvik Ghatak, India and Kenneth Sequeira, Singapore).
A joint issue between Panama and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) was under discussion for a long time with proposals for issue dates fluctuating over the past months. Eventually, the stamps were issued. The SMOM stamps were released on October 26, 2023, which was also given initially as first day of issue for the Panama stamp. However, the official ceremony is now scheduled to take place in Rome on December 4, 2023, which could become the official date of issue of the Panama stamp as well, even if first day cancellations from October 26, 2023 have already been seen. We will need to confirm the first date of issue for both countries within the next days or weeks. At least, in the meantime, we can provide pictures of the stamps. SMOM has take the same design but, it was divided in three vertical stamps with quite a high denomination each. Thanks to Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands), Enzo Cafaro (Italy), Eric Contesse (France) for information and exchanges over several months about this issue.
Following the large number of stamps issued at the occasion of the Tanzanian PAPU building inauguration (see previous post), almost the same countries (with stamps produced at the same central place) joined the World Post Day series issued on October 9, 2023 [B20231009]. To the original short list including Egypt and Sri Lanka, one has now to add the following countries: Central African Republic, Djibouti, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone and Togo. Each of these countries issued a stamp in miniature sheets of 8 stamps [4×2] and a souvenir sheet with a single stamp, all available as perforated and non-perforated products. On top of this, a miniature sheet of 4 pairs of se-tenant stamps including in the following order Liberia, Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone was produced. In the same way described for the PAPU stamps in the previous post, the large number of products from these additional countries must also be considered as abusive, but these stamps will be reported in the catalogue for those collectors who are still interested.
From Uri Barlev (Israel): On December 12, 2023, a joint issue involving Israel and Guatemala will be released. The issue topic shows lakes, the Israeli Lake of Galilee (the Kinneret) and the Guatemalan Lake Atitlan. Uri was able to provide the first images of the Israeli stamp as well as the FDC. Thanks Uri.
At the beginning of the year 2024, China (PR), Hong Kong and Macau will celebrate the new year of the dragon with a se-tenant souvenir sheet [S] including four stamps from each postal administration (information provided by Wayne Chen, USA).
Additional news: following an exchange with the Hungarian Post, Kenneth Sequeira (Dubai) was confirmed of the cancellation of the Hungaria – India joint issue dedicated to the Art of Amrita Sher-Gil and initially scheduled to be issued during the fourth quarter of 2023.
The catalogue pages in Vol I and XV will be updated with all this new information within the next three days.
Nightlights, river-front historic buildings, Grand Palace of Bangkok, the Chao Phraya River and the Royal Barge are depicted on the Thai left part while, the Buda Castle and the Danube appear in the Hungarian right part of these very nice stamps from Hungary and Thailand. The margin of the Hungarian souvenir sheet shows also the same main buildings at daylight. This joint issue was released on November 29, 2023, by both countries in form of souvenir sheets at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relationship.
On November 28, 2023, Azerbaijan and Belarus issued nice stamps related to local crafts. On one side, stamps show straw weaving with pieces made in 1979, on the other side, pieces of copper crafts from the 19th century are displayed. The particularity of this issue is the diamond shape of the stamps which are sold in miniature sheets of 4, also with a larger diamond-shaped sheet containing a pair of both stamps and illustrated with other pieces of local crafts.
Joint Stamp Issues 
You must be logged in to post a comment.