Don Birschel (USA) confirmed the existence of the Albania – Kosovo joint issue by providing the first picture of the Albania souvenir sheet. Unfortunately, so far no official information is available from the Albanian side. By exploring further, we found out that a cover looking like a first day and dated April 27, 2023 became also available on eBay. The Kosovo stamp was issued in miniature sheets of 4 on February 17, 2023. Even if this cover does not bear the words ‘First Day’, it could at least confirm that this issue must be considered as Concerted and not Twin [C20230217]. Any additional information is welcome.
Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) continues to create mixed FDCs and recently he was able to provide a mixed cover from the [C20221207] Georgia – Italy mixed first day cover and the one involving Armenia and Russia corresponding to the issue [T20220830].
We learned also that in 2024, at the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the UPU, a joint issue will be produced with an identical design (competition is open) and the date of this issue will probably be centered around October 9, 2024. Knowing the number of member countries of the UPU (192 so far), this could become the largest joint issue ever. Call to participant countries was launched.
Still waiting for news from the India – Vietnam joint issue supposed to be released on April 23, 2023 (local fighting sports. We just had access to the design of the Vietnamese stamps. Any additional information is welcome.
Additional information provided during this month, not reported so far in other posts:
Eventually, both Don Birschel (USA) and Souvik Ghatak (India) found the Indian counterpart of the Luxembourg souvenir sheet of the joint issue between the two countries, already described in an earlier post. The Indian souvenir sheet was released at the same date, namely March 14, 2023.
From Adam Paish, UK: The discovery in March 2022 of the wreck of the Endurance, the barquentine that carried Ernest Shackleton and his crew on the ill-fated 1914-1917 Trans-Antarctic Expedition, is commemorated on a series of joint British Antarctic Territory – Falkland Islands – South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands Territorial/Parallel [PD] stamp issued on March 27, 2023. The ship sank in October 1915, having been crushed by sea ice in the Weddell Sea before the expedition could begin. There are two stamps (issued in sheets of ten) and one souvenir sheet for each territory.
Also from Adam Paish, UK: On March 13, 2023, the British Antarctic Territory and South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands each released four stamps and a single-stamp souvenir sheet with images from the BBC’s Frozen Planet II television documentary series. The standard sheet stamps are issued only in pictorial single-denomination sheetlets of four. These stamps are also filed as a Territorial/Parallel [PD] issue. The BBC logo remains the only common item linking all stamps.
On March 29, 2023, Liechtenstein and Switzerland issued as scheduled the stamps related to the 100th anniversary of customs agreement binding both countries. Each country issued two stamps representing either the first lines of the contract text or the flags of both countries separated by a zip fastener. Liechtenstein issued also three postal stationeries (postal cards), but without common design. Mixed covers and mixed cards became available.
From Souvik Ghatak (India) and Kenneth Sequeira (Singapore): A surprise issue was announced involving India and Vietnam that were planning to release a joint stamp issue on traditional martial art, Kalaripayattu (India) and Vovinam (Vietnam). The original date of release was supposed to be February 28, 2023 but the issue was postponed to a later stage. In the meantime, a copy of the Vietnamese side of the joint issue became already available. A new release date was set at March 29, 2023, but no news is available from India and this date was postponed again to April 23, 2023. More details will come soon.
Eric Contesse (France) and Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) were wondering if the two stamps illustrated below have to be recognized as joint. They were issued at the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the declaration of independence of Kosovo and are identical. The Kosovo stamp was issued on February 17, 2023 in miniature sheets of 4 stamps [2×2]. Unfortunately, no information is available from Albania so far. Any help is welcome.
The following information has been added to or modified in the new version of Volume 15 (Vol 15 V4.04):
Update of the list of older issues i.e., Cuba – North Korea from August 29, 2020 [T20200829] (integrated in Volume 14 V4.02),
The above mentioned British Antarctic Territories – South Georgia [D20230313] and British Antarctic Territories – Falkland Islands – South Georgia [D20230327] stamps, as well as India – Luxembourg [T20230314] and Liechtenstein – Switzerland [T20230329] have been integrated in the catalogue
The information related to complete descriptions (Table of topics, table of countries) of new sets of joint issues is also dispatched in Vol 1 V4.03. Note that the page “Philatelic resources” is constantly updated to maintain the most accurate level (which is not easy, corrections and additions are welcome) and changes will not be reported here.
Don Birschel (USA) collected all information relative to the Euromed 2022 stamps, topic submarine archeology, which started to appear at different countries’ post offices since July 8, 2022. The collection is not complete yet, but he was able to provide most of the illustrations of the following countries:
Croatia (July 11 – 1 stamp, issued 30,000; ancient city of Pula-Pola, amphitheater) – Cyprus (July 11 – 1 stamp) – France (July 8 – 1 stamp, [5×3], 495,000; West Giraglia 2, submarine excavations, Cap Corse) – Greece (July 11 – 2 se-tenant stamps and souvenir sheet with 2 pairs of stamps, as well as a booklet with two pairs; [2px4], [1px2] and [2px1]) – Malta (July 11 – 2 stamps, 100,000 and 30,000; Citadella Victoria, Gozo and Phoenician shipwreck site, Xiendi Bay, Gozo) – Montenegro (July 12 – 1 stamp printed 40,000, in miniature sheet of 8 stamps [3×3] with central label; coin of King Ballaios (2nd century BC) – Morocco (July 11 – 1 stamp; view of Titwan) – Portugal (July 11 – 2 stamps; 2x[5×4], 2×75,000) – Slovenia (July 11 – 1 stamp, ancient city of Ajdovscina; [5×5]) – Spain (July 11 – 1 stamp; [4×4]; 134,000) – Tunisia (July 11 – 2 stamps; [5×4] and [4×5]; child paintings of Tastur and Takruma) – Turkey (July 9).
Although normally issued at time of printing this page, we are still missing detailed information from Cyprus , Morocco, Spain and Turkey. We know that Bosnia Herzegovina will issue its stamp only on November 15, 2022. Eventually, compared to previous years, we could also expect participation from the following countries: Albania, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine.
On top of this, the Albania Euromed 2021 stamps were issued on May 11, 2022. (block of four, issued 4,000, [b4x2]). Albania Euromed 2022 may become available only in 2023.
On December 22, 2021, both Albania and Slovenia issued the same design souvenir sheet including two stamps representing islands on lakes. This issue is entitled Ecotourism. The Slovenia souvenir sheet was shown earlier. Here is the picture of the Albanian souvenir sheet provided by Enzo Cafaro (Italy).
Don Birschel (USA) was just able to provide the first image of the Slovenia souvenir sheet to be issued with Albania on next December 22, 2021. This image looks very similar to the first picture seen for the Albanian souvenir sheet (see earlier), so leading to a true Twin Issue.
Enzo Cafaro (Italy) provided also information about two not yet reported joint issues to be released this year, namely Croatia – Poland on December 2, 2021 and Albania – Slovenia on December 22, 2021. More information to come, but in the meantime, here are the first images from the Croatia stamp FDC and the Albania FDC (out of program issue confirmed by Slovenia). Still no news from the announced Albania – Ukraine issue for 2021.
Joint Stamp Issues 
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