China PR

November 2025 update

by Richard Zimmermann

Latest issues:

On November 6, 2025, PR China joined Samoa to issue stamps related to birds. Two identical stamps were issued by each country, showing the white horse chicken (Crossoptilon crossoptilon) and the tooth-billed dove (Didunculus strigirostris). Detailed information from Samoa is still missing and the Samoan stamps depicted below may only be a design and not the final one.

From November 9 to 21, 2025, China (PR), Hong Kong and Macau organized the 15th Chinese National Games held in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. These games were celebrated with stamps from each postal entity that became available on the opening day on November 9, 2025. China released three stamps representing artistic (synchronized) swimming, fencing and table tennis, in panes of 12 each (3x[3×4]), but also as a souvenir sheet containing two strips of the three stamps. Hong Kong issued four different stamps depicting rugby sevens and track cycling, fencing and beach volleyball, golf and triathlon (swimming, cycling, running), handball and basketball. These stamps were issued in panes of 25 stamps (4x[5×5]). Macao released four different stamps showing rugby sevens, basketball, table tennis and volleyball in form of blocks of 4 printed in panes with 4 blocks each, also in four different orders, so that the four se-tenant stamps can be collected either in blocks or in strips of 4 ([2b4x2]. Additionally, all these 11 stamps were printed also within a souvenir sheet, which leads to consider this issue as a Se-tenant issue [S20251109], similar to the Chinese astrological signs stamps issued by these same three postal entities at the beginning of each year (Eric Chan, USA).

On November 25, 2025, as scheduled, Luxembourg and the Vatican State joined to celebrate the 100 years of the Pontifical Institute for Christian Archeology – Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana (PIAC), with an identical stamp showing the portrait of Bishop Jean-Pierre Kirsch (1861-1941), the building of the historic headquarters on Via Napoleone III in Rome and the seal of the Institute showing the ‘Christ shepherd’. The PIAC was founded on December 11, 1925, by Pope Pius XI with the Apostolic Constitution Ad providentiam of March 2, 1925, and with the motu proprio “The Primitive Christian Cemeteries,” thanks also to the dedication of the Luxembourgish prelate Johann Peter Kirsch, who was its first Director (Eric Contesse, France and Enzo Cafaro, Italy).

At the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the relationship between Indonesia and the Vatican State, the Vatican issued a stamp on November 7, 2025, that has not yet found a counterpart in Indonesia. This stamp description is reported here primarely to obtain information out of Indonesia and to confirm that it will probably not lead to a joint issue.

From Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands: On May 7, 2025, Liechtenstein and Switzerland each issued a crypto stamp (Crypto CHLI) as a joint issue showing a cow and mountains, forming a continuous image when placed next to each other. The cow was available in 6 colors, with the rainbow cow having the lowest circulation (50) and the green cow the highest 7500. FDCs were also available, but in limited circulation: 10 copies with rainbow cows; 2500 copies with green cows. This issue was reported earlier.

Liechtenstein and Switzerland decided to extend this series with a similar crypto joint issue. On November 19, 2025, the so-called world’s first Christmas Crypto Stamp was released as an exclusive joint issue of Liechtenstein and Swiss Post (Crypto CHLI 2.0). The same six crypto cows from May 7, 2025 are now presented in a winter landscape. The stamps are embellished with glittering snowflakes. As you can imagine, these items, considered more as numismatic items than philatelic ones, even if they really can be used as stamps, look again like a lottery and have been created to fool collectors. Prices for individual items vary between 10 and 500 Swiss Francs (CHF) for stamps and between 30 and 2,000 CHF for mixed FDCs. We do not recommend to buy them, but they will be reported in the catalogue in the same way as the original items were described [P20250507], with the usual purchasing warning.

On September 16, 2025, San Marino issued a series of four stamps dedicated to UNESCO sites in Andorra, Cyprus, Malta, and Portugal. None of these stamps was associated with stamps issued at the same date by one of these countries. On November 4, 2025, however, the post of Spanish Andorra issued a stamp related to ‘about’ 30 years of diplomatic relationship (1993-2023), without any counterpart from San Marino. There is no link between these two stamps and therefore, also no joint character for these issues. They are reported here simply for information purpose (Enzo Cafaro, Italy).

Issues to be released soon:

On December 1, 2025, Cyprus and Vietnam will celebrate their fiftieth anniversary of diplomatic relations with a twin issue. The Cyprus FDC became available recently (Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai).

The joint issue between Russia and Oman, originally scheduled for April 22, 2025, postponed to September 26, 2025, then successively to October 15, November 14, and December 5, 2025, is now planned to be issued on December 10, 2025.

The Barbados embroidery dove stamp associated to the [T20250919a] issue is apparently expected to be issued on December 8, 2025.

All this information was introduced in the updated catalogue sections (Vol 16). A great thanks to all the contributors mentionned in the text between brackets.

October 2025 News

by Richard Zimmermann

First of all, we have to thank Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai, who discovered a China PR-Indonesia joint issue from August 30, 2025, that we completely missed. This twin issue celebrates the 75th anniversary of relationship between both countries and is illustrated with landscapes of lakes and pagodas: the West Lake with Jingzi Tempel in Hangzhou, China PR and Lake Bratan with the Pura Ulun Danu Beratan, Hindu tempel in Bali, Indonesia.

The Bosnia Herzegovina (Bosnia) – Indonesia joint issue was finally relased on October 3, 2025. This issue was originally scheduled to be released on October 4, 2024, but was finally postponed by more than one year. The stamps issued in miniature sheets of two se-tenant stamps represent the Istiklal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the Istiklal Mosque in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The Indonesian souvenir sheet is available perforated and imperforate. The word “Istiklal” in Arabic stands for ‘Independence’. The Jakarta Mosque was opened in 1978. The Sarajevo Mosque was a gift from the Indonesian people and Government of Indonesia for Bosnia and Herzegovina as a token of solidarity and friendship between the two nations. This Mosque was opened in 2001 (Information provided by Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai)

On October 7, 2025, France and Japan celebrated the Week of Letter Writing with a twin issue depicting gardens. On one side the French Vaux-le-Vicomte castle and gardens were represented, on the other one, the Gingaku-ji tempel or Silver Pavilion near Kyoto, Japan, was shown. France issued the stamps in two miniature sheets of 10, while Japan produced a single miniature sheet with 5 se-tenant pairs. Mixed official first day documents and a mixed folder with all four stamps, mint, became also available (This information was first provided by Dominique Josse, France).

Mongolia and India celebrated on October 14, 2025, the 70th anniversary of their diplomatic relationship with identical souvenir sheets containing two stamps showing the Mongolian Biyelgee dance and the Ramlila theatrical performance (India). The margins show both national flags, the anniversary logo, national animals (horse and elephant), folk arts, Mongolian ger (yurt) and the blue sky (information provided by Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai, and Robert Schrijvers, Mongolia).

China (PR) and Monaco are celebrating the 30 years of diplomatic relations (1995-2025) on October 15, 2025, with two stamps showing identical flowers, i.e., Canterbury bells, Campanula medium and an orchid, Cymbidium.

The Cat stamps related to the Laos – Russia joint issue from October 15, 2025, were presented in the previous page. Kenneth Sequeira was able to provide the illustration from Laos which is producing both perforated and imperforate stamps and souvenir sheets. The stamps show the Marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) and the East Siberian lynx (Lynx lynx wrangeli). Russian stamps are self-adhesive, sold in miniature sheets of 4 pairs, chessboard ordered. Laos stamps are available as perforated or imperforate souvenir sheets containing the pair of stamps.

The Gibraltar – Liechtenstein issue announced for December 2025 will in fact be released on November 10, 2025. It design is already available on the Liechtenstein postal administration web site (information provided by Kenneth Sequeira). Surprisingly this issue will be available in form of two souvenir sheets containing each a stamp from each country (different stamp designs), which defines this issue as Se-tenant joint issue [S2]. Stamps show falcons and are dedicated to the migration of these birds. Stamps are also available in sheetlets, and mixed FDCs are available.

Catalogues Vol 1 and Vol 16 have been updated with all this information covering the months of September and October 2025.

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.

Unilateral issues 2024

by Richard Zimmermann

By end of this year 2024, we have to come to the conclusion that some originally announced joint issues will probably remain unilateral, meaning that the partner country dropped from the collaboration. Here is the list:

  • India – Israel : 2024 (May 7) – Purim Festival -This stamp was originally scheduled to be released on February 13, 2024, but India was not ready to participate. The new date of May 7, 2024 was set, but the Indian stamp was still not available and information about the final decision from India is missing
  • China (PR) – Russia : 2024 (August 24) – Diplomatic relations – Panda. The issue was moved to August 24 from originally August 4, 2024, but no associated Chinese stamp was issued
  • Korea (South) – Uruguay : 2024 (September 10) – Uruguay issued two se-tenant stamps; [2px5] printed at 2,500 pairs, but no information is since available from South Korea
  • Kazakhstan – Morocco : 2024 (September 30) – Topic: 30th anniversary of relationship – Gastronomy. Despite the fact that the Kazakh stamp bears the words “Joint issue Kazakhstan – Morocco”, no information is available so far from the Moroccan side
  • Indonesia – Serbia : 2024 (November 4) – Topic: 70th anniversary of relationship – The Serbian stamp was issued, but no news from Indonesia

These stamps will remain in the catalogue with short description, with limited details and under the category ‘Unilateral – Not approved [N]’. THis is to avoid further questions in the future, but also as space-keeper in the case these issues transform into Delayed Concerted [C] issues during the year 2025.

An interesting story is linked to the expected Oman – Switzerland joint issue: On November 30, 2023, Oman and Switzerland were supposed to issue joint stamps celebrating the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relationship. The Omani stamps were issued as expected, but Switzerland never made their stamps available, despite one existing copy in Oman Post Office archives, documented by the picture provided below and entitled “Celebrating 50 years of diplomatic ties between the Sultanate of Oman and the Swiss Confederation, we are pleased to announce the launch of the joint stamp. The stamp was launched under the patronage of Dr. Alain Berset, President of the Swiss Confederation, during his visit to the Sultanate of Oman.”(Information and pictures were provided by Tariq Al Lawati, Oman).

Through direct contact with the Swiss Post customer service, we received recently the following explanations : “I am pleased to inform you about the joint issue Switzerland-Oman. Unfortunately, the request from Oman for a joint issue arrived too late. Swiss Post nevertheless wished to support and pay tribute to this 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship. Therefore, Swiss Post has informed the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). A meeting with the Omani Embassy and Swiss Post regarding this matter has taken place, during which it was stated that an official stamp issue was no longer possible, but that we could offer a corporate stamp instead. The FDFA has expressly renounced any official issuing of the stamp.” Thanks to Ylenia Minesso, Swiss Post Customer Advisor, for this extensive answer. This issue will be reported in the catalogue, as mentioned above, with a short description and under the category unilateral.

A souvenir sheet from Iran appeared on the net. This item showing the Minsk City Gate and the Azadi Tower, dated 2023 (but issued August 22, 2024), includes the word “I.R. Iran – Belarus Joint Stamp”. No information is available from Belarus.

Two stamps from Laos, bearing the Laos and India flags were supposed also to introduce a joint issue, celebrating common cultural heritage. The Laos stamps and souvenir sheet were issued on August 15, 2024, but no information is available from the Indian side..

Peru released on August 29, 2024 a pair of stamp related to diplomatic links with Italy, and on November 13, 2024, a similar pair related to links with the Dominican Republic. No counterpart stamps have been seen so far from Italy or the Dominican Republic..

We are also waiting for the Egyptian counterpart of the Hungarian souvenir sheet (130×100 mm) issued on November 28, 2024 and clearly entitled “Hungary-Egypt Joint Stamp Issue”. Knowing the difficulty in obtaining information from Egypt, it may be possible that this souvenir sheet translates in a true joint issue. We still have to wait.

Same situation for the Serbian stamp, entitled “Serbia – Russia” and dedicated to Colonel Nicolay Raevsky, issued on November 18, 2024, without Russian counterpart so far. However Russian Post web site is usually up to date and we should have the information. This stamp may remain unilateral.

Any additional information or change to this list is welcome.

News November 2024

by Richard Zimmermann

We missed to report the China (PR) – France joint issue released on October 18, 2024 at the occasion of the 60th anniversary of their relationship . Stamps are identical and represent the Mont Saint-Michel (Saint Michael’s Mount) in France and the Mount Tai (Taishan) in China. The Chinese stamps were released in miniature sheets of 12 stamps 2x[3×4], while the French stamps became available in miniature sheets of 15 stamps 2x[3×5]. A mixed ‘pochette’ with all four stamps became available from the French postal administration, and as usual with China, mixed FDCs will probably be easy to find.

On November 14, 2024, Italy and the Vatican State celebrated the 25th anniversary of Venice Foundation for the Search for Peace through a twin issue. The identical stamps are reproducing the logo of the Foundation highlighted on an ancient map called “Perspective map of the city of Venice and the lagoons“, published by Benedetto Bordone in 1534. A large figure “25” and a dove, logo of the Foundation, complete the illustration. Italian stamps were printed in panes of 50, while Vatican stamps became available as miniature sheets of 10.

On November 29, 2024, a series of Arab states will issue a common stamp in solidarity with Gaza. So far, countries that have committed to participate include Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine and Qatar. This list is not complete. On October 7, 2024, Syria had already issued a stamp and a souvenir sheet with the common design. Stamps in panes of 50 units [5×10] were printed at 5,000 samples and souvenir sheets at 1,500 samples, among which 500 units of each were already used to prepare FDCs. The information was provided by Med Achour Ali Ahmed (Algeria).

Eventually, since beginning of the year, we still have to report missing counterparts of the following stamps that were initially announced as joint:

  • Israel, missing India: Purim Festival – This stamp was originally scheduled to be released on February 13, 2024, but India was not ready to participate. The new date of May 7, 2024 was set, date at which the Israel stamp was unilaterally put on sale, but the Indian stamp was not released and information is still missing since. There are great chances that this issue will remain unilateral.
  • Russia, released on August 24, 2024, missing China (PR): Russian stamp release moved to August 24 from originally August 4, 2024, but Chinese stamp were not issued yet. There are also great chances that this issue will remain unilateral.
  • Uruguay, released on September 10, 2024, a stamp related to the 60th anniversary of relationship with Korea (South). Uruguay made two se-tenant stamps available , printed in miniature sheets of ten pairs [2px5] (printed 2,500 pairs). No information from South Korea is available at this stage and this issue may remain unilateral as well.
  • On September 30, 2024, Kazakhstan and Morocco were supposed to release jointly a stamp at the occasion of the 30th anniversary of their relationship, illustrated with the topic Gastronomy. The Kazakh stamp became available on that date, but despite the fact that the it bears the words “Joint issue Kazakhstan – Morocco”, no information is available so far from the Moroccan side. We still have open that it could become a concerted issue.
  • Bosnia Herzegovina (Bosnia) and Indonesia were supposed to release stamps on October 4, 2024, at the occasion of the 25 years of the Istiklal Mosque in Sarajevo. The issue disappeared from the Bosnia Herzegovina philatelic program for 2024, while no information is available from Indonesia. This issue could be postponed to 2025.
  • On November 4, 2024, Serbia issued a stamp at the occasion of the 70th anniversary of relationship with Indonesia. We are missing any information from Indonesia on that topic. Actually we are missing a lot of information about the real program of Indonesia, and we have no idea which country will be really involved in a joint issue with this country.
  • The Belarus – Russia joint issue initially scheduled for November 15, 2024 is now postponed to December 6, 2024.

Any additional information is welcome. In absence of information regarding the issues already reported as potential unilateral series, these entries will be removed from the catalogue by end of the year. The catalogue pages have been updated with all these 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.

Update May 2024

by Richard Zimmermann

While the month of April 2024 remained relatively quiet in terms of new joint issues (Israel-Romania on April 17 and Italy San marino on April 20), the month of May saw some interesting releases which are now listed below.

May 9, 2024: This is the official date of this year’s PostEurop issue. The topic is related to ‘Underwater fauna and flora’. A large number of countries issued their stamp(s) on the anniversary date of May 9, but as the design and dates of issue are remaining within the hands of each postal administration, similarly to previous years, the 2024 issue is not considered as joint, on the contrary to last year. This series is just reported in the catalogue for information for collectors of Europa / Europa CEPT / PostEurop stamps. So far, 57 countries have already released their stamp(s) or have announced their participation. Information is missing only for Albania, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine [N20240509].

May 21, 2024: Morocco and Romania celebrate cultural relations between both countries through a pair of identical stamps related to folk art. This is a twin issue [T1] representing traditional costumes and ceramic or porcelain objects from the regions of Vâlcea and Horezu (Romania), or from Fez (Morocco) [T20240521].

May 21, 2024: The 150th anniversary of the birthday of Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) is celebrated by the Vatican State and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) through a twin issue representing the Italian inventor in front of dedicated equipment. Unfortunately, as the UPU does not recognize SMOM a an official postal administration, this issue remains described in the catalogue, but under the heading non-approved/twin issue [N/T1] [N20240521]. Each individual collector to decide if he/she wants to keep this issue in his/her collection.

May 26, 2024: The accession of Frederic X to the Danish throne is celebrated through joint souvenir sheets issued by Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland. Due to the direct link between these three postal administrations, this joint issue is considered as a Territorial twin issue [TD] and will be referenced as [D20240526]. The identical souvenir sheets with one stamp showing the portrait of King Frederic X were issued at the date of the anniversary of the King (born on May 26, 1968). King Frederic X is officially reigning since January 14, 2024.

May 31, 2024: as a last minute issue, we were informed that China PR and Malaysia have issued a joint pair of stamps at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between both countries (Source: Adam Paish, UK). The stamps represent two local large trees (Pine and Merbau/malaka teak) from both countries.

The potential Mongolia – Switzerland joint issue expected at the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between both countries resulted in a souvenir sheet issued unilaterally by Mongolia on May 20, 2024 (see https://montsame.mn/en/read/344262), so, not a joint issue.

The Tunisia – Russia joint issue initially scheduled for May 24, 2024 (Art – Painter Roubtzoff) is now postponed to September 9, 2024 (Russian philatelic program).

We are still missing information about the Indian stamps linked to the already announced Israel Purim souvenir sheet that was supposed to be released on May 7, 2024.

The catalogue Part 1 and Part 15 have been updated accordingly.

Update November 2023

by Richard Zimmermann

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.

Belt and Road Initiative 10th anniversary

by Richard Zimmermann

China (PR), Hong Kong and Macau celebrated on September 7, 2023, the 10th anniversary of the Belt and road Initiative (BRI) with one stamp for China and a souvenir sheet each for the two other postal administrations. The Chinese stamps were issued in miniature sheets of 8 [4×2] or 12 [3×4] stamps with colored margins. As such this issue can be considered as a Dependency Parallel issue [PD]. Additionally, the three post offices created a booklet containing the two souvenir sheets and a miniature sheet of 4 Chinese stamps [2×2] with white margins. The Macau and Hong Kong souvenir sheets from this booklet have an additional white margin of about 6 mm on the left sign, and therefore can be differentiated from the original isolated souvenir sheets. The amount of 141,400 booklets was printed and redistributed to the different post offices. These booklets bear on the back cover a code number starting with the letter A, B or C, corresponding respectively to the Chinese, Hong Kong or Macau sales origin. Macau announced that they were attributed 15,000 samples but the allocation of the rest among China and Hong Kong is not known. With this booklet, this issue can be considered as Se-tenant and as such will be filed under the code [S20230907]. This is the 12th joint issue between these three postal administrations.

China Spain 2023

by Richard Zimmermann

Enzo Cafaro (Italy) provided information about the stamps involving China and Spain celebrating 50 years of relationship between both countries. This issue was announced for March 2023 in the Spanish philatelic program, but no stamps were released by this country since, except that the design of the stamps was shown. Now, we learned that the Chinese stamps will be released on May 10, 2023 and the announcement from Chinese post confirms the joint status of the issue which is made of identical stamps showing Flamingos in national park lakes (Fuente de Piedra Lake and Hengshui Lake). From the Spanish side, Enzo could provide the picture of the FDC which confirms the same date of issue. China will issue its stamps in miniature sheets of 12 [3×4].

International tiger preservation forum (2)

by Richard Zimmermann

The second international tiger preservation forum took place as scheduled on September 5, 2022 and, also as scheduled, most of the participating countries issued at this occasion a stamp related to this forum illustrated with tigers. A first list had been provided earlier. This is now a complementary information page with new details provided mainly by Enzo Cafaro (Italy).

Eventually, 10 countries are participating to this joint parallel issue [P20220905]. Among the 14 countries where tigers still live in the wild, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam, we already know that Thailand decided not to participate. No information is available from Bangladesh, Bhutan and Indonesia.

Myanmar, Russia and Vietnam have issued their stamps on September 5, 2022. India issued its stamp already on September 1, 2022, while Cambodia will issue it stamps only on September 22, 2022. Exact dates of issue for Laos, Malaysia, and North Korea are still to be confirmed, but seem to be September 5 as well. In parallel, Russia is preparing a mixed folder containing the mint stamps from (almost) all 10 countries.

Indian stamp pays tribute to ‘Collarwali’, a tigress from Pench Tiger reserve, Madhya Pradesh, who gave birth to 29 cubs in her life time, among which 25 survived to adulthood. She passed away in January 2022.

Below, additional pictures of stamps released or to be released by these countries are depicted.

On September 5, 2022, China PR issued a set of stamps entitled Tiger cultural relics. The 6 stamps represent a) the Shang-Fu double-tailed bronze tiger, b) a spring and autumn jade tiger-shaped pendant, c) the Han Baihu ’tiledang’ with tiger (grey pottery), d) the Bronze Tiger Festival object with Cuojin inscription of Han dynasty, e) a white glaze brown flower crouching tiger pillow and f) a puppet flying tiger. There is no hint about a relationship with the tiger preservation forum, but if no other stamp is issued by China PR, we will have to consider that the stamps released at this same date may be part of the joint issue (same date of issue, same topic). However, more information is needed here.

The site from Yonhap News refers also to another souvenir sheet issued by North Korea on September 5, 2022, next to the souvenir sheet with different 4 stamps. Here also, more details are needed.

International tiger preservation forum

by Richard Zimmermann

The second International Forum for the Preservation of the Tiger Population is supposed to take place in Vladivostok, Russia, on September 5, 2022. About one year ago, JSC Marka, the Russian postal administration initiated the creation of a joint issue related to this event with all participating countries. Officially, it is announced that 10 countries will participate to this joint issue that is supposed to be released on September 5, 2022, and a few of them have already shown the designs of their stamps.

Taking in account the present international situation, it is time to make some review of the different announcements, but also to use this opportunity to ask the local collectors to provide as much as possible reliable information on top of what is described below. None of the stamp designs seen so far are identical. Most of the information described here has been provided by Enzo Cafaro (Italy).

The forum runs a web site and has a dedicated logo. Decision to held this second international meeting in Vladivostok was taken on September 3, 2019. The 1st International Tiger Forum took place in St. Petersburg on 21–24 November 2010. The Forum web page explains that today, there are only 14 countries where tigers still live in the wild: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

So first let us start with the countries that have already announced their participation and provided the design of their stamp. Russia is of course the first with a single stamp issued in miniature sheets of 8 stamps and bearing the logo. Vietnam will issue two different stamps, North Korea a souvenir sheet containing a block of 4 different stamps and Malaysia a souvenir sheet with one stamp. All of them will bear the logo but the exact date of issue of September 5, 2022 is only confirmed for Russia, even if JSC Marka claims all participants will release the stamp the same day.

Some other countries have provided the design, but the stamps are missing the logo. We should not forget that the year 2022 is the Chinese Lunar year of the Tiger and dozen of countries have issued stamps depicting tigers, without any link to this forum. So, most of the tiger stamps issued in 2022 are not part of this joint issue. In the following cases, Cambodia (one stamp and one souvenir sheet, available perforated or not, but only one to be confirmed for release on September 5) and Laos (2 stamps) show either within the stamp or within the margins of the miniature or souvenir sheets a text referring to the preservation of the species.

Lastly, there are a few other countries that have been announced by Russia (JSC Marka) as being participant to the joint issue, but have not released information themselve, nor confirmed participation on their side. These countries include China PR, India, Myanmar and Nepal. On top of these ten countries, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia and Thailand could also participate. Information from these additional countries are also missing.

Roughly, we have now one full month to confirm if this joint issue will really exist and which country will participate. With the information we have collected so far it should become a Parallel [P] issue. Any additional detail is of interest. Thanks in advance.