Argentina

Train, medals and cows

by Richard Zimmermann

Belarus and Russia finally released the stamps celebrating the “Memory train cultural and educational project”. This issue that was announced several times with date of issue that changed from May 6 to April 17, 2025. Finally stamps became available on April 18, 2025. The identical stamps represent the train and are produced in miniature sheets of 12 [3×4] for Russia and miniature sheets of 6 [2×3] for Belarus.

‘The Memory Train is a Russian-Belarusian cultural and educational project aimed at uniting young people from different countries, forming a respectful attitude and understanding of the significance of the heroic feats of previous generations, and introducing them to the culture and traditions of neighboring countries. Participants of the Memory Train set off on a journey along a route that includes visits to hero cities, memorial complexes, museums, places of military glory and other memorable places. The Memory Train helps to preserve the connection between generations, passing the baton of memory from veterans to young people who will become the guardians of this history in the future’.

The second Belarus-Russia joint issue of April 25, 2025 is dedicated to the ‘80th Anniversary of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War’. Both souvenir sheets have a completely different design. Russia has also released the souvenir sheet in a numbered embossed version (Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands).

On May 7, 2025, Liechtenstein and Switzerland issued a series of new crypto stamps as a joint issue (information provided by Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands). The stamps of both countries are different but form a continuous image when placed next to each other. They represent landscapes of both countries with half a cow head each. The cow is available in 6 colors, green issued at 7,500 samples in each country among which 2,500 were used in combined mixed FDCs, blue at 3,250 samples (with 1,250 for FDCs), yellow 1,250 (250 FDCs), orange 300 (100 FDCs), pink 150 (30 in FDCs) and rainbow issued at 50 samples in each country among which 10 were taken to create mixed FDCs. Digitally, from the QR code, both stamps can later be combined into a whole that results in a moving cow on the screen. Sales prices are also proportional to the scarcity: while the official denomination is CHF 8.50 for all items, miniature sheets with green cows are sold at CHF 9.90 (about 10.60 €), blue at € 29, yellow at € 99, orange at € 199, pink at € 299 and rainbow at € 499. Mixed FDCs with the same color cows are sold between €29 for the green pair and €1,999 for the rainbow pair. A full series of mint stamps would amount to about € 2,000, and the full series of mixed FDCs would reach about € 4,200, but this is already impossible to complete as only green, blue and yellow stamps remain available for purchase, consequence of the very low printing runs.

These stamps will be reported in the catalogue for the completeness of information, but the high prices and the low levels of production exclude them from being considered as ‘normal’ items for collection, like for all previous crypto stamps issued so far. We do not recommend to buy them as they have been produced mainly for speculation purpose. They are more to be considered for coin/currency collectors than for stamp collectors, also as they will never be found on a mail that will have really circulated (for which they are normally intended). The fact that at the time of writing, all 7,500 samples of the green cow stamps have not been sold, demonstrates clearly the absence of interest of philatelists for these products which eventually should not be labelled as ‘stamps’.

Just as a reminder: one can find on the net a mixed cover with Panama (April 3, 2024) and Vatican (May 21, 2024) stamps that is presented as a mixed joint issue. While being a nice joint cover, the stamps on this item have not been accepted as joint issue and are filed under ‘non-accepted issue’ [N20240403] in the catalogue.

Enzo Cafaro (Italy) could confirm that the Argentina – Qatar issue is joint on the basis of an identical stamps., Argentina had issued its stamp on January 31, 2025 and Qatar released a souvenir sheet with one stamp on May 7, 2025. The issue is to be considered as Concerted and described in the catalogue under [C20250131].

If you are looking for updated information from India, our friend Rakhel Dash holds a blog “Indian Philately Watch – April 2025 Highlights – The Philatelist” that provides information about the latest issues from this country.

Eventually, the Philippines conterpart of the Moroccan joint issue fron April 10, 2025, was also discovered. The quality of this first image is not as good as expected, but at least it confirms that the issue can be considered as twin (or concerted, as the date of issue of the Philippines stamps needs to be confirmed). The Philippines stamps were issued as se-tenant pairs available in a miniature sheet containing two pairs. Any additional information about this pair of Philippines stamps is welcome.

A China PR – Indonesia 75th anniversary of relationship commemorative joint issue whad been announced to be issued during April 2025. The Indonesia souvenir sheet was released, but, by beginning of May 2025, China had not announced anything in relation with Indonesia. Taking in account the shape and type of the Indonesian product, there are great chances that this will not translate in a real joint issue on the Chinese side. In the meantime, here is already the picture of the Indonesian souvenir sheet that was recently released.

All the above information has been integrated in the updated version Vol XVI V6.03 of the catalogue.

New discovery from 2023

by Richard Zimmermann

To our great surprise, George Adi reported a joint issue that was not described so far and dated back 2023. At the occasion of the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relationship, Türkiye (Turkey) and Qatar issued the same stamp representing the figure “50” and a logo (flower and sand rose). The Turkish stamp was released on September 27, 2023, while the Qatari stamp became available on November 5, 2023. Both stamps were released in form of same shape miniature sheets containing five stamps [(2×2)+1]. This new issue will be described in the catalogue under the entry code [C20230927]. Congratulations and thanks a lot, George.

It is quite difficult to find information from Qatar. On January 31, 2025, Argentina released also a stamp celebrating the 50 years of relationship with Qatar. This Argentina stamp could be one half of a joint issue, but information from Qatar is missing. Any help here is welcome. In the meantime, you will find below the picture of the Argentinian stamp. It may be possible that the Qatari stamp will be released only in a couple of months from now.

Update December 2024

by Richard Zimmermann

Over the past weeks, two new joint issues became available:

The 40th anniversary of the Peace treaty between Argentina and Chile “1984-2024”, was celebrated by identical stamps issued on November 25, 2024 by Chile and November 29, 2024 by Argentina. Stamps represent the figure “40” with the colors of the national flags. In 1984, the Vatican State played the role of mediator during the process that led to the signature of this treaty. This is the reason why Vatican is also involved in this joint issue, but with a different stamp issued on November 25, 2024. The Vatican stamp represents Pope John-Paul II signing the treaty on November 29, 1984.

On December 6, 2024, Belarus and Russia commemorated the 25th anniversary of the signature of the Union State Foundation Treaty with an identical stamp showing both flags. For each country, stamps were produced in miniature sheets of 8 stamps and one label [3×3] and one souvenir sheet containing a single stamp.

Among the issues that were postponed, we have to note the Bosnia Herzegovina (Bosnia) – Indonesia stamps celebrating the 25 years of the Istiklal Mosque in Sarajevo, originally scheduled for October 4, 2024, now expected to be released on October 3, 2025.

Additionally, I would like to share with you that, during the Chicagopex Exhibition 2024 (November 23), this blog obtained the Large Vermeil medal in the Literature Palmares (category Digital). In the same category, the on line Joint Stamp Issues Catalogue obtained another Large Vermeil medal. This result was achieved also thanks to all the remote contributors and joint issue enthusiasts who participated to the collection of information.

UPU 150th anniversary

by Richard Zimmermann

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations and facilitates a uniform worldwide postal system. It comprises 192 member states and is headquartered in Bern, Switzerland. It was established on October 9, 1874, exactly 150 years ago.

Since more than one year, we know that this anniversary will be celebrated with a stamp which common design was proposed by UPU. In the past, the 75th (1949) UPU anniversary was celebrated, but in a non-coordinated way, mainly by colonial entities (British, Dutch and French – D19490704, D19491001, D19491010, D19491018) and the 100th (1974) anniversary with stamps that remained different for all participating countries (N19741009). The same situation happened in 1999, with absence of concertation for the 125th anniversary celebration (N19991009). Eventually, so far, only the 145th anniversary in 2019 (T20191009b) could be considered as a Twin issue.

During this year of 2024, a very large number of countries are participating. In the strict sense, this has to be considered as a true joint issue, even if there was no real cooperation between countries, but a proposal of a design accepted by most of them and translated in a locally adapted stamp, for a large part of them issued at the anniversary date. It is not an Omnibus series, as Omnibus is defined by a central printing, not by the large number of participating countries. The 2024 stamps will be reported in the catalogue as a Twin issue under [T20241009]. It is easily understandable that some joint issues collectors do not integrate such large series in their collection, in the same way Europa-CEPT stamps are not acceptable for them. Each individual collector has to decide on the basis of the following.

In the catalogue, the countries will be divided in subgroups:

  • A: the countries which take the exact original design proposed by UPU and issue the stamp(s) on October 9, 2024 (or actually around this date, plus or minus a week, roughly between October 1 and October 17, 2024), according to the definition of a twin issue [T]
  • B: the countries which take the exact original design but issue the stamp at a different date. It should not be surprising if some countries may issue their stamp in 2025 or even 2026. This is the equivalent of a Concerted issue [C]
  • C: the countries which use only a part of the design, actually integrating only the “150” logo and add some other illustrations. This logo can appear within the stamp, or on the margin of a souvenir sheet or within a label. Those stamps are also considered as twin or concerted issues of Type [T2] or [C2]
  • D: the countries which use a completely different design, but still issue their stamp(s) around October 9, 2024. This is the equivalent of a Parallel issue [P]. In this case, the original logo may appear on the stamp, but at a size that remains smaller than the half of the surface of the stamp
  • E: finally the countries that do not want to stick to design and date, and work on their own, just referring to the UPU anniversary. These countries are simply listed, without details, as they cannot be considered as joint [N].

We will have again to take care of stamps that are created by agencies that are producing stamps for certain countries but which have been given the freedom to issue stamps without a real control from the reference countries. These stamps are easily recognized by the number of stamps issued in a series and they are produced to fool collectors. In order to better identify these stamps and because they remain real stamps but never reach the originating country, they will be reported in the catalogue, but in italics. In the same way, some other stamps such as the French stamp with a full common logo are of private origin (personalized stamp) that cannot be considered as part of this joint issue either. This will be true for any other privately produced stamp from other countries, if any, and also described in italic characters.

The countries for which we already have information are reported below. If a date between brackets is missing behind the country name, this means that this stamp(s) was issued on October 9, 2024. If the content of the brackets remains empty, this means that the exact issue date is not known yet. A large number of images were provided by Enzo Cafaro (Italy). The following list is of course not yet complete.

Countries of type A (Twin [T1]): Algeria – Andorra (French) (October 10) – Andorra (Spanish) – Armenia – Bangladesh – Belarus – Bosnia Herzegovina (Bosnia) – Brazil – China (PR) – Croatia – Cyprus – Dominican Republic – Greece – Guernsey – India – Indonesia – Ivory Coast – Jordan – Latvia – Lithuania (October 4) – Mauritius – Moldova – Myanmar – Paraguay – Peru – Romania – Sri Lanka – Thailand – Turkmenistan (October 8) – Ukraine – United Arab Emirates

Countries of type B (Concerted [C1]): Argentina (August 28) – Azerbaijan (February 1) – Burundi (September) – Central Africa (September) – Djibouti (September) – Georgia (June 1) – Guinea (September) – Guinea-Bissau (September) – Liberia (September) – Mali (September) – Monaco (May 30) – Mongolia (September 25) – Sierra Leone (September) – Togo (September)

Countries of type C (Twin or concerted [T2] or [C2]): Bosnia (Serbia) – Egypt () – France (October 14) – Hong Kong – Hungary (July 24) – Isle of Man (August 30) – Japan – Kyrgyzstan (October) – Luxembourg (September 10) – Macau – Malaysia – Morocco – Pakistan – Portugal – San Marino – Saudi Arabia () – Singapore – Slovenia – Spain – Syria – Tunisia – Türkiye – Uruguay – Uzbekistan () – Vietnam

Countries of type D (Parallel issue [P]): Australia (October 1) – Austria (October 4) – Brunei Darussalam () – Bulgaria – Czech Republic – French Polynesia – Germany (October 10) – Macedonia (North) – Mexico – Montenegro – Qatar () – Russia – Slovakia – Switzerland (September 5) – Tajikistan (May) – Vatican (September 16) – Wallis and Futuna

Countries of type E (not considered as joint): Belgium (June 10) – Serbia (May 25) – United Nations – Geneva (May 30) – United Nations – New York (May 30) – United Nations – Vienna (May 30).

So far, 86 countries are listed above to which one has to add 2 postal authorities that have issued stamps that cannot be considered as joint (Type E – United Nations offices are not taken in account as countries, UPU being a sub-unit of the United Nations). The UPU counts presently 192 members, which means information from 106 countries (!) is missing. Obviously there will be an update of this page. A great help is needed here to recover information from other participating countries. We are also missing better quality images for stamps from Ivory Coast and Ukraine. Thanks a lot in advance for providing name of missing countries, exact dates of issue, and when possible illustrations, printing runs, sizes of panels and by-product lists.

The catalogue pages should be updated within the next week.

Re-exploring Colombia

by Richard Zimmermann

On July 29, 2024, Argentina issued a pair of stamps depicting whales (Southern right whale – Eubalena australis and Humpback whale – Megaptera novaangliae) and entitled ‘200 years of Argentina – Colombia relationship’. Indeed, these stamps are the counterpart of the Colombia pair issued on December 29, 2023, based on the same design. As a consequence, this issue must be considered as a concerted issue that was recently completed and it will be described in the catalogue under the entry code [C20231229], added to the year 2023 section. Colombia issued 25,000 stamps in miniature sheets of two se-tenant pairs. Argentina issued stamps in panels of 12 stamps.

In parallel, Don Birschel (USA) provided an additional information about a Colombia – Peru issue that was missed so far. On May 27, 2022, Colombia issued at the occasion of 200 years of relationship with Peru, a miniature sheet with 4 different stamps showing a) the archeological site of Moray, Cusco, Peru, b) the Caño Cristales, river in the the Macarena mountains, Meta, Colombia, c) a llama and d) a sloth. It appears that Peru issued at the same occasion, but only on November 30, 2022, two se-tenant stamps with the same designs as the two first Colombian stamps (a and b). Of course, these stamps must be considered as a concerted issue and will be added to the catalogue under the entry [C20220527] in the year 2022 section.

By further exploring the “4-72” Colombia web site, it appeared that Colombia issued in 2022 and 2023, on top of the Argentina-Colombia joint issue, a series of relationship stamps that in theory could have led to additional concerted issues. These stamps celebrate relationship anniversaries between Colombia and Egypt (February 23, 2022), the United States (May 2, 2022), South Korea (May 6, 2022), Germany (May 8, 2022), Chile (December 29, 2022), Barbados (December 18, 2023) and Canada (December 22, 2023). To our knowledge, no counterpart stamps have been issued, but information from some remote countries such as Egypst of Barbados is often difficult to find.

In the same way, Peru issued, over the past years, stamps related to different relationship anniversaries with India (August 26, 2022), Guatemala (2022), Ecuador (October 23, 2023), Japan (November 13, 2023), and South Korea (November 13, 2023), but none resulted (so far and to our knowledge) in a joint issue (except the Peru-Poland issue already described in the catalogue as N20230927). Uruguay issued stamps in honor of relationship with Japan (July 27, 2021), Czech and Slovak Republic (November 17, 2021), Vietnam (April 27, 2023) and Chile (November 1, 2023). Paraguay issued stamps for relations with South Korea (June 28, 2022) and Mexico (October 3, 2023).

When doing such a screening with Chilean recently issued stamps, it appears that this country celebrated relationship anniversaries with Canada (November 18, 2021), Peru (December 2022), and the United States (January 27, 2023) without counterpart. All these stamps must be considered as unilateral issues and should not be reported in the catalogue unless a counterpart is found. This counterpart is not necessarily a stamp but could be postal stationery, like in the Peru-Poland N20230927 issues, even much more difficult to find. Any additional information from all these countries is welcome.

Latest news – December 2022

by Richard Zimmermann

A series of new information has come to our attention over the recent weeks thanks to Enzo Cafaro (Italy), Don Birschel (USA), Kenneth Sequeira (Singapore), Grzegorz Smialkowski (Poland) and Ali Ahmed Med Achour (Algeria).

The picture of the Argentinian stamps issued jointly with Poland became available. These stamps were issued on November 25, 2022, the same day as the Polish stamps, but it took all this time to get the information. Poland issued stamps in miniature sheets of 4 pairs of se-tenant stamps, while Argentina issued panels of 4 strips of two se-tenant pairs separated by a label showing the logo of the 100th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between both countries.

In a same way, Enzo Cafaro could eventually provide the information about the identical stamp produced by Mexico jointly with the Vatican State. Vatican stamps were released on November 16, 2022 (sheetlets of 10 stamps), but one had to wait until December 12, 2022 to see the Mexican stamp (sheets of 50).

Georgia and Poland have issued joint stamps to honor Georgian Theologian Grigol Peradze (1899-1942) who died in 1942 at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The stamps were released on December 6, 2022, for both countries in miniature sheets of 8 stamps.

Georgia is also involved in a joint issue with Azerbaijan issued on December 7, 2022. This issue is celebrating the 30 years of diplomatic relations between both countries, also in miniature sheets of 8 stamps each.

We found also two new countries to add to the World Postal day series from October 9, 2022, on one side Indonesia (detailed information still missing) and on the other Saudi Arabia which issued 5,000 stamps in miniature sheets of 6. We have now reached 24 participating countries, and the list does not seem complete yet. Presently, it includes: [2022 (October 9)]: Argentina – Belarus – Bosnia Herzegovina – Cambodia – Central African Republic – Colombia () – Croatia – Djibouti – Egypt – Fiji (September 22) – Guinea Bissau – Iraq () – Mexico – Russia (October 7) – Saudi Arabia – Serbia (October 7) – Sierra Leone () – Sri Lanka – Syria – Thailand – Tunisia – Turkey and Venezuela (). Empty brackets need to be filled with the precise dates of issue.

It seems that the Arab Postal Union has agreed to issue a common stamp celebrating the Soccer World Champion Cup in Qatar, based on a Qatari design, but even if this event is reaching its end (December 18, 2022), very little is known about it at this stage. Hopefully moreto say next time.

Among the new series to be released during year 2023 we have to add Cambodia – Korea (South) (February 10), China – Spain (March), India – Korea (South) (July 28), Korea (South) – Switzerland (September 7) and Hungary – Thailand (October 24). Of course, more to come as well.

Finally, I would like also to mention a new address of a blog I came accross while evaluating the new joint Crypto/NFT stamps, namely Bitter Grounds Magazine, written by Catpaw, which gives news about stamps from the year but also some stamp programs for 2023, and provides a weekly newsletter. An interesting source of information. Congratulations to Catpaw.

Retorno 50th Anniversary

by Richard Zimmermann

This issue was anticipated, but it is so difficult nowadays to get information from Argentina Post (their web site is only occasionnaly updated with news while the chapter stamps is on hold since 2017). Any suggestion of good link is welcome.

Anyway, Don Birschel (USA) and Enzo Cafaro (Italy) provided at the same time the confirmation that Argentina had eventually released at the expected date of November 17, 2022 the counterpart of the stamp released by Spain on September 14, 2022. The date of September 17, 2022 corresponds to the 50th anniversary of the return (Retorno) from Spain of Juan Domingo Peron to Argentina, his home country. Both countries have issued a same design stamp (portrait), hence a Concerted issue [C1], in miniature sheets of 16 stamps.

Monthly news (November 2022)

by Richard Zimmermann

Additional information related to the World Postal Day issue from October 9, 2022, [B20221009]: two new countries have to be added. First Iraq issued a stamp at a date that still needs to be confirmed, but probably also October 9, 2022. The second one, Venezuela, issued a stamp in miniature sheets of 6 (date of issue and high quality picture are missing). There are high chances that the list of presently 22 countries is still not complete. Additional information is welcome.

Note also that the Mexican stamp has been issued in panes of 50 stamps, but the miniature sheet of 6 stamps that was issued in parallel in fact contains 6 different stamps with heading in 6 different languages. The stamp in the middle of the first row (Spanish language) is the one issued in panes. As in items seen so far a printing number is added at the bottom right of each sheet, it seems that less than 1,000 miniature sheets have been printed.

Extension of the Austria Netherland crypto stamp from September 22, 2022. Another pair of joint crypto stamp was issued on November 22, 2022. This is the gold form of the previously issued crypto stamps, provided each with a 1g golden bar embedded in the card. The denomination is “R” for the Netherlands (999 samples), but “500,00” for the Austrian stamp (499 samples) sold at € 500. It is without saying that except if you are a collector of crypto stamps, we absolutely do not recommend to buy this item as part of the joint issues collection. With this low edition number, it is simply a product to fool collectors and the high price must be considered as a high risk investment. However, the product will be described in the catalogue in italic characters without providing a quotation. (as a reminder, the real value of a 1g bar of gold is estimated today at around €54)

There are still a few joint issues to be released before end of the year. We learned (Enzo Cafaro, Italy) that the Mexico counterpart of the Vatican State stamp already released on November 16, 2022 should become available on December 12, 2022. Enzo provided also first information about a Poland – Argentina joint issue released by Poland on Novemeber 25, 2022, for which we are still missing information from the Argentinian part. The Polish se-tenant stamps represent the Rufous hornero (Furnarius rufus), national bird of Argentina and the Crestet tit (Lophophanes cristatus).

The Catalogue Volume XV has been updated accordingly and the information has been dispatched as usually in Volume I.

Argentina – Chile – Mexico

by Richard Zimmermann

Enzo Cafaro (Italy) provided the images of two stamps issued on October 22, 2022 by Mexico, entitled “Characters of history: Poetry. Portrait of characters or Christian rite”. The first one is dedicated to Gabriel Mistral (1889-1957) and bears the words “Mexico – Chile”. The other one honors Berta Singerman (1907-1998) with the text “Mexico-Argentina”. It took us more than a month before Don Birschel (USA) discovered information about the identical stamps issued by Argentina and Chile. In fact, this is a double joint issue from Mexico in which this country issued two stamps with the same style, in coordination with both other countries, while Argentina and Chile are not linked with each other. Argentina issued one stamp on October 26, 2022 in panes of 16 stamps [4×4]. Chile issued one stamp on October 25, 2022 in panes of 32 stamps [4×8], printed at 50,000 samples. The stamps of Mexico became available in panes of 28 stamps [4×7] and were both printed at 50,000 samples. Surprisingly, the cancellation of the Mexican first day cover bears the month of October 2022, but not the exact day. In the meantime, we have no other choice than to use the date of issue of the partner country. The announcement of the issue by Mexico was made on October 22, 2022.

The illustrations are 1922-1923 dated paintings from the Mexican painter Roberto Montenegro (1887-1968).

Don Luigi Orione’s 150th birthday

by Richard Zimmermann

Luigi Orione was born into a poor family at Pontecurone, Italy, 150 years ago, on June 23, 1872. He became priest and founded the catholic religious congregations ‘Sons of Divine Providence’ (1899) and ‘Little Missionary Sisters of Charity’ (1915). He died on March 12, 1940. On October 26, 1980, he was beatified by Pope John Paul II. Nearly 24 years later, he was canonized by that same pope, on May 16, 2004. He is the Patron Saint of the Abandoned.

On May 16, 2022, the postal administrations of Italy, Vatican and Argentina, but also the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, issued each the same stamp showing a portrait painted by Raul Berzosa (born 1979). Each country issued the stamp in miniature sheets of 4 stamps. Only Argentina issued a smaller square size stamp. The painting shows several symbols related to Don Luigi Orione’s life and holiness. He created several missions abroad, including in Argentina (1921), hence the link with this country.

Mixed first day cover became available the first day, but so far do not include Argentina.