Since a post on May 17th, 2014, I have updated a personal stamp catalogue celebrating
, a website to send and receive postcards among members either by chance through the site, or voluntarily through the
if you want to exchange mail with specific countries or on specialised topics.
, even with a few cards per months: it's the way to ensure there will be a conteporary stamp and postal history in the decades to come. In ten years, celebrated on last July 14th, more than thirty one millions cards were sent.
and, from there, the website of the postal operators who issued the stamps. As you are going to see hereunder, many post offices understood the interest to issue such stamps: encouraging correspondance, national and foreign philatelic orders, free publicity.
Shamefully, the French philatelic service, Phil@poste, did not... yet? Even a strict dictatorship encouraged its citizens to write and receive mail!
Since 2011 a quite number of stamps were issued for this website by the will and lobbying of its members, and interest of the postal and philatelic services. What voluntary website can say that too?
1. Recognised Universal Postal Union members.1. and 2.: 14 October 2011, by Post NL, Netherlands, 2 values (first class to Europe, first class to the World) issued on a minisheet of five of each (10 stamps).
3. to 6.: 9 September 2013, by Itella Posti, Finland, 4 designs at the same first class value (up to 50 grams nationwide, 20 grams to Europe and the World) printed on a minisheet.
7.: 2 January 2014, by Belpochta, Belarus, value "N" (surface postcard) in sheets of 12.
8.: 29 May 2014, Guernsey Post, one of the Channel Island and Crown Dependencies, value "Int Letter 20g" (first class to Europe and the World) : map-character of Guernsey wishing the reader a "Happy Postcrossing".
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| The Russian stamp, 2015. |
9.: 27 January 2015, by Pochta Rosii, Russia, 23 roubles. Designed by O. Shushlebina, an envelope on globe decorated with all major European historic monuments and the Taj Mahal. Printing: 397 000.
Members from Russia constitutes the second group by country on Postcrossing with 3.5 millions postcards sent, after members from Germany.10.: 29 May 2015, by Pošta Slovenije, Slovenia, 60 eurocents. A tourist jumping on a blond sand beach. "Summer is coming".
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| The Czech stamp, 2015. |
11.: 2 September 2015, Česká pošta, Czech Republic, Value "E" (up to 50 grams to Europe ; "A" is nationwide, "Z" worldwide). The
Postcrossing circle of correpondence designed by Portuguese artist
Maria Nogueira.
Let's remind the website was created by Paulo Magalhães, another Portuguese citizen.  |
| The Ukrainian stamp, 2015. |
12.: 9 October 2015, by Ukrposhta, Ukraine, value "E" (I'm not fluent enough in Ukrainian to find the rate...) in sheet of 16 autoadhesive stamps. Girl dressed traditionally sending her greeting from Ukraine to the world.
The stamp was issued on World Post Day, an initiative by the Universal Postal Union.
13. (AUT #1):
21 March 2016 by Österreichische Post, Austria, value 80 eurocents. Designed by Robert Sabolovic (postcards and name of website in the color of the Austrian flag). Printed in offset by Joh. Enschedé Stamps B.V., 250,000 printed.
14. (RUS #2):
25 March 2016, by Pochta Rossii, Russia, value 31 rubles, sheet of 9 autoadhesive stamps by I. Sidenko. Envelope "I love Postcrossing" over landscape of different houses, with airplane and cruise ship. Print: 414 000.
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| Second issue for the Netherlands, 2016. |
15.-24. (NLD #2-11): 29 March 2016, by PostNL, Netherlands, value "1 International". Sheet of ten different stamps designed by Reinier Hamel,
Sin agency. Different landscape, monuments, activities and artwork of the Netherlands.
25.-26. (GGY #2-3): 14 July 2016, by Guernsey Post, value Europe (EUR) and Rest of the world (ROW). Illustration by Sue Harmon, printed in sheets of 10 and in offset by Lowe-Martin. Depiction of the Bailliwick's islands (green), their fauna and flora, the sea waves and the sun.
27. (POL #1): 14 July 2016, by Poczta Polska (Poland), value 5 new złotys (PLN), printed by
PWPW in minisheet of 6 with illustrated margins. Design by Agata Tobolczyk: a red suitcase with touristic stickers, is in fact a mailbox to send postcards.
28. (BLR #2): 3 January 2017, by Belpochta (Belarus). Adhesive stamp value M (international airmail postcard), printed in offset in 9 stamp minisheet. Illustration by Marina Vitkovskaya.
29. (ROM #1): 24 February 2017, by Poșta Română (Romania). Stamp value 4 lei, printed in offset in sheets of 32 (18'000 sheets) and minisheet of 8 (1'000 sheetes). Illustration by Razvan Popescu.
30.-32. (IDN #1-3): 14 July 2017, by
Pos Indonesia. Three stamps, value 3,000 rupees, illustrating travels through correspondence.
33.-35. (CHE #1-3): 7 September 2017, by Swiss Post. Three stamps, values 1 franc (national rate), 1,50 franc (European rate) and 2 francs (worldwide). Designs by
Max Spring illustrating Swiss people receiving a postcard and people of the continent and the world receiving traditions of Switzerland on postcards.
36. (IRL #1): 5 October 2017, by An Post. One stamp valued 1.35 euro (international rate) figuring five young peoples and other people's arms sending and receiving many postcards ; a design by Cathy Dineen.
Note: Irish postcrossers appeared in
a documentary on the General Post Office in Dublin, broadcast by RTÉ in March 2016.
37. (HUN #1): 2 February 2018, by Magyar Posta. One stamp valued 120 forints (2 domestic rates: non-priority postcard or standard letter under 30 grams) figuring a postman on bicycle happily delivering postcards. With landmarks of Budapest in the background: the Danube river, the
Liberty Bridge and
Liberty Statue. Design by Zsolt Vidàk and printed in offsetin 60,000
minisheets of four stamps.
38. (MDA #1): 23 June 2018, by Poșta Moldovei. One stamp valued 11 lei (international prioritary postcard to Europe ; almost worldwide non prioritary rate - 11,50 L) figuring a person travelling upon the globe on paths made of circulating postcards and letters. Design by Lilian Iatsko and printed in 120,000 in sheets of ten.
39. (ALA #1) : 7 June 2019, by Åland Post. One stamp valued "Världen" (worldwide postage ; 1.80 euro then). And indeed, a red world map, centered on the Atlantic Ocean, is included inside a heart-shaped stamp of light violet color. The Postcrossing name is written accross like by hand. The heart is included a perforated square, 3.8 cm of side. Design by Cecilia Mattsson, and printed in offset by Cartor Securiry Printing, in sheets of 28 stamps, in four columns of 14 separeted by 7 decorated labels on the correspondence topic.
40. (BRA #1) : 14 July 2020, by Correios (Brasil). One stamp valued 2.45 reais. Illustration by
Daniel Lourenço of São Paulo: two young people, living in different places as noted by monuments in corners, reading the postcards they exchange.
This stamp is issued at time for the 15th birthday of Postcrossing.41 to 43. (GGY #4-6) : 10 June 2020, by Guernsey Post. Three stamps, each for one postal zone (to the United Kingdom / to Europe / to the rest of the world). Each depict a local animal mailing a postcard into a blue streetbox ; postcard are franked with a reproduction of the stamp itself: self stamp on stamp! Illustation by Guernsey-based agency
Two Degrees North, stamps printed in offset by bpost printing (Belgium).
On 1 May 2021 there are 73 Postcrossing members in Guernsey who sent more than 17'000 cards to the world.
44. (BLR #3): 10 July 2021, by Belpochta (Belarus). Stamp value N (international surface postcard - 1.62 rouble in 2021 -
letter code list here), printed in 6 stamp minisheet. Illustration: on an Earth globe, three animals are sending postcards, waiting for them to arrive or transporting them.
45. (AUT #2) : 14 July 2021 (Postcrossing anniversary day), by Österreichische Post (Austria). Valued one euro (letter under 20g to Europe). Illustration by Theresa Radlingmaier, the postcard travel with geometrical forms and smileys on a blue background.
46. (LUX #1) : 13 September 2022, by Post Luxembourg. Value "E50g" for mail for Europe up to 50 grams (1.05 €, Europe Zones 1 and 2 mean the European Union, associated posts, the United Kingdom and Norway). Design by S. Fish: six people represented by arms and hands are either writing or receiving a postcard. 100,000 stamps printed.
47. (EST #1) : 1 October 2022, by Omnivia (Estonia). Value 1,90 € for worldwide mail. Design by T. Heimann: four black birds carrying a postcard which message is a smiling emoji, on a light blue background.
48. (DEU #1) : 6 October 2022, by Deutche Post (Germany). Value 0,95 € for a worldwide postcard of small size.
Illustration by Greta Gröttrup made of three Postcrossers writing, sending and receiving joyfully postcards.
The German Postcrossing community is the largest by number of postcards sent: 11,4 million as of 30 August 2022.
49. (NZL #1) : 7 August 2024, by NZ Post (New Zealand - Aotearoa). Value 3,30 $ the rate for the international 13x22,5 cm postcard.
Illustration by Sumi Ha (
this artist?) of a Kiwi working as a postman and flying thank to a bunch of baloons in the night. Printed in lithography and in sheets of 20 stamps by
Brebner Print in Napier (North Island) ; the kiwi is printed with a shiny overcoat.
50-51. (POL #2-3): 26 October 2024 by Poczta Polska (Poland), value 4.90 and 10 new złotys (PLN), printed by
PWPW in sheet of 12 items. Printing is 144,000 stamps for each design. Designs by Agata Tobolczyk.
For the 4.90 PLN a smiling red posbox is receiving a postcard wih a heart drawn on it. On the 10 PLN a Postcrossing anthropomorphic postcard is travelling the globe.
At the date of issue:
- 4.90 PLN pays the nationwide economic letter/postcard up to 50 grams,
- 10 PLN pays the international letter up to 50 grams to zone A (European continent including Cyprus, Russia and Israel).
52-56. (BEL #1-5): 16 June 2025 by bpost (Belgium), value "1 Europe" for the standardised letter rate up to 50 grams to European countries.
Each stamp designed by
Geert Wille is a step in writing, sending, postal travelling and receiving a postard. The five stamps are placed inside an illustrated minisheet mimicking an international postcard with a fake "2025" cancel, a Belgian blue "A Prior[ity]" airmail label.
The official title is "20 Years of Postcrossing", expressed on the address lines as "Postcrossing 2005-2025". Around the stamps usual greetings are proposed in Dutch ("Beste... / Groeten wit Belgiën") and in French ("Cher... Bonjour de Belgique").
A Postcrosser on the Postcrossing Blog gave event information: first day cancellation with bpost employees on Saturday 14 June in
Kalken (
Laarne) in
East Flanders. This philatelic event takes place during
SKALAFILA 2025, a two-day week-end regional stamp and picture postcard competitive exhibition, organised by
Themafila-Wetteren stamp club.
57. (NED #12): 14 July 2025 by postnl (Netherlands), value "1 international" for the worldwide mail.
For the 20th anniversary of the Postcrossing project, Sandra Smulders design a Dutch tricolore flag colour stamps: blue, white, red, displayed as airmail envelope margins, zigzags evocating travel. In gray letters are being moved throughout the blue world map and to the red houses.
This stamp sold in minisheet of six is the third issue and twelfth stamp of the Netherlands on this topic.
58-61 (USA #1-4): 26 May 2026 by the United States Postal Service (United States of America), value "Global Forever" for an worldwide mail under one ounce (around 28.34 grams).
Designed by Antonio Alcalá and illustrated by Jackson Gibbs, the four stamps are made of very bright colours, in the shape of isocele triangles that can form square when sold by four or sheet. They depict two traditional way to visiting the USA: horse-riding in a cacti and rocky landscape (reminding the Pony Express?) and motorbike along a road surrender by palm trees. The two other way are sea diving and space walk.
The four characters aren't dressed of postal employee, hence they are suggested as inhabitants and visitors sending memories to friends and Postcrossers abroad.
The first day of issue ceremony, on 26 May, takes place during
Boston 2026 World Expo, the decennal international philatelic exhibition of the main United States philatelic societies. US Postcrossers will organise Postcrossing meet-ups to send cards the Postcrossing way every day of the show between 23 and 30 May 2026.
62 (SRB #1): 1 October 2026 by
Pošta Srbije (Serbia), value 140 dinar. This is the rate for international postcard (Europe as well as rest of the world).
Designed by illustrator
Jakša Vlahović, the stamp represents an anthropomorphic red mailbox, inspired by an historic model. The box wears a blue postman hat while gathering and sending postcard (one of a natural landscape, the other of a larg church). Above it the motto "Happy Postcrossing" is written along postcards in latin alphabet. On top of the stamp, in Serbia and cyrillic alphabet: "
World Postcard Day - Postcrossing".
2. Non-Universal Postal Union members.
1. (Donbass #1): 14 July 2021 (Postcrossing anniversary day) by Post Donbass for the People's Republic of Donetsk, secessionist from Ukraine. Valued 24 roubles. Over a globe, two hands exchange a postcard ; monuments of Eastern Europe 20th century drawn over the map of Europe ; a motto: "Happy Postcrossing!". Adhesive with circled ondulated perforation, in a square of 35 mm ; printed in offset in sheets of 35 stamps. Catalogue number 257.
Bibliography
To be continued of course (and completed when I find the pictures missing).
Happy Postcrossing to you too!
