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Starting January 1, 2022, this Joint Stamp Issues web site has been transferred to a new site to be found under the address
https://www.philarz.com
This site will remain accessible until at least end of 2022, but not updated anymore. It will be erased when all the archived information will have been completely transfered to the new site.

Joint Stamp Issues - News

 

The most recent information about Joint Stamp Issues is reported here. The very most recent data will always be displayed at the top. This information will mainly deal with issues to come, in other words issues to watch, and for which not enough data are yet available to be transferred in the description sections. It will also contain discoveries from collectors. All possible sources will be explored and if someone has data to share, those will be reported here as well. However this page cannot be interactive, as information does not appear at regular intervals (and the webmaster is not available daily). Furthermore, most of the information will need to be checked before being posted. Different colors will highlight modifications compared to initial texts if information exchanges with collectors provide contradictory opinions or supplementary data. Whenever possible or relevant, links with the original source will be provided. However, these links will not be re-checked for activity. At the end of each quarter, this page will be archived and from that point not updated anymore as the final and updated information will be available in the catalogue section (see on the left side "years" section)


December 31, 2021

Wayne Chen (USA) provided a link with a video made by Lisa Berthin (Canada) from StampCat, broadcasting information about the 2021 Slania joint stamps including an interview from him. See https://youtu.be/Dkpx6C4YcKw. Nice to have the whole story and of course the full story of Czeslaw Slania covered within 15 min on Youtube. Congratulations Lisa.

On December 22, 2021, both Albania and Slovenia issued the same design souvenir sheet including two stamps representing islands on lakes. This issue is entitled Ecotourism. The Slovenia souvenir sheet was shown earlier. Here is the picture of the Albanian souvenir sheet provided by Enzo Cafaro (Italy).

On December 31, 2021, Kyrgyzstan could eventually release the woodpecker stamps associated to the Croatian stamps already released on September 22, 2021. Kyrgyzstan released two times 5,000 sheetlets of 5 stamps each as well as a souvenir sheet with a se-tenant pair of stamps (issued 2,000).


December 17, 2021

Don Birschel (USA) was just able to provide the first image of the Slovenia souvenir sheet to be issued with Albania on next December 22, 2021. This image looks very similar to the first picture seen for the Albanian souvenir sheet (see earlier), so leading to a true Twin Issue.


December 16, 2021

On December 10, 2021, Serbia issued an unexpected souvenir sheet at the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the relationship with Kazakhstan. Stamps represent the two capital cities, Nursultan and Belgrade, and the souvenir sheet has a shape ideal to be produced as a joint issue. Unfortunately, no information is available from Kazakhstan so far. There is a high risk that this issue, probably initially planned as joint, will remain an unilateral product.

A similar situation may take place with Austria, which issued on December 6, 2021 a souvenir sheet also designed like a joint issue. This product initially planned to be released in June 2021 was somehow announced as potential joint issue with Greenland. As for the previous product, this souvenir sheet may remain unilateral, as no information is available from Greenland so far.


December 2, 2021

The Croatian and Polish stamps have been issued on December 2, 2021. Each country issued a pair of se-tenant stamps, in miniature sheets of 4 pairs, chessboard ordered. Poland is also proposing a folder containing one perforated and one non-perforated Polish miniature sheet as well as one Croatian miniature sheet. Due to the very low print runs of these folders, they will not be considered as dedicated products of this joint issue. We are expecting that mixed FDCs will become available.

On December 2, 2021, Morocco and Tunisia issued also the expected joint issue with music as topic. Images were provided by Enzo Cafaro (Italy).


December 1, 2021

Wayne Chen informed us about an unexpected 2021 joint issue involving China PR and Iran and celebrating 50 years of relationship with stamps representing bridges. Chinese stamps are produced in miniature sheets of 10 stamps ordered as a bloc of 3x3 stamps and below a 10th stamp. Date of issue will be December 11, 2021. There is no information available from Iran.


November 29, 2021

Enzo Cafaro (Italy) provided also information about two not yet reported joint issues to be released this year, namely Croatia - Poland on December 2, 2021 and Albania - Slovenia on December 22, 2021. More information to come, but in the meantime, here are the first images from the Croatia stamp FDC and the Albania FDC (out of program issue confirmed by Slovenia). Still no news from the announced Albania - Ukraine issue for 2021.


November 28, 2021

On November 24, 2021, Moldova and Romania issued each two stamps dedicated to viticulture and showing grapes. Moldova issued stamps in miniature sheets of 10 stamps 2x[5x2], but also as a se-tenant miniature sheet of 3 pairs [3x1p], alternating stamps (i.e. when cut either in 3 vertical pairs or 2 horizontal + 1 vertical). Romania proposed stamps in sheets of 28 (2x[4x7]), but also in miniature sheets of 5 stamps and one label 2x[3x2] consisting of a row of 2 and a row of 3 stamps. The label is positionned at the end of the first row, and represents the design of the second stamp type. Only 980 pairs of these Romanian miniature sheets have been printed. Mixed covers with stamps from both countries became also available.

Adam Paish (UK) completed the information regarding the Blue Belt program with the designs of the stamps from the British Antarctic Territory (issued November 23, 2021) and Tristan da Cunha (issue date November 29, 2021), as complement to the stamps from Ascension Island and the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands already issued on November 9, 2021.

Eventually the Anita Garibaldi stamps from Uruguay came on the market on November 26, 2021. Stamp is identical to the Brazilian stamp. It is issued in sheetlets of 12 stamps, but only at 15,000 samples. The Brazil stamps were issued on August 30, 2021 (Information provided by Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands, and Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai ).

Kenneth Sequeira (Dubai) and Jaap Sarelse (the Netherlands) reported a few cancellations of previously announced joint issue. The Tajikistan philatelic program shows now the Tajikistan - Kyrgyzstan joint issue crossed out. This issue was initially planned for Quarter 4, 2021, but without more precision regarding the date. At the same time the Kyrgyzstan philatelic office informed us that the issue of the Kyrgyzstan stamps from the Croatia - Kyrgyzstan joint issue is postponed (i.e. probably towards early 2022), but not cancelled. Croatia had issued their stamps as planned on September 22, 2021 (topic: woodpeckers) and (identical) designs of the Kyrgyzstan stamps appeared on the Delcampe web site before being retrieved. At the same time, Ukraine announces three joint issues for 2022 with Italy (150th birthday of Solomiya Krushelnytska), Singapore (topic unknown) and the USA (100th anniversary of the first performance of the Ukrainian carol 'Shchedryk' in Carnegie Hall, New York), without more precise date, and no confirmation from the partner country.
The TAAF/Portugal joint issue must also be considered as cancelled. Stamps on the expected topic (Portuguese prersence in the Austral seas by Joao da Nova) were issued by Portugal on October 11, 2021, without any reference to a joint character. There is no more information available on this topic from the French side.


November 14, 2021

From Adam Paish (UK): The British government's flagship 'Blue Belt Programme' has been supporting a number of UK Overseas Territories with the protection and sustainable management of their marine environments since 2016. The territories currently involved in the initiative are: 

  • Ascension Island
  • Saint Helena
  • Tristan da Cunha
  • British Antarctic Territory
  • British Indian Ocean Territory 
  • Pitcairn Islands
  • South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands

On November 9, 2021, the postal administrations of Ascension Island and South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands each released four stamps and a souvenir sheet (containing slightly different versions of the stamps) to publicise the programme. Stamps of similar designs will be released by Tristan da Cunha and the British Antarctic Territory as part of this issue, but no release date for these has yet been announced. The other territories are not expected to participate.

Robert Schijvers (Mongolia) provided some updated information about recently issued Mongolia stamps: The Mongolia Russia joint issue was released on November 5, 2021, not November 11, with an official opening ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on that Friday, but the Mongolia stamp became available only on November 8, 2021, as the 859th anniversary of Chinggis Khaan's birthday was also celebrated on November 5. The Mongolia stamp came in a sheetlet of 6 as well as in a souvenir sheet. Russia issued one stamp in miniature sheets of 9.

Dov M. Lask (Israel) was able to provide the first images of the Czech Republic - Israel issue to be released on November 30, 2021. The stamp features an artistic mosaic of the Kfar Masaryk kibbutz and the portrait of the Czechoslovakia president Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, first head of state to visit mandatory Palestine in 1927.

The Brazil - Estonia - joint issue was released on November 10, 2021 (instead of November 1 as initially announced) with identical stamps featuring buildings from each country. The Estonia stamp became available in miniature sheets of 10 stamps [2x5] ordered tête-bêche and the Brazilian stamp in miniature sheets of 12 stamps [3x4].

The Switzerland - Thailand joint issue was released as planned on November 11, 2011. This series is celebrating the 90 years of relationship between both countries. Topics are different (trains and mountains) but related to both countries. Thailand stamps are printed as se-tenant pairs issued in miniature sheets of 5 pairs. Mixed FDCs are also available.

 


October 31, 2021

Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) reported initially that on October 25, 2021 (and not November 2nd) the expected jointly issued stamps from Bulgaria and Moldova were released. Topic (100th birth anniversary of King Mihai) and issue dates are identical, but the two FDC covers were not announced as a joint issue. Careful check with the respective postal administrations resulted in the conclusion that these two covers cannot be considered as joint: in fact, the Moldova cover is based on a stamp issued on December 5, 2018 and this Moldovan cover is only a commemorative one.

On October 10, 2021, UAE and Kazakhstan released both two stamps to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the UAE’s Formation and the 30th Anniversary of the Independence of Kazakhstan (Information provided by Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai).

Ali Ahmed Med Achour (Algeria) provided the full data and images of the Algeria - Tunisia joint issue related to the Medjerda Oued finally released on October 24, 2021.

From Robert Schrijvers (Mongolia): both 2020 Mongolia joint issues were put on sale in Mongolia at the same date on March 3, 2021, together with 6 other Mongolian stamps supposed to be released between November 2020 and January 2021. The official release dates, proven by FDCs, remain the dates given so far, namely November 20, 2020 with Slovakia (Slovakian stamp issued on October 2, 2020) and December 1, 2020 with Singapore (November 25, 2020).


October 10, 2021

Kenneth Sequeira (Dubai) was able to provide the first pictures of the Thailand stamps from the joint issue to be released with Switzerland next November 11, 2021.

Regarding the counterpart of the Anita Garibaldi stamp already released by Brazil, on August 30, 2021, Jaap Sarelse (the Netherlands) got the confirmation that Uruguay will release a stamp as well, at a date that is still unknown, but with the same design.

It seems also that Slovakia has removed from their stamp issue program the one that was supposed to be released together with the UAE at the occasion of the Universal Expo in Dubai. UAE has released its stamp on October 1, 2021 (information provided by Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai).

Mohamed Achour Ali Ahmed (Algeria) could confirm that the pair of stamps related to the Medjerda Oued and initially planned to be released in 2020 by Algeria and Tunisia, will finally become available on October 24, 2021 and the design will be based on a same landscape showing the river.

The complete story of Wayne Chen's involvement in the Denmark, Faeroe, Greenland Slania stamps from August 12, 2021 is now to be found in Linn's Stamp News.

Both next information came from Don Birschel (USA):
On September 17, 2021, Cyprus has released a stamp related to the China-Cyprus 50 years relationship anniversary, but so far no information is available from the Chinese side. This will probably remain an unilateral series.

Similarly, Indonesia has released a souvenir sheet clearly stating a joint character with Argentina (issue date September 16 or 27, 2021), but no information is so far available from Argentina.


September 22, 2021

On September 22, 2021, Croatia issued the two stamps intended to be part of the joint issue with Kyrgyzstan. Topic is woodpeckers. Unfortunately, Kyrgyzstan had to announce that for technical reasons, their identical stamps will be released at a later stage. Exact new date of issue is not known for the time being (information obtained via Enzo Cafaro, Italy). Kyrgyzstan will issue two miniature sheets of 5 stamps each and a souvenir sheet containing both se-tenant stamps. Croatia has issued a se-tenant pair of stamps produced in miniature sheets of 4 pairs.


September 20, 2021

Additionally to the Moroccan stamp described earlier, Jaap Sarelse (the Netherlands) discovered another stamp with the design of the philatelic hub series from October 4, 2016. and issued by Ivory Coast on the same date of August 24, 2021. The 5th anniversary of the African Philatelic Hub was celebrated during the UPU congress which took place betwen August 9 and 27, 2021 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. This stamp is not part of the 2016 joint issue, but as we are now in presence of two identical stamps issued on the same date by two different countries, we have to consider them as a new twin issue. Ivory Coast issued also a souvenir sheet (October 30, 2021 note from Benjamin Bush, France: This souvenir sheet does not show a denomination and may simply to be considered as a cinderella - to be checked). It is not excluded that stamps from other African countries may join. Potential additional participants could include Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Mauritania, Senegal and Togo.
Niger issued a stamp in 2020 entitled 4th anniversary of the hub, bearing the logo and the reproduction of another stamp. This cannot be considered as being part of any joint issue. We had previously also reported similar stamps issued by Mali and Togo during the year 2020, also not part of a joint issue.

Chile and Spain have issued a common stamp in honor of Gabriela Mistral, first South American Literature Nobel Prize winner (1945). Details were provided by the Spanish Post via Jaap Sarelse. The Spanish stamp was released on September 9, 2021. However, except the design of the stamp provided by the Spanish philatelic office, no other information is available so far regarding the Chilean stamp.

On October 22, 2021, Poland and Sweden will also issue a joint souvenir sheet dedicated to the engraver Czeslaw Slania. Designs of the souvenir sheets became available (Information provided by Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands and Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai).

Designs of the joint stamps between France and Japan to be issued on October 9, 2021 became also available. Each country will issue two stamps in se-tenant pairs sold in miniature sheets of 5 pairs.


September 8, 2021

Kenneth Sequeira (Dubai) was the first to report that Brazil issued on August 30, 2021, a stamp honoring Anita Garibaldi. This stamp clearly says "Joint issue with Uruguay", but is released one year later than initially announced. In fact, the year 2021 is the real year of the 200th birthday of Anita Garibaldi (August 30, 1821 - August 4, 1849). Uruguay announced this issue as early as 2020, but nothing was released during that year. The 2021 Uruguayan stamp has not been seen yet and no information is available. Italy, which initially was also expected to participate, does not seem to join this year, but may issue a separate stamp as well. San Marino issued a stamp on June 1, 2021, but this item is not part of the joint issue.

The stamps for the 400th anniversary of the Battle of Khotyn were issued on September 2, 2021. All three countries, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine issued one souvenir sheet each. The battle took place between September 2 and October 9, 1621. A folder produced at 600 samples and containing all three souvenir sheets, mint, became also available.

The stamp celebrating the 140th birthday of the painter Ivan Myasoyedov (born on October 12, 1881, died in 1953) were issued on September 6, 2021, involving Liechtenstein and Ukraine. Both countries issued a souvenir sheet with two stamps.

On August 24, 2021, Morocco issued a stamp with the design of the philatelic hub series from October 4, 2016. Despite the similarity, this stamp is not part of the 2016 joint issue (information discovered by Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands).

Jaap discovered also, as first, an unexpected pair of joint stamps involving Argentina and Bulgaria. Issue date was August 30, 2021 and stamps celebrate 90 years of diplomatic relations. Bulgaria issued stamps in miniature sheets of 4 pairs.


August 24, 2021

Following the discovery of the spelling mistake in the Arab characters of the Euromed logo, Med Achour Ali Ahmed (Algeria) tried to create a first list of Euromed stamps containing this mistake. The following list cannot yet be considered as exhaustive. The same mistake can also appear on the first day covers (cachets), the special first day cancellations and the margins of stamps, or, in particular on the margin of souvenir and miniature sheets:

Greece
2019: Costumes
Malta
2018: Houses
2019: Costumes
2020: Gastronomy (also on First Day cancellation)
2021: Jewelry (also on First Day cancellation)
Portugal
2020: Gastronomy (also on First Day cancellation)
2021: Jewelry (also on First Day cancellation and First day Cover cachet)
Slovenia
2021: Jewelry
Spain
2019: Costumes (also on FDC cachet)
2020: Gastronomy (also on miniature sheet and FDC cachet)
2021: Jewelry (also on First Day cancellation and FDC cachet)
Turkey
2019: Costumes (also on FDC cachet)
2020: Gastronomy (also on FDC cachet)
2021: Jewelry (also on FDC cachet)

Also about the 2021 Euromed issue, George Adi (USA) informed us that the Lebanon stamp became officially available only on August 24, 2021.

From Don Birschel (USA): China PR, Hong Kong and Macau have issued stamps on July 1, 2021 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. All three postal administrations issued stamps (more than 20 for China) and souvenir sheets. China produced a folder with all their products including a stamp roll with 20 different imperforate stamps, length 1020 mm, folded in five, the same stamps in a miniature sheet and part of 5 different FDCs and a miniature sheet with 12 stamps and as many labels. Hong Kong and Macau produced each a block of 4 stamps and a souvenir sheet. All stamps are different, but bear the same red 100 anniversary logo, at least in the margin or on covers. This will be considered as a Territorial parallel issue [TD] - D20210701.

From Dov M. Lask (Israel) and Don Birschel (USA): On August 17, 2021, a joint stamp was issued between Israel and Ukraine. This issue had been announced for a long time, but only recently the exact date of issue became available. The subject is Israeli writer S.Y. Agnon, winner of literature Nobel Prize. As usual, Israel produced a mixed Souvenir Leaf.

We got also disappointing news from Wayne Chen. On August 12, 2021, he was invited to participate to the launch (Joint issue ceremony) of the three joint souvenir sheets dedicated to the engraver Czeslaw Slania involving Denmark, Faroe and Greenland. The stamps were produced using a picture Wayne made shortly before Slania's death. A special signature of official documents was organized in Chicago during the Great American Stamp Show, and five VIPs were supposed to sign it on site, among which the master of ceremonies, Jay Bigalke, Editor-in-Chief of Linns Stamp News, an official representative of the three postal authorities, namely Svanbjorg Mania, Director of Philately, Faroe Istands Post, the engraver of the stamp Martin Mörck, the event coordinator, Armagan Ozdinc and Wayne Chen, stamp photographer. The bad weather conditions in the area on that day never allowed the planes to take off from New York airport and Wayne had to return sadly home. Documents provided by Don Birschel who could attend, do show that two other participants (Svanbjorg Mania from Faroe and Martin Mörck from Denmark) could not sign the document either, as they were not allowed to fly to the US, apparently for COVID reason. We will see if such fully signed documents could not become available through successive shipments at a later stage. The story is not yet finished, but at least the three souvenir sheets have been issued. A common folder with all three souvenir sheets mint, became also available.

Surprising new issue from Libya: Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) discovered a first day issue dated June 27, 2021 bearing the 2019 Libyan 'Al-Quds - Capital of Palestine' stamp.


August 4, 2021

For all the information collected during the month of July 2021 and described below, I would like to thank Ali Ahmed Med Achour (Algeria), Don Birschel (USA), Wayne Chen (USA), Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands), Kenneth Sequeira (Dubai), Grzegorz Smialkowski (Poland) and Janko Stampfl (Slovenia).

Armenia is the third country to issue a stamp on May 31, 2021 (20,000 samples [2x5]), at the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the creation of the board of member countries of the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications (RCC), after Russia on January 22, 2021 and Belarus on March 2, 2021. On July 1, 2021, Azerbaijan issued also a stamp ([4x2]) available as perforated and non-perforated stamps. Kyrgyzstan issued a stamp on June 11, 2021 ([1+(2x3)]. Despite the fact that almost the same design is used (actually the same logo), we still cannot confirm the joint character of this issue.

The Lithuania - Poland - Ukraine stamps relative to the 400th anniversary of the battle of Khotyn will probably be released on September 2, 2021, official date of issue of the Lithuanian stamp. A first picture of the Lithuanian souvenir sheet became available.

The Euromed (Pumed) issue 2021 dedicated to Handicraft Jewelry in the Mediterranean was issued on July 12, 2021 [P20210712]. This series involves so far 16 countries , namely Algeria, Cyprus, Croatia, Egypt, France, Greece, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey. All these countries issued their stamps on July 12 with the exception of Cyprus (July 8), France (July 9), Greece (July 13), Portugal (July 9) and Tunisia (July 15). There are possibilities that Albania and Palestine may join this isssue at a later stage. All stamps are different and countries released between 1 and 4 stamps each.

To this Euromed issue, Med Achour Ali Ahmed (Algeria) added the following information, that can also be found on his facebook account 'Philnews':
- on both the Spanish stamp and miniature sheet as well as the Slovenia stamp, the arabic translation, just below "EUROMED | POSTAL" is missing the 'Alif'character in the word "Post" in Arabic (compare to the other countries transcriptions).
For Spain, actually, the stamp that is released does not have the Euromed logo on it and images found on the Euromed web site or the Spanish postal web site must be considered as the original design (see the stamp from the miniature sheet which corresponds to the final design that was really released) while the miniature sheet still keeps the error.

By looking closer to other stazmps, this mistake is also present on the Malta stamp and the Turkish souvenir sheet. When showing years back, it appears that the mistake exists also on the different Malta stamps since 2018 and probably on other stamps since the Arabic characters have been added to the logo. We do not have access to all these Euromed stamps from the past, but it could be interesting, if someone could help with high definition scans, or more simply with a list of all stamps showing this mistake. To be of help, here is an enlargement of the logo with the mistake (left image) and one with the correct spelling (right image). Thanks for any help in this series. The mistake can also appear on the first day cancellation. It is really surprising that nobody else noticed this mistake over the past years.

- Med Achour Ali Ahmed did also provide some information related to the Euromed 2020 issue dedicated to gastronomy to which Algeria was supposed to participate. The stamps that were supposed to belong to this issue were only released on May 18, 2021 without the Euromed logo (and therefore cannot belong to the 2020 Euromed joint issue). Med Achour noticed a mistake appearing both on cancellation and the first day cover illustration in which the orientation of spoon and fork was not adapted to the real use. See illustrations of wrong and corrected printings below. The corrected one was made by MED Achour. In the FDC, the cancellation remains wrongly oriented.

It is now confirmed that the Slania anniversary souvenir sheets involving Denmark, Faeroe Island and Greenland will be a twin issue with all three miniature sheets bearing the same stamp. Backgrounds (margins) will be different and Denmark's souvenir sheet will contain two identical stamps instead of one. The issue is announced for August 12, 2021. We have not had access yet to high quality pictures for reproduction here.

The Singapore - Sri Lanka joint issue dedicated to diplomatic relationship, initially announced for May 2021, was finally released on July 27, 2021 in form of two different souvenir sheets with identical stamps. Singapore issued also miniature sheets of 10 stamps and Sri Lanka sheets of 20 stamps (issued 2x300,000).

The Kyrgyzstan stamp designs of the joint issue between Croatia and Kyrgyzstan became available but the exact date of release still remains unknown. This country will propose stamps (2 miniature sheets of 5 stamps, 2x[2+3]) and one souvenir sheet (1 pair of stamps) illustrated with woodpeckers. No information is available from Croatia yet.

Grzegorz Smialkowski has updated his catalogue of joint issues involving Poland. This new supplement book of more than 300 pages covering the years 2016 to 2020 is available as pdf document at a price of 4 Euros. It is written in Polish but this is absolutely not a problem as the largest part of the book is made of illustrations. In particular, the book is illustrated with probably all possible stamps, stationery, side-products, FDCs, cancellations, which makes it highly interesting for completing the collection. If interested, please contact directly Grzegorz under gsmial@poczta.onet.pl .

There is another call from Don Birschel who is asking if someone collecting joint issues will attend the "Great American Stamp Show" in Chicago, USA, on August 12-15, 2021 (https://stamps.org/great-american-stamp-show). This is the first opportunity for a while allowing the organization of in-person meetings at a show. If someone intends to attend this show, and would like to speak to other joint issue collectors, please contact directly Don Birschel via his e-mail address deeb@wi.rr.com . I wish all of you a nice meeting.


June 24, 2021

Wayne Chen (USA) could confirm that the Czeslaw Slania joint issue will be issued on August 12, 2021 for all three countries Denmark, Faroe and Greenland and the stamps and souvenir sheets will be based on the same picture.

Jeff Courtright (USA) explored the potential participants to the 2021 Euromed stamp issue and could confirm the participation of the following countries: Malta (July 12, 2021), Portugal (July 9), Lebanon (July), Spain (July) and France (July 9). These countries are on top of the other countries already mentionned by Jeff: Cyprus (July 8) - Greece (July 13) - Slovenia (July 12) - Tunisia (July 15) - Turkey (July 12)

The Germany - India was issued on June 10, 2021 as expected, but stamps are different. First pictures were provided by Don Birschel (USA). Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) informed also about a folder (Luxury document) produced by the German Post Office with several pages related to this issue and containing older mint stamps from Germany, East Germany and India.

Jaap Sarelse found on Delcampe an older mixed first day cover never reported. This item is made of the 4 stamps from the four miniature sheets bearing a single stamp from the 1992, May 22 Christopher Columbus issue involving Italy, Portugal, Spain and the USA [T19920522]. For your records.


June 4, 2021

Great discovery from Benjamin Busch (France): over the past twenty years, obtaining information about the May 29, 1999 issued African 'Conseil de l'Entente' stamps was always difficult to obtain. In fact, originally, this twin issue was supposed to create a stamp issuing partnership at the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the creation of this entity between the five founding countries, namely Benin (previously Dahomey), Burkina Faso (previously Upper Volta), Ivory Coast, Niger and Togo. The existence of stamps was quite easy to prove for four countries, but it became difficult to collect information from Togo. Additionally, it appeared that May 29, 1999, was only a wish issuing date and respected by Ivory Coast only. Stamps appeared as early as April 9, 1999 for Niger, then May 5 for Burkina Faso, May 17 for Benin while the exact date of issue for Togo still remains unknown, transforming this twin issue in a Concerted issue. Surprisingly, over the following years, Benin issued slightly modified stamps with year of issue of 1999 printed on the stamp replaced successively by 2000, 2001 and 2002. Benin continued issuing stamps at a later stage by adding new denomination overprints on existing stocks. Additionally, one has to know that some countries issued non-perforated stamps and that the paper used for printing can be normal or phosphorescent paper.

In the meantime, 5 stamps from Togo with denomination 100, 125, 240, 380 and 390 F were discovered. Eventually, a souvenir sheet from Togo with denomination 1000 F became also available. Now, i.e. more than 20 years later, Benjamin found three additional Togo stamps never seen so far, but still with imprinted year 1999 with denominations 135, 150 and 200 F.

This issue is quite complicated do describe and it makes sense now to try to complete this information. We are asking you to take a look at your own stamps and to check if among your collection, there is a stamp that has not been reported up to now. Here is the list of so far identified stamps:

            Benin:  3 stamps - 135F, 150F, 200F - (imprinted year 1999)
                         3 stamps - 135F, 150F, 200F - (2000)
                         3 stamps - 135F, 150F, 200F - (2001); normal paper
                         3 stamps - 135F, 150F, 200F - (2001); phosphorescent paper
                         3 stamps - 135F, 150F, 200F - (2002)   
                         1 stamp  150F stamp overprinted 135F (2001), black     
                         1 stamp  150F stamp overprinted 300F (2001), black 
                         1 stamp  150F stamp double overprint 300F+300F (2001), black
                         1 stamp  150F stamp overprinted 500F, Type 1, large "5", (2001), black [this overprint appears in the panes in positions 1 to 24]
                         1 stamp  150F stamp overprinted 500F, Type 2, smaller "5", (2001), black [this overprint appears in the panes in positions 25 to 30]
                         1 stamp  150F stamp overprinted 1000F, Type 1, large thin "1", (2001), black [this overprint appears in the panes in positions 1 to 11 and 13 to 18]
                         1 stamp  150F stamp overprinted 1000F, Type 2, large bold "1", (2001), black [this overprint appears in the panes in positions 12 and 19 to 29]
                         1 stamp  150F stamp overprinted 1000F, Type 3, small "1", (2001), black [this overprint appears in the panes only in position 30]
            Burkina Faso:       2 stamps 170F, 260F - (1999)
                                       2 stamps 170F, 260F - (1999), non-perforated
            Ivory Coast:         1 stamp - 180F+20F - (1999)
                                       'Epreuve de luxe' with one stamp - (1999), imperforate
            Niger:                  2 stamps - 150F, 175F - (1999)
            Togo:                  8 stamps - 100F, 125F, 135F, 150F, 200F, 240F, 380F, 390F - (1999)
                                      miniature sheet with 1 stamp (1999), 1000F; 100x70 mm

Thanks for checking in particular years appearing on the stamp and combinations between this year, denomination and overprints. Thanks also for providing any complementary information on this issue.

Enzo Cafaro (Italy) was also able to provide the image of the Ethiopian stamps released on May 14, 2021, joint issue with China PR, stamps released on November 24, 2020.

Cesar Ittmann (the Netherlands) could also confirm that Greenland which will participate to the Czeslaw Slania stamp issue together with the Faeroe Islands and Denmark will issue it stamp at the same date of August 12, 2021.

The Italian - San Marino twin issue was released as planned on June 1, 2021. Both countries issued a souvenir sheet size 95x85 mm.


May 30, 2021

On May 28, 2021, the Portugal - Singapore joint stamps related to the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relationship were issued (Information Enzo Cafaro, Italy). Both stamps issued two identical stamps featuring the artistic impressions of Gardens by the Bay and Lisbon. Singapore issued also a souvenir sheet (140x75mm) containing both stamps.

Further to the Faroe Island stamp image, PostNord Denmark 2021 Stamp Programme published the picture of the the Danish joint issue souvenir sheet related to the 100th anniversary of the engraver Czelaw Slania. As the provider of the picture, the name of our friend Wayne Chen (USA), is now inscribed on the stamp along side with the engraver. Congratulations Wayne. This Danish stamp is expected to be released on August 12, 2021 in form of a souvenir sheet containing two stamps.

Mansoor Aslam (Pakistan) provided the first images of the Pakistan stamps issued jointly with China PR on May 21, 2021 with topic harbours. China issued the stamps in two miniature sheets of 12 stamps which show perforation in form of waves. Pakistan issued these stamps ith an hexagonal shape in a miniature sheet of 9 pairs. Even if the stamps have in common only a single perforation they must be considered as se-tenant ;-).

Enzo Cafaro (Italy) found the Palestine stamp from the Al Quds series from October 9, 2019. Apparently this stamp was eventually released from the blocus. It is presently sold by Arabian Stamps and Palstamps. However, we are missing both the exact date of availability (initial intended date of issue was December 6, 2019, which is in fact the date appearing on the FDC and that we will keep as reference until further notice) and a better quality image. Any additional information is welcome.

The Ethiopia stamps related to the joint issue with China PR (issued November 24, 2020) were finally officially released on May 14, 2021 (information provided by Enzo Cafaro). Stamp designs are identical. Unfortunately, we could not find yet a good quality picture of these stamps.


May 15, 2021

The discovery of the 1991 World Post Day stamps triggered interest from Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) who came back with additional information. He not only found another stamp from Gabon in green color instead of blue, but also a stamp from Madagascar with the same design. Further exploration led to the discovery of additional stamps from Gabon (in yellow) and from Morocco. Actually, all these additional stamps have been issued the following years but always on the 9th of October. If one wants to summarze this issue, it can be described as follow:
Postal day - one stamp issued on October 9, 1991 by Burkina Faso and Gabon, hence the issue to be filed under [T19911009].
Then in the following years: Gabon (October 9, 1992 and October 9, 1993) - Madagascar (October 9, 1992) - Morocco (October 15, 1993, this one with a locally adapted design).

On April 30, 2021, Bosnia Herzegovina (Croatia/Mostar) and Croatia have issued a souvenir sheet printed respectively at 10,000 and 25,000 samples, with the same paintings at the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the deaths of P. Zrinski and F. K. Frankopan (Information provided by Don Birschel, USA).

On March 30, 2021, Albania issued its first Euromed stamp. These stamps are actually related to the joint issue from 2020 (topic: gastronomy) and it will be interesting to see if Albania will participate again next July to the 2021 Euromed issue, topic jewelry (Source Sergio Braccini and Enzo Cafaro, Italy).

Enzo found also information about the China - Pakistan issue that is confirmed to be released on May 21, 2021. The stamps will be released at the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between both countries. It will represent the ports of Gwadar and Zhuhai and Chinese Post intends to produce 7.1 million of sets in form of two miniature sheets of [3x4] stamps.


May 2, 2021
On March 26, 2021, Portugal and Brazil were supposed to issue common stamps celebrating King Manuel I. The Portuguese stamps were released at the announced date (Don Birschel, USA). However, so far no stamp was issued in Brazil, while other stamps were released during April by this same country. It looks that this issue will remain an unilateral one.

On March 27, 2021, Bangladesh and India released their stamps for a joint issue representing official buildings (Parliaments) from both countries, and not historical leaders as initially planned (information provided by Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai and Don Birschel, USA). The stamps are different. India issued a single stamp in panes [7x4] while Bangladesh issued two se-tenant stamps.

The Italian ActNow stamp has been released on April 22, 2021 (information provided by Enzo Cafaro, Italy), in form of the usual souvenir sheet but containing a single stamp and 9 labels.
Exact date of issue corrected to May 4, 2021.

German Post produced a book with all (10) German joint issues released between 2013-2021. This is a 48-page document and includes 19 stamps. The price is Euros 39,75. Also, a similar book with 18 German joint issues from 1963-2012 is still available. This 60-page document contains 50 stamps and 2 souvenir sheets and is sold at Euros 35,00 (information forwarded by Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands).

German Post produced also two stationaries using stamps from previous joint issues: 500th Anniversary of the posting of the reformation thesis at the door of the Wittenberg church/Martin Luther (from 2017) and 500 years Sixtine’s Madonna (from 2012). These stationary items are not part of the respective joint issues, but are considered as interesting post-add-ons and will be described in the catalogue (in the same way material reusing joint issue designs is usually reported) (information forwarded by Jaap as well).

Discovery of an older twin joint issue between Burkina Faso and Gabon, issued at the occasion of the World Post Day on October 9, 1991 [T19911009], not reported so far .


March 29, 2021
Eventually, Chen Wenchao (PR China) was able to provide pictures of the Portugal - Cape Verde (October 18, 2020) joint issue stamps confirming their Concerted status:

Chen was also able to provide better quality images of the El Salvador UPU stamps issued on November 13, 2019:

Additionally to the omnibus series announced at the occasion of the 95th anniversary of HM the Queen Elisabeth II on April 21, 2021, it was announced that 11 countries out of the 12 participating ones, i.e. Ascension Island, The Bahamas, British Antarctic Territory, British Virgin Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, Tristian da Cunha, meaning without British Indian Ocean territory, will participate to the creation of a single souvenir sheet including 1 stamp each. Indeed, this omnibus series becomes a [SO] (se-tenant omnibus) series. This initiative is co-ordinated by Creative Direction Worldwide Ltd which manages the stamp design and print programme for seven overseas territories (Falkland Islands, British Virgin Islands, British Antarctic Territory, Ascension Island, The Bahamas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, and Tristian da Cunha). This item will be printed by Cartor at 5,000 samples.

On March 25, 2021, the Dominican Republic and Morocco released unexpectedly a joint pair of stamp to celebrate the 60th anniversary of their relationship (information provided by Kenneth Sequeira, Dubai, Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands and Enzo Cafaro, Italy). The stamps represent the Oudayas Kasbah in Rabat, Morocco and the building of Alcazar de Colon in Saint Domingue, Dominican Republic.

News from Enzo Cafaro, Italy and Chen Wenchao (PR China) about the "ActNow" issue that was delayed over more than a year now: Malta issued three souvenir sheets with three different ActNow topics (Recycle, Reuse, Reduce) on March 21, 2021, adding a new country to this long awaited Series. Apparently, Italy would also issue its stamp on April 22, 2021.


March 8, 2021
Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) could provide more information about the stamps issues by Cape Verde jointly with Portugal. The AICEP stamp (Portugal May 5, 2020) was issued on November 23, 2020, while the Cape Verdean Association in Lisbon stamp from Cape Verde was issued only on February 10, 2021 (Portugal October 18, 2020). Both pairs are therefore to be considered as concerted issues, to be added to the long list of Concerted joint issues produced during the year 2020, consequence of the delay generated by the COVID pandemic situation.
Earlier, we had reported the Cape Verdean Association stamps as twin because we were informed that a mixed document bearing both stamps was released by the Portuguese postal administration at the same time they released their own stamp. In fact, this was a wish from the Portuguese postal administration as they still had to wait for the Cape Verde stamps. As a consequence, the denomination of this issue had to switch from Twin to Concerted and this is now corrected also in the catalogue. We have not seen yet this mixed document, and we may discover that the cancellation used in this document is still using the 2020 cancellation instead of the 2021 one. At this stage, everything remains possible. This would oblige us to switch back to our earliest recommandation of twin issue. Any additional information is welcome.

Enzo cafaro (Italy) could provide an illustration of a mixed folder created with the Aquileia Basilica stamps which contains a block of four of each stamp from Italy, SMOM and Vatican State, all mint, as well as a FDC from each country. This folder does not contain a mixed FDC.

Additional note (March 29, 2021): SMOM (alike some other rare postal administrations around the world) has always refused to be involved in mixed FDCs and therefore such folder with SMOM cannot contain mixed FDCs, even if the other participating countries would agree to create such items. The only way to create mixed documents involving SMOM is to start from individual official SMOM FDCs and to have the other stamp from the partner country added and cancelled. Such items can be created only on a private (non-official) basis and therefore are quite rare. Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) became an expert in creating such mixed documents and he succeeded also in creating the mixed FDC in this specific case ;-).

From Adam Paish (UK): There is advance news of an April 2021 'omnibus' stamp issue from Ascension Island, Bahamas, British Antarctic Territory, British Virgin Islands, Falkland Islands, South Georgia & SSI and Tristan da Cunha to honour HM. Each postal administration is releasing a set of six stamps in a similar format, with the added extra of a souvenir sheet. The planned release date is stated to be April 21, 2021, the Queen's actual birthday (the celebration of her Official Birthday is in June). Sets of six stamps in the same format have already been released by Gibraltar (on February 9, 2021), followed by the Isle of Man (on February 26). We're a little uncertain about the final format of the Guernsey, Jersey and possible British Indian Ocean Territory commemorative stamps celebrating the same anniversary, and the Guernsey philatelic website has an ominous one-line mention of a 'joint sheet'. There are no UK Royal Mail stamps. This series will be filed as omnibus series [O20210421].

Adam discovered also a souvenir sheet linked to the AICEP stamp issue from Cape Verde.

The release in 2021 of the Denmark, Faeroe and Greenland joint issue related to the 100th birthday of the engraver Czeslaw Slania is confirmed, still with questions about the exact dates of issue of individual countries. However, Faeroe is now crediting our friend Wayne Chen (USA) for the original picture of Slania that is used in the design of the stamp. Congratulations Wayne.

Enzo Cafaro (Italy) provided the images of the Mongolian stamps, issued jointly in 2020 respectively with Slovakia and Singapore. Official dates of issue for the stamps from Mongolia are now also known and are respectively November 20, 2020 and December 1, 2020, even if these stamps became available only in February 2021. Identical pictures confirm the twin character for the issue with Singapore (November 25 vs December 1, less than a week apart) and concerted for the issue with Slovakia (October 2 vs November 20).

On January 22, 2021, Russia issued a stamp at the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the creation of the board of member countries of the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications (RCC). On March 2, 2021, Belarus issued a similar stamp. So far, information is available only from these two countries regarding this topic, but almost all former CIS countries could potentially participate and we will wait for more data before confirming any joint character. However, designs of these two stamps already show a similar character.


February 12, 2021

At the occasion of the philatelic exhibition Monacophil 2019, Malta issued a postal card bearing the stamp showing the Verdala Palace in Siggiewi, Malta, identical to the stamp from the joint issue with Romania from October 14, 2019. So far, this postal stationery has never been reported here. The item is illustrated with the Prince's Palace in Monaco, bears the text "MONACOPHIL 2019 | THE PRINCE'S PALACE - MONACO | 28-30 NOVEMBER 2019" and is canceled from the first day of the exhibition. On the backside, appears the mention "Occasion Card No . 58". Apparently this item was only available as pre-cancelled.

This gave us the opportunity to screen all the "Occasion cards" still displayed on the Malta philatelic web site https://www.maltaphilately.com/en/products/phi/occ to discover that another stationery card had been issued in the past, namely 'Occasion card N° 36' in Essen 2014 (May 8-10, 2014), bearing the stamp from the joint issue with Israel (January 28, 2014), also not reported so far (date of issue May 8, 2014).


Jaap Sarelse (the Netherlands) and Enzo Cafaro (Italy) provided information about the following new issues:

The images of the Visegrad group stamps (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia), to be released on February 15, 2021, became available, confirming this is a true twin issue.

Eventually, Saudi Arabia released also its stamps at the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Arab League, in form of a block of 4 stamps. Exact date of release remains for the time unknown (apparently first week of February 2021, even if year '2020' appears on the stamp).

Information provided by Wayne Chen (USA):
In 2021, legendary engraver C.Z. Slania would have turned 100 years old. Each of the three postal administrations from Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland will issue a souvenir sheet engraved by Martin Mörck and printed in intaglio. The three souvenir sheets will also be available in a joint souvenir folder.  Faroe Islands Post has announced its issue date on August 12, 2021. (Source: Faroe Islands Post and Post Greenland 2021 stamp programs). So far, only a first (bad quality) picture of the Faeroe Islands souvenir sheet is available.


January 26, 2021

The lusitanophone (Portuguese-speaking) countries celebrated the 25th anniversary of the existence of AICEP (Association of lusitanophone countries) with the issue of an identical stamp on April 27, 2015 and seven countries participating. On May 5, 2020, Portugal issued a similar stamp celebrating the 30th anniversary and we were expecting other countries joining. It is only this week that Jaap Sarelse (the Netherlands) discovered an identical stamp issued by Cape Verde. By looking closer it seems that this stamp was issued on November 25, 2020 (to be confirmed) resulting in this issue to be considered as concerted [C]. At the same time, we are now expecting some of the other countries participating also to this joint issue, all among the countries listed on the stamp, namely Angola, Brazil, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome-Principe and Timor Leste.

Mohammed Qayed (UAE) informed us about the imminence of the issue of the 75th anniversary of the Arab League by Saudi Arabia (first week of February 2021). Let us wait until we have access to the picture of this stamp.

We discovered also the reproduction of the Cuba stamps (although of very bad quality) issued on December 3, 2020 in parallel to the Vietnam stamps, confirming the Twin character.

Jaap Sarelse discovered also a stamp from Cuba issued on October 12, 2020, belonging to the family of stamps issued on October 9, 2019 and celebrating the 145th anniversary of the UPU.


January 13, 2021

The web site was updated and the catalogue pages for Quarters III and IV, 2020 are now available (2020). We are still looking for information regarding stamps issued by Cape Verde, Cuba, Ethiopia and Mongolia in 2020. All these countries are supposed to have released jointly stamps during QIV 2020 (respectively with Portugal, Vietnam, China PR and Slovakia/Mongolia) with probably delayed availability as a consequence of the COVID pandemic. Any information is welcome.


January 12, 2021

At this beginning of the year, I would like to share a first good news. A new catalogue of joint issues is under preparation and we hope we will be able to announce its availability by mid of the year. Integrating the past 15 years of new issues production is not an easy task but gives us also the opportunity to reconsider some parts of the classification system. In particular, we already mentionned that we will avoid using the term "Siamese" [S], to be systematically replaced by "Se-tenant". There is now also to consider a new way to present more specifically non-accepted, territorial and omnibus issues and to develop in more details the concept of Borrowed issues to better understand the real impact of abusive issues. This is now explained in more details in the following paragraph.

The number of stamps with the same design and created centrally has increased drastically over the past 20 years. Most of these stamps are produced by two major companies (Stamperija in Vilnius, Lithuania and IGPC in New York, USA) which have signed agreements with some countries to produce their stamps. Among the most well-known countries having their entire production of stamps delegated to one of these companies, we can include Antigua and Barbuda, Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Dominica, Gambia, Grenada, Grenada of Grenadines, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Liberia, Maldives, Marshall, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Saint Vincent and Grenadines or Sierra Leona. This list is of course not exhaustive. There is a financial interest for both the country and the printer to produce as many as possible issues on the basis of topics that have usually absolutely no relation with the issuing countries. For the country itself, it avoids creating a local philatelic agency as all work can be subcontracted, but above all it participates in the creation of value in the same way the country can produce more banknotes. The printer, not even speaking about intermediates, receives a fee for the service and probably proportional to the production volume. In this sense, as this production value remains uncontrolled, these stamps are considered as abusive, not only for collectors, but from an economical and financial point of view for the country. This activity and the production of stamps are absolutely not illegal, and these stamps are not to be considered as fake. They do have a real value in the sense they can officially be used on mail. Unfortunately, these stamps very rarely, if not never, reach the post offices of the officially originating countries and can only be acquired through dealers. Taking in account the topic and the number of stamps produced during a year, by buying these stamps collectors simply contribute to enrich printers, local intermediates, dealers and, at little level, the country, but for no service in exchange. Do not forget that these stamps are supposed to pay officially for a postal service.
Catalogue printers are puzzled as well with these issues, but most of them continue to describe these items although in a summarized form. This does not really help collectors in differentiating stamps that were printed for postal use and stamps printed just for collectors. We have to avoid that philately becomes a collection of cinderellas paid for a high price that is even printed on it. With the development of communication through other channels than post, the real use of stamps has also decreased, and it will come a point at which countries considered today having a 'serious' philatelic issuing program, will produce a volume of stamps needed to postage use smaller than the one sold to collectors. The philatelists have a real role to play here, but as long as some collectors will continue buying these stamps, the offer will continue to exist. Here we can make the difference between real philatelists and simple collectors.
Concerning joint issues, and up to now, we felt spared by these abusive issues in the joint issue collection. The definition of true joint issues implies the agreement of at least two postal administrations to create a common stamp. As a consequence, in the Joint Issue catalogue, the stamps issued by those countries for which it was clear that stamps were issued with a same design and/or at a same date without clear involvement of the countries themselves, were considered as Omnibus series [O] even if only as low as 3 or 4 countries were involved. In other words, if filed in the chapter [O], philatelists got the message that these stamps are not true joint issues. However, it seems the message was still not clear. Stamps issued by these agencies appeared last year that were clearly taking the designs of some official joint issues (e.g. ActNow, Family Remittance), puzzling even more philatelists. The original joint issue was acknowledged as such, but how to consider countries not officially involved in the first decision round and producing later stamps with the same design ?
Since the beginning, we have a way to describe these stamps, namely to consider them as stamps produced with a Borrowed Design [BD]. BD is a sub-class of non-accepted joint issues, but still reported in the catalogue with a limited description, to avoid recurring questioning about the status of such stamps. Most of the Omnibus series that are not based on territorial or colonial considerations are in fact borrowed design. We must clearly make the difference between designs that were proposed by a group of countries (e.g. the common designs of EU-CEPT-PostEurop or Arab League stamps) and released even at different dates by these countries, which are true joint issues, from stamps released at a central place with a common design (e.g. 2020 COVID stamps).
The main consequence of this different way of considering these issues will affect the whole catalogue as some stamps filed up to now as [O] or [N] will be attributed the new classification [B]. Note that the letter [B] was used so far to describe "folders, books and special items", but as this chapter remained very small, it was easier to switch the older [B] definition to the letter [F] for folders.
The new catalogue under preparation will include these changes which will also apply from January 1st, 2020 to the news in these web pages. We hope this new way of presenting questionable issues will facilitate the understanding of the definition of a true joint issue.


January 5, 2021

Some additional information became available regarding the "Birth Centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman" issue reported earlier. We have not found any claim from the different involved countries that these stamps were made with a common aim as a joint issue. The countries Bhutan, Bangladesh and surprisingly Nigeria issued identical stamps respectively on March 17, 2020, March 17, 2020 and August 17, 2020. More recently, India issued also a stamp with the same design on December 17, 2020.
Same design is not sufficient to attribute the status of joint issue, but identical design allows these stamps to be reported in the catalogue in the section 'Borrowed design' [BD]. It appears that all these stamps are actually based on the Mujibur year official logo, explaining the identical design:

Logo:

Cesar Ittman (The Netherrlands) could provide the design of the Visegrad Group 30th anniversary founding issue that will be released by February 15, 2021, involving Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

Don Birschel (USA) found a joint issue we missed. The stamps are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Cape Verde Association. Portugal and Cape Verde released on October 18, 2020 a stamp each with the same design. Despite the fact that the term 'joint issue' is written on the stamp, the Cape Verde stamps have not been seen so far, but stamps are probably identical.

Jaap Sarelse and Rindert Paalman (The Netherlands) found the following mixed FDC. It was produced at the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Hawaii by Captain Cook and bears stamps related to the event: 5 stamps from Niue with first day cancellation from January 18, 1978, three stamps from the Cook Islands, first day cancelled from January 20, 1978 and two stamps from the USA, also first day cancelled from January 20, 1978. The item has been produced at the occasion of the philatelic exhibition HAPEX-78 (Hawaii). All stamps are first day cancelled and this is a mixed FDC which means both Jaap and Rindert have discovered a new series of true parallel [P] joint issue that has never been reported up to now. Congratulations.
Actually, other countries have issued stamps at the occasion of this event during the year 1978, but among all these countries only the following have issued stamps around the January 18-20, 1978, period, namely Aitutaki (January 19, 3 stamps and a miniature sheet, native art from Hawaii), Norfolk Island (January 18, 3 stamps representing Cook and British flag), Penrhyn (January 19, 2x4 stamps and 2 miniature sheets representing a set of four native art pieces and four indigenous birds) and Wallis and Futuna (2 stamps from 1976 - independency of the USA - overprinted with a text referring to the discovery of Hawaii). Unfortunately, none of these stamps can be considered as part of the joint issue. To include them we will need either a statement from the postal administration(s) that there is a joint characterand not only a celebration of a common event, or mixed first day covers involving several of the above stamps are discovered.


January 1, 2021
The News from the period October to December 2020 have been archived.


All previous information reported in this section is to be found in the News Archives.

 

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