Guernsey

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.

RNLI Anniversary

by Richard Zimmermann

From Adam Paish (UK): six commemorative stamps (and assorted ‘extras’) from the postal administrations of each of the United Kingdom’s Crown Dependencies (Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man) celebrate during the year 2024 the Bicentenary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). All have similar designs, and a common portrait of Sir William Hillary (1771–1847), who established the RNLI in 1824, adorns the top value of each set. The Isle of Man released its stamps on January 4, 2024. Jersey and Guernsey have announced March 4, 2024 for their issues. UK Royal Mail has ignored the RNLI anniversary. As Guernsey, Isle of Man and Jersey are three fully independent postal entities, these stamps must be considered as part of a twin joint issue [T1].

Unfortunately, the three postal entities issued a lot of by-products. Next to the 6 stamps per country available in miniature sheets of 10 stamps, first day covers and CTO products, there are also Prestige booklets that were produced, not even speaking about presentation packs, isolated sheetlets, and products including specific coins. By adding just the face value of the 18 stamps, the price of the three first day covers and the three prestige booklets, total amount reaches £144, and more than £360 if miniature sheets are included. Joint issue collectors are recommended to limit their purchase to the three common stamps, total value £10.28.

All other stamps represent rescue ships used on the different islands: Guernsey, B, 65p, St Peter Port Station, RNLB ‘Spirit of Guernsey’; C, 88p, St Peter Port Station, Gold Medal rescue to the ship ‘Bonita’; D, £1.20, Alderney Station, RNLB ‘Roy Barker’; E, £1.74, St Peter Station, RNLB ‘Arthur Lionel’; F, £2.08, St Peter Port Station, RNLB ‘John Lockett’; Isle of Man, G, 1st, Port St Mary Station, RNLB ‘Gough Ritchie II’; H, £1.00, Peel Station, ‘B-536’; I, £1.50, Port Erin Station, RNLB ‘Muriel and Leslie’; J, £1.75, Ramsey Station, RNLB ‘Two sisters’; K, £2.00, Douglas Station, RNLB ‘Marine Engineer’; Jersey, L, 60p, St Catherine ‘s Station, RNLB ‘Eric W Wilson’; M, 98p, St Helier Station, RNLB ‘George Sullivan’; N, 98p, Jersey lifeguarded beaches, Le Braye Beach; O, £1.65, St Helier Station, RNLB ‘Howard D‘; P, £2.15, St Helier Station, Gold medal rescue to the yacht ‘Fanny‘.

Update October 2023

by Richard Zimmermann

Alike in 2022 [B20221009], UPU proposed a common design at the occasion of the World Post Day and interested countries could adapt and join. These stamps were discovered accidentally, when the first stamps issued by Egypt and Sri Lanka were released on October 9, 2023. This year only a limited number of countries did participate, but the list is not complete yet and we are expecting discovering more of them. The design shows handshaking in violet and the size and structure of the stamp is similar as the one issued last year. The different adhering postal administrations could adapt the size and the language. This is not a true joint issue, but it will be described in the catalogue under the category Borrowed design [BD]. Other countries such as Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand, issued also one or two stamps at the same date, related to the World Post Day, with different designs. Those stamps cannot be considered as joint as they are just commemorating a same event.

From Enzo Cafaro (Italy): The ‘Endurance’ stamp series involving British Antarctic Territory, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and described so far under March 27, 2023 [D20230327] has in fact never been released and was postponed recently a new time. The description of these stamps had to be removed from the catalogue and is now available in the waiting list at the end of the catalogue.

Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) discovered a series of three Singapore aerogrammes belonging to the 1992 ASEAN series. This country issued these postal stationeries on top of the stamps they released the same day. Up to now, those items were not described in the catalogue and the update will appear under the heading [P19920808], year 1992, Volume 6. Thanks Jaap, for providing this missing information.

New information related to the Euromed 2023 issue [P20230710]: Jordan issued a 6-stamp sheetlet on September 10, 2023. (Source Jeff Courtright, USA). On October 20, 2023, Albania issued the 2022 (!) Euromed stamp [P20220711] (Source Enzo Cafaro, Italy).

From Adam Paish, UK: there is an unusual Guernsey Post Office stamp issue scheduled for release on November 3, 2023, a souvenir sheet which contains two stamps, one inscribed ‘Guernsey’ and the other ‘Alderney’, depicting their respective courthouses. It celebrates the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 1948 Transfer Agreement which saw Guernsey take over responsibility for most of Alderney’s public services. Stamps inscribed Alderney or Guernsey are valid on mail from all the islands of the Bailiwick: Guernsey (incorporating Herm), Alderney and Sark. This item will be considered as a Territorial Se-tenant issue [SD].

The first image of the Thailand stamp/souvenir sheet from the Hungary – Thailand joint issue to be released on November 29, 2023 was presented. This issue will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between both countries.