|
 Last Update:
February 23,
2007
|
|
|
Joint Issues -
Frequently Asked Questions
Keywords: Colonial or territorial
issues - Europa stamps -
Joint issues - Mixed
FDC's - Omnibus series - Siamese
issues - "True" joint issues -
Twin issues - United
Nations
What is a joint
issue ?
Joint issues are stamps issued by at least two countries on
the basis of a common event, usually at the same date (if technically
possible) and sometimes with the same design. Postal administration
cooperation is required.
What is a "true"
joint issue ?
This is probably the most difficult question to answer. Of
course some of the issues which are reported in the catalogue
are at the limit of the above definition for joint issues. Definitely
omnibus series and colonial issues are not joint issues if they
are produced from the same printer. But stamps using the same
design issued at the same date are not necessarily joint issues,
unless this specification is well documented by the postal administrations
from all involved countries, or a mixed document (all stamps with
FDC's cancellation on the same cover) can be provided as proof.
I must admit that these proofs have not yet been found for all
reported issues.
What is a twin
issue ?
Twin issues are a special case of joint stamp issues were design
are identical and the release date is the same for all countries
involved.
What is a siamese
issue ?
A siamese issue is a special case of twin issue in which either
the stamps from both countries are physically (se-tenant
or within the same miniature sheet) linked together (this happened
only ten times up to now) or the case where only one stamp is
issued but this stamp bears the name of both countries (only two
exemples known).
Can stamps released at the same date by two
different countries but with a different design be considered as joint
issues ?
Of course, yes. However, same date of issue is not enough.
Some stamps are released to celebrate for exemple an anniversary
(stamp issued on the birthday), which does not mean that all involved
postal administrations have decided to do it jointly. This can
even happen with stamps with the same design, where, for example,
the picture representing the hero may be taken from the same source
without concertation.
How many days can separate the date of release
with an issue still to be considered as a twin issue ?
Usually twin issues are released on the same day. It may however
differ in some cases. The policy of France for example is to release
the new stamps always on a Monday, but collectors are able to
buy these stamps at special places (usually two or three) the
Saturday and the Sunday before, days on which these stamps get
a pre-issue first day cancellation. So at least two dates can
be considered as first day cancellation in France (Saturday and
Monday). It happens that with joint issues the partner country
does not want to change its release day. So mixed cards can be
obtained only on Monday or the two dates on these mixed cards
are slightly different.
For technical reasons it happen also that some stamps in one country
are released with delay. Actually with a difference in dates of more
than 10 days, the issue cannot be considered anymore as a twin issue.Is
there a way to differentiate joint issues released at the same date
but with different designs from stamps released at different dates
but with the same design ? It is always possible
to do this differentiation. It was proposed to give the name "concerted
joint issues" to stamps with the same design (which may happen accidently)
issued at different dates and the name "parallel joint issues" to
stamps issued at the same date but with different designs. However,
we have to take care about "accidental" same design, i.e. same design
used because taken from a common original reference (i.e. only one
portrait of Cristofer Colombus is existing). Therefore this distinction
is not used to avoid too complicated subdivisions. Can
I limit my collection to twin issues ? Of course,
yes. Everybody is free to collect what he wants. There are today enough
twin issues that were released worldwide and can themselves lead to
a nice collection limited on sub topics. Most of the collectors specialized
in joint issues collect stamps with the same design, but almost all
do not keep colonial or omnibus series. Others limit their collection
to topics or countries (e.g. only European countries).What
are omnibus series ? The countries belonging to
the Commonwealth used to release at the same date identical stamps
for which only the name of the country and sometimes the postal values
were different. These stamps produced between the year 30's to 50's
were called omnibus series. This denomination applied later to stamps
released by other countries such as former colonial dependencies for
which it was less expensive to base their stamp program on a common
design (French, Dutch or Portugiese former colonies for example).
Today, some small countries using the same stamp printing house (House
of Questa, Crown Agents, ...) can be proposed to enter in a large
series (stamps with the same frame design) involving dozen of countries
which are not necessarily politically linked. These stamps are also
considered as omnibus series. These stamps are reported here, but
without details, because they cannot be considered as true joint issues.
On the contrary Europa CEPT stamps with the same design and the same
date of issue for the major part of the countries are considered as
true twin issues. This happened only between 1956 and 1973, in 1984
and more recently in 2000.What
are mixed covers ? A mixed cover is a document
bearing all joint stamps issued by all involved countries and those
stamps respectively first day cancelled. It can also be a postal card
or a leaflet issued by the postal administration or any other document
as long as stamps and cancellations are present. This document is
actually the proof that it happens to be a joint issue. Of course,
a collection can be limited to mixed covers. The term dual covers
is also used when only two countries are involved.Do
maxi-cards with joint issues exist ? Yes, but only
the recent issues have been produced as such. Mixed joint issue maxi-cards
are even more rare, due to the fact that on a postal card there is
only little space left for two stamps with cancellations. Again, this
is a very nice collection to start now !How
many countries are usually involved in a joint issue ?
Usually two, sometimes three countries are involved in a joint
stamp issue. When higher than five, one has to check carefully if
there is a political link between those countries (colonies for example)
or if this series was not produced at one single place (omnibus series),
before defining this set of stamps as joint issues.Why
are some colonial stamps from end of the 19th century (for example
German or Italian colonies) not reported in the catalogue while other
such as stamps from French colonial countries are described ?
One rule defining joint issues says that a common event
or anniversary has to be used for its description. As a consequence,
this rule excludes the (non commemorative) stamps sold for everyday
usage, even in the colonies. These stamps will therefore be reported
(same design) but not detailed because they cannot be considered as
true joint issues. As examples, all stamps bearing only the portrait
of a king/queen, or the Hohenzollern ship series from the German colonies
are excluded.Can recent Groenland
issues similar to Denmark stamps be considered as joint issues ?
No, not really. Recent colonial or territorial issues with
the same design issued at the same date could be considered as sub
groups of twin issues and could be named colonial or territorial twin
issues. However, as only one country decides for issuing both stamps,
they cannot be considered as true joint issues. Again, these issues
are reported in the catalogue, without details but with the mention
"Territorial" or "Colonial". Recent countries involved in such issues
are for example Denmark with Groenland, Portugal with the Acores and
Madeira, the Netherlands with Aruba and the Dutch Antillas. The case
of Australia and Christmas Islands was reconsidered as well.Can the
United Nations Organization stamps from the three offices New York,
Geneva and Vienna be considered as joint issues ? Definitely
no, even if the design is the same. These stamps are defined by a
single entity (postal administration) which can alone decide to issue
identical stamps or not. These stamps are just listed for information.
However when another country is also involved (recently with Italy)
of course they have to be included in our lists.Why
having not included all the Europa issues ? From
1974 on, all stamps issued by the European countries were issued at
different dates and only the topic was defined. In 1984, one identical
design (the European bridge) was accepted, but issue dates remained
spread over 10 months. So Europa is no more a joint issue. It is to
mention here that the latest common European issue with a same design
was released in year 2000, and most of them at the same date, therefore
this one is considered as a twin issue.When
was the first joint stamp issued ?
This question is difficult to answer because it depends on
how are defined joint issues (see definitions above). However,
one can take the following dates as references:
- how about the New Brunswick - Nova Scotia stamps from 1st
September 1851 ? or the 1860 British Columbia and Vancouver
Island stamps ? Those are Territorial joint issues
- 1867 June 1st, Austro Hungarian precursors. One single stamp
was used in two countries, Austria and Hungary, which formed
initially one empire. Even after separation of the two countries,
these stamps continued to be used for years. This was possible
because the stamp did not bear the name of any country and the
abbreviation of the currency was the same for both countries.
- the 1938 Entente stamps between Greece, Jugoslavia, Turkey
and Romania must be considered as the first joint issue although
not all of them were produced at the same date
- during the same year, France issued the Pierre and Marie Curie
stamps involving all their colonies (France on September 1,
1938, all colonies on October 24). One month later, Cuba issued
also the same stamps in Spanish (23 November) and Afghanistan
issued another stamp on December 23.
- the first true twin issue was planned to be produced between
Great Britain and France. It represented King George VI and
the French President Albert Lebrun. This issue initially planned
for 1939, reported to 1940, was finally aborted due to the war.
- A twin issue was released by Colombia (3 September) and Venezuela
(24 August) in honour of the poet Andres Bello and should be
considered as the first one, although the dates of issue differ
by almost two weeks. I would greatly appreciate to find a dual
cover.
- 1956 September 15th, the first Europa series involving 6 countries
can be considered as the first non colonial twin issue (same
date, same design)
This series was followed one month later (1956 October 30) by
the equivalent Norden issue including 5 countries.
- 1958 August 27th, can be considered as the birth date of the
first true twin issue involving two countries: Australia and
New Zealand to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the flight
over the Tasman sea by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith.
- the first siamese stamps were issued by Jugoslavia and Rumania
on April 30th, 1965
- only in 1986 (May 24th), a first twin issue was issued based
on postal stationery, not stamps: USA - Italy, Francesco Vigo.
- an aerogramme was first involved in a twin issue together
with the stamps released by Switzerland (joint issue with China)
on November 25th, 1998. We are awaiting the first twin aerogrammes,
or even better, a siamese postcard or aerogramme....
How many joint issues have been produced so
far?
This question is much more difficult
to answer because it depends again on the definition of joint
issues (see above) and it is increasing every month. Roughly between
200 and 300 stamps considered as twin issues have been produced
(I will check that figure more carefully), and probably
over 1000 if we consider all non colonial, non omnibus joint issues.
To give you an idea about the evolution
of joint issues, here are figures about number of twin issues
released in the past years (for each issue about 1 to 4 stamps
per country and up to 6 countries involved):
1975:1; 1976:2; 1977:3; 1978:2; 1979:3;
1980:1;
1981:1; 1982:1; 1983:3; 1984:4; 1985:4;
1986:6;
1993:13; 1994:14;
1995:17; 1996:19; 1997:17; 1998:17;
1999:21; 2000:23; 2001:30; 2002(already
released or announced):30.
|
|
