GUINEA REPUBLIC ILLEGAL STAMPS
2001

Information and Reference of illegal stamps dating 2001 for the Republic of Guinea according to U.P.U. Circular 421 and other resources

On December 8, 2003 the postal administration for the Republic of Guinea by request to K.J.S. McKeown (Director of Markets) posted to the Universal Postal Union a circular warning of the discovery of a large number of illegal stamps created with their country name that are on the market. The circular is number 421. You can view it in the linked file below:

UPU Circular Number 421

Because there is so much confusion on this country you should use a respectable catalog like Scott or Stanley Gibbons. Do not listen to these dealers trying to convince you the following displayed stamps (that are watermarked "ILLEGAL STAMPS") are something other than counterfeit illegal stamps. Because in many cases Michel is the only catalog listing certain issues I do not trust them as a reliable source. The same goes for Yvert. In the majority of cases with this countries stamps that are suspect of being illegal, just try to find a genuinely used one on a cover. You will find it.....impossible.

None of the Republic of Guinea stamps are listed on the UPU's WNS system. This is because none of them follow the rules set forth by the UPU for stamp printing.

I have found the Colnect online catalog to be helpful but confusing. Over 12,000 listings there now caused by the abusive stamp agencies.

The Colnect Online Catalog for Guinea Republic

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 Guinea Republic Illegal Stamps

I have found the Stampworld.com Catalog to be helpful as well. Noting they stopped listing after 2013. This is probably because all the Stamperija issues are sold directly through the agent and not used in the Republic as stated on the Colnect site for the later years.

The Stampworld Online Catalog for Guinea Republic

Many of the following illegal stamps can be found as imperforates and as color proof sets as well. Many exist on fake First Day Covers too.
Most times now (2021) 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", "Cinderella's", "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.

2001

In 2001 IGPC stamp agency still continued to dominated. We see that numerous sets produced by Impressor S.A. are again being listed by Michel and Yvert and not listed by Scott and Stanley Gibbons. This continues to shows us there is a huge problem with the catalogs listings. I theorize again that as Impressor has done in the past with a number of countries, they were continuing to produce stamps in the name of the Republic of Guinea without authorization because IGPC held the contract. We are seeing this pattern unfold yet again with the Republic of Guinea.

In the research (as explained first on the 2000 page) I found a strange thing. While looking at the Stamperija website I found what I thought would be their stamp issues being offered for the years 2000-2002 as in most cases this company has "working" links only to the years they made stamps for a given country. I was surprised to find they were only offering Impressor S.A. issues for those three years. I provide again the image of the year list and a different image showing the 2001 Impressor issues being sold there.

Snapshot of Stamperija Year List for the Republic of Guinea

See that the years 2000 through 2002 are highlighted as working links.



Snapshot of Stamperija Sales offers for Republic of Guinea 2001



The question again is.....why is a competing stamp agent selling a competitors stamps as if they were their own? It appears a lot of people think that Stamperija gained a contract with the Republic of Guinea in 2000 forward. I have been told by sources that at times during these earlier years, Stamperija used Impressor to print stamps for them. This looks like the case for the Republic of Guinea. The problem is, some have been denounced as illegal in the circulars.

Here we go!

In searching for illegal stamps that are verified I could only find two different sets being sold on the venues. The first one is obviously made by the British producers, but the other is very different and is indeed a huge set. First is the British produced souvenir sheet.

2001 Events of the 20th Century George Harrison of The Beatles Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

Noting there is no year inscribed on the stamps. It is by the word of the illegal stamp dealers that it was made in 2001. This souvenir sheet was probably in process to be sold with the other Events of the 20th Century set made in 1998.



This next set is huge. They are very different than the styles used by the British producers. A number of them are shown on the Colnect online catalog in the Cinderella section and confirmed to be illegal. I believe they were made by one of the Eastern European illegal stamp producers. The sellers in the past on Delcampe were Eastern European sellers which is a good clue. Most have been kicked off for selling counterfeits.

Noting on Colnect that the pairs on card are described as the format of souvenir sheet. They are not souvenir sheets. They are maxi-cards. The matching stamp pairs are affixed to the card and cancelled with a fake cancel. The only good thing about it is it verifies them to be made in 2001. The counterfeit stamps do not have a year inscribed on them. A similar set of counterfeits was produced in 2002 on the topic of cars.

The counterfeits shown on Colnect add up to 38 pairs and that is concurring with what I found. Avoid them and anyone selling them!

2001 Olympic Games and Pierre Coubertin Illegal Stamp Pairs on Maxi-Cards







This is all the counterfeit illegal stamps I could find in the name of the Republic of Guinea dating 2001.

The production of counterfeit illegal stamps in the name of the Republic of Guinea increases significantly in 2002. Another huge set that effects the topic of Cars was produced in 2002 and numerous other topical counterfeits were produced as well.

View Next Page here!

References taken from:
U.P.U. Circular No. 421
Major Stamp Catalogs
Internet Research

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