Archived News



This page contains updates that have scrolled off the home page. Links or images may occasionally go bad as the website evolves.


September 10, 2010
The burst continues. More news to report.

First, I am finally doing what I said I was going to do a year ago. I am sending out letters to foreign embassies to ask if some of their AIDS stamps are valid releases by their companies, or if they are unathorized releases.

In particular, I am sending letters to three countries: Guinea-Bissau, St. Thomas and Principe, and the Union of the Comoros. These are countries that have (allegedly) released AIDS stamps in the past few years. I have my doubts whether they are legitimate issues, so I am writing to ask.

I don't know if I'll get a response back or not, but I'll let you know. Two of the letters will go out with tomorrow's mail, and the third will go out next week when an international reply coupon that I ordered arrives.

Second, I am officially adding three new Macedonian stamps to our listings. Well, sorta. We've had them in our listings, but have never made much of a distinction about them, and was missing a scan of one.

Here's the scoop. From 1994 to 1996, Macedonia released six semi-postal stamps about AIDS. Each year, one of those stamps was also issued in a larger version with a higher valuation. In the past, I have off-handedly mentioned the larger sheets. While working on all the former Yugoslavia stuff lately though I realized they have a higher valuation and should be considered separate stamps unto their own right.

Accordingly, I have tweaked the AIDS on Stamps checklist to reflect this change. And I have edited our listings for those years to better explain the differences between them.

Here are their pictures, in case you'd like to see them.



Finally, another Macedonia news story. This time about a 2008 stamp seen here...



This stamp always seemed a bit odd to me but I never got around to studying the stamp in detail. Once I did this week, I quickly noticed a lot of issues about it.
  • It doesn't share the same dimensions of the other Macedonian semi-postal stamps (and they release a lot of them).
  • There is no value printed on the stamp.
  • The stamp is adhesive, not backed by gum like the other semi-postals.
  • The stamp is dated May 8-15. According to this Macedonian Red Cross page, they release AIDS semi-postal stamps for use during December 1-7.
  • There is no year on the stamp. (The stamp was initially sold to me along with a 2008 stamp so I naturally assumed this was from 2008 as well. In retrospect this is not an assumption that is safe to make.)

So I e-mailed Sinisa Pavleski from Macedonian Stamps. Sinisa was his usual helpful self and gave some interesting insights into the stamp. He agreed it was not a postal stamp and thought that it was something that people might wear. (I didn't fully understand his explanation so here's his actual quote. He said, "I think it's a sticker which you can get on your apparel (wear) when some kids taking money (of course it's not a robbery) on the street against AIDS.")

He then translated the sticker. It reads:

Red Cross of the Republic of Macedonia
May 8
World Day of the Red Cross and Red Crecent
May 8-15
Week of the Red Cross
AIDS cannot be gotten from...

That's all. What it is stating AIDS cannot be gotten from is unclear. The person wearing the sticker, perhaps? It's impossible to say.

I have sent an e-mail to the Macedonian Red Cross in the hopes they can provide me with further information. I'll let you know if I learn anything more. In the meantime, I have moved this stamp from the 2008 page to the cinderella page.
September 8, 2010
As you may have noticed over the years, I tend to work on my stamp collection in bursts. This burst continues and I've got some interesting stuff to report.

First, I came across this Universal Postal Union circular (.pdf) about Rwanda. In it the Rwandan postal service states that the last stamp it has issued was the 2003 set of AIDS stamps. This is certainly possible, but it does have me wondering just what stamps Rwanda is using in their post offices right now. If I were to walk into a Rwandan post office, would I find they are still using the AIDS stamps? Or just some sort of ink stamp or machine-printing? The circuluar was written in 2010 so it's a bit surprising that Rwanda might still be a 2003 set of stamps. On the other hand, that might explain why canceled versions of these stamps are showing up in steadily increasing numbers.

Second, I found this new block of cinderellas on eBay. The seller had two sets of them, I bought one. I am still researching them, but Konstantin from Serbian Stamps tells me that they are from the Republic of Srpska, sometimes referred to as Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serb administration).

I was initially surprised that they were written in Latin characters as official stamps from the Republic of Srpska use Cyrillic characters, but Konstantin assured me that both character systems are indeed used there.



I can't read the type around the Red Cross logo, but will investigate the matter further when the stamps arrive. In the meantime, they have been added to the cinderella page.

Third, working on the above stamps inspired me to start tackling another mess in AIDS stamps -- all of those Serbian AIDS stamps that I have never been able to find Scott #'s for. Here is a picture of them.



A while back Konstantin was kind enough to write a more detailed explanation of which countries released these stamps. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a detailed distinction between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Serbia. And all three countries are represented in the above stamps.

So I have added a Breakup of Yugoslavia page to AIDS on Stamps. It has just enough detail to explain just what happened to Yugoslavia along with maps like this one to show you the process along the way. Understanding the process is important because there are AIDS stamps from countries in Yugoslavia that no longer exist today.



The page ends with a handy chart explaining which countries in the region have released which AIDS stamps.

Third, as part of this work I have decided it is time that AIDS on Stamps adhere to a more structured categorization system. I had stamps listed under Serbia that were, for example, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A thin distinction to be sure, but one that should be made. Toward this end, I have decided to adopt the Scott Catalog categorization system of countries. Meaning over the next few months I will be changing our listings slightly to more accurately name countries.

To be fair, this isn't a major set of changes. If I remember correctly, North Korea will become Korea, Democratic People's Republic of. I'll be sure to add a number of "see also" comments around the site as well to make sure people find the stamps they're looking for.

The end result will be a better categorization system on the website to avoid messes like the one that occured in our listings for Serbia.

Fourthly and lastly, I made a very interesting discovery about these two Bosnia and Herzegovina (Muslim administration) stamps.



As you may recall, I learned of these stamps last year and added them to our listings. The 0.20KM valuation was a 2002 stamp, and the 0.50KM valuation was from 2001. I always found this a bit odd, as stamps tend to go up in value, not down. I guessed that the 2001 stamp was probably 2003 or 2004, as I hadn't been able to verify the year and had only the seller's opinion that it was a 2001 stamp.

Konstantin tipped me off to the solution last year, but I didn't understand his explanation well enough until last night. As it turns out, the Muslim administration of Boznia and Herzegovina has a habit of releasing non-postal tax stamps with a higher value in conjunction to their postal tax stamps.

This is a fancy way of saying the 0.50KM valuation isn't a postage stamp at all! It's actually a tax stamp used for other services. Konstatin's source wasn't specific, but stated it was used in ticket sales (train? entertainment? something else?).

As evidence of this, Konstantin was kind enough to send me two sheets from the M&M Catalog, a specialized catalog of stamps from the former Yugoslav Republics. On sheet #1, notice the circled stamp is a 0.20 KM value, much like the 2002 stamp I previously mentioned.

Now look at sheet #2. You'll see a circle around the same stamp in a 0.50 KM value. According to Google translate, the accompanying text reads, "Most items charity stamps had a parallel release of labels, which were used for collecting the contributions of issued tickets and tickets for various events. They are often different from the charity stamps only denominations, which is always higher than those in the marks for the post."

You'll also note on the second sheet has the 2002 version of the above stamp in the top-left.

Neat, eh? So now you know the true background of the 0.50KM stamp. I'd love to know what specific tickets the 0.50KM stamp is used on, but otherwise it's a mystery solved. Accordingly, the 0.50KM stamp has been moved to the cinderella page.
September 4, 2010
It's been a quiet few months but there are now some things to report. I'll start with the mundane stuff.

First, I want to thank Paul Hennefeld for sending me an image of an Anthony Perkins stamp for the PWA page. Paul was kind enough to send it to me a year ago, but the e-mail became buried in the nightmare that is my inbox. I did not rediscover it until last night, at which point I posted it online. Thanks for not becoming annoyed with me, Paul.

Second, I have added a link on the links page to Malaria Stamps. The webmaster was kind enough to trade links with me a year ago, at which point I became distracted (probably why I also missed Paul's e-mail) on other non-philately projects and promptly forgot about adding his link. Sorry about the delay.

Third, at the advice of Bill Ingram I have renamed my counterfeit stamp page as the illegal stamp page. The idea being that counterfeits are usually attempts to fake the real thing, while illegal issues are often cinderellas being passed off as real stamps. The page address on the site has not changed.

Fourth, I have been doing some work on the AIDS Stamp Checklist (.xls) and have added several stamps that were missing from the list, along with a pile of Scott and Stanley-Gibbons catalog numbers. As always, the latest changes in the checklist are noted at the bottom of the document.

At some point in the near future I plan on moving the checklist to Google Docs to make it more available to the public. I hope to open it up to the public to edit, so that all of you can work on the document as well. I'll certainly have to create some sort of version control, so that I can rollback should someone deface the document (much like a Wikipedia page). Needless to say it's an experiment in "new media" where all of you will be contributing your knowledge into the master checklist of available AIDS stamps. More details to follow.

Fifth, I have added two new AIDS stamps to the local post page. Both are from Terra Candella, the local post of an artist known only as Harley. Here are the images...





Sixth, some interesting news. Take a look at these Mali (2001) issues...



For years the Scott Guide has been reporting that there are four additional issues in the set. I thought Scott to be mistaken, as I hadn't found the slightest bit of evidence that any other versions exist. And believe me, I have searched long and hard.

Well, last night it all fell into place. I noticed that the stamps in my personal collection are NOT identical to the ones pictured above. The ones above are from the Universal Postal Union's WNS Registry and are worth 385F. In my personal collection I have these stamps at a value of 225F. In the Scott Guide they show a picture of the horizontal stamp with a value of 195F. Mystery solved! There are only two images on these stamps, but three valuations of each. Here are the pictures of the 225F versions.



These stamps have always been among the rarest in the world as far as AIDS stamp collectors go. Now collectors can add the additional valuations to their want lists as well.

Seventh and finally, for years the Scott Guide has reported that they believe additional stamps exist in the Cameroon (2001) series pictured here:



While there is a souvenier sheet version of these stamps, I have never seen any evidence of additional stamps in the series. Apparently Scott has decided that these stamps are indeed the only in the series, as they have removed the note from their 2011 catalog suggesting that others may exist. Interestingly, they left a Scott number open in this series. The 125F stamp is Scott #939, and the 250F stamp is 941. The souvenier sheet is 941a, and there is apparently no Scott 940 for Mali. So without evidence to the contrary, I think we can safely close the doors on this mystery. (Oh, and yes, I have been watching the valuations on these over the years. Every stamp I have ever seen in this series has been the above pictured value on the appropriate stamp.)
July 14, 2010
The world marches ever onward and with it has come a new AIDS stamp, this time from the Republic of Moldova. If you're wondering where Moldova is, you're not alone -- I had to look it up on Wikipedia.

Moldova, as I learned, is a landlocked country between Romania and Ukraine. It is part of the former Soviet Union and has a population of about 3.5 million people. About a quarter of the population lives on less than $2/day, and it aspires to become a part of the European Union. Interestingly enough, communists are the largest political power in Parliment with 48 (out of 101) seats, although they are not in control of the government. Control resides in an alliance of four other Western-leaning political parties that together had just enough seats to form a majority.

On the subject of AIDS, the CIA World Factbook tells me that Moldova has a 0.4% prevalence of HIV (2007 estimate). That ranks it #81 in the world and is the same rate as Canada (ranked #80). In case you're wondering, Swaziland is #1 at 26.10%. The USA is at #70 at 0.6%. The UK is at #95 with 0.2%. Below ranking #138 (Cuba at 0.1%) the list becomes fairly inaccurate with a number of countries listed using 2001 estimates.

Anyway, I digress. Here is the 2010 Moldova stamp. (Thanks to Gwen and Ricard for the heads up).



Gwen also clarified on my June 1st posting by pointing out another Comoros (2009) souvenier sheet with Luc Montagnier on it. Dr. Montagnier, as you may recall, is the co-discoverer of the HIV virus.



I have also updated the AIDS Checklist (.xls) with several new Scott numbers. As always, the latest changes to the spreadsheet are listed on the bottom of the document.

As a tangental issue that isn't directly AIDS related, some readers may be interested to know that Austria has released the first official "gay" stamp to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Rainbow Parade.

June 1, 2010
I hope you all are enjoying the warm spring weather, although if you're reading this website you're probably huddled in front of your computer instead of enjoying the outdoors. Fortunately for you, I have a number of things to report today.

First up, Cameroon has confirmed they will issue an AIDS stamp in 2011 as part of the Universal Postal Union campaign about AIDS awareness. I found the confirmation deep in this report (.pdf, in French) from the Cameroon postal service. It's hardly surprising they will do so, as they were one of the original seven members of the campaign. Nigeria has also confirmed they will release an AIDS stamp in 2011 in a similar report (.pdf). The other five countries were Brazil, Burkina Faso, China, Estonia, and Mali, all of which I would guess will release AIDS stamps along with a slew of other postal services.

(Update: The UPU has broken those links. Sorry, folks.)

Second, thanks to Ricard and Gwen for writing in about this new stamp. Monaco released this on May 5, 2010 to commemorate the 15th anniversary of... I'm not entirely sure. Some sort of anniversary of the UN AIDS program? I'm not entirely sure, but it does have a rather unusual design that I like.



Third, Thanks to Gwen and Ricard again for letting me know about these stamps from the Union of the Comoros (a very small set of islands between Madigascar and mainland Africa with a population of about 800,000). The first is a souvenir sheet from 2008 featuring a sort of hodge-podge of imagery ranging from the Red Cross to Albert Schweizer, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and the HIV virus. I don't have a Scott number for this yet but it's Michel 2078 (stamp) and BL468 (the whole sheet), and Yvert 147 (stamp? sheet? not sure).



In 2009 the Union of the Comoros released a sheet of 2008 Nobel Prize winners. Featured among them is Francoise Barre-Sinoussi who, along with Luc Montagnier, were awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine for their role in identifying the HIV virus. I don't have a Scott or Stanley-Gibbons number yet, but the Michel and Yvert numbers are 2267 and 1620 respectively. The top-left of the stamp also pictures what I believe may be an HIV virus, but I'm not sure. The fellow in the first stamp (click on the image below to see it) discovered another virus, so it's possible the top-left virus is his discovery. I won't know for sure until I get a copy of this sheet and read the writing.


Click on the image to see the full sheet.

Fourth, I have made some changes as to how AIDS on Stamps handles lists of stamps. Until now there have been three ways: 1) year-by-year, 2) a downloadable Excel-format (.xls) spreadsheet, and 3) a standard webpage that lists various information about AIDS stamps (but only showed Scott numbers). After consideration I have decided to get rid of #3, as all of the information is contained in the spreadsheet anyway, and virtually all users should be able to read the spreadsheet just fine. (Those few users without a program that can read the spreadsheet will find all the information from this option in the year-by-year listing).

What does this mean? Not much, just that the giant list of stamps, descriptions, and Scott #'s is no longer on this site. You'll have to download the AIDS checklist spreadsheet (.xls) to read it all. (Upside: the spreadsheet has Yvert, Stanley-Gibbons, and Michel numbers, along with information about famous People with AIDS on stamps.)

Finally, I have added a slew of catalog numbers to the AIDS checklist. Thanks to Joe @ GLHSC for the Rwanda number, and Ricard for the Yvert and Michel numbers. (As always, details on what's new on the checlist can be found at the bottom of the document.)
March 30, 2010
Sorry, never got this page uploaded after the last update. But I have a few things to report today.

First up, this 2008 stamp from Mali. I'm a little surprised I haven't run into this stamp before, although I suppose I shouldn't be as African stamps that are made primarily for internal use sometimes take a while to make their way around the world. I attempted to research this stamp and didn't find quite what I expected. I found a March 2, 2009 article (linked via Google Translate because it's in French) that mentions a new series of stamps being issued to raise awareness about the AIDS epidemic. There's a picture of what appears to be the unveiling ceremony, but unfortunately the featured stamp is too small to see any details.

Making things a bit more complicated, Mali is one of the seven original countries working with the Universal Postal Union's latest AIDS awareness project. So their postal service has lots of stuff going on, and will almost certainly be releasing additional AIDS stamps as the campaign goes on (probably in 2011 when the campaign calls for it). This stamp appears to have been previously released though as part of a local campaign against AIDS that also involves envelopes, brochures, and posters. Since this stamp is allegedly part of a series on stamps, there's probably more that we haven't discovered yet. So keep your eye open for "new" stamps from Mali. I'd love to see anything you haven't yet found



Second, first 2010 AIDS stamp is available. This one, as I mentioned a while back, is from Jersey. It is part of a set about the Girl Guides (Girl Scouts).

February 24, 2010
You haven't heard from me in a while because there has been nothing to report. I do have one tidbit today though. The UN AIDS website has an article on Brazil joining the UPU's anti-AIDS campaign. The article has a small section that says, "a special stamp has also been developed, containing the symbol of the campaign.". The article did not say when the stamp will be available. I looked on the Brazilian postal service website for it but didn't see anything more. (The fact that I cannot read Portuguese didn't help though.)
December 24, 2009
Just a quick gift to y'all before I head out for several weeks of family and fun in both Iowa and Hawaii -- a new page on the website about local posts and the AIDS stamps they have released over the years. It's a work in progress -- my primary source of information is only up to "E" in his alphabetical research of the subject. So far we have discovered three stamps though, and I wanted to give y'all a link before I head out for the holidays.

I'll provide a more detailed update in a month or so when I'm back from my trips and the subject is more fully researched. In the meantime, the new page has an explanation of what local posts are (for those of you who are not walking philatelic dictionaries).
December 22, 2009
It's only been four days since my last update but there are a few things to report.

First, this souvenir sheet from Nigeria. We've had the stamps listed for some time, but never this sheet.



Second, an update on the oh-so-rare Rwanda (2003) . As I posted earlier this year, the Scott Guide assigned two of the official numbers. They said they were trying to establish that the other two had actually been released, at which point they would be assigned number as well. Well, I am pleased to report that I purchased the remaining two earlier this evening. I won't receive them for a couple of weeks, but when they do I will send Scott a letter along with detailed scans. I've been meaning to send them a letter about a number of AIDS for a while now with information about from Mali, Cameroon, and others. I'll let you know when that happens.

Third, there's an interesting petition going around in the United States. On World AIDS Day (December 1), the sister of Pedro Zamora kicked off a drive to urge the US Postal Service to release a stamp in his honor. Zamora, as you may or may not know, was a Cuban-American who was diagnosed with HIV during his junior year of high school. Upon graduation he became an AIDS activist and eventually became a star of an early season of MTV's The Real World. As he lay in a hospital dying, President Bill Clinton called him to thank him for all his efforts. Zamora is widely credited with raising consciousness about AIDS among school and college-aged youths. If I hear anything more about the petition effort or any positive results I'll be sure and let you know.
December 18, 2009
The holiday season has rolled around again and you know what that means -- yet another postal tax stamp from Macedonia. We didn't get one in March (as they do about half the time), but the good folks at their postal service are continuing their part of keeping AIDS in the public eye. At present I have only seen the stamp on Delcampe but I'm sure it'll be making the rounds of dealers in the not-too-distant future. Their postal tax are never widely available, but they're not that hard to find if you poke around a bit, especially as the years go by.



Next up is this stamp from Greece. I was excited to see it at first, but on researching it I learned that it's just a personalized stamp. The faces on the left side of the stamp pair is one of eight or so pre-made stamp designs. The right-part can be customized as people see fit. I have included both "before" and "after" versions of the personalized stamp. So it's not an official AIDS stamp, but I have added it to the personalized stamp page.





I also realized that the full sheet for the AIDS stamp from Vatican City (2004) has additional AIDS text in the center. So I thought I'd add this to our listings. I already had the stamp, but it's worth listing the full sheet. If someone would translate the text for me I'd be glad to add it to the site as well.



Now I wanna turn to a not-so-pleasant subject: fraud. You may have noticed in the past year a lot of these Indian stamp booklets appearing on the web.



As you can see from the back of the booklet, supposedly only 250 of these were printed. What would be a collectors item among Indian stamp dealers though has been all over the Internet on auction sites. Dozens upon dozens of these are available. I finally took the plunge and bought one, only to discover that it was a blatant forgery. The booklet supposedly contains 100 rupees of , but mine only contained 20. And they were obviously torn off a larger sheet and stuck to the top of the booklet. A very sloppy job if I've ever seen one.

I'm not the only person to have a bad experience with this booklet. Gwen, a long-time reader of AIDS on , bought a booklet earlier this year. Hers had completely different inside than mine did, and again, less than 100 Rs. worth of . She, like me, believes hers was fake as well.

In an effort to learn a bit more about this booklet, I contacted Sahadeva Sahoo, a former President of the Philatelic Congress of India. He said that Uttarakhand is a state located in the north of India near the Himalayas. They did release a booklet cover on December 1, 2008 to mark the observance of World AIDS Day. He stressed that it was more of a cover than a booklet, as they did not have a formal set of to put inside. Rather, they were able to put inside whatever they saw fit. (Most booklets of this type on the Internet feature a combination of AIDS and on breastfeeding. Mine arrived with four about Indian national parks.) He said that India Post does authorize its "circle heads" to issue promotional products of this type to the philatelic community, or to permit a society to issue a promotional philatelic item. He was unfamilar with all of the fraud that occurs in regards to these booklets, but acknowledged that fraud does often exist.

I am continuing my investigation to learn what I can about what actual were released in the booklet. I doubt any of us will ever be able to determine what are authentic booklets and which are forgeries. So for now I recommend that you do NOT buy this booklet, as it's almost certainly going to be a forgery and worthless. I'll be sure and post more information as I get it.

That's all for now. Happy holidays!
November 11, 2009
Two announcements today. First is this forthcoming stamp from Jersey, a British island off the northern coast of France in the English Channel. The stamp will be released on January 13, 2010 to promote the activities of the Girl Guides, a variation on the Girl Scouts. It's part of a five-stamp set and features the words "AIDS Awareness" along with a red ribbon.



It is worth noting that although the stamp has not yet been released, there is a dealer in India on eBay selling the already. I fired an e-mail off to the Jersey Postal Service asking if/how they could be legitimate but am not sure I'll get a response. These will be easy to acquire once they are officially released so I do not recommend purchasing them from this dealer in the meantime. You'd hate to reward a corrupt official in the Jersey postal agency slipping him stamp sheets before the official release date. Or worse yet, they could be counterfeit.

Second is another sheet of Philippines . First there was 2006, now there's a similar variation in 2007. I don't know the Scott number yet but will figure it out next time I head to the libray. As with the 2006 sheet, the are not directly AIDS-related, but the center of the sheet are the eight icons and accompanying text for the eight UN Milennium Development Goals. One of those has to do with halting the spread of AIDS and HIV.

October 29, 2009
Like every summer and early fall, 2009 has been quiet for AIDS. A few things have come to my attention though so I thought I'd update the page with a bit of news.

First up, all those promised United Nations are now available. Scroll down for pictures of them.

Second, I have added a new sheet of 2006 for the Philippines. I don't know the Scott number yet but will figure it out next time I head to the libray. (I tend to put off these library visits to allow them to replace more volumes of the Scott catalog with newer editions). The sheet itself is filled with that are not directly AIDS-related. In the center of the sheet are the eight icons and accompanying text for the eight UN Milennium Development Goals. One of those has to do with halting the spread of AIDS and HIV.



Third, I added information on a new PWA stamp, Ofra Haza, an Israeli musician who passed away this year. The GLHSC newsletter reported this as Scott 17731, but that number sounds awfully high to me. Since it's on a 12-stamp sheet I'm thinking it may have been 1773i and someone misread it. I'll update this paragraph when I figure it out.



Finally and most importantly, some interesting news on these Rwandan AIDS ...



The GLHSC is reporting (and I'm currently trying to confirm) that Scott is saying that to the best of their knowledge, only two of these were ever postally used. These have been given the numbers 1395-6. The editors will give the other two numbers when they are able to confirm their existance and use.

While I don't know which two Scott gave numbers to, I can confirm that the first and third were both postally used. How do I know this? By pure coincidence, I purchased both in used condition this morning. Talk about a lucky find! In all my collecting I have seen these for sale. I did find a French website for trading in which smoeone posted the fourth stamp, but by the time I contacted him he said he had traded it away.

It'll be another week or so until they arrive, but in the meantime I'm trying to find out Scott's information on the subject. I'll be sure and pass along to you anything I learn. These Rwandan are the "Holy Grail" of stamp collecting. To be able to collect them is truly an accomplishment of epic proportions.
May 31, 2009 - September 9, 2009
Any updates that occurred between these dates have been lost. If I ever figure out a way to retrieve them I will post them here. It's entirely possible there were no updates during this period, but I cannot verify this.
May 13, 2009
A bit of news that deserves its own entry. Gwen writes that the UN Economic and Social Council is releasing on August 6, 2009 a six stamp set. One of the stamps is about HIV/AIDS, malaria, and cancer. Gwen writes describes it as, "an odd design but the red ribbon is there with the wording." This represents our first confirmation an AIDS stamp to be released in 2009.
May 13, 2009
I'm working on the site again. A few new things. First, here's a picture of the Nigeria (2003) AIDS stamps as part of a souvenier sheet.



Second, another version of this set of Guine-Bissau (2007) stamps. I have long been suspicious that they are counterfeit but have not been able to establish their validity eithe rway. Note that all four stamps have a border made up of smaller versions of the pictures of each of the four stamps. So there are a series of tiny AIDS ribbons in the border on all four stamps.



Then there's these two souvenier sheets of a Sao Tome (2005) stamp. Again, I am suspicious these might be counterfeit. Both Guine-Bissau and Sao Tome release massive amounts of stamps that have nothing to do with their country (and indeed, aren't sold within the country for postage) to raise capital from stamp collectors. Unfortunately, unscrupulous businesspeople have released any number of fake stamps allegedly from both countries. Since neither country bothers with any sort of "official" list of their stamps they are ripe for impersonation.

That being said, here are the souvenier sheets.

May 13, 2009
I have added several images to the website that may interest you.

First up is this 2002 Cameroon souvenier sheet. These stamps are previously known, but this is the first time I have had an image of their souvenier sheet. The Scott Catalogue states that other stamps in the series may exist, but I do not think any do. I have seen no evidence of them in all of my AIDS stamp research and am quite sure I would have seen something, somewhere if that was true.



Next, I have updated several pages on this site with new images. The counterfeit stamps and not about AIDS pages have both been updated with several fake Chadian stamps as well as a number of stamps that dealers commonly confuse with AIDS issues. I have updated the cinderella stamp page with a bit more information about the Lion's Club of Khumalo AIDS stamp.

Also a correction. The stamp I listed yesterday from Ghana is really from Tanzania. I got it confused with a similar 2008 souvenier sheet from Ghana that also featured George Bush.
May 12, 2009
Another update, this time about India. Although the country has only released one AIDS stamp, it has arguably done more to promote AIDS awareness than any other postal service in the world. Much of this has been done through their "Meghdoot" series of pre-paid postcards (I'll have an update about those soon), but also in the form of AIDS awareness information on stamp booklets.

In honor of the number of contributions that they have made (along with a few other countries), I have created a new stamp booklet page to promote AIDS awareness on stamp booklets. I urge you to check it out -- there are a number of new booklets you may not have seen before.
May 12, 2009
I have been horribly overdue in writing updates for this website. Never fear, it isn't abandoned. There simply hasn't been all that much to report. I have compiled enough interesting things though that it's time to post some updates. It's 4am as I write this so I'm off to bed in a moment, but I wanted to give you a quick look at this 2008 stamp from Ghana.

I'll post more tomorrow. There's a fair amount to report, even if this is the only new stamp.

Update: This is from Tanzania, not Ghana as I originally said. Oops!

January 11, 2009
No new stamps to report, but I have been doing a lot of work on the new AIDS checklist. I have added a column for Stanley-Gibbons numbers, and have filled in a ton of SG stamp numbers. I have also researched and added numerous Yvert and Michel numbers. So if you're not into Scott catalog numbers, this document will be of great help.

At times I will be updating this document more often than I am updating this website. Accordingly, I have added a last revised date to the top of the document, so you can always tell when it's a new version. You can find this last revised date on the AIDS on Stamps page.
January 6, 2009
I forgot to mention in my last update -- I have created a new page dedicated to Cinderella stamps. These are stamps that are designed to express a message, but are not intended to be used as valid postage. Often they are sold to raise money for charity although that is not always the case.

Starting off the list, I moved the Gay Kingdom (2004) stamp to the Cinderella page, since I don't think the activists ever actually intended to make a working postal system on a deserted island, nor be recognized by any foreign government. I have also added these two issues as well.

January 6, 2009
I took a long overdue trip to the library today to update this site based on the Scott 2009 catalogues. I filled in quite a few missing Scott numbers and release dates. In particular, the new downloadable AIDS checklist and People with AIDS page were signficantly updated.

I have observed is that pre-printed postcards (ie; those from a postal service with pre-printed postage on them) are not catalogued by Scott. Anyone have any idea how they are normally catalogued? Do the Michel, Stanley-Gibbons, and/or Yvert catalogs have numbers for them? If not, perhaps it is time I come up with my own system for cataloging AIDS postcards.

The same can be said for booklets of stamps as well. The Scott catalogs do mention booklets of stamps, but they only describe the stamps inside, and don't discuss the cover of the booklet at all. Accordingly, if five different covers of the same stamps were released on the same day, they'd only list it once. Methinks we're going to need some sort of system for keeping track of these. Hrm.

On a lighter note, I made a development on a minor mystery today. I've mentioned lately that I remember seeing a few years back a Netherlands stamp sheet that said "Stop AIDS Now" in the margin. I'm not talking about the Netherlands (2005) set either. This one was mostly white and had angels on it. Well, I spotted it in the Scott guide today. The stamps are definitely their 2006 Christmas set (Scott B749a-j, I think. Or was it 750?) of children dressed up as angels. The Scott guide said, "Surtax went to various organizations named in the sheet selvage." Since selvage means margin, I may be on the verge of confirming another AIDS issue. I can't find a picture of the set on the web though, and the picture in the Scott guide was rather small. I'll keep you informed what I discover.

I do have one "new" stamp to confirm. A few AIDS stamps over the years have been overprinted with new values. Cameroon (1991) and Cameroon (1993), for example. Today I am posting another one, Namibia (2006).



Finally, a request. Can someone look in a Michel catalog and describe to me (or better yet, scan and e-mail me) South Africa #1115; MH. Not sure what the MH stands for. It's a note about a possible AIDS stamp booklet I have from the AIDS stamp list I am now editing. I don't have access to a Michel catalog so whatever you can tell me would be appreciated.
January 4, 2009
I'm in the mood to work on this site so I have made a few more updates and have a few announcements to make.

I am officially putting out a call for people to e-mail me all of their scans and information about AIDS-related government-issued postcards and postal cancellation marks. Also, first-day covers for AIDS stamps. At some point in the future I would like to create pages to showcase these, so I figured I'd start gathering information now. I won't catalog them in the same way as I catalog stamps, as there are half a zillion different FDCs, cancellation marks, and postcards. So e-mail me whatcha got, folks.

I have also worked out a deal with the Gay and Lesbian History on Stamps Club to host their Excel spreadsheet (.xls) of AIDS and HIV stamps on this website. I have been maintaining it anyway for a while now, and since this website catalogs everything that is in their list it has ceased to be a draw to get people to join GLHSC. It does have a few minor advantages over this site though, in that it catalogs Michel and Yvert numbers. I have also added a column to it for Stanley-Gibbons numbers, although right now the column is entirely blank. (Perhaps some of you would like to add the Michel/Yvert/S-G numbers to the chart? I'd be most grateful.)

Anyway, it is now listed on the AIDS on Stamps and chart pages.

I also spent some time working on the PWAs on stamps page. I sync'ed it with the GLHSC stamp list and found a number of errors. It's really a work in progress at this point, and hasn't had nearly the amount of love and attention that the main stamp list has received. Still, it's coming along. I'll be taking a library trip this next week and should have more corrections for it then.

Finally, I found an interesting page on AIDS postcards in India. Most long-time collectors of AIDS stamps have at least a few of them sitting around their collection. India prints more of these than, I'm guessing, every other country in the world put together. Someone took the time to put together a list of these postcards as of late 2005. He deserves a link, so I have added it to the links page.
January 2, 2009
The new year has been celebrated and the festivities have come and gone. While the 2009 AIDS stamps are yet to be released, there's still more from 2008 and before to be documented.

First up, an interesting story told to me by Norman, a reader of this site. A while back he learned that the United Nations was holding an auction on eBay of various items. The auction did not use keywords, so a search of AIDS Stamps would not have found it. You'd have to have done a search for the specific auction item number to find it. While searching for a number of items, he found for sale the original artwork used on the United Nations (1990) stamps. Cheap, too he tells me. What a find! Kudos to him on his purchase.

Second, I discovered something interesting on the Internet the other day. Rep. Barbara Lee from California has introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives calling upon the postal service to issue a postage stamp commemorating the struggle to prevent and treat HIV in the US and around the world. This was initially introduced in 2007 and referred to the House Committe on Oversight and Government Reform, where I believe it died in committee for lack of support. I have not found a list of other Representatives who have signed on to the bill, nor have I found a Senate counterpart bill. Nor have I heard anything of it being introduced since. I suspect it's a pet project of hers, but not something likely to be passed anytime soon.

Third, I have begun a new project on AIDS on Stamps for all of you. I am beginning the Great Rwandan AIDS Stamp Project. What is this, you ask? It's simple -- a project to track down a source where we can obtain the more difficult to find AIDS stamps in the world -- the Rwanda issues.

Since these stamps came out in 2003 I have yet to find a dealer or collector who has these stamps. Over a dozen of you have mentioned that you'd like to add them to your collections. Not surprising, since non one has them! In all of my hours spent searching for these stamps I have located exactly one stamp from this series. Someone had posted it on a French-language stamp trading website. I don't speak a word of French, but with the help of an online translation website I was able to read the website, contact him, and ask if he still has it available. Unfortunately he had already traded it away, and there went my only hope of ever finding it.

So I am starting this new project so we can compile all of our information and leads about this stamp set in the hopes that someone will someday be able to obtain it. Ideally enough sets so that it can be distributed around to the more dedicated collectors in the community. So join in the Great Rwandan AIDS Stamp Project and contribute to our body of knowledge of this stamp set.

Side note: Those of you who have signed up for the AIDS on Stamps directory will receive "high priority" on the stamp sets if/when I am able to obtain them. And those people in the directory who contribute to the stamp project will get "first dibs" on them. So if you're not listed in the directory, e-mail me with your first name and AIDS-related collecting interests to be placed on the list.

Fourth, I found an article that mentions an AIDS cinderella stamp (ie; not valid postage) issued in Enotria, Italy. I puttered around the web a bit following this up but did not find anything more. I have added this to the under investigation page.

Fifth, for the past year I have been searching for this Austrian stamp. It has not been widely available, and I have seen this stamp available only on rare circumstances. Over the holidays it dawned on me why. Note the blue bar on the bottom -- that is the mark of a personalized stamp in Austria. Well, that or a yellow bar. This was not an official release by the postal service, hence its scarcity. Unfortunately, that means it is of limited value in a collection unless you enjoy collecting personalized stamps as well. Accordingly, I have removed this stamp from the 2007 page and added it to the section on personalized stamps.



Sixth (lots of news today, eh?), I have a number of new French personalized stamps available on the personalized stamp page as well.

Seventh, I found a new AIDS stamp from the Netherlands (2005). Well, not a stamp per se, but the souvenir sheet mentions AIDS. This Christmas set has "Stop AIDS Now" written in the margin, along with a number of foundations, charities, etc. The red square has been added by me, as this isn't a very good scan and the words are hard to make out.



As a side note, I seem to recall seeing another Christmas sheet on stamps from the Netherlands that also said "Stop AIDS Now" in the margin. This one was white in color and had angels on this. I saw this several years ago

Eighth, We have this new stamp booklet from India. The stamps are not new, consisting of the 2006 World AIDS Day stamp along with a stamp on breastfeeding. The booklet is new though and may interest collectors.



Finally, we have nine new AIDS stamps from Papua New Guinea. We knew they had held a contest and issued stamps for the winners in 2008. Now we have pictures. Look for them at your local dealers in a few months.

December 24, 2008
Due to a multi-car collision on the highway today I missed my flight to visit relatives for the holidays. That's bad for me, but good for you, as it means I can dedicate more time to this website. So as I begin, let my start by thanking Phillip for a bunch of updates I'm about to make to the website. I rely on readers like you to keep me informed as to what's happening in the world of AIDS stamps and what I may have missed, and Philip did a great job of sending me scans and more.

First up, we have this booklet released from South Africa all the way back on May 15, 1996. The stamps themselves have nothing to do with AIDS, but the outside and inside covers sure do.

If you try to purchase this booklet, be sure you are buying the correct one. South Africa also released several other rhino booklets around the same time that did not have the same inside and outside cover.





Next, we have another similar situation with this booklet from South Africa. Released August 7, 1998, the booklet features ten stamps of five animals (blue wildebeast, eland, impala, kudu, and waterbuck), none of which have anything to with AIDS. The best description of them I can make for those not familiar with plains animals is that one looks something akin to a yak while the other four look like antelopes. Again, if you are buying the booklet, make sure you are buying the correct one, as there are versions released that year that do not have the AIDS cover.



As we know, South Africa released two stamps in 1999 with beadwork patterns of an AIDS ribbon, one on a blue and one on a green background. I am not sure if they were available individually, but I know they were also sold in booklets of ten. I now have images of the booklet inside and outside covers.





And in case you have forgotten what the stamps look like...



We also knew in Portugal (2007) there were vending machines that gave predetermined values on printable AIDS stamps. I have never been able to figure out exactly how many values of this stamp were made, but the picture here shows (in euros) .30, .45, .48, .52, .60, .75, and 1.8. Some of them appear to be printed with just the value, while others are printed with a specific date and other technical information on them. I am guessing that the ones without a date were available from public vending machines, while the ones with a date were printed at the counters inside post offices. Either way, I'd like to learn more on this issue. If you have any scans of other values on any of these Portugal stamps, please send them my way.



From South Korea we head to North Korea. I knew they had released an AIDS stamp in 2002 on a souvenir sheet, but I never knew that it was also available as part of a set on the Red Cross in a stamp booklet. Here are some pictures from the booklet. You can't see all of the non-AIDS-related stamps in the second picture as I selected an image that would show you inside of the booklet better. I am not sure what the brochure-looking thing is next to the AIDS stamp. Perhaps a picture of a Red Cross information brochure of some sort? I really don't know (but would love to find out if any of you know).





Switching continents, we find ourselves in Canada. Those of you who know the history of the Canadian stamp know that the late AIDS stamp collector Blair Henshaw was instrumental in pressuring Canada to release their AIDS stamp. What you may not know (and I did not know until recently) is that prior to its release the Canadian postal service was tinkering with the color for the right bar on the stamp. They sent Blair Henshaw at least one contact sheet of various colored proofs. Blair cut up one sheet and sold the different colored proofs to various collectors.

Unfortunately, the bird brains at the Canadian postal service had the bad idea of mounting them on corrugated cardboard. The cardboard has a high acid content which will eventually destroy the proofs. Perhaps a professional restorer can remove them from the cardboard, but not having any of the proofs it is not something I can investigate. Either way, I now have pictures of two of the proofs. You will also note that the postage amount is two Canadian cents less than the final stamp release. I assume postage increased during the design period for this stamp.

The first stamp is the final release. The second and third are two proofs. If anyone has scans of any other color proofs I'd love for you to send them my way.





Finally, the People with AIDS on stamps page has been updated with numerous new scans and entries.
December 23, 2008
Hello and happy holidays! I have lots of gifts for you this year -- new pictures and information about AIDS stamps.

First up, Macedonia has released two new AIDS postal tax stamps in 2008. The right one was released on March 8, 2008. The left one was released on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2008.



Second, we knew Papua New Guinea was doing an art contest to raise awareness about AIDS, with winning entries to appear on stamps. I still don't have any scans of the finished stamps, but I did find this picture in a New Guinea newspaper of the top winner next to her entry. Watch for this stamp and the rest in the set to be available from dealers sometime in early 2009.



Third, whatever you may think of the policies of President Bush, his record on AIDS has been at the very least respectable. Earlier this year he visited Africa and spoke out regard the AIDS epidemic. To commemorate his visit to Ghana, they have released this souvenir sheet.



Next, we go back a few years to 2004 with this Netherlands stamp, also found on this souvenir sheet. I have only been able to fund used copies for sale on Delcampe, but I'm sure there are mint ones out there somewhere. According to one friend of the site this is Stanley-Gibbons 2402 from a larger block of 10 Christmas charity stamps.



Thanks to Paul for telling me about this 2002 stamp from Trinidad & Tobago (Scott 659-662, Stanley-Gibbons 946-949). It's part of a four-stamp set about the centennial anniversary of the Pan-American Health Organization. If you look closely at this stamp though, in the upper-right yellow "splotch" you will see a small red AIDS ribbon. Although it cannot be seen in this picture Paul tells me there is a small "AIDS" printed there as well.



Then there's this 2002 first day cover from Albania. It is currently being sold on eBay as an AIDS-related issue, but in fact it appears to have nothing to do with AIDS. The ABO on the cover are, I assume, referring to blood types. So this is likely a stamp on blood donation.

Just in case I was missing something, I sent a message to the seller asking what this cover has to do with AIDS. He wrote back that the person he bought it from said it is an AIDS issue, although he conceeded he didn't see what it had to do with AIDS. He'd leave it up to the buyer to decide. In the meantime, unfortunately, he is still advertising it as an AIDS-related issue. So I have added this to my "not about AIDS" list in the hopes it'll save some of you a few bucks.



Here are another two old personalized stamps that were used to raise money for the Global Fund about AIDS. They are no longer available, but I thought you'd still want to see their pictures.



I want to thank Phillip for also sending me a big(!!) pile of information about famous PWA's on stamps. It's going to take me hours to go through it all and add it to the website. Unfortunately I don't have time to get that done before I head out on vacation for the holidays, but I'll try and get it done in the first couple of weeks of 2009.
October 28, 2008
Just wanted to let you know that I have added a new directory page. Its purpose is to create a small directory of collectors of AIDS stamps. Right now there are only two names on the list (including mine), but e-mail me if you'd like to be added to the list.

Also, I have updated my wanted list, the investigations page, and made a few additions and corrections to the famous PWAs on stamps list Thanks to Satesh for pointing out several errors in the famous PWA listings and sending me useful scans.

Finally, you may want to take a few moments to check out Philip Stager's award-wininng exhibition, Ailments of Venus Revisted. It is impressive to say the least. You can use this link to jump directly to the section on AIDS.
October 28, 2008
It's been over two months since my last update and there's much to report.

First up, congratulations are in order to Luc Montagnier and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi have won the 2008 Nobel Prize for medicine. They are the researchers who discovered the AIDS virus. Montagnier has previously been featured on at least one stamp I can think of (a French stamp), and will may be featured on several more because of the award. Montagnier and Barre-Sinoussi will share the award with Harald zur Hausen who discovered the virus that causes cervical cancer.

And now the new stamps. First off, let me show you what is NOT an AIDS stamp. These are currently being sold on eBay as AIDS stamps, although looking at the writing clearly reveals they are not.



From "not" to "might", next we move on to what might be an AIDS stamp. This is a 1998 Namibian stamp that showed up on eBay a few days ago. The seller said it was about AIDS, but as we have just been reminded you can't always trust a seller's description.

What makes this stamp so interesting is that we just don't know whether it is about AIDS. It certainly could be, but then again it might be about the welfare of the cheetah (or whatever that animal is) in Namibia. Oh, and in case you are wondering, the writing in the lower-left corner says "Namibian Stamp Awareness Programme." And lest I forget, this stamp is being placed on our under investigation page.



While on the subject of investigations, I am pleased to report that we have closed up an ongoing question about this German stamp. I actually tracked down the graphic designer of this stamp to ask whether there is a connection between this stamp and AIDS. According to the designer, the virus on the lower-right corner of the stamp is an AIDS virus.



Now for the new stuff. Do these look familar? They should. The style of design of the brown stamp is the same as the Sao Tome 2004 AIDS stamp. I have seen that style of stamp cropping up a lot lately. I don't have any evidence to suggest they are counterfeit, although I do find it a little unusual that odd vendors on eBay have this stamp before reputable dealers that I know and trust. Hopefully these will eventually have Scott numbers so I can feel a bit more assured they are valid.



I also completed an investigation and can verify that these are AIDS stamps. These are 2007 Cambodia stamps released in honor of the "National and Asia Pacific Leadership Forum Champion". I suspect that the word "champion" is a mistranslation and was supposed to be "conference". According to one person that wrote me, the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum is an inter-governmental organization dedicated to fighting AIDS in Asia.



I have also verified that these new stamps are also valid. These are Tanzania stamps. They are 2007 stamps, although one of the stamps lists a 2006 printing date on it. They can be found on the Tanzanian postal service website.



Finally, a 1996 stamp from Botswana. I have it in my collection and put it on the chart of AIDS stamps, but somehow missed putting it in our general listings. The oversight has now been corrected.

August 8, 2008
Yet another confirmed AIDS stamp, this time from North Korea (DPRK) with a release date of September 2, 2002. I have known about this stamp for a while, but thought it was a false rumor after being sold an incorrect set of North Korean stamps. North Korea's lackluster AIDS policy didn't help either. Why would a country that denied it had any HIV-positive people in 2001 release an AIDS stamp in 2002?

Maybe they had a policy change. Maybe it was an unusual gesture of humanity in regards to AIDS in other countries. Whatever the reason, this stamp is confirmed and real.

August 6, 2008
I have confirmed the existence of two AIDS stamps from Bosnia-Herzegovina (Sarajevo) in 2001 and/or 2002. A full explanation of these stamps is on the under investigation page.

Finding these old stamps makes me wonder just how many others I may be missing.

Update: I have replaced the poor scans with these better versions.

August 4, 2008
I added two new personalized stamps from Austria. A full explanation of these stamps is on the personalized stamp page.

August 3, 2008
I am beginning a new upgrade on the site that will take several weeks to complete. I want the images on this site to link to a larger version of the picture. As I have done my research on AIDS stamps I have often be annoyed by poor quality scans and tiny pictures. This will make your own research easier and add to the quality of this website.

If you have any large-size images of AIDS stamps, feel free to e-mail them to me. Otherwise, I'll be grabbing them off the web for the next couple of weeks. That way I will save myself considerable effort when it comes time to scan the remaining stamps.
August 3, 2008
On a whim I counted the number of countries that have issued stamps about AIDS. So far I count 124, plus the United Nations, plus Gay Kingdom (a "country" a group of activists founded). Not a bad number at all.

Next up: count the stamps. But that's a project for another day.
August 1, 2008
A new page for personalized stamps has been created with 42 stamps that you may not have ever seen. Although they do not appear in stamp catalogues or on postal service websites, people have created some very interesting designs, both humorous and moving. Here are a few examples:

July 31, 2008
What do hunky firefighters and September 11 have to do with the three red ribbons on the top of this sheet? Check out the counterfeit issues page to find out.

July 31, 2008
Another AIDS stamp found from 2004. This is Scott 1641j, part of a set on the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). It says in Spanish, "El condon protege vidas".



I also spent over four hours at the library today pouring over the latest Scott volumes (3 x 2009, 3 x 2008). I filled in a whole mess of missing Scott numbers as well as confirmed the Venezuela stamp. I also found a lot of information for some of the current research projects on the investigation page.

I also found some interesting information about these old 1989 classics from Guyana. It seems that there are five Scott #'s in this set, not just three. Scott 1984 refers to the top row of stamps. Scott 1985 is the middle row. Scott 1986-8 is the bottom three stamps left to right. They are all overprints on three old stamps, Scott 288, 289, and 289a. Observant viewers will notice that while the three overprints on the bottom ones are all the same, the overprints vary a bit on the top two rows.

These stamps are actually worth a bit too. The two rows are worth $18.50 each according to the 2009 Scott Guide. The bottom three are worth $12, $14, and $16 respectively.

July 30, 2008
I confirmed another AIDS stamp tonight. This is a 1997 Macedonian tax stamp, Scott number RA95. The writing in white says: LEARN US TO LIVE PROTECTED FROM AIDS. Sorry for the lousy scan. It's the only one I have been able to find so far.

July 29, 2008
I have created a new under investigation page to focus on stamps that require more research. Some stamps may or may not be AIDS-related, while others may be counterfeit. New information will often make it here before there is enough to make it worthwhile to post on the news page, so this is a good place to start exploring if you're trying to keep on top of the very latest news.
July 29, 2008
Although it isn't my interest, some collectors of AIDS stamps like to collect stamps of famous people with AIDS. Toward that end, I have created a new PWA page for your enjoyment. It needs a lot of work though, so please help out if you can. New stamp listings, images of stamps, and Scott numbers are greatly appreciated.
July 27, 2008
There are several new additions to the counterfeit stamps page from Chad. I will not do them the dignity of reposting them on this page, but suffice to say they feature Nelson Mandela, Gahndi, Pope John-Paul II, Ingrid Beckancourt, and David Beckham. Collectors are urged to avoid these stamps as they are a complete waste of money and only benefit shady dealers and the even shadier characters behind the counterfeit stamp industry.
July 27, 2008
I have solved a small mystery concerning these four 2001 AIDS stamps from Honduras (Scott C1090-3). Over the past several years, I have often found vendors selling them as AIDS stamps in spite of no evidence to support that claim. They do contain the word "monogamous" which is suggesting, but nothing concrete. Until I found something, I elected not to include them on this website or in my collection.

Yesterday was my breakthrough. I learned that every year UPAEP, a Latin American and Spanish developmental program, chooses a different theme for their work. It is, as I understand it, customary to release a stamp from each country about this issue along with the UPAEP logo. In 2000 the UPAEP's theme was about fighting AIDS creating a sudden flurry of activity. Honduras, for whatever reason, didn't do a very good job. Instead of a stamp grandly opposing AIDS and urging understanding, research, support, or whatever, they came out with this lackluster set of stamps.

So these are technically AIDS stamps if weak and minimally effective ones. They do make an interesting story for your collection though and give you a story to tell your friends.

Observers will note that the stamps say 2001 although every other country in the UPAEP program came out with theirs in 2000. Alas, Honduras was late with their release and it came out in 2001. Was Honduras having an emotional debate as to what this stamp should consist of? Could it be AIDSphobia that delayed this release? Was it simple disorganization that caused the delay? Would the birds not hold still for the photos? We may never know.

Whatever the reason, I have included the Honduras stamps in the 2001 section of this website instead of 2000 with all the other UPAEP stamps.

July 27, 2008
A few months ago I reported the release of these stamps. Since then, I have become highly concerned that they may be counterfeit and not duly authorized or ever released by the government of Guine-Bissau. When I purchased them on eBay, I was unaware that the seller has a known track record of selling counterfeit stamps. Since then they have been showing up on a number of stamp sites, including some by reputable dealers. Unfortunately, I have found no evidence that these stamps are valid. To be fair, I cannot yet prove they are counterfeit. But I am looking into the issue.

Because these stamps are so widely available, they should not present a challenge for collectors to obtain in the future. I am therefore recommending collectors of AIDS stamps to hold off on buying this stamp until I can finish my investigation either way.

If you have any information on the subject or ideas on how I can prove or disprove my theory, please e-mail me your thoughts. Evidence that any of the four major stamp guides have given this a number would be a good start.

July 27, 2008
I added a not about AIDS stamp page to help dispel some of the confusion surrounding what is an AIDS stamp and what is not.
July 26, 2008
I just finished some revisions of the site. I have updated my wanted list a bit (although I'll be adding more to it in the next couple of days). The for trade/sale list has been updated as well. The collecting AIDS stamps page has been completely rewritten and is now actually quite interesting. A page about counterfeit AIDS stamps has been added as well. Finally, the links page has also been redone.

I also filled in a number of Scott numbers around the website that were missing. (Still a lot of blanks though - if you know Scott numbers that I am missing please write and tell me.)

Still more new to report, but am in need of sleep. Watch for more information tomorrow.
July 26, 2008
Thought I forgot about you, eh? I admit I have been busy on other projects. But rest assured, I have been keeping active with AIDS stamps and now have a LOT to report. So let's get started.

El Salvador and Mongolia have introduced the first stamps for 2008.



There was also another late release in 2007 for World Health Day from Bangladesh. Note the little ribbon symbol in the upper-right corner of the stamp. (Egypt has a similar ribbon on its World Health Day stamp.)



I have posted a few new ones from 2006 as well. The first is from Sao Tome and Principe (St. Thomas) and is from an 8-piece set on the 50th Anniversary of the First Issue of Europa (whatever that is). Unfortunately, there is an chance that this stamp is an illegal production. I have only found it for sale on eBay by two vendors with a history of selling counterfeit stamps. I'm really not sure on this one though (as the subject matter and design of the stamps at large doesn't fall into the today's popular counterfeit theme), so they may be legit. Stay tuned for details.

Update: I wrote a long report on the Sao Tome stamp on the investigation page. It also appears this stamp is from 2005, not 2006.



The second is from Belgium and features Lisa Thiry, an AIDS researcher who helped develop a method of tracking and screening the AIDS virus. (Thanks to Gwen for tipping me off to the extistence of the Belgium stamp.)

Update, I botched the date on this one too. It's from 2007, not 2006.



Tanzania got a little carried away in 2006 when it came to AIDS stamps. For World AIDS Day and the World AIDS Campaign, they released four individual stamps and two souvenir sheets.

Update: In spite of my initial suspicions, these are valid stamps. You can find them listed on the Tanzanian postal service philatelic website. Also, the stamps are from 2007, not 2006 as I initially thought. The stamps are to commemorate World AIDS Day 2006, but weren't released until July of 2007.







Going back a bit further, this 2004 stamp is from a sheetlet entitled "This is Belgium: Belgians in the World". It features Peter Piot, director of UNAIDS and an all-around bigwig when it comes to AIDS services across the globe.



Harking back to 2001, I have found this German stamp about AIDS. I can't read the German, but if someone sends me a translation I will post it on the site.



Lastly, we revisit 1991. These Cameroon stamps aren't a new discovery for me, but when I built this site I somehow missed them in my collection and failed to add these stamps to the listings.

Update: Turns out there are two versions of these stamps. The first was released in 1991 with a value of 15 (red) and 25 (green). The second was released in 1993 with a value of 100 (red) and 175 (green). The two versions both have different Scott numbers.

February 21, 2008
More new stamps. First, this South Africa stamp that came out in 2004. I don't know the Scott number for it, can any of you look it up? Second, these stamps from Togo came out in 2007.

January 30, 2008
This 2003 stamp is an oldie. It's a part of a larger (and rather ugly) souvenier sheet from St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

January 23, 2008
Another day, another souvenier sheet. This time from Angola. Note the red ribbon on the banner in one of the small pictures.

January 22, 2008
I finally got my hands on a scan of this stamp. This is 2007's Life Ball stamp featuring Nadja Auermann. Life Ball is, for those not in the know, a major fashion show/charity event in Austria each year to raise money for AIDS. About ten cents per stamp sale is donated to charity.

January 21, 2008
Guine Bissau released this stamp and souvenier sheet in 2007.

January 15, 2008
Paraguay just released these two beauties in 2007.

December 11, 2007
Macedonia and Serbia have released new stamps in celebration of Worlds AIDS Day (December 1). It wouldn't surprise me to learn other countries have done so as well.

November 24, 2007
Thanks to Gwen for bringing the new British Virgin Islands stamp to my attention. She kindly ID'ed the Lesotho stamp as being from 2001. Also, I now have a scan of the 2000 Mexico stamp. Finally, I updated my wanted list with several new stamps.

October 29, 2007
A number of new stamps have come to my attention, particularly in the last few days. Take a look at these babies from Lesotho, Egypt, Papau New Guinea, and Kiribati. The Lesotho stamp confuses me a bit, as there is no year on it (the others are all 2007) so I have no idea when it was produced. Since I bought it this year I am lumping it with the 2007 stamps until more information becomes available.

September 17, 2007
I got my hands on volumes 4 and 5 of the Scott catalogue today. As a result I was able to fill in a few of the missing Scott numbers, as well as nixed a few (false) rumors about new AIDS stamps.
September 15, 2007
The site goes online. Huzzah!
September 8, 2007
Work begins on this new site, AIDS on Stamps. Mostly I want to build a showcase of my collection along with information of interest to other collectors and onlookers.



This website went online September 15, 2007.