Netherlands

Update: January 2023

by Richard Zimmermann

Without specific priority, the following descriptions collects information provided by friends since beginning of the year. Many thanks to Enzo Cafaro – Italy, Don Birchel – USA, Wayne Chen – USA, Jaap Sarelse – the Netherlands, Roland Montagne – France, David Dubin – USA, Souvik Ghatak – India, Milan Csaplar – Slovakia and Kenneth Sequeira – Singapore.

In the continuation of the production of Arab countries stamps celebrating the 2022 FIFA soccer worldcup, next to Jordan and Oman (stamps issued on December 18, 2022), we learned that the exact date of issue of the Qatar souvenir sheet was January 17, 2023. Obviously this series is not yet complete.

During the official visit of President of Egypt, Mr. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to India, a joint stamp on the “75th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations” (1948-2023) was released in form of a souvenir sheet which theme is rivers, The Ganges (India) and The Nile (Egypt) are represented on the stamps. Release date was January 25, 2023. However, so far, there are no information from the Egyptian side about a similar product. Actually, Egypt had issued on August 18, 2022 and unilateraly, a stamp celebrating this anniversary. Unfortunately, there are great chances that this Indian souvenir sheet remains unilateral as well and just corresponds to the counterpart of the 2022 Egyptian stamp. Therefore, these two items cannot be considered as joint (yet).

Poland issued on January 29, 2023 a stamp dedicated to the 550th birthday of Nicolaus Copernicus. This celebration is still reported in the Vatican philatelic program as joint stamp with Poland, but Vatican State has not released anything so far. So, we need to wait for news from this state before adding this issue in the catalogue. Due to the difference in time for issuing their stamps, this pair can now only become a concerted issue, providing also the design remains the same. If the design is different, then it does not even have a joint character.

Wayne Chen (USA) could announce the publication of his newest article on Crypto stamps, published in Linn’s Stamp News on line on February 4, 2023 (printed form publication date February 20, 2023), which also made the cover story for the monthly version of the magazine. At the end of the article, a list of the stamps mentioned in the article that were issued 2018-2022 is provided for those interested in this new (and expensive) collection. regarding our interests, the mixed cover of the first joint crypto issue (Austria – Netherlands [T20220922] is reproduced. It was provided by Jaap Sarelse (the Netherlands).

A new item from Ecuador associated to the 2022 Ecuador – Mexico joint issue [T20220728] appeared as well, late after the official issue date. A souvenir sheet, vertical form size 65x185mm, without gum and stamp with same denomination ($0.75), numbered at the bottom, but priced $5.00 was released by Ecuador. Exact printing run is unknown, but it seems that 5,000 stamps and 3,500 souvenir sheets became available. This item has been added in the catalogue. Also, it is told that the first day cancellation of the stamp exists only at 30 samples. Ecuador post offices are still under reorganization.

The designs of the 100th anniversary of custom treaty stamps involving Liechtenstein and Switzerland were released. These stamps will be sold from March 29, 2023 on.

In terms of new issues to be added in the list of stamps expected to be released during the years 2023 and 2024, we can mention the following:

  • During the year 2023, Morocco plans an exceptionnally large number of joint issues with Oman (May), Romania (August), UAE (November), Kazakhstan (December) on top of its participation to the Euromed series (July)
  • The Cyprus – Israel joint issue will be released on April 4, 2023 and not in February as earlier mentionned
  • Austria – Germany – Slovakia : May 24, 2024 – Limes Romanus of the Upper Danube

Monthly news (November 2022)

by Richard Zimmermann

Additional information related to the World Postal Day issue from October 9, 2022, [B20221009]: two new countries have to be added. First Iraq issued a stamp at a date that still needs to be confirmed, but probably also October 9, 2022. The second one, Venezuela, issued a stamp in miniature sheets of 6 (date of issue and high quality picture are missing). There are high chances that the list of presently 22 countries is still not complete. Additional information is welcome.

Note also that the Mexican stamp has been issued in panes of 50 stamps, but the miniature sheet of 6 stamps that was issued in parallel in fact contains 6 different stamps with heading in 6 different languages. The stamp in the middle of the first row (Spanish language) is the one issued in panes. As in items seen so far a printing number is added at the bottom right of each sheet, it seems that less than 1,000 miniature sheets have been printed.

Extension of the Austria Netherland crypto stamp from September 22, 2022. Another pair of joint crypto stamp was issued on November 22, 2022. This is the gold form of the previously issued crypto stamps, provided each with a 1g golden bar embedded in the card. The denomination is “R” for the Netherlands (999 samples), but “500,00” for the Austrian stamp (499 samples) sold at € 500. It is without saying that except if you are a collector of crypto stamps, we absolutely do not recommend to buy this item as part of the joint issues collection. With this low edition number, it is simply a product to fool collectors and the high price must be considered as a high risk investment. However, the product will be described in the catalogue in italic characters without providing a quotation. (as a reminder, the real value of a 1g bar of gold is estimated today at around €54)

There are still a few joint issues to be released before end of the year. We learned (Enzo Cafaro, Italy) that the Mexico counterpart of the Vatican State stamp already released on November 16, 2022 should become available on December 12, 2022. Enzo provided also first information about a Poland – Argentina joint issue released by Poland on Novemeber 25, 2022, for which we are still missing information from the Argentinian part. The Polish se-tenant stamps represent the Rufous hornero (Furnarius rufus), national bird of Argentina and the Crestet tit (Lophophanes cristatus).

The Catalogue Volume XV has been updated accordingly and the information has been dispatched as usually in Volume I.

Austria – Netherlands crypto stamp

by Richard Zimmermann

On September 22, 2022, Austria and the Netherlands are issuing the first joint crypto stamps with digital twin in the blockchain as a twin issue [T1]. The stamp sheet is the size of a bank card and is made of extra strong reinforced paper. The physical stamp has been affixed to the front of the stamp sheet, in the center. The stamp can be detached along the perforated edges. The background of both the sheet and the stamp features the stripes of the Austrian or Dutch flag with an added crystal structure. Designs of stamps are similar, showing a head of a bull with small modification in the background. A pattern of edelweiss (Austria) or tulips (Netherlands) runs across the flag of each country and a ‘secret word list’ (QR code) for viewing, storing and selling the digital twin of the crypto stamp in the blockchain. The upper right-hand corner of the reverse features the unicorn logo, which has been used as a symbol for crypto stamps since the very first issue by Austria in 2019.

Now, it becomes a little more complicated when there is a need to describe the differences between the true physical stamp and stamp sheet compared to the virtual material.

Each physical postage stamp has a digital twin in the blockchain. Blockchain is a computer technology that uses distributed databases to secure the ownership of crypto money and other digital assets such as crypto art and crypto stamps. These digital items are also known as NFTs, non-fungible tokens. The digital twins can be viewed on a computer or smartphone at any time. It is also possible to store it in a digital collection or sell it using a digital wallet.

The digital twins are stored in the blockchain in five different colors. The likelihood of getting a particular color depends on the randomly generated color. For Austrian stamps, there are 1,000 red, 6,667 yellow, 13,333 blue, 26667 green and 52,333 black virtual stamps associated to the 100,000 printed physical stamps. For Dutch stamps, there are 1,400 red, 9,334 yellow, 18,666 blue, 37,334 green and 73,266 black virtual stamps for a total of 140,000 physical stamps. By scanning the QR code on the stamp with a smartphone, one will find out which color is linked to the crypto stamp.

In other words, and if we have understood the principle of this new collection, only one physical stamp per country became available, but each is linked to 5 possible different virtual stamps per country. As a consequence, the value of a physical stamp will differ depending upon the associated color of the virtual stamp. In theory, in your stamp binder, one physical stamp should be sufficient, but if you want to own the complete collection, you need to acquire the 5 color variations from each country. With a denomination above € 9.00 per stamp (more precisely € 9.90 for Austria and €9.05 for the Netherlands), this represents a minimum investment close to € 100, in the case you are very lucky. Of course, as you do not know what color you buy, the best way is to acquire the stamps from sellers who already know the associated color, but which have already adapted the sales price to the rarity. Older Austrian crypto stamps are commonly sold above € 200, and it should not be different with these stamps. In this case, a maximum of only 1,000 full combinations of 10 stamps will be possible, and said differently, it will almost be impossible, or very expensive, to reach the target of bringing together a full hand. It looks like a combination between philately and a lottery, and a new way to abuse collectors. Indeed, we cannot recommend trying to create the full combination, but up to you if you want to try. However, this pair of stamps, independently of the associated colors, will definitely be considered as a twin issue, in the form of a two physical stamp sheets.

The Dutch crypto stamp is the first crypto stamp to be issued by PostNL. This new Austrian crypto stamp is identified under the name ‘Crypto stamp 4.0’.

First joint crypto stamp announced

by Richard Zimmermann

Cesar Ittmann (The Netherlands), provided the following information: “The new collection: PostNL to launch the first Dutch crypto stamp”. PostNL (The Netherlands) will issue the very first Dutch crypto stamp this autumn. The launch comes from a collaboration with Austrian Post, which is simultaneously releasing a crypto stamp.

But first what is a crypto stamp? The ‘crypto stamp’ is a physical postage stamp that has a ‘digital twin’ in the blockchain. This digital version becomes visible by scanning the QR code on the physical stamp. You can then activate, collect, exchange and trade it via blockchain. Its digital twin is a so-called non-fungible token (NFT).

Quite complicated to understand for non-initiated, isn’t it? So let us find more information: PostNL has joined forces with Austrian Post, which developed the first crypto stamp in 2019. Austrian Post has over three years of experience in issuing crypto stamps (10 stamps issued so far). The design of this jointly issued crypto stamp has a unique symbol. Designs for those earlier editions included, for example, the symbols of a unicorn, a whale and a panda and are available in different colors. A Delcampe search of the word “crypto stamp” led already to more than 300 occurences. Actually crypto stamps have been issued by several countries including Croatia, Switzerland, UNO New York, UAE, Liechtenstein or Gibraltar, next to Austria. The first observation is that all these stamps are very expensive (10 to 150€ each) and it seems that one pays for more than the simple postal fee, i.e. this seems to be the price for the combination between a stamp and an artwor.? Here some examples of already issued crypto stamps:

PostNL and Austrian Post are not yet revealing the design that will adorn this crypto stamp. This will be done gradually in the coming period via the website Dutch web site NLcryptostamp.nl, or the Austrian site under https://crypto.post.at/ These sites are claiming this will be the future of stamp collecting. Take a look at these web sites if you want to know more.

The NL crypto stamp will be made available in a limited edition for €9,05, the price of a stamp for registered mail. Stamp folder and FDC will be available. PostNL will later be announcing when presales start, the number of crypto stamps available, and where the crypto stamp will be for sale. We just need to wait, but in the meantime, the Dutch post has issued an annoucement conventional stamp.