DJIBOUTI ILLEGAL STAMPS

Information and Reference of illegal stamps for Djibouti according to U.P.U. Circular 226

On July 26, 2004 the postal administration for Djibouti by request to M.S. Raman (Special Advisor to the Director General) posted to the Universal Postal Union a circular warning of the discovery of a massive amount of illegal stamps created with their country name that are on the market. The circular is number 226. You can view the circular in its entirety in the PDF file I have linked here.

UPU Circular Number 226

The circular describes numerous sets that were found to be on the market in 2004. the issues described are all dated in 2003 and 2004. Many more have and are being produced since that time. Most of the illegal stamps described in this circular are still on the market today. They are available through private stamp dealers and their websites. They are available on eBay and Delcampe. They are everywhere! These illegal issues are fabrication of stamps that have never had any postal validity in Djibouti and have been denounced as fraudulent. They were and are created by certain greedy, unethical and immoral stamp dealers. Any stamp seller out there that offers these "stamps" either does not know they are illegal stamps or is deceitful and they should be avoided at all costs. The deceitful ones prey upon unknowing collectors new and old. They prey upon topical collectors mostly because the majority do not have the knowledge that they are worthless in the stamp market. Some are quite obvious because they have hundreds of lots available on eBay and other public auction venues.

For years now there has been arguments as to whether these issues should be imaged for public viewing. The against argument being that collectors that see images of them will want them for their collections. We can see by the availability on the market and the sales generated that this argument has not worked. By only relying on descriptions of the illegal stamps through the UPU circulars the majority of collectors don't even know what they are.

I am a firm advocate against illegal stamps and the creators of them and the sellers of them. Perspective buyers of them need more than UPU circulars to be alerted to the problem. They need to see them and be able to recognize them when they are searching for stamps to buy on the internet or at stamp shows or buying from local dealers.

Because I am independent and run a site that is very public for collectors, I have decided that it is time for someone to display images of these illegal issues that have and are being reported to the UPU. The countries that are being victimized by these fraudulent printers need help and the UPU is not enough. It is up to you and me to get the word out and to let everyone know and understand about them since auction venues, stamp societies and catalogs seem to want to ignore the problem. Some who sell these fakes are large volume stamp dealers with supposed impeccable reputations. Some are in high positions in the stamp societies and in the auction venues. They in turn are avoiding the very problem by allowing these kind of sellers to peddle this junk because they also sell legitimate stamps on a large scale. The only way to stop the flow is to hit them where it hurts.

If they are selling this junk then avoid them!
Even if they have legitimate stamps for sale. Buy from sellers that do not have these in their offerings. If you are buying legitimate stamps from them you are still supporting the illegal stamp trade because they are supporting it. Tell them that you do not want to buy from them because they sell illegal stamps. There is no excuse to make them available to anyone.

The following images are of illegal stamps produced for Djibouti. Please remember that the producers of these illegals are not only greedy, they are crude and sometimes disgusting which is the nature of these people.

To find out what stamps are real and legitimate for Djibouti visit the UPU WNS website and look at the Djibouti section.

The Universal Postal Union WNS website

I have found the Colnect online catalog to be helpful.

The Colnect Online Catalog for Djibouti

Check out their Illegal Stamp section as well. It is far from complete but will help you verify many as well.

The Colnect Online Catalog for Djibouti Illegal Stamps

I have found the Stampworld.com Catalog to be helpful as well.

The Stampworld Online Catalog for Djibouti

Or use a respectable catalog like Scott or Stanley Gibbons. Do not listen to these dealers trying to convince you they are something other than illegal stamps.

UPDATE 2018!

I have completed more research on the Djibouti illegal stamps and can tell you the problem is much bigger than this original page has portrayed. There are many more illegal stamps that have been produced and are being offered everywhere. For Djibouti the problem started in 2003 and progressed to massive heights through 2015. In 2016 the stamp agency Stamperija obtained contracts with Djibouti to run their stamp program. At that time....the production of illegal stamps slowed down to virtually none. Why? Now this dealer run agency has been massively overproducing stamp issues for this country for almost three years. In 2017 they produced a massive 412 different stamp and souvenir issues for this tiny country. Most have uncanny similarities to the earlier illegal stamps. Same topics and very close to the same styles. Why would a small country like Djibouti need so many different stamp issues?

The answer is simple. They don't. This company produces stamps to sell to collectors. Targeting topical collectors with intent to make profits. This company has just now "legitimized" it with a contract. What this company produces goes against just about every rule set out by the U.P.U.. What it has done is to delegitimize stamps of Djibouti even further. According to Stamperija this massive production of stamps is needed to support the production of what they call "local" stamps for Djibouti. The "local" stamps are actually sent to the country for postal usage. No details or documentation on the production of them is given so we do not know if the quantities produced are in the thousands or the millions. The "local" stamps do have the same styles and topics as the older Djibouti genuine stamp issues have therefore making them more desirable to serious collectors. Value really cannot be determined because there is no viable documentation on them. As for the massive topical stamp issues, they are not sent to the country and have to be purchased through Stamperija directly. Yes they are valid to use in the country but do we see even a small quantity of commercially used covers with them on them? No.

The future of philately for these countries that have signed with this agency and one other is bleak to say the least unless these agencies tone it down. Work is in progress to unite these nations and to reverse the path they have taken in the name of profits. If they do not reverse their course soon they will find themselves in the same scenario as what happened to the "sand dune" issues of the Trucial States. Delisted. I might also add that the people involved in that fiasco are the same people and/or connected to those people through family and association with this new reign of overproduced stamps being scourged onto the stamp market.

The new pages I have added show the legitimate stamp issues at the top and then the illegal stamps that are dated for that year. It has been quite a project that is now complete except for adding any other illegal stamps that might surface. From 2016 onward I show only an example of the Stamperija stamps simply because it would take ten pages just to show them all!

END UPDATE

Here we go!

All imaged illegal stamps on this page are in the order listed in UPU Circular 226 page 2 through 3. The circular covered all illegal stamps made in 2003 but does not cover all that were made in 2004. Djibouti did not produce any more circulars after this one. They should have....

Many of the following illegal stamps can be found as imperforates and as color proof sets as well. Some exist on fake First Day Covers too.
Most times now (2018) the souvenir sheet sets and sheetlet sets are sold individually. Many times the stamps have been removed from the sheetlets and souvenir sheets. All of these "tactics" are used to avoid detection by UPU circular descriptions.

Sellers that call these "private", "locals", "cinderellas", "unauthorized" are deceiving you. They are illegal stamps produced by a stamp dealer that is bent on ripping you off! Some sellers state "we offer them because they are on the market". Well how about you use a different dealer because that seller is "on the market"? If the stamp societies, auction sites and all other venues kicked these sellers off of their sites then they would have to comply or lose their ability to sell anything.

The following images are free for the use of all to use to alert the public to them. If anyone wants to make a public list of users on eBay, Delcampe and elsewhere who are selling these issues....fine by me since the UPU, PWMO and others appear to have given up or have not been updated in years.

If you have purchased any of these stamps from a dealer or if that dealer offers them, you should avoid that dealer! You will only be supporting illegal stamp makers who are only ripping you off.

FAUNA AND FLORA

There is an error on the UPU circular for the first two sheetlets. it states that the values on the stamps are 200 F. The values are 100 F.

2003 Dinosaurs Sheetlet of 25



2003 Panda Sheetlet of 25



2004 Panda Sheetlet of 6



2003 Birds of Prey Sheetlet of 25



2003 Penguins Sheetlet of 25



2003 Butterflies Sheetlet of 25

FAMOUS PEOPLE

2003 Elvis Presley and Walt Disney Sheetlet of 10



2004 Marilyn Monroe Souvenir Sheet of 4



2003 Princess Diana and Pope John Paul II Sheetlet of 10



2003 Famous People Princess Diana, Pope John Paul II, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Tiger Woods, Arnold Schwartznegger, De Gaulle and Astronauts Sheetlet of 10



2004 Scouts in Action Souvenir Sheet of 2

VEHICLES

2003 Concorde Sheetlet of 25



2004 Concorde Souvenir Sheet of 2



2003 Trains Sheetlet of 25



2003 Fire Engines Sheetlet of 25 Sheet 1



2003 Fire Engines Sheetlet of 25 Sheet 2



This is the end of the UPU Circular 226 for Djibouti. It shows us the same producer of these illegal issues is producing illegal stamps in the name of many countries. It continues to this day and nobody has yet come forward to expose the producers. the problem for this country is massive as you will see on the new pages.

View Next Page here!

References taken from:
U.P.U. Circular No. 226
Major Stamp Catalogs
Internet Research

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