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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).

Czech and Slovak postal anniversary

by Richard Zimmermann

Czech Republic and Slovakia postal administration issue on October 2, 2023 a souvenir each at the occasion of the 30th anniversary of establishment of their postal administrations. This identical souvenir sheet shows the particularity that for one country the stamp with denomination is the label of the second country, and vice versa. This type of, still considered as a twin issue, is described under type [T4] in Volume I of the catalogue, and was observed already in the past with e.g., a joint issue involving Jersey and Guernsey [T19941001]. These souvenir sheets and stamps are also available as mixed covers.

The mixed FDC card proposed by the Slovak Post is in fact made of the strip of logos and stamp from each country (taken from the souvenir sheet) and first day cancelled from each country. Slovakia issued 60,000 samples of the souvenir sheet, but Czech Republic only 30,000.

Summer 2023 summary

by Richard Zimmermann

It is time to clean the catalogue and to amend it with the information collected over the Summer. Unfortunately, a quite large number of announced issues did not (yet) materialize. From the ones listed so far, one can consider that the following issues have failed or were wrongly attributed a joint character:

  • The 150th anniversary of the relationship between Japan and Peru translated in a miniature sheet with 10 different stamps issued on August 21, 2023 by Japan and a pair of se-tenant stamps from Peru, supposed to be released by end of October 2023. The bilateral treaty was signed on August 21, 1873. In absence of common date of issue, common design and no announcement of collaboration for the creation of these stamps, they cannot be considered as joint. This is simply a set of stamps celebrating the same event without joint character (information provided by Kenneth Sequeira, Singapore).
  • The expected French – Poland 100th anniversary of Polish immigration to France stamps were limited to the French stamp issued on September 4, 2023. No link with Poland was created at this occasion.
    • Additional information posted 20230929: Poland issued on September 29, 2023, a stamp related to this topic, with a different design, and Polish postal administration confirmed this is not to be considered as joint.

We are still waiting for information regarding the following issues, but there is a great doubt that they will really materialize:

  • No news from the India Vietnam ‘Fighting Sports’ joint issue originally to be released on April 23, 2023. Actually, the Vietnamese stamps were released on that date, but rapidly retrieved from sale after about 4,000 samples went on the market. No information is available from the Indian side.
  • No news from this other Vietnam stamps supposed to become a joint issue with Uruguay. The Uruguay souvenir sheet was released on April 27, 2023
  • Morocco and Oman did not issue a common stamp in May 2023 as previously announced
  • No news from the India Mauritius joint issue supposed to be released on August 25, 2023

The few joint issues that became available at post offices are reported in the catalogue. The catalogue was updated with all this information and the information is available in Vol XV – V07. Additional information introduced in the catalogue include the following:

  • In the T20230509 PostEurop series, the Nagorno Karabagh stamps are also described as non-perforated (Information provided by Kay Sorensen, Germany). We are still missing information from Albania and apparently Armenia will not participate this year (to be confirmed).
  • SEPAC stamps are not anymore joint issues (only the topic is common) but all stamps, mint, are presented in a yearly folder that is described in Vol I – V06, chapter “Folders and Booklets”

Eventually Ali Ahmed Med Achour (Algeria) signaled an error on the Algerian stamp from the T20230902 PAPU series. Within the stamp, the Arabic words refer to the town of Arusha and do not mention the PAPU tower. The complete Arabic text should look like the one printed on the Moroccan or the Egyptian stamps (see illustrations below). On the margin of the sheet, there is also a single Arabic word next to the English title, that simply means “inauguration”.

Belt and Road Initiative 10th anniversary

by Richard Zimmermann

China (PR), Hong Kong and Macau celebrated on September 7, 2023, the 10th anniversary of the Belt and road Initiative (BRI) with one stamp for China and a souvenir sheet each for the two other postal administrations. The Chinese stamps were issued in miniature sheets of 8 [4×2] or 12 [3×4] stamps with colored margins. As such this issue can be considered as a Dependency Parallel issue [PD]. Additionally, the three post offices created a booklet containing the two souvenir sheets and a miniature sheet of 4 Chinese stamps [2×2] with white margins. The Macau and Hong Kong souvenir sheets from this booklet have an additional white margin of about 6 mm on the left sign, and therefore can be differentiated from the original isolated souvenir sheets. The amount of 141,400 booklets was printed and redistributed to the different post offices. These booklets bear on the back cover a code number starting with the letter A, B or C, corresponding respectively to the Chinese, Hong Kong or Macau sales origin. Macau announced that they were attributed 15,000 samples but the allocation of the rest among China and Hong Kong is not known. With this booklet, this issue can be considered as Se-tenant and as such will be filed under the code [S20230907]. This is the 12th joint issue between these three postal administrations.

PAPU 2023

by Richard Zimmermann

Our friend Med Achour Ali Ahmed (Algeria) was the first to report about this unexpected joint issue: The 41st ordinary session of the Board of Directors of the Pan African Postal Union (PAPU), a specialized agency of the African Union responsible for the coordination and development of postal services in Africa, took place between August 24 and 30, 2023 in Arusha, the Tanzanian city. This meeting was followed by the festivities linked to the inauguration by President Samia Suluhu Hassan of the new PAPU headquarters called “PAPU Tower” on September 2, 2023.
To mark the commissioning of this emblematic 17-story building, PAPU proposed the issue on this date of a common commemorative stamp “presenting the image of the PAPU tower, juxtaposed with an emblematic place, an artifact national or natural at the choice of each participating Member State”.
The Tanzanian Post was the first showing the design of its stamps and souvenir sheets that were issued on September 2, 2023. At the same time we learned about the first stamps issued by other countries including so far Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe. As the PAPU involves 45 countries, there are high expectations that other African countries will join over the following weeks. So, at this stage, we just confirm that this issue has to be considered as a Twin issue under the entry code T20230902. Additional countries will be reported later in the catalogue and for the time being we are just providing illustrations from the first identified products.

Huginn Mission

by Richard Zimmermann

In mid-August 2023, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen begins his new mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The mission has been named Huginn, after one of Odin’s two ravens. In connection with the mission, Posta Faroe Islands and Tusass Greenland publish a joint stamp issue on August 11, 2023 consisting of a souvenir sheet from each postal service. A joint souvenir folder containing both mint souvenir sheets became also available. During this initial long-term mission to the International Space Station, Andreas Mogensen will spend six months on board. There, he will conduct scientific experiments, ranging from virtual reality and sleep to climate science.

The design of the stamp is based on the title of the mission, Odin’s mythical raven Huginn, and how it serves as a symbol of science and the accumulation of scientific information.  There is a rather special convergence between the Inuit culture and the old Norse culture in shamanism, although the Norse Huginn does not exist in Greenlandic culture. When Odin sends both ravens Huginn and Muninn across the different worlds of the Norse universe, he appears as the shaman, who aided by his animistic helpful spirits, gathers information about the state of affairs. In Inuit cultures, the Angakkoq, shaman, also deploys his helpful spirits to retrieve information about the wider world beyond the settlement.
The line art drawing on the left side of the souvenir sheet depicts a scene in which the Greenlandic Angakkoq is communicating with the raven spirit Qaartuluk, while the illustration on the right side of the sheet depicts Odin in the process of receiving Huginn, at home in Asgard. Note that both ravens have an ornamental eye on their body, which symbolises that they are the ’eye of the shaman’ and not ordinary ravens. The large raven on the stamp has neutral ornamentation, so it can represent both the Norse and the Inuit cultural spheres. The sheets displays also the symbol of the mission and Andreas Mogensen portrait.

This issue, originally presented as involving also Denmark, is eventually limited to the two postal administrations. Flight is scheduled for August 25, 2023.

Euromed 2023

by Richard Zimmermann

The yearly Euromed issue was released on July 10, 2023 with the common topic “Festivals”. So far, all participating countries have issued their stamps on this same date, with the exception of Tunisia which released its stamps on July 11, 2023. There are 13 countries participating, including Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Tunisia. Other potential countries, having participated to Euromed issues in the past years, could also include Albania, Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Turkey, but no information is available from these countries at this stage.

The scope of festival is quite large and each country selected one specific topic including film, dance, theater, music or photography festivals, but also food, fireworks or even the very specific Moreska Sword Dance Festival.

South Korea – Switzerland joint issue

by Richard Zimmermann

Urs Fischer-Han (Switzerland) provided the information that Swiss Post is already communicating about the future Joint Issue Stamps with Korea Post. Both countries will issue identical stamps commemorating two special anniversaries in 2023: 60 years of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Switzerland and 70 years of peacekeeping operations of the Swiss Army in the aftermath of the Korean Armistice, signed on July 27, 1953. The offical issuing date will be September 7, 2023.

Small traditional villages have been chosen in both countries as motives. The historic village of Oeam in mid-western South Korea is situated in the foothills of Seolhwasan mountain, not far from the city of Asan and about 95 kilometres from Seoul. The Swiss counterpart shows the village of Trub in Upper Emmental in the Canton of Bern.

In order to introduce the Korean motive, Oeam, Korea Post has produced a video clip which is available on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh9dsZL9iAc. Stamps are already available from Swiss Post web site www.postshop.ch/jointissue23. Mixed folders and first day covers are also available.

Update June 2023

by Richard Zimmermann

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.

Lubrapex 2012 now complete

by Richard Zimmermann

Incredible discovery from Wenchao Chen (PR China) who could provide the first images of the Timor Leste stamps issued in the frame of the AICEP Lubrapex 2012 writers series. The stamps from this series were issued in 2012 but the existence of some participating countries such as Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe or Mozambique was confirmed only years after. Now, in 2023, meaning 11 years later, we can confirm the completeness of the series reported in the catalogue under [P20121009], including also Angola, Cape Verde and Macau. Of course, the exact date of issue of the Timor Leste remains so far unknown but we can confirm that the stamps were issued in sheets of 50 units in the same style as the other stamps of the series and bears the words “Lubrapex 2012”.

The new stamp represents Francisco Borja da Costa (October 14, 1946 – December 8, 1975), an East Timorese poet and the writer of “Pátria”, the national anthem of East Timor. He was executed by Indonesian forces the day after the beginning of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.

Congratulations Chen!

Update May 2023

by Richard Zimmermann

Next to the large PostEurop series issued around May 9, 2023, a few other countries released joint issues:

The Belarus – Russia joint issue was released on May 13, 2023. They celebrate the 150th anniversary of the painter Stanislas Zhukovsky (1873-1944) under the form of a souvenir sheet from each country representing a different painting. The margin shows different portraits of the painter. As a consequence, this becomes a parallel issue [P1]. Belarus issued 10,000 souvenir sheets, but also 5,000 samples as imperforate, while Russia issued 20,000 souvenir sheets as well as 4,200 samples of a special folder containing the same souvenir sheet, imperforated.

Milan Csaplar (Slovakia) provided update about future joint issues involving Slovakia. The design of the Slovakia – SMOM issue became available and the stamps will be released on June 23, 2023. Reminder: as SMOM is not recognized by UPU and as no other country is involved in this issue, this pair will not be approved as joint, but still be reported in the catalogue for collectors of SMOM stamps. The design of the Joint Issue with the Czech Republic at the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Czech Post and the Slovak Post was also released. These stamps are supposed to be released on October 2, 2023.

Enzo Cafaro (Italy) provided information about a joint issue between the Sovereign Order of Malta (SMOM) and the Vatican City issued on May 16, 2023 and commemorating the 825th anniversary of the dedication of the Cathedral Santa Maria Assunta in Spoleto (1198). Stamps are identical and show the façade of the cathedral, also known as Duomo of Spoleto, and a fresco by Filippo Lippi dedicated to the Stories of the Virgin (15th century). However as SMOM is not recognized by UPU, this issue cannot be recognized as a true joint issue and will be reported in the catalogue for SMOM collectors but under the heading Non-accepted [N].

Vietnam appears also in two official joint issues, but information to complete these series is missing. We reported already the picture of the joint issue with India (April 23, 2023), but are still waiting for India’s counterpart. Uruguay announced and released a souvenir sheet related to the 30th anniversary of relation with Vietnam. Picture of the Uruguayan item released on April 27, 2023 is reproduced below, but no news is available from Vietnam.

Back to the 2023 PostEurop stamp issue, there is a clarification to make, following a note sent by Stewie Griffin: BeePost (actually very close link to Stamperija and Peterstamps, same office address) did not have the legal permission from PostEurop to print Europa stamps, nor to use the Europa logo and design. The BeePost stamps described in the previous Post related to Europa 2023 stamps must be considered as illegal and should not appear in a serious stamp collection. They will not be described in the catalogue either, when updated. Actually we learned also that BeePost’s website is now under “maintenance” and Stamperija removed all BeePost “stamps” from their website. Thanks for this information which details can be found under https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=100797

In the meantime additional stamps related to PostEurop Peace 2023 became available: Estonia (May 25, 2023, one stamp in miniature sheets of 10 stamps), Greenland (May 30, 2023, 2 stamps available in sheetlets of 10, but also in a booklet of blocks of 6 from each), Nagorno Karabakh now issuing stamps under the name of Republic of Artsakh (May 25, 2023, two stamps available in miniature sheets of 10, but also in a miniature sheet of 5 se-tenant pairs), and Belgium (to be released on June 12, 2023, but illustration already available; one stamp in a miniature sheet of 5 stamps). The illustrations of the stamps from Azerbaijan became also available, but the exact date of release (in June) is still not known.

In Denmark, the Europa stamp is presented in a form of a souvenir sheet including the common stamp and a second commemorating stamp representing a candle. This second Denmark stamp was originally issued in 1970 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the end of WWII. On May 4, 1945, a candle was put at all windows in Denmark, when armistice was signed, and this tradition continues since, symbolizing peace. The stamp from the souvenir sheet is an adapted reproduction of the 1970 stamp, but the isolated candle stamp issued as self-adhesive in a miniature sheet of 10, does have a different design. Only this isolated stamp bears the sentence “Sammen for fred” (Together for peace), which appears actually in the souvenir sheet only on the common stamp.

At this stage, for this 2023 Europa series, we are still missing information regarding the participation of Albania, Armenia, Georgia, the Isle of Man and Kazakhstan.

Eventually catalogues have been updated. Of course Volume 15 contains all new data and stamps released during the past two months, but also information about some new mixed covers created by Jaap Sarelse (the Netherlands) that had not been reported so far. Volume 2 has been completed with the 1950 (April 12) Milan Trade Fair stamps. And of course, the Country and Topic pages of Volume 1 have been updated at the same time, the new sub-category [P3] is described.

New 1950 entry – New sub-class of Parallel Issue

by Richard Zimmermann

Through Fabio Bonacina and Enzo Cafaro (Italy) , a request came from a reader of Vaccari News to re-qualify the following Italian and San Marino stamps:

The Italian stamp and the San Marino (RSM) stamps have been issued on the same date of April 12, 1950. The Italian stamp is a specific stamp for the 28th Fiera di Milano (Trade fair), while the RSM stamps are definitive stamps overprinted with the Fiera di Milano reference. The definitive RSM stamps were also issued on April 12, 1950. Such stamps are usually not considered as joint issues, because no specific stamp was issued at this occasion by RSM. From the general rules, overprinted stamps are just considered as Non-accepted [N], in this case, subclass overprinted [OP] (which are reported in the catalogue).

However, there is an exception, when the overprint is combined with a change of color. In others words, and also in this particular case, these three RSM stamps have been specially printed for the Fair and overprinting appears only on stamps with a different color. As such they have to be considered as joint. In the same way, during this 1950’s period, France produced also a series of overprinted Tunisia and Algerian stamps with different colors, which were considered as Territorial issues [TD]. There was no such a territorial/colonial relationship between RSM and Italy, and stamps do have a different design. Parallel issue [P] would be the best definition. This seems to be the first encountered case and it needs the creation of a new sub-class of Parallel issues that will be called [P3]. It corresponds to Commemorative stamps issued on the same day, with a different design, in which at least one country is using overprinted stamps, but those stamps do not exist as non-overprinted standard stamps.

Standard San Marino stamps with the same design show respectively the colors, red and brown (5L), violet and black (15L) or blue-green and blue (55L), while the overprinted stamps are respectively green and blue (5L), black and red (15L) or brown and blue (55L) with overprint respectively black (5L), blue (15L) or black (55L). Non-overprinted stamps with these colors do not exist. At the same date of April 12, 1950, Trieste (Zone A) issued the same Italian stamp with overprint “AMG-FTT” in red. Italian stamps were issued at 3,305,000 samples, San Marino at 3×37,411 samples and Trieste stamps at 150,000 samples. Note that the nine non-overprinted San Marino stamps were issued only at 14,033 samples each.

The catalogue Vol 2 will be updated accordingly and the new definition of [P3] will be introduced in Catalogue Vol 1.