Philatelic Exhibition

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.

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!