Cryptostamp

November 2025 update

by Richard Zimmermann

Latest issues:

On November 6, 2025, PR China joined Samoa to issue stamps related to birds. Two identical stamps were issued by each country, showing the white horse chicken (Crossoptilon crossoptilon) and the tooth-billed dove (Didunculus strigirostris). Detailed information from Samoa is still missing and the Samoan stamps depicted below may only be a design and not the final one.

From November 9 to 21, 2025, China (PR), Hong Kong and Macau organized the 15th Chinese National Games held in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. These games were celebrated with stamps from each postal entity that became available on the opening day on November 9, 2025. China released three stamps representing artistic (synchronized) swimming, fencing and table tennis, in panes of 12 each (3x[3×4]), but also as a souvenir sheet containing two strips of the three stamps. Hong Kong issued four different stamps depicting rugby sevens and track cycling, fencing and beach volleyball, golf and triathlon (swimming, cycling, running), handball and basketball. These stamps were issued in panes of 25 stamps (4x[5×5]). Macao released four different stamps showing rugby sevens, basketball, table tennis and volleyball in form of blocks of 4 printed in panes with 4 blocks each, also in four different orders, so that the four se-tenant stamps can be collected either in blocks or in strips of 4 ([2b4x2]. Additionally, all these 11 stamps were printed also within a souvenir sheet, which leads to consider this issue as a Se-tenant issue [S20251109], similar to the Chinese astrological signs stamps issued by these same three postal entities at the beginning of each year (Eric Chan, USA).

On November 25, 2025, as scheduled, Luxembourg and the Vatican State joined to celebrate the 100 years of the Pontifical Institute for Christian Archeology – Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana (PIAC), with an identical stamp showing the portrait of Bishop Jean-Pierre Kirsch (1861-1941), the building of the historic headquarters on Via Napoleone III in Rome and the seal of the Institute showing the ‘Christ shepherd’. The PIAC was founded on December 11, 1925, by Pope Pius XI with the Apostolic Constitution Ad providentiam of March 2, 1925, and with the motu proprio “The Primitive Christian Cemeteries,” thanks also to the dedication of the Luxembourgish prelate Johann Peter Kirsch, who was its first Director (Eric Contesse, France and Enzo Cafaro, Italy).

At the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the relationship between Indonesia and the Vatican State, the Vatican issued a stamp on November 7, 2025, that has not yet found a counterpart in Indonesia. This stamp description is reported here primarely to obtain information out of Indonesia and to confirm that it will probably not lead to a joint issue.

From Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands: On May 7, 2025, Liechtenstein and Switzerland each issued a crypto stamp (Crypto CHLI) as a joint issue showing a cow and mountains, forming a continuous image when placed next to each other. The cow was available in 6 colors, with the rainbow cow having the lowest circulation (50) and the green cow the highest 7500. FDCs were also available, but in limited circulation: 10 copies with rainbow cows; 2500 copies with green cows. This issue was reported earlier.

Liechtenstein and Switzerland decided to extend this series with a similar crypto joint issue. On November 19, 2025, the so-called world’s first Christmas Crypto Stamp was released as an exclusive joint issue of Liechtenstein and Swiss Post (Crypto CHLI 2.0). The same six crypto cows from May 7, 2025 are now presented in a winter landscape. The stamps are embellished with glittering snowflakes. As you can imagine, these items, considered more as numismatic items than philatelic ones, even if they really can be used as stamps, look again like a lottery and have been created to fool collectors. Prices for individual items vary between 10 and 500 Swiss Francs (CHF) for stamps and between 30 and 2,000 CHF for mixed FDCs. We do not recommend to buy them, but they will be reported in the catalogue in the same way as the original items were described [P20250507], with the usual purchasing warning.

On September 16, 2025, San Marino issued a series of four stamps dedicated to UNESCO sites in Andorra, Cyprus, Malta, and Portugal. None of these stamps was associated with stamps issued at the same date by one of these countries. On November 4, 2025, however, the post of Spanish Andorra issued a stamp related to ‘about’ 30 years of diplomatic relationship (1993-2023), without any counterpart from San Marino. There is no link between these two stamps and therefore, also no joint character for these issues. They are reported here simply for information purpose (Enzo Cafaro, Italy).

Issues to be released soon:

On December 1, 2025, Cyprus and Vietnam will celebrate their fiftieth anniversary of diplomatic relations with a twin issue. The Cyprus FDC became available recently (Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai).

The joint issue between Russia and Oman, originally scheduled for April 22, 2025, postponed to September 26, 2025, then successively to October 15, November 14, and December 5, 2025, is now planned to be issued on December 10, 2025.

The Barbados embroidery dove stamp associated to the [T20250919a] issue is apparently expected to be issued on December 8, 2025.

All this information was introduced in the updated catalogue sections (Vol 16). A great thanks to all the contributors mentionned in the text between brackets.

September 2025 update

by Richard Zimmermann

Sorry for this long time of silence. A lot of new information was gathered over this past month, in addition to the “Dove of Peace” series described in the previous page. The data are summarized hereunder, thanks to Kenneth Sequeira (Dubai), Ali Allawati (Oman), Adam Paish (UK), Enzo Cafaro (Italy), Dominique Josse (France), Sim Tng Kwang (Singapore), Mohamed Achour Ali Ahmed (Algeria), and Marci Jarvis (USA).

The official day of issue of the Oman stamp related to the Arab Postal Day from August 3, 2025, initially announced as being released on August 10, 2025 for this country, has to be corrected to August 3, 2025, according to FDC images provided by Ali Allawati.

The Oman stamps from the Oman Iran issue initially scheduled to be released on May 27, 2025, became available only on August 26, 2025 (date shown on the Oman FDC cover). However, information from Iran is still missing and we do not know if it will become a real joint issue, despite the clear indication on the stamp itself.

The Maldives-Singapore joint issue which design was revealed on June 30, 2025, was finally released on September 5, 2025. This issue includes two stamps featuring fishes, turtle, corals, the Lazarus Island (Singapore) and Hulhudhoo (Maldives), which were also included in a souvenir sheet (Singapore). Good quality images and final product description from the Maldives are still missing.

Singapore was involved a second time this month, on September 19, 2025, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Thailand-Singapore diplomatic relations. As previously, Singapore issued also both stamps in a form of a souvenir sheet. The Thai stamps has been printed in se-tenant checkerboard-formatted sheets of ten stamps.

On September 16, 2025, the 640 years of the crowning of Sigmund of Luxembourg in Hungary was supposed to be celebrated by Luxembourg and Slovakia with a common stamp which design was released earlier this year by the Slovak Post. It happened that this issue disappeared from both postal administration philatelic programs. Explanations are needed here.

The Mythical heroes crypto-stamps series was issued on September 18, 2025 (see detailed description under previous page). The final illustrations given below show small changes compared to initial illustrations provided earlier (e.g., new denomination for Luxembourg). The series includes Austria (2 units, Zeus and Hera, 2×150,000), Belgium (Athena, 20,000), Luxembourg (Artemis, 15,000), Netherlands (Hermes, 25,000) and Portugal (Poseidon, 25,000). The digital twins are stored in the blockchain in five different colors. The likelihood of getting a particular color depends on the color: for Luxembourg stamps, there are 150 red, 1,005 yellow, 1,995 blue, 4,005 green and 7,845 black stamps; for the other countries the exact number of colored subtypes has not been published but the figures remain probably close to the same ratio, i.e., 1% (red), 6.7% (yellow), 13.3% (blue), 26.7% (green) and 52.3% (black). The digital twin of the crypto stamp is randomly generated. By scanning the QR code on the stamp with a smartphone, one will find out which color is linked to the crypto stamp.

As an example, the Luxembourg stamp digital twins in the blockchain look as follow:

On September 25, 2025, the Embassy of the Republic of Peru in Kuwait hosted an event to present a commemorative postage stamp marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Kuwait and Peru. The postage stamps are featuring Kuwait’s Red Palace and Peru’s Real Felipe Fortress. Unfortunately, to our knowledge, this Peruvian stamp will remain unilateral.

The Oman-Russia joint issue, originally scheduled for April 22, 2025, postponed to September 26, 2025 (Oman source), then, a few weeks ago to October 15, is now scheduled for November 14, 2025. The date of October 15, 2025 remains unchanged for the issue of the joint stamps involving Laos and Russia and the first illustration of the Russian stamps became available recently.

Arab Post Day update and more to come

by Richard Zimmermann

Both previous blog pages triggered attention from collectors and resulted in additional information that help complete the catalogue:

Regarding the Arab Postal Day issue [T20250803], two additional countries have to be added to the already reported list (Algeria, Iraq, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates) namely, Egypt and Oman which issued their stamps respectively on August 3, 2025 and August 10, 2025 (Information provided by Mohamed Achour Ali Ahmed, Algeria and Ali Allawati, Oman).

The 80th Arab League anniversary issue from March 22, 2025 [T20250322] was also completed by two stamps issued in miniature sheets of 3 pairs from the United Arab Emirates. These stamps were issued on August 18, 2025 (Information provided by Kenneth Sequeira, Singapore).

The previous blog page was also missing the image of the Russian stamp jointly issued with North Korea on August 15, 2025. Illustration was provided by Kenneth Sequeira, Singapore, confirming the twin character.

I also made a comment earlier that embroided stamps are never used postally. Henri Aronis (France) provided a proof that this can happen with a Swiss stamp (year 2000), although not part of a joint issue. As expected, the thickness of the ‘stamp’ makes cancellation illegible. This cover was sent from Switzerland to Niger. Thanks Henri.

Jaap Sarelse (the Netherlands) reacted on the comments provided earlier about the July 5, 2025 Cape Verde – Portugal joint issue and at the same time provided information about Angola, a third country joining this issue, with the following:

“The text suggests that it is a joint issue in which only Cape Verde and Portugal are involved. However, Angola is also involved with an identical stamp. Not to commemorate Angolan independence, but purely focused on the independence of Cape Verde. Some evidence:

  • In the leaflet of the Portuguese Post (6 pages) the text on page 5, 7th and 8th line from the bottom reads: ‘To help consolidate the historic memory of the founding of the Republic of Cabo Verde, a joint stamp issue is being released by Angola, Cabo Verde and Portugal’.
  • On page 5, one can find the stamps of Angola on the top row. Cabo Verde is also mentioned on this stamp at the bottom right.
  • Finally, only Cabo Verde is mentioned in the logo on page 1. I suspect that in the context of ’50 anos Independência Nacional’ Angola will get its own joint issue and that the name Angola will then adorn below the stars in the logo“

Thanks, Jaap for this complement. Catalogue will be updated. Here are the additional illustrations (Angola stamp illustrations provided by Kenneth Sequeira):

Additional information relative to issues to come include the following:

  • The Oman – Russia originally scheduled for April 22, 2025, is now postponed to September 26, 2025 (Oman source) or October 15, 2025 (Russian source), not clear at this stage. It will show maps and honour Omani explorer Ahmed bin Majid and the Russian traveler Afanasy Nikitin
  • Kenneth Sequeira reported also two modifications in the Russian philatelic programme for 2025: a) the RCC stamps will be issued on August 23, 2025, but over the past years these stamps involving all CIS countries were not anymore considered as joint and there is no hint that this will change this year; b) the anniversary of the liberation of Korea will be celebrated by overprinting the August 15, 2025 joint issue with North Korea. These stamps will be issued on September 2, 2025
  • On October 7, 2025, the France – Japan is also confirmed. Japan stamp designs became available (information provided by Dominique Josse, France)

  • On August 15, 2025, Argentina issued a stamp to celebrate 60 years of immigration from Korea. No stamps related to the same topic was seen so far in the South Korea philatelic program. This issue may remain unilateral (information provided by Enzo Cafaro, Italy)

  • Our friend Luis Alejandro Malanco Reyes (Mexico) is working on a Mexican stamp catalogue (which of course includes also joint issues involving Mexico) and brought on line the first part of his work (years 2001-2025) with free access: Catálogo Filatélico México . Congratulations Luis and keep doing the good job.

Finally, some information about the next joint crypto-stamps issue (not recommanded to include in the joint issue collection as explained earlier): This will be the fourth crypto joint issue after the 2022 Austria-Netherlands (Ox), 2023 Austria-Luxembourg-Netherlands (Lion) and 2024 Austria-Belgium-Luxembourg-Netherlands (dragon) issues. The theme for this fourth issue is the Greek world of the gods. Five countries will participate and they made the following choice: Portugal – Poseidon, Austria – Zeus and Hera (2 stamps), Belgium – Athena, Luxembourg – Artemis and the Netherlands – Hermes.

Jaap Sarelse has succesfully created joint stamp covers with the previous crypto stamps and will try again this year with the six stamps. He provided the picture of the copy from year 2024. Such documents are close to unique.

The catalogue was update with all above new data. See updated Vol 1, Vol 15 and Vol 16

Train, medals and cows

by Richard Zimmermann

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.

Latest October 2024

by Richard Zimmermann

Eventually, the catalogue has been updated. The UPU anniversary stamps represented a lot of work and several new pages in the catalogue, even if not yet complete. Both catalogue volumes V01 and V15 were updated also with the additional information described below.

On October 21, 2024, a new joint crypto stamp series was issued involving Austria, Belgium (first Belgian crypto stamp), Luxemburg and the Netherlands, with topic dragon (2024 is Chinese year of the dragon). As representations of the dragons are different from one country to another, this issue is considered as parallel [P20241021]. Details about printing runs and colors of subtypes are provided in the catalogue. However, as for all crypto stamps, we continue to believe that these products are not real stamps (i.e. never used on mail) and closer to coins than to stamps, also with some good reasons to think they are products to fool collectors, we do not recommend to buy, except if you are an expert of crypto stamps and crypto money. Up to you to decide.

From Don Birschel (USA) who mentionned stamps issued at the occasion of the Vatican City – Panama 100 years of relationship. With Panama stamps issued on April 3, 2024 and Vatican stamp on May 21, 2024, also with different designs, they, unfortunately, cannot be considered as joint.

September 2023 News

by Richard Zimmermann

The month of September led to more new products than the whole preceeding Summer period including some surprising items, next to the already reported PAPU issue (7 countries), the China-Hong Kong – Macau series and the Switzerland – South Korea stamps.

Don Birschel, USA, reported about an unexpected joint issue between Guatemala and Mexico, released on September 18, 2023 and related to the 175th anniversary of their relationship. The stamps represent the Pyramid of the Sun, San Juan Teotihuacan, Mexico and the Tempel of the Great Jaguar, Tikal, Guatemala (pre-Columbian Maya civilization). Don provided the images, but we are still missing some details about the Guatemala stamps.

The 200th anniversary of the relationship between Argentina and Brazil translated into a stamp showing the Iguazu falls at the Brazilian-Argentinian border, issued on September 7, 2023, while Brazil released on September 29, 2023, a panel of 8 stamps showing Mafalda comics from the Argentinian artist Quino. Despite the common title, this issue cannot be considered as joint (different dates of issue, different designs, no claim as joint – information provided by Enzo Cafaro, Italy).

On September 26, 2023, San Marino issued a stamp related to the 15th anniversary of relationship with Mexico. No Mexican counterpart was seen so far, and probably nothing has to be expected from the mexican side.

More recently, on October 2, 2023, Slovakia issued, jointly with Azerbaijan, stamps at the occasion of their 30 years of relationship, the same day Slovakia issued stamps with the Czech Republic (see previous blog page). This series describes folk music styles illustrated with string instruments: the Terchova region music and the Mugham Azerbaijani folk music. Azerbaijan has issued the stamps apparently only as a souvenir sheet at only 5,000 samples (Information provided by Eric Contesse, France).

A new crypto stamp (NFT) joint issue, to be released during the month of October 2023 (probably on the 23rd), was announced involving Austria, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Stamps are similar. More details soon. For explanations about crypto stamps, see austria-netherlands-crypto-stamp.

There is still a problem with these new products: crypto stamps are always very expensive, their value is linked to crypto money that is fluctuating a lot over time (value of previous NFT stamps has dropped a lot recently) and above all, these so-called stamps are never used on real mail. To our opinion, they are more to be considered either as a piece of art or as a kind of currency, and seem to stay away from real philately (in terms of collecting items used to compensate for mail fees). Eventually, look like material to fool the collectors (abusive issues). Those stamps have to be reported in the catalogue as they are claimed as joint issue “stamps”, but there is no recommendation to buy them. On the other hand, a collection of such stamps on cancelled mail, i.e., for real non-philatelic mailing purpose, would be a real interesting topic. Apparently, in none of these countries, the denomination corresponds to a true postage fee and their use alone on a cover should not exist (except on FDC covers).

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.