Bird

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.

Bangladesh – Singapore birds

by Richard Zimmermann

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).

National Parks Azerbaijan Russia

by Richard Zimmermann

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.

Israel – Mexico 2022

by Richard Zimmermann

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.