Philatelic Exhibition

Unilateral issues 2024 – Conclusion

by Richard Zimmermann

In the previous 2024 Unilateral Issues page, there was a mention of an Indonesian – Serbia potential issue. The Serbian stamp was issued on November 4, 2024 at the occasion of the 70th anniversary of relationship between both countries (1954-2024). Serbia produced one stamp showing the Yugoslavian ambassador Pavlič handing over letters of credit to President Sukarno in 1954.

The Indonesian stamps eventually were released on December 17, 2024. The two se-tenant stamps show, on the first one, the presidents Sukarno and Tito shaking hands, with a drum, on the second one, flags of both countries. Even if the structure of the miniature sheets are quite similar, the designs and content are completely different. There is no claim of a joint character by either of the postal administrations. From the explanations provided by the Serbian post, there was clearly a collaboration between them and the embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Belgrade. Also, the postal administrations seems to have found an agreement about general content, selection and distribution of objects, size of stamps and form of the miniature sheet. However, the final items as well as the different dates of issue lead to define these stamps as non-joint and they will be reported in the catalogue under the name [N20241104].

Finally, there is now a very good reason to consider the Italy – Peru stamps as a joint issue. We had to wait until the day of issue of the Italian stamps on January 30, 2025, to confirm that the stamps were identical. The Peruvian stamps had been issued as early as August 29, 2024. without clear information from the Italian post side. This information helped to complete the catalogue, and to file this issue as concerted under the entry name C20240829.

January 2024 News

by Richard Zimmermann

Several friends provided interesting information over the past weeks:

Kenneth Sequeira (Singapore) discovered an item based on an older Indonesia souvenir sheet, originally part of the Indonesia – Thailand joint issue from May 5, 2016, overprinted at the occasion of the Philatelic Exhibition “Thailand 2023”, that took place between November 27 and December 2, 2023. This is not part of a joint issue, but as material from a previous joint issue was used, the item needs to be described under this heading [T20160505].

The 60th anniversary of the relationship between Tunisia and The People’s Republic of China was celebrated by Tunisia with a dedicated stamp showing a panda with a text in both Chinese and Arabic characters. Unfortunately China did not issue any counterpart philatelic material and this unilateral stamp will not be reported in the catalogue (information received from Med Achour Ali Ahmed, Algeria).

During its 44th session in Cairo (Egypt) on January 11, 2024, the Permanent Arab Postal Commission decided to issue by Arab member countries a postage stamp in solidarity with Gaza. A commission was set up to discuss its design. No release date has been brought forward (information received from Med Achour Ali Ahmed, Algeria).

The UPU has launched the campaign of its 150th anniversary, announcing a possibility for all voluntary postal administrations to participate on October 9, 2024 with a common stamp. The suggestion is to use the logo of the anniversary which has been shown at the end of last year. So far, more than 20 countries have confirmed their participation, but eventually about 200 countries could participate. As this issue is created upon a kind of central invitation, not printed centrally and as there is some freedom to adapt the logo, but with the suggestion to release them at the same date, this issue has to be considered as a true twin issue. It looks like a future omnibus series. There will be hundreds of products available and it could be understandable that some collectors will not consider integrating these stamps in their collection. The design of the proposed common stamp became available.

Enzo Cafaro, Italy, found information about the next India – Israel joint issue dedicated to Purim Festival to be released on February 13, 2024 and he could already provide the design.

All catalogue volumes have been updated and are available on line. The list of additional issues expected to be released during the year 2024 has been integrated in the catalogue Volume 15.

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!