XANTHE'S
STAMP MAGAZINE

I have already reviewed Guernsey's SEPAC architecture issue, which shows the Victoria Tower. SEPAC includes the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Greenland, Guernsey, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Vatican and Åland. Every year they issue stamps on a theme and this year the theme is iconic landscapes. Well, here is a very different stamp from Greenland. Guernsey decided to celebrate a historic building within the landscape but Greenland

On Wednesday Guernsey issued not just one but two new sets of stamps. I don't know why they have released two new sets on the same day but both are very nice and will appeal to people interested in history. Here is the "Guernsey Post Boxes" set. There are six stamps in the set and they all show real postboxes from across Guernsey. The postboxes are of different designs and I'm not an expert on the different types of postboxes but that is quite a mix. You will notice that the

Jersey's most recent issue celebrates Jersey's International Connections. This is a set of six stamps. The Jersey Stamps website says: "Jersey's International Connections, illustrated by Daniel Allison, highlights key moments where people, products and ideas have travelled internationally, shaping reputations and forging relationships that continue to resonate today." The stamps show: The Cod Industry (large cod being caught in a net by fishermen) Jersey Jumpers (an America

The Isle of Man's latest issue celebrates John McGuinness, a famous motorcyclist. I know nothing about any kind of motor racing and I had never heard of John McGuinness, but Isle of Man Stamps & Coins fortunately tells us a bit about him: "This 2026 stamp issue from Isle of Man Post Office celebrates 30 years since John McGuinness MBE first competed at the Isle of Man TT in 1996, marking one of the most successful and enduring careers in the history of the Mountain Course.

So far I have reviewed two magazines, Stamp Collector and The Cinderella Philatelist. This week I'm looking at a very different magazine, The New Puffin Journal. You may not have heard about it unless you are interested in Lundy, an island in the Bristol Channel that issues its own stamps. The New Puffin Journal is published by the Lundy Collectors' Club. It is a much smaller magazine that the others I've mentioned and I think it's important to say that it's not a stamp magaz

I recently reviewed the World Cup issue from Monaco, which I thought was quite good. I'm taking a look at some other World Cup stamps today, and the first is from Curaçao. Unlike Monaco, Curaçao actually has a team playing at this World Cup. In fact, it is the very first time they have ever qualified for the World Cup finals and Curaçao is the smallest country ever to qualify. So all in all that's a pretty great achievement and it's no surprise that the country is proud of th

It's been four weeks since Royal Mail's last stamps (100 Years since the Birth of Queen Elizabeth II) so surely there must be another issue soon? Of course there will be - from Thursday you will be able to buy this set of castles from your local post office. Actually, you probably won't, but you get the point. When I read the Royal Mail stamp calendar for 2026 I wasn't too excited about castles. That isn't because I'm not interested in castles because I really am and I have

The Isle of Man will be issuing their new Europa stamps on Wednesday. This is the second set of Europa stamps I have reviewed - Guernsey also issued a nice set in April on the theme "united in the love of stamps". The £2.63 stamp is the Europa design for 2026. Isle of Man Stamps and Coins tells is that "the featured designs highlight notable Manx subjects from previous EUROPA themes, showcasing the Isle of Man’s cultural heritage, architectural landmarks and natural beauty w

I hope you enjoyed my review of Stamp Collector last week. This week I am reviewing a very different kind of stamp magazine, The Cinderella Philatelist. A Cinderella stamp looks like a stamp but isn't issued by an official postal service. Examples of Cinderella stamps include: Charity seals (like Christmas seals) Advertising labels Exhibition or souvenir stamps Propaganda labels Local or private-post stamps Scouts stamps Fantasy or unofficial “country” issues A lot of people

In the next few weeks I will be reviewing some stamp magazines. Although Stamp Magazine was discontinued last year there are still a few out there and I kick things off with a look at Stamp Collector. The edition I am looking at is June 2026. The first thing to say is that there is a lot in this. And I mean a lot. There is even a separate Coin Collector section. There are a lot of different sections in this magazine, which is very well organised. I think it makes sense to go

This new stamp from Monaco looks forward to the FIFA World Cup Finals. There has already been a lot of controversy about this World Cup and that is before it has even started! However, this stamp keeps things simple and is clearly just celebrating a global football event that is being staged in three countries: Canada, Mexico and the United States. The designers have thought the best thing is not to make things too complicated. So there are no FIFA logos or even the name of

This is a very interesting new issue from Romania that I liked the look of straight away. The set is called "Curiosities of Wildlife" and it focuses on "situations in which the young of certain animals differ significantly in coloration from the adults." Well, that is unusual! Stamps often show similar types of animals, or animals from particular areas. They don't often use differences as a theme. The animals (and their young) are the silvered langur, the king penguin, the s