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.
The issue of the Commissioning of the Pan-African Postal Union (PAPU) tower in Arusha, Tanzania was recently completed with a large series of new stamps from seven additional countries. This information was provided by Ali Ahmed Med Achour (Algeria) and Enzo Cafaro (Italy). Thanks to them.
So far, we had already listed Algeria, Egypt Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Almost all of them issued on September 2, 2023 (Catalogue [T20230902] with earlier details provided on page PAPU 2023). Burundi (issued November 9, 2023), Central Africa (October 9), Guinea (), Liberia (October 9), Niger (October 9), Sierra Leone (October 9) and Togo () are now new countries to be added to the previous list. Unfortunately, on the contrary to the first series which were all issued on the date of the inauguration, these stamps were produced centrally in a various and large number of different forms. Each of these additional countries released 4 different stamps available in panes of 20 stamps each, also in 4 different souvenir sheets with different denominations, in a single souvenir sheet with all four stamps, in an additional souvenir sheet showing a fifth stamp that takes together the four illustrations of the previous 4 stamps and in a miniature sheet including the 4 individual stamps as se-tenant pairs, together with the fifth stamp. Only Burundi limited the issue to 4 stamps and 4 souvenir sheets. These stamps and souvenir sheets are also available as perforated and imperforated. A full set of a single country, Liberia, is illustrated below (without showing the imperforated analogues).
The illustrations are showing African animals, such as mammals, birds, reptiles, butterflies or lezards, meaning the sales are not only targeting joint issue collectors, but also topical collectors. The illustrations below are limited to the individual 5 different stamps of all these six countries (Liberia’s illustrations being provided above), to show this diversity. Topical collectors may even be interested in the illustrations in the margins of the souvenir sheets, which are also different.
Not taking in account the panes, this represents 11 different products per country for an average sales’ price of about € 75 (Delcampe). Total for panes of 20 stamps for these 7 countries reaches an estimated € 1,100. Almost all this material is also available as imperforate sold at about twice this amount, as well as FDCs, also twice the amount, and even as FDCs of imperforate material at three times the original amount. On this basis, one can evaluate the cost of a full collection limited to these seven additional countries, including Burundi but with its limited number of products. For Guinea and Togo, which stamps are not yet for sale, but as illustrations for their products are already available, sales’ price are estimated at the same level. The total would correspond to an investment through Delcampe or eBay (imperforated included) of about € 4,400 and another € 1,400 for FDCs !!! If one calculates the total face value of these products on the basis of the denominations, this same total leads respectively to about € 3,000 and € 1,000. Up to you to decide to integrate these stamps in your collection or not.
Actually, all of these new countries products were created at the same central place. The number of products released by these countries is unacceptable, and these stamps have definitely to be considered as material abusing collectors. They are not recommended to be purchased. Unfortunately, these stamps have to be considered as official stamps, and therefore have to be reported in the catalogue, but the comment of this excess will be expressed there. Each collector has to decide which products he wants to integrate in his collection, but needs also to know that such stamps are rarely accepted in official philatelic exhibits and resale is close to impossible.
The India – Mauritius joint issue related to the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations was initially announced to be released by August 15, 2023. Eventually, the stamps became available in both countries on November 2, 2023 (Source Souvik Ghatak, India). To commemorate this anniversary, a common stamp reproducing the national birds was produced in panes, but also as a souvenir sheet with a single stamp. For India, the blue peacock (Pavo cristatus) is shown, while Mauritius has the Mauritius kestrel (Falco punctatus) as emblem. The peacock had already been used as symbol of the country by India in two previous joint issues, with France in 2003 and with Papua Guinea in 2017. So far, only low quality images of this issue are available.
The joint issue between Armenia and Belarus scheduled for quarter IV 2023 was officially issued on October 30, 2023. Stamps represent folk dances, respectively ‘Berd’ dance from Armenia and ‘Liavonikha’ dance from Belarus. Both countries issued two stamps in miniature sheets of 4 stamps and in a miniature sheet containing se-tenant pairs of stamps. Armenia issued 2×20,000 stamps while Belarus produced 2×40,000 stamps, i.e., respectively 5,000 and 10,000 miniature sheets of each stamp. The number of mixed miniature sheets is unknown.
Alike in 2022 [B20221009], UPU proposed a common design at the occasion of the World Post Day and interested countries could adapt and join. These stamps were discovered accidentally, when the first stamps issued by Egypt and Sri Lanka were released on October 9, 2023. This year only a limited number of countries did participate, but thelist is not complete yet and we are expecting discovering more of them. The design shows handshaking in violet and the size and structure of the stamp is similar as the one issued last year. The different adhering postal administrations could adapt the size and the language. This is not a true joint issue, but it will be described in the catalogue under the category Borrowed design [BD]. Other countries such as Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand, issued also one or two stamps at the same date, related to the World Post Day, with different designs. Those stamps cannot be considered as joint as they are just commemorating a same event.
From Enzo Cafaro (Italy): The ‘Endurance’ stamp series involving British Antarctic Territory, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and described so far under March 27, 2023 [D20230327] has in fact never been released and was postponed recently a new time. The description of these stamps had to be removed from the catalogue and is now available in the waiting list at the end of the catalogue.
Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) discovered a series of three Singapore aerogrammes belonging to the 1992 ASEAN series. This country issued these postal stationeries on top of the stamps they released the same day. Up to now, those items were not described in the catalogue and the update will appear under the heading [P19920808], year 1992, Volume 6. Thanks Jaap, for providing this missing information.
New information related to the Euromed 2023 issue [P20230710]: Jordan issued a 6-stamp sheetlet on September 10, 2023. (Source Jeff Courtright, USA). On October 20, 2023, Albania issued the 2022 (!) Euromed stamp [P20220711] (Source Enzo Cafaro, Italy).
From Adam Paish, UK: there is an unusualGuernsey Post Office stamp issue scheduled for release on November 3, 2023, a souvenir sheet which contains two stamps, one inscribed ‘Guernsey’ and the other ‘Alderney’, depicting their respective courthouses. It celebrates the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 1948 Transfer Agreement which saw Guernsey take over responsibility for most of Alderney’s public services. Stamps inscribed Alderney or Guernsey are valid on mail from all the islands of the Bailiwick: Guernsey (incorporating Herm), Alderney and Sark. This item will be considered as a Territorial Se-tenant issue [SD].
The first image of the Thailand stamp/souvenir sheet from the Hungary – Thailand joint issue to be released on November 29, 2023 was presented. This issue will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between both countries.
From Adam Paish, UK: The postal administrations of Ascension Island, the Bahamas, the British Antarctic Territory, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Tristan Da Cunha released a mini-omnibus commemoration for the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in the form of a set of four stamps in sheet format and one souvenir sheet containing a single stamp from each territory. The official date of issue was August 21, 2023 (for the Falklands and British Antarctic Territory stamps) and September 7, 2023, for those of the other territories. Other postal administrations (such as Bermuda, Saint Helena and Gibraltar) have also released similarly styled Coronation commemorative sets and/or souvenir sheets, but these are not part of this coordinated issue. This issue is reported in the catalogue as Parallel Omnibus series [OP] under the name [O20230907] and not detailed (as all omnibus series).
The postal services of the Eastern Caribbean states (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent And the Grenadines) have also announced events to mark the 40th anniversary of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), the central bank for the Eastern Caribbean dollar, which included a stamp design competition, and the winning designs – three values in all – were publicised widely in the regional media back in February. At the time, it was stated that each postal administration would issue the stamps in the denominations most used in its respective territory, and that they would be available in September or October 2023. The ECCB marked 40 years of service to the governments and people of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Community on October 1, 2023. However, there has been no recent news about the stamps: perhaps the project was quietly shelved ?
The stamps were on a waiting list since April 28, 2023, and, finally, they became officially available on October 16, 2023. Since beginning of the year, the India – Vietnam joint issue went through several hickups starting with the isolated release of the Vietnamese stamps at a single postal office on the official initial April 28 date, but was quickly retrieved from sale after apparently 4,000 samples were sold. In the meantime, India announced several intermediate release dates until it came to a real availability this week (Information provided simultaneously by Kenneth Sequeira, Singapore and Souvik Ghatak, India). As a consequence of this earlier accidental availability, this series will be filed as concerted issue [C] rather than Twin [T].
These stamps celebrate the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between both countries, which actually goes back to January 7, 2022, with illustrations of local fighting sports. Vietnam introduces the martial art Vovinam and India introduces the martial art Kalarippayattu. The Vietnamese stamps are available in panes (total 5,400 sets), booklet of 4 pairs, imperforate stamps (1,800 sets) and specimen overprinted stamps (1,300 sets). India has released stamps in panes and souvenir sheets, but details are awaited.
The month of September led to more new products than the whole preceeding Summer period including some surprising items, next to the already reported PAPU issue (7 countries), the China-Hong Kong – Macau series and the Switzerland – South Korea stamps.
Don Birschel, USA, reported about an unexpected joint issue between Guatemala and Mexico, released on September 18, 2023 and related to the 175th anniversary of their relationship. The stamps represent the Pyramid of the Sun, San Juan Teotihuacan, Mexico and the Tempel of the Great Jaguar, Tikal, Guatemala (pre-Columbian Maya civilization). Don provided the images, but we are still missing some details about the Guatemala stamps.
The 200th anniversary of the relationship between Argentina and Brazil translated into a stamp showing the Iguazu falls at the Brazilian-Argentinian border, issued on September 7, 2023, while Brazil released on September 29, 2023, a panel of 8 stamps showing Mafalda comics from the Argentinian artist Quino. Despite the common title, this issue cannot be considered as joint (different dates of issue, different designs, no claim as joint – information provided by Enzo Cafaro, Italy).
On September 26, 2023, San Marino issued a stamp related to the 15th anniversary of relationship with Mexico. No Mexican counterpart was seen so far, and probably nothing has to be expected from the mexican side.
More recently, on October 2, 2023, Slovakia issued, jointly with Azerbaijan, stamps at the occasion of their 30 years of relationship, the same day Slovakia issued stamps with the Czech Republic (see previous blog page). This series describes folk music styles illustrated with string instruments: the Terchova region music and the Mugham Azerbaijani folk music. Azerbaijan has issued the stamps apparently only as a souvenir sheet at only 5,000 samples (Information provided by Eric Contesse, France).
A new crypto stamp (NFT) joint issue, to be released during the month of October 2023 (probably on the 23rd), was announced involving Austria, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Stamps are similar. More details soon. For explanations about crypto stamps, see austria-netherlands-crypto-stamp.
There is still a problem with these new products: crypto stamps are always very expensive, their value is linked to crypto money that is fluctuating a lot over time (value of previous NFT stamps has dropped a lot recently) and above all, these so-called stamps are never used on real mail. To our opinion, they are more to be considered either as a piece of art or as a kind of currency, and seem to stay away from real philately (in terms of collecting items used to compensate for mail fees). Eventually, look like material to fool the collectors (abusive issues). Those stamps have to be reported in the catalogue as they are claimed as joint issue “stamps”, but there is no recommendation to buy them. On the other hand, a collection of such stamps on cancelled mail, i.e., for real non-philatelic mailing purpose, would be a real interesting topic. Apparently, in none of these countries, the denomination corresponds to a true postage fee and their use alone on a cover should not exist (except on FDC covers).
Czech Republic and Slovakia postal administration issue on October 2, 2023 a souvenir each at the occasion of the 30th anniversary of establishment of their postal administrations. This identical souvenir sheet shows the particularity that for one country the stamp with denomination is the label of the second country, and vice versa. This type of, still considered as a twin issue, is described under type [T4] in Volume I of the catalogue, and was observed already in the past with e.g., a joint issue involving Jersey and Guernsey [T19941001]. These souvenir sheets and stamps are also available as mixed covers.
The mixed FDC card proposed by the Slovak Post is in fact made of the strip of logos and stamp from each country (taken from the souvenir sheet) and first day cancelled from each country. Slovakia issued 60,000 samples of the souvenir sheet, but Czech Republic only 30,000.
Joint Stamp Issues 
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