Arab Postal Day 2025

On August 3, 2025, Arab countries join to celebrate the Arab Postal Day with a stamp showing an identical design ‘Towards more innovative postal services’. So far, this issue involves Algeria (August 3), Iraq (August 3), Tunisia (August 3), and United Arab Emirates (August 3). More countries will probably be added (Information provided by Mohamed Achour Ali Ahmed, Algeria and Kenneth Sequeira, Singapore).

Additionally to earlier information related to the 80th anniversary of Arab League [T20250322], Kenneth Sequeira (Singapore) informed us that Sudan issued three stamps with three different denominations, not a single one as previously announced.

In the meantime, Qatar became also another country to be added to this series. The stamp was issued on June 15, 2025. There are still some chances that additional Arab countries will have to be added to this series.

Train, medals and cows

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.

New discovery from 2023

To our great surprise, George Adi reported a joint issue that was not described so far and dated back 2023. At the occasion of the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relationship, Türkiye (Turkey) and Qatar issued the same stamp representing the figure “50” and a logo (flower and sand rose). The Turkish stamp was released on September 27, 2023, while the Qatari stamp became available on November 5, 2023. Both stamps were released in form of same shape miniature sheets containing five stamps [(2×2)+1]. This new issue will be described in the catalogue under the entry code [C20230927]. Congratulations and thanks a lot, George.

It is quite difficult to find information from Qatar. On January 31, 2025, Argentina released also a stamp celebrating the 50 years of relationship with Qatar. This Argentina stamp could be one half of a joint issue, but information from Qatar is missing. Any help here is welcome. In the meantime, you will find below the picture of the Argentinian stamp. It may be possible that the Qatari stamp will be released only in a couple of months from now.

Solidarity with Gaza stamps

During the 27th session of the Council of Arab Ministers of Communications and Information, held on January 18, 2024 in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), the postal administrations of the Arab countries were invited to dedicate the common postage stamp, planned for the year 2024, to the expression of solidarity of the Arab countries with the Palestinian cause.
Thus, the project of this common postage stamp was the subject of a competition in which several Arab countries participated through proposals for models, at the end of which the creation of the Jordanian post office was selected to be reproduced in this common postage stamp, under the theme “With Gaza”. The selected work illustrates a gap of hope showing a flag and doves in the midst of the destruction and devastation recorded in Gaza.
Its launch was scheduled to take place on November 29, 2024 on the occasion of the international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people. The first stamp of this series was already issued on October 7, 2024 by Syria. Jordan and Qatar released their stamp on November 28, 2029. The other countries including Algeria, Morocco, Oman and Tunisia did release their stamps at the expected date. A few other countries including Egypt, Iraq, Libya and Palestine were supposed to participate as well, but no information is available to date. Any additional information from these countries is welcome.

Products released so far include stamps in panes or miniature sheets (from 4 to 20 stamps), souvenir sheets, all with one single stamp and of course first day covers. Jordan stamps are also available as non-perforated. Surprisingly, Djibouti has now to be added to this series. The country issued three stamps (among which two se-tenant) and a souvenir sheet. Djibouti stamps were released on November 11, 2024. However, these Djibouti stamps were released in very small amounts (maximum of 1,500 stamps from the smallest denomination, 800 from the highest denomination), as perforated but also all as imperforated, in miniature sheets, souvenir sheets (also perforated and non-perforated) and even proofs and postal cards. Indeed this is a very opportunistic issue from a country that was initially not involved and that tries to make money out of collectors. These products will be described in the catalogue, but in italic characters (each one to decide if interested or not – note that a complete set including all perforated and non perforated products as well as FDCs, will cost for this country the total of at least €550 (!) without counting full panes, based on prices displayed on Delcampe).

All these stamps will be reported in the catalogue under the entry [T20241129]. Thanks to Med Achour Ali Ahmed, Algeria, and Enzo Cafaro, Italy, for providing details for some of these issues.

The Jordan stamp with the denomination “50” that is available on the net is a design that was finally adapted with a denomination “100”. Thanks to Fabio Bonacina, Italy, for pointing to this difference.


UPU 150th anniversary

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.

Mid Summer 2024 update

On August 8, 2024, the ten ASEAN countries decided again to issue jointly stamps (previous ASEAN joint issue goes back to 2019). Don Birschel (USA) provided the images of the first released ASEAN stamps and featuring general post offices. So far, the following country stamp images became available: Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The four other countries, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines are also supposed to have participated, but information is still missing at this stage.

Ali Ahmed Med Achour (Algeria) provided the following information: On the sidelines of the 45th session of the Permanent Arab Postal Commission held on July 18, 2024 at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Arab League in Cairo (Egypt), the Commission responsible for choosing the design of the “Unified Arab Stamp” dedicated to Gaza delivered its verdict. The model presented by Jordan will illustrate this stamp to be released this year. No specific issue date was lilinked to the issue so far. The countries that participated in this competition included Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine and Qatar.

The title of this issue will be “Solidarity with Gaza”. Its issue will coincide with the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People established by the United Nations. It is generally held on November 29 of each year to mark the anniversary of Resolution 181, which is the Partition Plan for Palestine.
The 2024 philatelic program published at the beginning of the year by the Algerian postal administration has already selected this date of November 29, 2024 for the release of this joint issue. The list of countries that will participate to this issue is not known, but probably at least all countries having participated to the design competition will release a stamp. This issue will definitely become a twin omnibus series. The picture of the winning design is provided below.

The Grenada – South Korea joint stamps celebrating the 50th anniversary of relationship were issued as scheduled on August 1, 2024. The identical pairs of stamp show the Marryshow House in St George’s, Grenada and the Jibokjae Hall (library) at Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul, South Korea. Se-tenant stamps were released in miniature sheets of 8 pairs, chessboard ordered.

The China (PR) – Russia joint issue scheduled for August 4, 2024 (pandas) will in fact be released on August 24, 2024.

The Japan – Turkey joint issue scheduled for August 8, 2024 was released on that date in form of a single stamp for Turkey and a miniature sheet for Japan, with different designs.

All these new data have been integrated in the catalogue. Vol 1 and Vol 15 have been updated.

December 2023 update

Over the past weeks a series of new information could be gathered. Let us start first with the announcement of issues that could be released during the year 2024 out of different national philatelic programs. In most of the cases, there is not yet a confirmation from the counterpart country (Most information provided by Kenneth Sequeira, Singapore):

  • Croatia and Germany on October 10, 2024
  • Romania will issue together with Israel (April), Morocco (May) and India (September 2024). Note that the expected issue related to the anniversary of the death of Eugene Ionescu (1909-1994) involving France, Moldova and Monaco, does not appear in this official Romanian list for 2024
  • The 2024 UPU anniversary omnibus series (scheduled October 9, 2024) is growing every week and the present list of countries that have announced their participation includes already: Belarus – Belgium – Bosnia Herzegovina (Bosnia) – Croatia – Czech Republic – Germany – Greece – Guernsey – Hungary – Latvia – Lithuania – Moldova – Slovakia – Slovenia
  • At the same time, the South Korea India joint issue initially scheduled to be released on June 28, 2023, then rescheduled for December 8, 2023, was cancelled.

The Guatemala Israel joint issue announced in a previous blog page was completed with the issue of the Guatemala stamp. Uri Barlev (Israel) could provide the images of the Guatemala stamps also released on the same day of December 12, 2023 with mixed documents, covers and Israel Souvenir Leaf. Apparently, the tab of the Guatemala stamp is provided with each stamp (miniature sheets of 15 stamps with 15 tabs, produced at only 800 samples/12,000 stamps+tabs) while Israel produced stamps in sheetlets of 15 stamps [3×5] with only 3 tabs at the bottom of the sheetlet – printing run unknown).

Also, as a surprise (discovered by Eric Contesse, France), the Australia Vietnam joint issue related to the 50 years of diplomatic relationship, which was removed from the catalogue because considered as a Vietnam unilateral issue, has to be reintegrated. In fact, Australia issued on September 6, 2023 a postal stationery (cover – Postage Paid Envelope PPE) with an indicium corresponding to the Vietnamese stamp. The Vietnamese stamps had been issued on August 27, 2023. The pair of products will be reported as a Concerted issue under the heading [C20230827] as the gap between the two issue dates is higher than one week.

In a same way, the unexpected counterpart from Poland of the Peru stamps (released on December 14, 2023) relative to 100 years of relationships came out as a postal stationery as early as September 27, 2023 (information provided by Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands). Following a mail exchange with the Polish philatelic department, Jaap received an answer stating that this office does not recognize this issue as a joint issue with Peru. Indeed, the designs of the stamp/indicium are different and only margins, cachet and cancellations show identical design fragments. Unfortunately, on this basis, we cannot consider these two products as part of a joint issue, but only a commemorative issue using common logo. However, one has to admit that by using the same logo and the same illustrated topics, there must have been a start of discussions and collaboration between the two administrations which eventually did not finalize in a common product and event. To avoid recurring questioning, this issue will be described in the catalogue, but in gray color, italic characters under the entry code [N20230927] (non-approved joint issue).

Sri Lanka and Egypt came also together for a joint issue released on December 8, 2023, at the occasion of 66 (!) years of diplomatic relations (first information provided by Med Achour Ali Ahmed, Algeria). Stamps are different, however showing two identical historical monuments, but date of issue is the same.

Correction to be updated in the catalogue: Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) provided a copy of the first day cover from Qatar with the stamp issued jointly with Georgia. The official issue date for Qatar is August 27, 2023, which is by far different from the date of issue of Georgia (June 18, 2023), and therefore needs for this issue to be reconsidered as Concerted [C] and not Twin [T] as described up to now in the catalogue.

Jorge Semprun (1923-2011) was honored by two stamps released by France and Spain respectively on November 20, 2023 and November 22, 2023. Both stamps look very similar as rtaken during the same photo shooting session. However none of the two postal administrations consider this issue as joint and no common event, common FDC was organized. The issue will be described in the catalogue but as Not-approved issue, in italics and gray color [N20231120].

Finally, the official issue of the Panama stamp joint with SMOM is December 4, 2023, not December 6 as erroneously reported in the catalogue (Information confirmed by Enzo Cafaro, Italy)

The catalogue pages will be updated with all this information by beginning of 2024.

Update June 2023

Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) informed us that the country Chad added stamps with the same design to the series of 2019 (October 9) stamps dedicated to Jerusalem – Al-Quds capital city of Palestine. Chad issued two stamps with denomination 150F and 400 F, but also a golden larger size stamp at denomination 1000F. These stamps were issued on November 30, 2022. 150F stamps were issued in sheets of 15 stamps, 400F stamps in sheets of 10 and golden stamps in miniature sheet of 4 stamps. All three stamps are available as imperforate and as postal stationery (postal cards). In the catalogue, only the three basic stamps are considered as real collectables, other products being just items to fool collectors. But everyone is free to add any product to his own collection.

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) was involved in the past weeks in two joint issues. The first one was issued on May 16, 2023, and involves the Vatican City. It celebrates the 825th anniversary of the dedication of the Cathedral Santa Maria Assunta in Spoleto. The second one was released on June 23, 2023, together with Slovakia and is dedicated to the humanitarian activities to welcome Ukrainian refugees. As SMOM is still not recognized by UPU, and as these two series are not involving a third country, these two joint issues are reported in the catalogue, but with heading Non-approved [N]. Again, collectors have to decide if they want to include these stamps in their collection. Catalogue are just there to indicate their existence.

By end of last year, regarding the philatelic year 2023, there was a high number of announcements of joint issues involving India. These issues should involve Israel (February, no news), Luxembourg (March 14, issued at the expected date), Hungary (2023), Vietnam (April 23, apparently stamps were printed, but only partly released in Vietnam and not seen yet in India), Mauritius (August 15), and South Korea (December 8). So this totaling up to 6 joint issues, but with only one released so far and all the others remaining questionable. Any help in getting information from India is highly welcome.

Don Birschel (USA) discovered this joint issue between Egypt and Kazakhstan, released June 4, 2023, and dedicated to the 850th birthday of Sultan Al Zahir Baybars (1223-1277). The common stamp represents a coin, a dinar minted during Baybars’ reign, bearing his blazon, the lion/panther. Kazakhstan issued a second stamp with the portrait of the ruler, in a diamond shaped miniature sheet including two se-tenant pairs.

The EuropaCEPT series issued on May 9, 2023 with common stamp “Peace” was completed with following countries: Kazakhstan (June 1, 2023), Georgia (June 16, 2023) and Isle of Man (July 5, 2023). The Isle of Man stamp with identical design is part of a series of 7 stamps celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Isle of Man postal administration. Only one stamp bears the PostEurop 30th anniversary logo, which is the one to be taken in account as part of this year series. The six other stamps show earlier stamps (stamps on stamp) among which some of them featuring Europa Cept and PostEurop stamps from years 1976, 1980, 1987, 1995, 2004 and 2023. The only stamp on stamp part of an earlier joint issue is the one representing the common design from 2023, together with three other stamps issued in 2023, probably the first example of a stamp on stamp issued the same day as the original stamp. Albania, Armenia and Azerbaijan remain on the waiting list and should be issued within the next months.

On June 18, 2023, Qatar and Georgia have released a joint (twin) issue at the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between both countries. The stamps feature landmarks (buildings, towers, sculptures) of the capital cities of Georgia (Tbilissi) and Qatar (Doha) (issue discovered by Enzo Cafaro, Italy). High quality image of the Qatar stamp is not yet available.

Update: January 2023

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

Arab League countries latest issues

Kenneth Sequeira (Singapore) was the first to discover and provide all pictures from the most recent GCC Arab countries stamps. Starting on December 12, the six countries Bahrain (), Kuwait (December 21), Oman (December 13), Qatar, Saudi Arabia () and the United Arab Emirates (December 12) issued the same souvenir sheet portraying the 6 Heads of States and a stamp showing the flags and one building from these states. These stamps were issued to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

In a previous blog, we announced the issue of a common stamp created by the Arab Postal Union on the basis of a Qatar model to celebrate the FIFA Soccer World Championcup organized in Qatar. Only little information came through so far, but Mohamed Essawy (Egypt) and Ali Ahmed Med Achour (Algeria) could provide the first pictures of stamps from Jordan and Oman, apparently issued on December 18, 2022. We have to continue looking for similar stamps issued by other countries belonging to the Arab Postal Union, as this series is definitely not complete.