Italy

Georgia’s diplomatic relations – 30 years

by Richard Zimmermann

Georgia issued already stamps at the occasion of the 30th anniversary of its diplomatic relationship with different countries, first on December 7, 2022 with Azerbaijan, then on December 20, 2022, with Israel.

More recently, we learned from Kenneth Sequeira (Singapore) and Enzo Cafaro (Italy) that Georgia issued also one stamp identical to the Italy stamp itself issued on December 7, 2022. Date of issue of the Georgian stamp is apparently December 27, 2022, leading to a Concerted issue [C]. The only problem here is that despite the fact that the stamps are identical, Italian Post does not consider this issue as joint (???), at least it was not defined originally by an official decree. Fabio Bonacina (Italy) in Vaccari News, tries to give some explanations (https://www.vaccarinews.it/news/Dentello_pure_da_Tbilisi/33994). It is possible that Georgia produced their stamp on the basis of the Italian model once the Italian stamp was released, but up to the point to officially present pictures of both stamps, in a same room, on December 27, in presence of the Italian ambassador. In our case, it is clear that with such a similar design, the stamps must have been created on the basis of at least a limited initial collaboration between both postal administrations. Therefore, we will report this pair in the catalogue and I am sure, collector will be glad to have a funny story to tell behind these two stamps, despite the non-recognition of the joint character by one part. If we discover in a near future, another example of such (unilateral) twin stamps, we will probably have to create a new sub-type in our classification system.

Another astonishing point relates to the illustration. It represents the construction of the cathedral of Bichvinta, based on a design of Father Cristoforo Castelli (1597-1659). Bichvinta (also called Pitsunda) is located in Abkhazia, a territory that is under Russian control since 2008…

Centenary of Mexican Embassy in Rome

by Richard Zimmermann

On June 27, 2022, Mexico issued a stamp celebrating the centenary of the building of the Mexican embassy in Rome, Italy. Such a stamp was not in the program of the Italian philatelic program, but shortly after the release of the Mexican stamp we learned (Source: Fabio Bonacina and Enzo Cafaro, Italy) that the Italian postal administration intended to produce also a stamp related to this topic by end of July 2022. We had to wait very closely to the release of the Italian stamp to discover its design which eventually appeared to be the same. Italy issued its stamp on July 28, 2022.

None of the postal administrations claim a joint character to these stamps. It looks that the Italian administration had to react quickly after they learned about the issuance of the Mexican stamp, probably only during the spring of 2022. Nevertheless, it became obvious that we had to consider this issue as joint for several reasons:

  • The building and the topic are unique to Mexico in Italy
  • The Mexican ambassador participated to this issue confirmed by a text written by him in the presentation package of the Italian stamp. Indirectly, Mexico was involved in the Italian stamp creation discussion
  • The fact that there was an agreement on the image is also a confirmation of the collaboration. The situation would have been more questionable if the designs were different or if one stamp would only give a simple text
  • Slight differences such as appearance of Mexican flag in the Italian stamp are minor modifications that can be considered as the degree of freedom left to the two designers, but both had to work on the same basic picture
  • However,there was a kind of hiccup in the decision to collaborate and absence of agreement on date of issue. The official anniversary is July 2, 2022, so none of the two first day dates (June 27 and July 28). This could be the consequence of last minute decision to collaborate

In summary: this issue will be considered as joint, with the sub type concerted [C20220627] (same design but different dates of issue) and the lack of communication about the joint character is mainly due to the short time left to the two postal administrations to define a common date. Apparently, the Italian postal administration considers a true joint issue only if both stamps are released on the same day and if mixed joint FDCs can be created on this day. These mixed documents will probably exist in the near future, but of private origin.

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.

Cancellations

by Richard Zimmermann

Kenneth Sequeira (Dubai) and Jaap Sarelse (the Netherlands) reported a few cancellations of previously announced joint issue. The Tajikistan philatelic program shows now the Tajikistan – Kyrgyzstan joint issue crossed out. This issue was initially planned for Quarter 4, 2021, but without more precision regarding the date. At the same time the Kyrgyzstan philatelic office informed us that the issue of the Kyrgyzstan stamps from the Croatia – Kyrgyzstan joint issue is postponed (i.e. probably towards early 2022), but not cancelled. Croatia had issued their stamps as planned on September 22, 2021 (topic: woodpeckers) and (identical) designs of the Kyrgyzstan stamps appeared on the Delcampe web site before being retrieved. At the same time, Ukraine announces three joint issues for 2022 with Italy (150th birthday of Solomiya Krushelnytska), Singapore (topic unknown) and the USA (100th anniversary of the first performance of the Ukrainian carol ‘Shchedryk’ in Carnegie Hall, New York), without more precise date, and no confirmation from the partner country.
The TAAF/Portugal joint issue must also be considered as cancelled. Stamps on the expected topic (Portuguese prersence in the Austral seas by Joao da Nova) were issued by Portugal on October 11, 2021, without any reference to a joint character. There is no more information available on this topic from the French side.