Bosnia (Croatia)

Independence, kingdom and doves

by Richard Zimmermann

New information about joint stamp issues was gathered over the past weeks:

Sudan is a country to be added to the joint issue already involving Algeria, Egypt and Tunesia, celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Arab League (1945-2025) and that is described under [T20250522]. The exact date of issue of the Sudanese stamp is unknown, but probably the same as for the other countries, namely May 22, 2025 (information provided by Kenneth Sequeira, Singapore).

Same additional information regarding the AICEP issue from May 13, 2025: Guinea-Bissau is also a country to be added to Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Macau and Portugal that have issued identical stamps at the same date. Guinea-Bissau issued one stamp in miniature sheets of 8 stamps [3×3] with central label and a souvenir sheet with a single stamp. We are still waiting for information about stamps from Mozambique, Sao Tome Principe and Timor.

On May 23, 2025, the 1100th anniversary of the Kingdom of Croatia and the coronation of King Tomislav was celebrated by the issue of identical stamps involving Bosnia Herzegovina (Mostar) and Croatia. This twin issue shows a bas-relief of the King Tomislav holding a scepter. BH Mostar issued the stamps in miniature sheets of 8 units ([3×3] including a central label) at only 5,000 samples, while Croatia issued 50,000 stamps in panes of 25 stamps and 5 labels [5×6].

The Dove of Peace project is progressing. Around September 20, 2025, ten to twelve European countries will issue an identical embroidered stamp with an equivalent denomination of about 10 Euros. Confirmation of participation is reported from Aland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Faroe Islands and Greenland. These countries are all part of the SEPAC (Small European Postal Administration Cooperation – https://www.sepacstamps.eu/) which every year since 2007, issues by end of the Summer, a series of stamps with a common topic. If this embroided stamp corresponds to the 2025 SEPAC issue, this will be the first time that the SEPAC countries agree on a twin issue. Other countries including Gibraltar, Iceland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Malta, Monaco or Vatican City could in this case also participate. Over the past year, there was always at least one country not participating, so there is no guarantee that all twelve countries will be involved. However, Austria and Armenia have also already announced their participation, so, in the best case it could become an extended SEPAC issue (without mention of the SEPAC word on the stamp). We also have to wait to complete the information about this new series (information provided by Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands).

The 50 years of independence of Cape Verde was celebrated commonly with Portugal on July 5, 2025, with the issue of two identical stamps. Only limited information is available so far from Cape Verde. The 50th anniversary of the independence of Angola will be celebrated on November 11, 2025 which could also result in an Angola – Portugal joint issue on that day.

Finally, we would like to thank Sherman Nassif (USA) for a financial donation that will help cover part of the web site fees.

All the above information was integrated in the catalogue Vol 16.

June 2025 news

by Richard Zimmermann

Complementary information came from diverse collectors over the past three weeks. They are reported here, without any sense of priority.

Wayne Chen (USA) came across a vast number of se-tenant sheets fabricated and sold by Stampera. The full list is available through the companies’ site using the search tool and the word ‘siamese’ (reminder: in the joint issues definition, this word has to be replaced by ‘se-tenant’) https://stampera.eu/stamps?search=Siamese&page=1. As mentioned several times in the past in these pages, products released by this company are true stamps, but produced only for collectors in small amounts, without topic related to the country, and at a very high number of sub-types (souvenir sheets, miniature sheets, perforated and not) also with very high denomination. They are not called cinderellas, just because they show a denomination. A collector who wants to buy the complete set of these ‘se-tenant’ products (35 different products have been identified so far) will have to spend at least € 1,900 (souvenir sheets, perforated and non-perforated, both mint or FDC, without taking in account individual isolated stamps). All these products are simply made to fool collectors and cannot be approved as true joint issue. With the new printing technologies, they are also suspected to be printed upon demand only, i.e., sheet by sheet, so there is no limitation in terms of printing runs. In this case, they will not be reported in the catalogue, but we wanted to bring this information to your attention.

All described products have been printed by associating in a same miniature sheet, stamps from up to 6 different countries, available normally in panes. Some examples are provided below.

Robert Schrijvers (Mongolia) talked with Mongol Post about the potential joint issue between India and Mongolia intended to celebrate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations (December 1955 ?). These relations were initiated on December 24, 1955. Robert has seen the Mongolian version, but was not allowed to take a picture. It depicts Mongolian (biyelgee) and Indian dances. Decision to release and date of issue are pending upon Indian Post agreement.  

Milan Csaplár (Slovakia) provided the design of the joint issue to be released in August 2025, by the Slovak Post and the Luxembourg Post, which is dedicated to King Sigismund of Luxembourg (640 years of the crowning of Sigmund of Luxembourg in Hungary).

Ali Allawati (Oman) points to an error in the catalogue regarding the image of the Oman stamp from the Oman–Singapore joint issue [T20250221]. This mistake appears in both the blog and the catalogue.
The image of the stamp currently shown is taken from the souvenir sheet, which does not display a denomination. The actual stamp is priced at 500 Baisa. The stamp on the souvenir sheet does not display a price. The souvenir sheet price can be seen in the bottom left corner of the souvenir sheet. Below, in the reproduction, you can see the differences between the two stamps, the second one taken from the souvenir sheet, next to the complete souvenir sheet with denomination in the margin. This mistake was corrected in the catalogue. Thanks Ali. 

Ali provided additionally, a corrected version of the image used for the Oman–Iran joint issue from May 27, 2025. In the previous blog page, the illustration contains an error at the level of the title at bottom right, in which ‘Grand’ was mistakenly spelled ‘Ground’. This is corrected in the final version and to our knowledge, no stamp with the mistake was released. Both souvenir sheets (design left with mistake and final, corrected, right) are reproduced below.  We are still missing information from Iran.

On the other hand, we are also waiting information about the Oman – Russia joint issue announced in the press for a release on April 22, 2025.

Kenneth Sequeira (Singapore) found the design of the next Peru –Türkiye joint issue to be released in the second half of 2025, to commemorate the 75 years of relationship. No idea if both stamps will show the same design.

The issues involving Bosnia Herzegovina (Croatia) and Bosnia Herzegovina (Serbia) commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Herzegovina uprising, translated in two different stamps, issued at two different dates respectively June 15 and June 19, 2025, but above all, without any joint character, i.e. not claimed as joint by the two postal authorities. These stamps are to be considered as a simple anniversary commemoration, around the same date, and will not be included in the catalogue.

The catalogues Vol 1 and Vol 16 have been updated accordingly.