Denmark

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 March 2024

by Richard Zimmermann

Several new information reached us during this month. Next to the two official twin issues released during the month of March (Hungary – Luxembourg March 12, 2023, and Angola – Cape Verde – Portugal March 28, 2024) and described in specific pages, one has to take account of the following news:

  • from Enzo Cafaro (Italy): several news about future issues involving Italy, e.g., on April 18, 2024 with San Marino (Vespa fan Club), on June 15, 2024, with San Marino, SMOM and Vatican (Red Cross 160th anniversary), and on January 25, 2025, with Slovenia (Gorizia and Nova Gorizia, European Capital of Culture). Regarding this last issue, the Italian stamp scheduled to be released on April 28, 2024, and related to the Fall of Gorizia wall, will not involve Slovenia and will remain unilateral. Also, in the 2024 philatelic program, a joint issue between Belarus and the Vatican is under preparation.
  • from Kenneth Sequeira (Singapore): Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan will issue joint stamps related to UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, telling tradition of Nasreddin Hodja anecdotes. Exact date of issue is unknown, but the stamps should be released during Quarter IV, 2024.
  • From Jürgen Luebke (Germany): It seems that Greenland and the Faeroe Islands (may be also Denmark) will issue respectively on May 24 and on May 27, 2024, identical souvenir sheets created by Martin Mörck at the occasion of accession of Frederic X to the Danish thron. At least, in the official documents from the Faeroe Islands, this item is described as a joint issue. Information about the participation of Denmark is still awaited.
  • From Robert Schrijvers (Mongolia): Robert found the following official statement “Swiss development agency is cooperating with the Mongolian Post Company’s Mark Office to create a joint stamp within the framework of the 60th anniversary of Mongolian–Switzerland diplomatic relations. The joint stamp will be introduced to the public in May this year.” Joint issues involving Mongolia are very rare, so more information is needed at this stage, in particular from the Swiss side.

The first 2024 UPU 150th anniversary stamps with common design have been seen. Azerbaijan released a souvenir sheet including two stamps with the common design on February 1, 2024 (size 122×83 mm, printing run 4,000). This souvenir sheet is also available as non-perforated. The full series of stamps related to this issue will be described under [T20241009] as most of the stamps will be released around October 9, 2024.

The catalogue pages have been updated accordingly (Volume 1 and Volume 15).

Update May 2023

by Richard Zimmermann

Next to the large PostEurop series issued around May 9, 2023, a few other countries released joint issues:

The Belarus – Russia joint issue was released on May 13, 2023. They celebrate the 150th anniversary of the painter Stanislas Zhukovsky (1873-1944) under the form of a souvenir sheet from each country representing a different painting. The margin shows different portraits of the painter. As a consequence, this becomes a parallel issue [P1]. Belarus issued 10,000 souvenir sheets, but also 5,000 samples as imperforate, while Russia issued 20,000 souvenir sheets as well as 4,200 samples of a special folder containing the same souvenir sheet, imperforated.

Milan Csaplar (Slovakia) provided update about future joint issues involving Slovakia. The design of the Slovakia – SMOM issue became available and the stamps will be released on June 23, 2023. Reminder: as SMOM is not recognized by UPU and as no other country is involved in this issue, this pair will not be approved as joint, but still be reported in the catalogue for collectors of SMOM stamps. The design of the Joint Issue with the Czech Republic at the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Czech Post and the Slovak Post was also released. These stamps are supposed to be released on October 2, 2023.

Enzo Cafaro (Italy) provided information about a joint issue between the Sovereign Order of Malta (SMOM) and the Vatican City issued on May 16, 2023 and commemorating the 825th anniversary of the dedication of the Cathedral Santa Maria Assunta in Spoleto (1198). Stamps are identical and show the façade of the cathedral, also known as Duomo of Spoleto, and a fresco by Filippo Lippi dedicated to the Stories of the Virgin (15th century). However as SMOM is not recognized by UPU, this issue cannot be recognized as a true joint issue and will be reported in the catalogue for SMOM collectors but under the heading Non-accepted [N].

Vietnam appears also in two official joint issues, but information to complete these series is missing. We reported already the picture of the joint issue with India (April 23, 2023), but are still waiting for India’s counterpart. Uruguay announced and released a souvenir sheet related to the 30th anniversary of relation with Vietnam. Picture of the Uruguayan item released on April 27, 2023 is reproduced below, but no news is available from Vietnam.

Back to the 2023 PostEurop stamp issue, there is a clarification to make, following a note sent by Stewie Griffin: BeePost (actually very close link to Stamperija and Peterstamps, same office address) did not have the legal permission from PostEurop to print Europa stamps, nor to use the Europa logo and design. The BeePost stamps described in the previous Post related to Europa 2023 stamps must be considered as illegal and should not appear in a serious stamp collection. They will not be described in the catalogue either, when updated. Actually we learned also that BeePost’s website is now under “maintenance” and Stamperija removed all BeePost “stamps” from their website. Thanks for this information which details can be found under https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=100797

In the meantime additional stamps related to PostEurop Peace 2023 became available: Estonia (May 25, 2023, one stamp in miniature sheets of 10 stamps), Greenland (May 30, 2023, 2 stamps available in sheetlets of 10, but also in a booklet of blocks of 6 from each), Nagorno Karabakh now issuing stamps under the name of Republic of Artsakh (May 25, 2023, two stamps available in miniature sheets of 10, but also in a miniature sheet of 5 se-tenant pairs), and Belgium (to be released on June 12, 2023, but illustration already available; one stamp in a miniature sheet of 5 stamps). The illustrations of the stamps from Azerbaijan became also available, but the exact date of release (in June) is still not known.

In Denmark, the Europa stamp is presented in a form of a souvenir sheet including the common stamp and a second commemorating stamp representing a candle. This second Denmark stamp was originally issued in 1970 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the end of WWII. On May 4, 1945, a candle was put at all windows in Denmark, when armistice was signed, and this tradition continues since, symbolizing peace. The stamp from the souvenir sheet is an adapted reproduction of the 1970 stamp, but the isolated candle stamp issued as self-adhesive in a miniature sheet of 10, does have a different design. Only this isolated stamp bears the sentence “Sammen for fred” (Together for peace), which appears actually in the souvenir sheet only on the common stamp.

At this stage, for this 2023 Europa series, we are still missing information regarding the participation of Albania, Armenia, Georgia, the Isle of Man and Kazakhstan.

Eventually catalogues have been updated. Of course Volume 15 contains all new data and stamps released during the past two months, but also information about some new mixed covers created by Jaap Sarelse (the Netherlands) that had not been reported so far. Volume 2 has been completed with the 1950 (April 12) Milan Trade Fair stamps. And of course, the Country and Topic pages of Volume 1 have been updated at the same time, the new sub-category [P3] is described.

More about Slania

by Richard Zimmermann

Wayne Chen (USA) confirmed that black prints from the Denmark, Faroe and Greenland joint souvenir sheets [T20210812] related to Czeslaw Slania became available at respectively 100, 1,800 and 11,000 samples. He could provide pictures of the three items signed by the engraver Martin Mörck. Faroe’s and Greenland’s black prints were distributed to stamp subscribers from both countries while Denmark’s black prints were essentially given to the main participants of the issue, and the rest sold within minutes.