XANTHE'S
STAMP MAGAZINE

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

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

Here is an interesting new stamp from Croatia. It has been designed to raise awareness of the risks of climate change. "Opasnost od poplava" means "Danger of flooding". Design Quality – I think the design is really strong. It’s simple but still tells a story, like you can clearly see the house sinking into water and stuff floating around. The colours are kind of calm but also a bit scary, which fits the theme. It looks very modern. The road sign showing a hazard is well plac

On 21st April 1926, a baby was born. Her parents were the Duke and Duchess of York. No-one at the time expected that the Duke of York would become king, and definitely wouldn't have imagined that the baby would become the longest-reigning queen in world history. Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022 and there were several stamps issued to celebrate her life and reign. Not surprisingly, there will also be stamps to mark what would have been her 100th birthday on Tuesday. A

Some of you might remember my review of the Saba birds issue in January. The Netherlands are creating four issues this year to celebrate Saba wildlife. The first one was the birds set, and this one focuses on butterflies. Later in the year there will be Saba wildlife stamps about underwater life and flowers. I was a big fan of the birds stamps and as I collect butterfly stamps you would think I would like these too. And I do. But there is something a bit different about thes

The Isle of Man's latest issue was released today and celebrates Trevor Hemmings, a racehorse owner and Isle of Man resident. The WOPA website has a lot to say about Trevor Hemmings, who died in 2021. "Trevor was a highly successful businessman who went on to become one of the most recognised figures in horse racing, with his racing colours becoming synonymous with some of the most renowned horses and jockeys in British and Irish horse racing. "This collection features rema

Well, this is an interesting issue. If you're like me the first question you will ask is "What is Milk-a-Punch Sunday?" I had no idea but fortunately the Guernsey Stamps website tells you everything you need to know. It says: "Alderney’s Milk-a-Punch celebration, observed on the first Sunday in May, reflects a long-standing tradition of marking the seasonal turning point between winter and summer. Though now associated with gatherings in the island’s pubs, the custom recall

Guernsey's latest issue is EUROPA, with the theme "united in the love of stamps". There are six stamps in this issue, all of them very different from each other. Guernsey Stamps' website tells us more about the EUROPA stamp programme, which is 70 years old this year. "EUROPA is a long standing tradition that Guernsey Post has taken part in for 50 years. Issued annually, Guernsey’s EUROPA stamps interpret shared themes through subjects connected to the Bailiwick’s heritage,

Sark's third issue was released today and the theme is "An Artist's View" of the island. The artist is Louise Hill and she has painted the following landscapes: 75p - La Grande Greve 97p - Porte du Moulin £1.45 - La Coupee £1.54 - Buddhist Carving £1.90 - Cows and La Peigneurie £1.95 - Les Autelets and Brecqhou £2.96 - Creux Harbour £4.86 - Point Robert Lighthouse The Guernsey Stamps website doesn't say much about these places. However, it does have an interesting "behind t

It seems there are World Days for everything. Did you know there is a Lost Sock Memorial Day, an International Strange Music Day and an International Talk Like a Pirate Day? Saturday was World Day for Glaciers. No, I didn't know either but clearly people at Österreichische Post did because they've have produced this stamp to mark it. There is some useful information on the WOPA website: "2025 was designated the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation by the United Nat

Last week Serbia issued some new definitive stamps. They're interesting because they seem to be from three different sets. Two are about pets. The others are about plant life but one design is very different to the rest. The 5 para stamp showing chicory flowers is very similar to the 2025 stamp - in fact, it looks identical to me apart from the fact that the year printed at the bottom has been changed. The others are very different. the old designs have gone apart from the

Here's another review and it's another one about ships. Ships on stamps must be like buses - you wait aged for one then two come along at once. This set is from Jersey and will be issued tomorrow. The stamps show passenger vessels that "delve into the vast array of vessels utilised by Jersey in recent history". They are based on illustrations by Martin Mörck. There is a disappointing lack of detailed descriptions on the Jersey Stamps website, but the ships shown are: 82p -

A new Latvian stamp has been issued today. It celebrates a schooner called Daina . WOPA's website tells us about Daina : "The Three‑masted Gaff Schooner Daina was a historic sailing ship built in Latvia in 1924 at the coastal village of Upesgrīva. It was one of the last ocean‑going schooners constructed by local Latvian shipbuilders, crafted by master builder Jānis Strādnieks and completed after his death by Mārtiņš Morgenšterns." Unfortunately, despite being a beautiful s

A few days ago Xanthe wrote a review of the new Easter stamp for Croatia, so today I am reviewing a different Easter stamp, this time from Hungary. As Xanthe has already said, a lot of European countries have a tradition of issuing Easter stamps. This is very different from Croatia's stamp, which showed part of a religious service. Here we have a fun and very colourful stamp showing an egg and Easter bunny made up of flowers. There are also plenty of flowers in the picture. T

Here's a new stamp from Croatia, which was issued yesterday. As you can see, it's a stamp that celebrates Easter. For whatever reason, while we have had Christmas stamps since 1966, Royal Mail has never issued an Easter stamp. Many other European countries have and there have been all kinds of wonderful designs including eggs, bunnies, young animals and religious themes. Croatia is one of those countries that releases a new Easter stamp every year. In the last few years they

Royal Mail's fifth issue of the year will be released on 20th March and celebrates The Lord of the Rings . It's 25 years since the first LOTR film, The Fellowship of the Ring , hit UK cinemas. I believe that, at the time, this was a sensational film that exceeded many people's expectations. It took the fantasy adventures from JRR Tolkien's famous novel and turned it into a gripping film, with believable battle scenes and probably the first realistic digitally-created charact

The Isle of Man will issue a new set of stamps tomorrow called "From the Oceans to the Stars". I would describe it for you but fortunately I don't have to because Isle of Man Stamps and Coins has done it for me! Here is what they say: The Nicole Stott Mint Set brings together six Isle of Man Post Office stamps exploring our planet and the universe beyond. Each design reflects a different layer of exploration, from the mysterious depths of the oceans to the vast expanse of s

Switzerland will be issuing some new stamps on Monday. It is called Colours of Switzerland and the stamps show... well, lots of colours with different light and shade. The colours have poetic names, like "Snow White, "Alpine Meadow Green", "Glacier Cave Blue", "Larch Gold", "Summit Grey", "Alpine Glow Orange", "Alpine Lake Turquoise" and "Alpine Rose Red". The WOPA website has a short interviewer with the graphic designer, Felix Pfäffli, which I have included below: Where