Enzo Cafaro (Italy) provided information about the stamps involving China and Spain celebrating 50 years of relationship between both countries. This issue was announced for March 2023 in the Spanish philatelic program, but no stamps were released by this country since, except that the design of the stamps was shown. Now, we learned that the Chinese stamps will be released on May 10, 2023 and the announcement from Chinese post confirms the joint status of the issue which is made of identical stamps showing Flamingos in national park lakes (Fuente de Piedra Lake and Hengshui Lake). From the Spanish side, Enzo could provide the picture of the FDC which confirms the same date of issue. China will issue its stamps in miniature sheets of 12 [3×4].
Additional information provided during this month, not reported so far in other posts:
Eventually, both Don Birschel (USA) and Souvik Ghatak (India) found the Indian counterpart of the Luxembourg souvenir sheet of the joint issue between the two countries, already described in an earlier post. The Indian souvenir sheet was released at the same date, namely March 14, 2023.
From Adam Paish, UK: The discovery in March 2022 of the wreck of the Endurance, the barquentine that carried Ernest Shackleton and his crew on the ill-fated 1914-1917 Trans-Antarctic Expedition, is commemorated on a series of joint British Antarctic Territory – Falkland Islands – South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands Territorial/Parallel [PD] stamp issued on March 27, 2023. The ship sank in October 1915, having been crushed by sea ice in the Weddell Sea before the expedition could begin. There are two stamps (issued in sheets of ten) and one souvenir sheet for each territory.
Also from Adam Paish, UK: On March 13, 2023, the British Antarctic Territory and South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands each released four stamps and a single-stamp souvenir sheet with images from the BBC’s Frozen Planet II television documentary series. The standard sheet stamps are issued only in pictorial single-denomination sheetlets of four. These stamps are also filed as a Territorial/Parallel [PD] issue. The BBC logo remains the only common item linking all stamps.
On March 29, 2023, Liechtenstein and Switzerland issued as scheduled the stamps related to the 100th anniversary of customs agreement binding both countries. Each country issued two stamps representing either the first lines of the contract text or the flags of both countries separated by a zip fastener. Liechtenstein issued also three postal stationeries (postal cards), but without common design. Mixed covers and mixed cards became available.
From Souvik Ghatak (India) and Kenneth Sequeira (Singapore): A surprise issue was announced involving India and Vietnam that were planning to release a joint stamp issue on traditional martial art, Kalaripayattu (India) and Vovinam (Vietnam). The original date of release was supposed to be February 28, 2023 but the issue was postponed to a later stage. In the meantime, a copy of the Vietnamese side of the joint issue became already available. A new release date was set at March 29, 2023, but no news is available from India and this date was postponed again to April 23, 2023. More details will come soon.
Eric Contesse (France) and Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) were wondering if the two stamps illustrated below have to be recognized as joint. They were issued at the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the declaration of independence of Kosovo and are identical. The Kosovo stamp was issued on February 17, 2023 in miniature sheets of 4 stamps [2×2]. Unfortunately, no information is available from Albania so far. Any help is welcome.
The following information has been added to or modified in the new version of Volume 15 (Vol 15 V4.04):
Update of the list of older issues i.e., Cuba – North Korea from August 29, 2020 [T20200829] (integrated in Volume 14 V4.02),
The above mentioned British Antarctic Territories – South Georgia [D20230313] and British Antarctic Territories – Falkland Islands – South Georgia [D20230327] stamps, as well as India – Luxembourg [T20230314] and Liechtenstein – Switzerland [T20230329] have been integrated in the catalogue
The information related to complete descriptions (Table of topics, table of countries) of new sets of joint issues is also dispatched in Vol 1 V4.03. Note that the page “Philatelic resources” is constantly updated to maintain the most accurate level (which is not easy, corrections and additions are welcome) and changes will not be reported here.
A series of new information has come to our attention over the recent weeks thanks to Enzo Cafaro (Italy), Don Birschel (USA), Kenneth Sequeira (Singapore), Grzegorz Smialkowski (Poland) and Ali Ahmed Med Achour (Algeria).
The picture of the Argentinian stamps issued jointly with Poland became available. These stamps were issued on November 25, 2022, the same day as the Polish stamps, but it took all this time to get the information. Poland issued stamps in miniature sheets of 4 pairs of se-tenant stamps, while Argentina issued panels of 4 strips of two se-tenant pairs separated by a label showing the logo of the 100th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between both countries.
In a same way, Enzo Cafaro could eventually provide the information about the identical stamp produced by Mexico jointly with the Vatican State. Vatican stamps were released on November 16, 2022 (sheetlets of 10 stamps), but one had to wait until December 12, 2022 to see the Mexican stamp (sheets of 50).
Georgia and Poland have issued joint stamps to honor Georgian Theologian Grigol Peradze (1899-1942) who died in 1942 at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The stamps were released on December 6, 2022, for both countries in miniature sheets of 8 stamps.
Georgia is also involved in a joint issue with Azerbaijan issued on December 7, 2022. This issue is celebrating the 30 years of diplomatic relations between both countries, also in miniature sheets of 8 stamps each.
We found also two new countries to add to the World Postal day series from October 9, 2022, on one side Indonesia (detailed information still missing) and on the other Saudi Arabia which issued 5,000 stamps in miniature sheets of 6. We have now reached 24 participating countries, and the list does not seem complete yet. Presently, it includes: [2022 (October 9)]: Argentina – Belarus – Bosnia Herzegovina – Cambodia – Central African Republic – Colombia () – Croatia – Djibouti – Egypt – Fiji (September 22) – Guinea Bissau – Iraq () – Mexico – Russia (October 7) – Saudi Arabia – Serbia (October 7) – Sierra Leone () – Sri Lanka – Syria – Thailand – Tunisia – Turkey and Venezuela (). Empty brackets need to be filled with the precise dates of issue.
It seems that the Arab Postal Union has agreed to issue a common stamp celebrating the Soccer World Champion Cup in Qatar, based on a Qatari design, but even if this event is reaching its end (December 18, 2022), very little is known about it at this stage. Hopefully moreto say next time.
Among the new series to be released during year 2023 we have to add Cambodia – Korea (South) (February 10), China – Spain (March), India – Korea (South) (July 28), Korea (South) – Switzerland (September 7) and Hungary – Thailand (October 24). Of course, more to come as well.
Finally, I would like also to mention a new address of a blog I came accross while evaluating the new joint Crypto/NFT stamps, namely Bitter Grounds Magazine, written by Catpaw, which gives news about stamps from the year but also some stamp programs for 2023, and provides a weekly newsletter. An interesting source of information. Congratulations to Catpaw.
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.
The Oriental magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis) and the Zebra dove (Geopelia striata).have been chosen to illustrate the golden jubilee (50 years) of relationship between Bangladesh and Singapore issued on November 15, 2022. Bangladesh issued se-tenant pairs of stamps in panes of [2px13] with a printing run of 100,000 pairs. Singapore has issued isolated stamps in two miniature sheets of 10 stamps (2x[2×5]) and a souvenir sheet with both stamps (printing run unknown).
Discovered by Jaap Sarelse (the Netherlands), a joint issue released on September 16, 2022, between Azerbaijan and Russia we had not seen so far. At the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between both countries, souvenir sheets illustrating the Shirvan National Park (Azerbaijan) and the Samara Luka National Park (Russia) have been issued. The Russian souvenir sheet belongs to the “Natural Heritage of Russia” series. The Azerbaijan souvenir sheet features the goitered gazelle and a bee-eater. The Russian souvenir sheet, with a non rectangular frame,, shows lake and mountains with fox and black-tailed eagle.
On September 13, 2022, Israel and Mexico issued stamps at the occasion of the 70th anniversary of their relationship. The stamps are illustrated with symbols of both countries: the Eurasian hoopoe (Upupa epops), Israel’s national bird, the prickly pear cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica), the Mexican national bird, the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and the columnar cactus (Stenocereus dumortieri or Isolatocereus dumortieri). Interestingly, Israel issued as usual its stamps in sheetlets of 15 stamps ([5×3]) together with 5 tabs at the bottom of the sheet. This tab becomes the design of the second stamp of Mexico. For the first time, this twin issue involving Israel must be considered as complete only if the pair of Mexican stamps is associated with the Israel stamp mandatorily linked with a tab, reducing by two third the possibility to create matching pairs. At the same time, this will give also a much higher value to the Israelian stamp with tab and e.g., mixed FDCs make sense only if the set is complete (with Israelian tab). Most of the information was provided by Dov Lask (Israel), thanks to him.
On December 31, 2021, Kyrgyzstan could eventually release the woodpecker stamps associated to the Croatian stamps already released on September 22, 2021. Kyrgyzstan released two times 5,000 sheetlets of 5 stamps each as well as a souvenir sheet with a se-tenant pair of stamps (issued 2,000).
Joint Stamp Issues 
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