GUINEA REPUBLIC ILLEGAL STAMPS
2002

Information and Reference of illegal stamps dating 2002 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.

2002

In 2002 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 first explained 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 2002 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 2002



So now we have even more questions! The first 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 in some cases Stamperija had Impressor print stamps for them. This looks like one of those cases.
A new question is why are most of them not listed in Scott and Stanley Gibbons catalogs? The final question is, why is Stamperija listing several sets that are verified illegal stamps??

Here we go!

In searching for illegal stamps that are verified I found a number of different sets being sold on the venues. I found a huge set in theory made by one of the Eastern European counterfeit producers related to cars. Digging deeper I found a number of sets similar to sets produced that are supposedly legal. Some are listed in the Colnect Cinderella section and noted as illegal. I found sets that are obviously illegal as in not listed in any catalog anywhere. Finally, I found all Impressor issues that are of question and of which several of the exact same style are listed and noted as illegal in the Colnect Cinderella section.

One thing that shocked me was that certain Impressor issues for 2002 are listed in the Scott catalog according to Colnect listings. They are the only Impressor issues shown on both the Colnect and Stampworld catalogs. The issues that I show on this page are not shown on any of the online catalogs, and match the several that are noted to be illegal on Colnect and for these reasons are determined to be illegal stamps. Even though Michel and/or Yvert may be listing them. To much evidence showing them to be unauthorized and not official issues by any means. Show proof of commercial usage and this status can be changed. Advice again though for all stamps by this country is to avoid. Even the IGPC ones because after 20+ years you can still buy them brand new on their website showing us overproduction was and is rampant for this country.

This first set is huge. They are very different than the styles used by the British producers. None of them are shown on the Colnect online catalog in the Cinderella section. 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. They are the exact same type and style as the Olympic Games and Pierre Coubertin set made in 2001. It appears these do not have maxi-cards made for them like the previous set of counterfeits.

2002 Cars Automobiles Illegal Stamp Pair Set of 35 Pairs

These are stated by the illegal stamp dealer collect4all on Delcampe (kicked off for selling counterfeits) as being made in 2002. No year is inscribed. It appears a couple are probably missing which would make it a set of 38 pairs like the previous set made in 2001.








Next are these counterfeit illegal stamp souvenir sheets of 9 with their matched single stamp souvenir sheet.

2002 Birds of Prey Raptors Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 9

These are noted in the Colnect Catalog as illegal.



2002 Birds of Prey Raptors Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



2002 Wild Cats Lions Tigers Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 9

These are noted in the Colnect Catalog as illegal.



2002 Wild Cats Lions Tigers Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



2002 Wild Cats Leopards Tigers Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 9

These are noted in the Colnect Catalog as illegal.



2002 Wild Cats Lions Tigers Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



Then we have these counterfeit souvenir sheets of 6 with their matched single stamp souvenir sheet. Only one of the single stamp souvenir sheets is shown on the Colnect site.

2002 Butterflies Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6

These are noted in the Colnect Catalog as illegal.



2002 Butterflies Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1

This is the only souvenir sheet of 1 noted in the Colnect Catalog as illegal.



2002 Cats Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6

None of these are noted in the Colnect Catalog as illegal.



2002 Cats Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1

Why is Stamperija selling this counterfeit illegal stamp souvenir sheet?



2002 Dolphins Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6

None of these are noted in the Colnect Catalog as illegal.

Why is Stamperija selling this counterfeit illegal stamp set?



2002 Dolphins Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



2002 Elephants Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6

These are noted in the Colnect Catalog as illegal.



2002 Elephants Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



2002 Mushrooms Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 6

These are noted in the Colnect Catalog as illegal.

Why is Stamperija selling one of these counterfeit illegal stamp souvenir sheets?



2002 Mushrooms Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



2002 Owls Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6

These are noted in the Colnect Catalog as illegal.



2002 Owls Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



2002 Whales Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6

None of these are noted in the Colnect Catalog as illegal.



2002 Whales Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1

Why is Stamperija selling this counterfeit illegal stamp souvenir sheet?



Finally we have the Impressor issues that are only being listed in Michel and/or Yvert. Again I repeat because several are shown as illegal on the Colnect website and because none are being listed on any of the online catalogs and are not listed in Scott or SG, and because it is mainly illegal stamp dealers who are selling them, the following are considered to be illegal stamps.

Noting most of these are being or have been sold by Stamperija as well. So there is no problem?

2002 Cats Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

One dealer stating this is Michel Catalog No. BL639.



2002 Crocodiles Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

Several dealers stating this is Michel Catalog No. 3358-3361 Yvert Catalog No. 2117-2120.



2002 Dogs Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

Several dealers stating this is Michel Catalog No. 3438-3441 or BL694.



2002 Dolphins Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

I could find no dealers stating any Catalog Numbers for this one.



2002 Gorillas Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

Several dealers stating this is Michel Catalog No. 3390-3393 or BL682 Yvert Catalog No. 2065-2068.



2002 Insects Ants Bees Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

Several dealers stating this is Michel Catalog No. 3370-3373 or BL677.



2002 Insects Beetles Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

Several dealers stating this is Michel Catalog No. 3366-3369 or BL676.



2002 Lizards Reptiles Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

I could find no dealers stating any Catalog Numbers for this one.



2002 Monkeys Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

Several dealers stating this is Michel Catalog No. 3386-3389 or BL681 Yvert Catalog No. 2061-2064.



2002 Mushrooms Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 4

I could find no dealers stating any Catalog Numbers for these.

Both of these souvenir sheets are listed as illegal in the Colnect Cinderella section.



2002 Octopus Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

Several dealers stating this is Michel Catalog No. 3378-3381 or BL679 Yvert Catalog No. 2057-2060.



2002 Orchids Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

I could find no dealers stating any Catalog Numbers for this one.



2002 Pandas Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

Several dealers stating this is Michel Catalog No. 3374-3377 or BL678.



2002 Shells Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

Several dealers stating this is Michel Catalog No. 3382-3385 or BL680.



2002 Snakes Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

Several dealers stating this is Michel Catalog No. 3354-3357 or BL673.



2002 Turtles Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

Several dealers stating this is Michel Catalog No. 3362-3365 or BL675.



2002 Whales Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4

I could find no dealers stating any Catalog Numbers for this one.



Again, I state that if some kind of proof showing commercial usage of these Impressor issues or if an official statement from the Republic of Guinea postal administration (not Stamperija) proving them to be authorized is made, these are considered to be illegally produced and distributed.

This is all the counterfeit illegal stamps I could find in the name of the Republic of Guinea dating 2002.

The production of counterfeit illegal stamps in the name of the Republic of Guinea explodes in 2003 causing the publication of Circular 421.

View Next Page here!

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

All Content Copyright © 2021 Golowe's Collector Stamps, All Rights Reserved

Return to Guinea Republic Illegal Stamps Introduction

Visit Illegal Stamps Introduction