The Jerusalem stamp – The first postage stamp designed by the Shamir Brothers was issued on 16 February 1949 by the Israeli Post Office. The designs of the first two definitive postage stamp issues produced by the State of Israel related to distant historical themes – coins and a wax stamp from the period of the Kings of Judea and the revolt of Bar Kokhba. The third postage stamp issue – the Jerusalem stamp – related to a recent event, the breaking through the blockade of Jerusalem in the War of Independence.

During the following forty years the Shamir Brothers designed over 2000 items of philatelic artwork including: postage stamps, first day covers, commemorative sheets (also known as souvenir sheets) and other related items (postcards, airmail covers, and local covers). Most of the works appear in printed or online catalogues of Postage Stamps. Lists of all philatelic items issued over the years by the Israel Philatelic Service appear in its catalogues without identifying the designers (evidence identifying works by the Shamir Brothers can be found in documents such as orders and invoices from the early 1970s). The Shamir Brothers also designed many posters relating to specific Postage Stamp issues and philatelic exhibitions.

The development of international cooperation programmes by the State of Israel brought with it also cooperation in the philatelic field. The Israeli Government Printers (Hamadpis Hamemshalti) printed postage stamp issues for various countries in Asia and Africa ordering their design from Israeli commercial artists including the Shamir Brothers. Over the years the Shamir Brothers developed a close working relationship with two agencies that specialised in commissioning and producing postage stamps for the post offices of numerous countries and territories. One was The Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation, New York and the other, serving the British Commonwealth countries, was The British Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administrations, Sutton, Surrey, UK.

Some organisations issued Stamps as a source of income and a promotional vehicle. For example, the Keren Kayemet Leisrael (the Jewish National Fund) issued a number of stamps designed by the Shamir Brothers for this purpose. The United Nations accepted and issued one stamp designed by the Shamir Brothers. The UN sold a number of original proposed (but rejected) stamp design artworks by the Shamir Brothers in public auctions.

Philatelic items relating to the Shamir Brothers can occasionally be found in public auctions around the world and are often sold by philatelic traders. Some of these bear the original signatures of one or both of the Shamir brothers. Some original sketch artwork of designs that were not accepted by the relevant postal organisation are also occasionally offered for sale. Collectors should be careful when considering the purchase of such items given that since 2008 some items with forged Shamir signatures and even faked Shamir design artwork have been discovered being offered for sale.

The postage stamps section of this web-site was made possible by Uri Shamir, the son of Maxim Shamir, with his high quality scanning of all the items as well as the financing of the programming and design of the presentation of the material.