Fake, Counterfeit, Unauthorized, and Illegal Stamps
These stamps have been determined to be counterfeit, illegal, fake, or otherwise unauthorized. They are completely lacking in monetary and collective value. They detract from the field of philately in that they waste the time and money of legitimate hobbyists. They profit only liars, cheats, thieves, and scoundrels instead of duly-authorized postal agencies.
Should you have reason to believe any of the below stamps are legitimate, please e-mail me immediately so I may research the issue further.
Chad
2008 and 2012
I found these stamps for sale on
Looking at the stamps closely, you may notice the number 46664 ("Four double-six six four") on them. This is Nelson Mandea's prisoner number from his earlier years. He has reclaimed this "name" by naming his AIDS campaign after it
As with all of my fake stamp listings, should I ever find evidence to the contrary that these are real then I will immediately reconsider the matter. Until then, you are well advised to avoid these stamps.
Update: I have found several images of what look like first day covers of these stamps in use. I still believe these are fake, but am keeping my eyes open a bit more than I previously was. One of these days I'll write to the Chadian embassy and ask if these are valid postage. Perhaps I'll find out either way. The cancellation date on the envelopes is June 1, 2008.
This one turned up in 2013. Low quality, filled with generic pictures of highly desired collectable topics that are easily captureable on the Internet, sold by a known purveyor of suspect stamps (Marlen Stamps), and sold in the form of a souvenir sheet. Lots of reasons to doubt this release and none to trust its validity.
Dagestan
2006
The Russian governement would like it to be known that these stamps from the Republic of Dagestan are illegally produced. There is no Dagestan postal union so these stamps are worthless and are not usable at stamp exhibitions. A stamp from Dagestan is the equivalent of a Colorado stamp, or a stamp from the Postal Union of Newfoundland.
Eritrea
2003
It doesn't take a genius to tell that a poor African country next to Somalia and Ethiopia doesn't issue stamps like these. The entire sheet is in amazingly poor taste. Or is it?
All six of the firefighter's pictures were taken from a calendar called "The Firehouse Hunks" published after the September 11 attacks. The top three of the six pictured firefighters died on September 11 at the World Trade Center. Although the photos had been taken beforehand the calendar was going to be scrapped in light of the tragedy. The families of the firefighters decided to go on ahead and release the calendar. The calendar raises an estimated $250k annually for firefighters in NYC and the families wanted that to go forward.
Tom Foley, in the upper-right photo, was voted number ten in People Magazine's 100 most elgible bachelors of 2002. Looking at him it's easy to see why.
Why there are red ribbons on these stamps is something of a mystery. I did a web search looking for ribbons associated with September 11 and found the vast majority were red, white, and blue. Only one was red and that was part of a memorial effort in Arizona. Perhaps the designers used red to symbolize firefighting? The reason they were placed on the top three pictures is almost certainly because only the three firefighters on the top died on September 11. It's doubtful that the graphic designers would have stuck an AIDS ribbon on this sheet, but for whatever reason the ribbons give the appearance that they did. So while it's doubtful this issue is AIDS-related, I'll list this stamp here both because it's an interesting story and to let collectors make their own judgements.
Either way, keep in mind these are a counterfeit issue and no proceeds benefit the postal service of Eritrea or the firefighters of New York. A UPU circular exists if you want proof that they're fake.
Iraq
2003
This 2003 refugee aid stamp from Iraq features Saddam Hussein in the style of government propaganda. It's difficult to tell on the stamp what is original text and what is an overprint, but the "World AIDS Day" text is in a different font and is out of sync with the refugee aid theme of the original image, so I assume that's an overprint. Either way, the stamp is dated 2003 but Saddam's Hussein's governement only lasted until March of that year. According to an earlier Scott Guide, the Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority (read: US-backed occupying government) declared 13 stamps that read "Iraq / In Coalition / Occupation" government to be illegal issues. The English text on this stamp doesn't quite match that text, so I'm not sure if this is included in that count. This message has been removed in the current volume, but you can see a photograph of it below. Whether it was actually used in country is unclear, even if only briefly before the fall of Hussein's government. Absent any evidence this stamp was ever used as postage in the country, I'm filing this stamp under illegal issues.
Niger
1997
This stamp sure gets around. It can be found easily from multiple sites on the Internet. Unfortunately, the Universal Postal Union has put out a circular regarding fake Niger stamps on behalf of the government of Niger. Oddly, a second UPU circular mentions something about a Princess Diana AIDS-related overprint. I don't see an overprint on this stamp though. Could this stamp have been re-overprinted and the overprint is what is counterfit?
Either way, for a long time I advertised this stamp as being Niger 944. After a careful look at Scott I have decided this is not the case. You may need to update your records on this point.
According to a third UPU circular, this stamp can come in six valuations. Or at least that's how it sounds. Five minutes on Google and I found numerous stamps from this series but they were different images of Princess Diana. Only this stamp has anything to do with AIDS.
1 miniature sheet with 9 stamps at 180 F
1 miniature sheet with 9 stamps at 180 F
1 block with 1 stamp at 2000 F
1 block with 1 stamp at 1500 F + 250 F (surcharge)
1 block with 1 stamp at 4000 F
1 block with 1 stamp at 4000 F
Sao Tome and Principe (St. Thomas), 2005
I initially spotted this for sale on eBay from two vendors who specialize in counterfeit stamps. I spent a good ten years investigating this stamp without success until the Scott Catalog ran a message stating the postal service of Sao Tome declared it an illegal issue.
