This page is the archived News Page from the October to December 2019 period. All contents have been dispatched in the respective stamp description pages. However there may still remain open questions. Any complementary information is welcome. As soon as an information is archived, the text will not be changed anymore. So if additional information are linked to the below, this will be displayed as a new heading in the currently open News page.

December 30, 2019
A summary of all information received during the last days of this year 2019:

The Upcoming Issues page was improved with information provided by Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands), Enzo Cafaro (Italy), Don Birschel (USA) and Cesar Ittmann (The Netherlands). Thanks to all of them.

The Jordan stamps from the Al Quds - Capital of Palestine stamp was issued on December 24, 2019 (and not June 16, 2019) as previously reported. This issue was initially supposed to include the following countries: Algeria (October 9) - Egypt (October 9) - Iraq (July 2) - Jordan (December 24) - Morocco (October 9) - Palestine () - Qatar (November 14) - Saudi Arabia () and we are still missing information about stamps from Palestine and Saudi Arabia. In the meantime we could also add Lebanon (October 9), Tunisia (November 20) (stamp and souvenir sheet) and the United Arab Emirates () to the list. Some issue dates are still missing. As several stamps were issued on October 9, 2019, we will use this date as reference [T20191009a]. Hereunder are the pictures of the Egyptian, Jordanian and Qatari FDCs as well as stamps that have not been reproduced so far (Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Tunesia, Qatar, Lebanon, Morocco, UAE) :

Don Birchel (USA) provided information about another anniversary issue involving several countries, namely the 75th years of the Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Actually it is a little premature to consider this issue as joint, as no single postal administration claimed being involved in a joint issue. Most of these stamp designs are based only on the logo of the association or on the official design provided by ICAO from a winning stamp designs contest (so far only the Philippines stamp took this design as basis). So we will need to explore more these stamps. So far the following stamps have been identified and some pictures became available: Azerbaijan (September 24, 2019), Benin (), Cyprus (September 10), Kyrgyzstan (), Mauritius (December 7), Philippines (December 7). Other countries have issued different stamps at different daters: Canada (September 24), Slovakia (April 4). The date of September 24, 2019, corresponds to the opening day of the 2019 ICAO anniversary congress.

December 21, 2019
Luis Fé Santos (Portugal) found a reproduction in gold (metal plate) of the December 5, 2013 issued Russian stamps (jointly issued with Monaco) that is proposed by the Russian company JSC Marka (http://www.rusmarka.ru/en/catalog/souvenirsproducts/suvenirnayaprodukcia/position/33349.aspx) and became available on April 17, 2018.

I was recently asked by Birgit Freudenthal from the German Press Group PhilaMedia to explain how I generated in the eighties the first mixed FDC involving joint issues that have really circulated between both countries. In the year 2000, all attempts with successes and failures were described in a document publidshed in the Journal of Joint Issues, but I realized that this document is not yet available on the web. This is now corrected and if you want to test and try to create your own mixed covers that have really circulated, take a look at the following explanations Mixed Covers. This type of mixed covers could be easier to create if we had a stronger network of collectors interested to participate to such trials.

The stamps issued by China PR and Macau at the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the return of Macau to China were released on December 20, 2019. Stamps are different but a siamese souvenir sheet with 2x3 identical stamps became available. Macau issued also four stamps and a souvenir sheet with one stamp. China PR issued the three stamps also in panes (information provided by Jaap Sarelse, The Netherlands).

December 8, 2019
From Enzo Cafaro (Italy): at the occasion of the next philatelic exhibition Milanofil 2020 that will be held in Milan, Italy from March March 27 to 28, 2020, the postal administrations that will attend this event have decided to create a joint issue. So far the list of participating countries includes Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Italy, Kirghizstan, Malta, San Marino, UNO and Vatican. All this needs to be confirmed as soon as the design of the stamp will become available.

New information and pictures of stamps provided by Chen Wenchao (China) about the EMS (September 10, 2019) and the UPU (October 9, 2019) series.
- EMS Ivory Coast: it is confirmed that this country issued 3 identical stamps with 3 different denominations
- EMS Sierra Leone stamps were issued on October 30, 2019 in miniature sheets of 10 [2x5] together with a souvenir sheet containing a single stamp with a different denomination

- UPU Comoros: this country issued actually 5 identical stamps with 5 different denominations

On December 12, 2019, Argentina and Slovenia will issue a common souvenir sheet dedicated to the Slovenian-Argentinean architect Viktor Sulčič (who collaborated with architects José Luis Delpini and Raúl Bes). The souvenir sheet is displaying the Abasto Food Market in Buenos Aires, which was converted into a shopping centre in 1999. This is a last minute information from Slovenia (information provided by Cesar Ittmann, The Netherlands and pictures by Janko Stampfl, Slovenia)

December 9, 2019 (Correction from Janko Stampfl): the Argentina stamp had been issued on November 25, 2019 already while only the Slovenian souvenir sheet was issued on December 12, 2019. Therefore this issue will be listed as Concerted issue under [C20191125].

November 17, 2019
From Wayne Chen, USA, asking if the following stamps can be considered as joint.

Alderney and Guernsey have issued 7 stamps each on the topic "The Christmas story" among which 5 are identical and the two other with the same topic. All stamps were issued on the same date of October 30, 2019. The answer to the question is yes but these stamps will be referenced in the category of Dependency/Territorial [D] issues more precisely Territorial Twin issues [TD], as stamps from both administrations are defined and produced by the same entity. This means that these stamps will be reported in the catalogue, but most of the joint issue collectors (including myself) are considering them as non-true twin issues. Additionally Alderney issued also a souvenir sheet with one of the common stamps.

Five new countries have to be added to the UPU 145th anniversary stamps issued on October 9, 2019, namely Bangladesh, Comoros, Indonesia, El Salvador (November 13 - 2 stamps) and Syria. We are looking for additional information regarding these countries (exact date of issue, pane size, printing numbers, better images) but apparently the list is still not complete, so other countries' information is welcome as well.

Federico from China provided information about the Chinese joint issues to be expected in 2020:
- The 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and India  - 2 stamps. The date of issue is expected April 1, 2020
- The 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Ethiopia - 2 stamps with date of issue November 24, 2020

The Gibraltar - Luxemburg stamps were issued on November 8, 2019. Each country issued a single different stamp with topic related to defensive tunnels from both countries (information provided by Don Birschel, USA).

The Gibraltar - Romania stamps were issued on November 12, 2019. Each country issued two identical stamps. As usual, Romania is issuing stamps in panes of 32 stamps and in miniature sheets of 5 stamps plus label, but they produced also a special folder containing a souvenir sheet with both imperforated stamps and issued only at 225 (!) samples. We will not consider this very limited item as part of the joint issue. Illustration is provided below (information provided by Enzo cafaro, Italy)

The Liechtenstein - Switzerland stamps were issued on November 14, 2019 (and not on November 11 as initially announced). Stamps are artworks illustrating social diversity (Information provided by Don Birschel, USA).

The Belarus - Pakistan joint issue is expected to be released on November 26, 2019. The picture of the Belarus stamp has been disclosed:

December 30, 2019: Belarus postal adminsitration confirmed recently that this issue will not be joint with Pakistan.

October 31, 2019
On the contrary to the previous announcement, the Hungary - Japan joint issue is not a parallel issue, but a true twin issue [T1]. In fact both countries issued miniature sheets of 10 different stamps, among which two of them are identical for both countries, while the 8 others feature a same topic, actually very close to each other, but designed by two different artists. Michael Aldridge, UK, provided the first illustration of the Hungarian first day cover dated October 15, 2019 same date of issue as the Japanese stamps.

Dominique Josse, France, could also confirm through exchanges with dealers that the Egypt - France issue from October 3, 2019 is indeed a Twin issue. The Egyptian stamps were issued on October 3, 2019, same date as the French stamps and Dominique could provide a sample of this FDC cover.

The French Polynesia - Saint Pierre & Miquelon joint issue will be released on November 7, 2019 (and not as announced on November 19, 2019). Wayne Chen, USA could provide the first reproductions of the stamps and miniature sheets.

Both Don Birschel (USA) and Grzegorz Omelanczuk (Poland) provided the first images of the Poland - Singapore joint issue released on October 30, 2019, an issue not listed so far. The stamps and souvenir sheets feature birds of both countries: Oriental pied hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) and Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus).

Cesar Ittmann (The Netherlands) could provide the first pictures of the French Andorra - Spanish Andorra joint issue to be released at the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the entrance of Andorra in the United Nations and to be issued on November 8, 2019. On top of an identical design, these two stamps show an irregular perforation through the stamp that follows the shape of the Pyrenean border and which is symetrical to the perforation of the stamp from the other country.

Don Birschel (USA) provided the picture of a booklet issued on October 22, 2019 by Greece that looked like stamps from a joint issue with Japan. So far no Japanese counterpart has been seen.

Don Birschel (USA) and Wayne Chen (USA) provided the images of the Czech Republic - Slovakia joint issue to be released on November 13, 2019 and celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. The Czech Republic stamp will be issued as a souvenir sheet with one stamp. The Slovakia stamp will be issued in miniature sheets of 4 stamps [2x2].

October 23, 2019
Very recently Jaap Sarelse discovered a private-made mixed FDC with stamps from an issue to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of three martyrs in the night of September 6 to 7, 1619. Hungary issued a souvenir sheet on August 1, 2019 (as part VII of a series of Hungarian saints and blesseds), Slovakia a stamp on September 6, 2019. Unfortunately, it is obviously not a joint issue – a missed opportunity….

It is per chance that the documents shown below were discovered. Austria and the Netherlands issued a booklet dedicated to monsters in the animal world. Stamps are identical and even produced as 3D images. Special glasses are provided with each booklet. Booklets were available in 2006, the exact date of issue is not known. However as these items are personalized stamps created on the basis of a private initiative, they cannot be considered as joint.

Don Birschel, USA, provided the first images of the Belarus stamps from the Belarus - Georgia issue to be released on November 1, 2019 and the Belarus - Pakistan issue also to be released dutring the month of November 2019 (exact date not yet known).

Enzo Cafaro, Italy, discovered an additional stamp from the October 9, 2019 UPU series released by Iraq. The date of issue seems to be October 21, 2019 (to be confirmed). Additionally Azerbaijan (?) and Sri Lanka (October 9) stamps were also discovered.

October 17, 2019
Benjamin Busch (France) confirmed that the EMS 20th anniversary stamps of Central Africa and Sierra Leone do exist as well. We just have not yet seen the stamps and we need to know the exact dates of issue. On the contrary we learned from Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) via the Serbia postal administration that this country will not issue a stamp at this occasion, so this country needs to be deleted from the list unless Bosnia Herzegovina (Serbia) was the country to take in consideration. We need here help and apparently the list of involved countries is far from being complete.

Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) found some apparently new joint issues between Luhansk and Donetsk as well as between Abkhasia and Transnitria. As these territories are not recognized by the UPU they will not be reported in the catalogue and the following is just provided for information:
- Abkhasia and Transnistria: 20 years of friendship - issued on 2019 (May 25)

- Luhansk and Donetsk, both Ukraine territories: 5 years of independence - issued on 2019 (May 11). These stamps could simply be cinderellas and/or local political marketing items

We had already reported that Russia issued a cover at the occasion of the 70th anniversary of relationship with China. This is a cover from 2011 with a special cachet, however which was released on September 13, 2019. Jaap Sarelse found now the same stationery with a cancellation from October 2, 2019, date of issue of the Chinese stamps, but it is not a first day cancellation and it celebrates only the common event. China had released dedicated stamps, but so far we did not consider this issue as joint. Unfortunately this new information did not bring a new reason to consider this issue as joint.

Jaap Sarelse (The Netherlands) was the first one to come with additional information from the Egypt stamp linked to the France issue from October 3, 2019, after having inquired among French and Egyptian stamp dealers. In Egypt it was reminded that as the Suez canal was opened officially on November 17, 1989, the Egyptian stamp may be released only on the exact anniversary date, i.e. on November 17, 2019. Eventually Jaap discovered the following stamp on Delcampe which has most of the characteristics of the French stamp except that it was not designed by the same artist. This at least tells us that there was an initial agreement on the subjects to be detailed on the stamps (portraits of Ferdinand de Lesseps and Said Pacha), but could not lead to an agreement to work fully together. We are now waiting to know the exact date of issue to define in which category these stamps will be filed. As the stamp is already available for sale, this means we will not have to wait the date of November 17, 2019. Therefore there are two subcategories in which this series can be filed: if the date of issue is confirmed being the same then [T3] (similar, not identical stamps issued on the same day), if there is more than a week difference in dates of issue, then [C3] (similar, not identical stamps issued on different days).

The Malta - Romania stamps initially expected in June 2019 have been issued on October 14, 2019. Here are the first pictures.

October 10, 2019
The site has been completelety upgraded and this was necessary. There was almost 18 months without update to the latest issues pages and the Archived new issues pages. So the following is now updated:
- The News were archived at a quarterly level and this page contains only news since October 1st, 2019: Following new pages have been created: Quarter III, 2018, QIV, 2018, QI 2019, QII 2019 and QIII 2019
- The issues were also filed in their respective pages on a quarterly basis as well: New Issues Q III-2018, QIV-2018, QI-2019, QII-2019 and QIII-2019

I hope this will facilitate the exploration of the site. All the best

October 10, 2019
Our friend Chen Wenchao from China PR made a great discovery. For years we have been chasing the 2012 Lubrapex stamps related to Lusophonian writers. This series is still incomplete and most of the stamps were found accidentally year after year and do not appear in catalogues yet. Chen discovered a stamp from Sao Tome and Principe displaying the writer Alda do Espirito Santo which adds to this series. It has a similar design as the previous stamps from this series. We had already identified the name of the author that was supposed to be honored on this stamp, but we had never seen a sample so far. The stamp was used on a postal card dated from 2015, but the design clearly shows that it is a 2012 issue. Congratulations Chen.

Just for reconnecting with previous information, below are shown the stamps that have been discovered so far in this series:

Most of these stamps have been issued on October 9, 2012. The series is still not complete and there is a great chance that Timor Leste has also issued a stamp at this occasion. Brazil and Portugal had issued a separate pair of stamps as a true twin issue. Any additional information (stamps from Timor Leste, better picture of Sao Tome stamps, dates of issue, ...) is welcome.

Chen confirmed also the participation of Trinidad and Tobago as well as Wallis and Futuna to the September 10, 2019 EMS joint issue and provided pictures (same date of issue for these two countries).

Finally Chen provided the picture of the postal stationery issued by China PR that is linked to the EMS 20th anniversary and it appears that the stamp used in this item is different from the common stamp. We will wait until we know the exact date of issue of this Chinese item before considering it as part or not of the common issue.

Grzegorz Omelanczuk (Poland) discovered in the Belarus philatelic program a new joint issue to be released on December 3, 2019 with topic Folk Tales. The design of the Belarus miniature sheet has already been displayed:

China PR released two consecutive series of stamps that could have been considered as joint issues:
On October 2, 2019, two stamps were dedicated to bridges and released as joint issue with Russia. Stamps show (A) the Yangtze River - Chaotianmen Yangtze River Bridge and (B) the  Volga River - Saratovskiy Bridge. The Chinese stamps were issued in a miniature sheet containing a block of [4x2] stamps A and another [4x2] stamps B. This is an unusual way of presenting stamps as the A stamp is an horizontal stamp and B is a vertical stamp, so even if these two blocs are se-tenant it will not be possible to propose se-tenant pairs.
Unfortunately the Russian stamps have not been seen so far and in fact will probably never be produced. Actually, based on this celebration of the 70th anniversaryu of relationship, China had altready released an illustrated cover on July 19, 2019, but without dedicated stamp, only with a cachet designed in common by Russian and Chinese artists. This is not part of a joint issue. On September 13, another more neutral cover, showing flags of both countries, was brought on sale, but again without real connection with the Chinese stamp. This issue must unfortunately be considered as unilateral and corresponds probably to a cancelled project.

On October 6, 2019, China PR released the joint stamps with Slovakia. Two identical stamps were produced showing a silver incense burner from the Famen Temple (9th century, China) and a bronze phalera (part ogf a horse harness) from Podunajské Biskupice (8th century, Slovakia). On the contrary top the above this is a true twin issue.

Together with the Joint Turkey-Mongolia souvenir sheet from June 24/July 29, 2019, Mongolia issued also a cover with a cachet showing the figure "50" with the colors of both country flags. This cover does not bear a stamp and therefore cannot be considered as a postal item even if topic is related to the joint issue (information provided by Jaap Sarelse, the Netherlands).

On September 26, 2019, China PR, Hong Kong and Macau issued stamps dedicated to the Great Bay Area. A common folder containing all stamps mint was issued at this occasion. A large number of stamps, souvenir sheets and special folders have been produced:

On October 1, 2019, China, Hong Kong and Macau issued stamps dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the People's Republic of China. At this occasion a prestige stamp booklet including souvenir sheets from all three postal admionistrations has been created. In this case also the number of produced stamps and souvenir sheets is quite high:

From Enzo Cafaro, Italy, we got the first information about the next Austria - Luxemburg joint issue to be released on November 9, 2019 and dedicated to Emperor Charles V (Karl V). The design of the Austrian stamp was made available:

The French stamp of the Egypt - France joint issue has been released as announced on October 3, 2019. France issued a stamp and a souvenir sheet contained in a folder. Unfortunately so far there is absolutely no news from the Egyptian side. This does not tell yet that this issue may result in an unilateral issue as we are used to get information from Egypt several months after the date of release. So we first need to be patient.

Wayne Chen (USA) discovered very recently the existence of stamps with the same design related to the 145th anniversation of the Universal Postal Union. The following countries have issued stamps on October 9, 2019 with the same design: Kazakhstan, Moldova, Myanmar, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine. Mexico issued also stamps at this occasion and at the same date with a different design but taking the same basis. Obviously there may be more countries to come.

October 1, 2019
The News from the period July to September 2019 have been archived.

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