River

Update August 2026

by Richard Zimmermann

The Croatia – Spain stamps that were originally announced to be issued on June 18, 2026, were finally released on August 10, 2026. They show two types of sailing boats (Betina – Crotia and Baleares – Spain). The Croatian stamps were issued in miniature panes of 6 pairs [2px3]. Spanish stamps were printed in panes of 14 pairs, i.e., [3px5] with the central pair replaced by two labels with flags.

The France – Thailand twin issue was released as announced on August 28, 2026, with general sale at post counters in France on the following Monday, August 31, 2026. The stamps represent the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River in Paris and the Wat Arun Tempel and the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. Thailand stamps are produced in miniature sheets of 5 se-tenant pairs (printed 65,000 pairs), while French stamps became available in two miniature sheets of 10 stamps each (printed 2×350,000 stamps. Additionally, France released also a souvenir sheet of 200×90 mm containing both French stamps, produced at 15,000 samples.

The postal administrations of Ascension Island, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Tristan da Cunha have teamed up once again with a joint stamp issue reminiscent of that issued by these territories in November 2021.

The commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the United Kingdom’s Blue Belt Programme includes four stamps from each territory: these are issued both in individual sheets of ten stamps with a white edging and as souvenir sheets (with the design bleeding into the sheet border). This design is very close to the 2021 issue. The release date is scheduled for September 9, 2026. The territories currently involved in the initiative on top of the three countries listed above include Saint Helena, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory and Pitcairn Islands. Additional participation from some of these countries could be announced within the next days or weeks but nothing has been published so far (information provided by Adam Paish, UK).

Gaza, rivers and snake

by Richard Zimmermann

During the month of December 2025, so, with one year delay, Saudi Arabia also issued a stamp relative to the Solidarity with Gaza set. This new stamp has to be added to the [T20241129] stamp series of the same design that already included Algeria – Djibouti (November 11, 2024) – Jordan (November 28, 2024) – Libya (December 31, 2024) – Morocco – Oman – Qatar (November 28, 2024) – Syria (October 7, 2024) and Tunisia. Details (including exact date of issue) for this additional country are still missing.

Similarly, Sudan released three stamps at the occasion of the Arab Postal day, with the same design as the stamps proposed on August 3, 2025 [T20250803] by seven other countries (Algeria – Egypt – Iraq – Libya (2025) – Oman – Tunisia (August 4, 2025) and the United Arab Emirates). Exact date of issue remains unknown for these three new stamps (difference can be seen only at the level of the denomination).

Regarding the previously reported joint issue between Laos and Thailand [T20251219], the stamps from Laos had not been shown yet. Here is a first illustration showing clearly the twin character. However, it is still not clear if Laos issued a second stamp similar to the second stamp from Thailand.

Egypt and Portugal celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relationships on December 18, 2025 with souvenir sheets containing each a pair of stamps representing the Nile River and the Douro River. Details from the Egyptian souvenir sheet are missing. The Portuguese souvenir sheet, size 95×125 mm has been issued at 20,000 samples only.

We got also some information about a potential joint issue involving Jordan and India for stamps supposed to be issued on December 16, 2025, but so far nothing could be confirmed and no stamps have been seen. Also, we are still looking for the illustration and exact date of issue of the Uruguayan stamp produced jointly with Romania and showing horses. Similarly, there are no news so far, from the Vietnam stamps supposed to be issued in parallel of Cyprus on December 1, 2025. Latest information seems to confirm that the Cyprus stamps could remain unilateral.

Thanks to Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai, and Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands, for providing a large part of the information described in this page.

Latest News September – October 2024 (2)

by Richard Zimmermann

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) involves five countries from the post-sovietic era. The EAEU Treaty was signed on May 29, 2014 by the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia, and came into force on January 1, 2015. Armenia and Kyrgyzstan joined respectively on October 9, 2014 and December 23, 2014. Therefore, the year 2024 corresponds to the 10th anniversary of the treaty. On May 29, 2024, only Russia issued a stamp, but the joint character (Parallel issue [P]) of a common issue was confirmed with the issue of Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan stamps on October 1, 2024. Additionally, the design of the Kazakhstan stamp (only 5,000 samples available) is identical to the Russian stamp, giving a Concerted character [C] to this series. Kyrgyzstan issued also a stamp in the course of the month of September (exact release date still unknown). All these stamps have in common the presence of the EAEU logo and the five flags of the participating countries. This issue will be reported in the catalogue under the entry code [C20241001].

For the third time in less than a month, Portugal participates to a joint issue. On October 7, 2024, Portugal joined Morocco to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Peace Treaty (1774) and the 30th anniversary of the Friendship Treaty (1994) between both countries, with a pair of stamps representing the equestrian statue of King José I showing in the background the triumphal arch of Augusta Street in Lisbon, Portugal on one stamp, and the defense tower of the port of Essaouira, Morocco on the other one. Morocco issued the pair as se-tenant stamps in miniature sheets of 5 pairs. Portugal issued stamps in panes of 50 individual stamps. ?Most of the information was provided by Ali Ahmed Med Achour (Algeria). Thanks to him.

On October 10, 2024, Croatia and Germany celebrated relationship with a common stamp symbolizing the common river, the Danube.

Finally, we are still missing the counterpart stamps to the September 10, 2024 issued Uruguayan pairs of stamps showing a panther and a tiger, together with an Uruguyan flag and a South Korean flag, and announced to become a joint issue with South Korea. Eventually this issue will remain unilateral. Any help from South Korea is welcome to confirm that there will be (or not) Korean associated stamps, before we remove this issue from the catalogue.

Re-exploring Colombia

by Richard Zimmermann

On July 29, 2024, Argentina issued a pair of stamps depicting whales (Southern right whale – Eubalena australis and Humpback whale – Megaptera novaangliae) and entitled ‘200 years of Argentina – Colombia relationship’. Indeed, these stamps are the counterpart of the Colombia pair issued on December 29, 2023, based on the same design. As a consequence, this issue must be considered as a concerted issue that was recently completed and it will be described in the catalogue under the entry code [C20231229], added to the year 2023 section. Colombia issued 25,000 stamps in miniature sheets of two se-tenant pairs. Argentina issued stamps in panels of 12 stamps.

In parallel, Don Birschel (USA) provided an additional information about a Colombia – Peru issue that was missed so far. On May 27, 2022, Colombia issued at the occasion of 200 years of relationship with Peru, a miniature sheet with 4 different stamps showing a) the archeological site of Moray, Cusco, Peru, b) the Caño Cristales, river in the the Macarena mountains, Meta, Colombia, c) a llama and d) a sloth. It appears that Peru issued at the same occasion, but only on November 30, 2022, two se-tenant stamps with the same designs as the two first Colombian stamps (a and b). Of course, these stamps must be considered as a concerted issue and will be added to the catalogue under the entry [C20220527] in the year 2022 section.

By further exploring the “4-72” Colombia web site, it appeared that Colombia issued in 2022 and 2023, on top of the Argentina-Colombia joint issue, a series of relationship stamps that in theory could have led to additional concerted issues. These stamps celebrate relationship anniversaries between Colombia and Egypt (February 23, 2022), the United States (May 2, 2022), South Korea (May 6, 2022), Germany (May 8, 2022), Chile (December 29, 2022), Barbados (December 18, 2023) and Canada (December 22, 2023). To our knowledge, no counterpart stamps have been issued, but information from some remote countries such as Egypst of Barbados is often difficult to find.

In the same way, Peru issued, over the past years, stamps related to different relationship anniversaries with India (August 26, 2022), Guatemala (2022), Ecuador (October 23, 2023), Japan (November 13, 2023), and South Korea (November 13, 2023), but none resulted (so far and to our knowledge) in a joint issue (except the Peru-Poland issue already described in the catalogue as N20230927). Uruguay issued stamps in honor of relationship with Japan (July 27, 2021), Czech and Slovak Republic (November 17, 2021), Vietnam (April 27, 2023) and Chile (November 1, 2023). Paraguay issued stamps for relations with South Korea (June 28, 2022) and Mexico (October 3, 2023).

When doing such a screening with Chilean recently issued stamps, it appears that this country celebrated relationship anniversaries with Canada (November 18, 2021), Peru (December 2022), and the United States (January 27, 2023) without counterpart. All these stamps must be considered as unilateral issues and should not be reported in the catalogue unless a counterpart is found. This counterpart is not necessarily a stamp but could be postal stationery, like in the Peru-Poland N20230927 issues, even much more difficult to find. Any additional information from all these countries is welcome.