IVORY COAST ILLEGAL STAMPS
2003
Cote d'Ivoire

Information and Reference of Illegal Stamps for the Ivory Coast Created in 2003

The following images are of illegal stamps produced for the Ivory Coast. 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 verify what stamps are real and legitimate for the Ivory coast visit the UPU WNS website and look at the Cote d'Ivoire section.

The Universal Postal Union WNS website

I have found the Colnect online catalog to be very helpful.

The Colnect Online Catalog for Ivory Coast

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 Ivory Coast Illegal Stamps

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

The Stampworld Online Catalog for Ivory Coast

According to the postal administration for the Ivory Coast all officially issued stamps for the Ivory Coast starting in 2002 are listed on the WNS website and are updated to the present time. This means that if the stamp is not listed on the WNS system that it is an illegal stamp. There is no argument against this that can be made. If you have an argument against any of the following determined illegal stamp issues as to their validity, then take it up with the Ivory Coast postal administration. You will find...you cannot win. You can also 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.

There is a controversy on stamps listed as legitimate in 2005 and 2006 in Michel and Yvert catalogs. According to UPU sources those issues were produced without authorization by the Ivory Coast postal administration and are therefore deemed as illegal stamp issues. The producer (Impressor S.A.) has a history of illegally producing stamps without authorization. More details will be presented on those pages.

In 2004 when the Ivory Coast produced circular 63 they did not know that there were more illegal stamps that were being circulated than what they listed. This has occurred for many of the victim countries. To correct it I have researched them all using the major catalog listings and the WNS system as reference to what was officially issued.

Here we go!

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 and search terms.

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.

2003

In 2003 Ivory Coast officially issued 9 different stamp issues.

Ivory Coast 2003 20th Anniversary of Chinese and Ivorian Diplomatic Relations
Scott 1114-1116
Issued July 9, 2003


Ivory Coast 2003 The 20 Carved Columns of the Museum of Civilizations of Cote d'Ivoire
Scott 1117-1120
Issued November 27, 2003


Ivory Coast 2003 Fight Against AIDS Scott B36-7
Issued December 22, 2003


Note how all the genuine stamp issues are of the same style and how the themes are about things within the country. The Ivory Coast has always been a fairly conservative stamp issuing entity since the 1990's.

Following are images of the illegal stamps I have found offered for the Ivory coast dating 2003 that are not listed in circular 269 nor circular 63. There may and probably are more. All of these I found in searches on eBay and Delcampe and all are illegal stamps made by producers bent on ripping you off!

I present them in alphabetical order of titles as there is no logical order for illegal stamps.

2003 Cartoons Warner Brothers Looney Tunes in Sheetlet of 6



2003 Impressionists Paintings in Souvenir Sheets of 4



2003 Orchids and Butterflies in Sheetlet of 8



2003 Religious Paintings Ribera in Souvenir Sheet of 4

There are probably more of this style out there.



2003 Steam Trains in Souvenir Sheets of 6



2003 Trains of the World in Souvenir Sheets of 6



2003 Trains TVG in Souvenir Sheet of 6



2003 Trains Eurostar in Souvenir Sheet of 6



2003 Trains Eurostar in Souvenir Sheet of 1



2003 Uniforms of World War II in Souvenir Sheets of 6

In UPU Circular 63 Benin described the 2003 History of World Aircraft souvenir sheets with Tony Blair and George W. Bush imaged on the upper left corner with the slogan "Victory in Iraq". What was described in the Immoral Scenes section was these Uniforms of World War II souvenir sheets with the same style and the same image and slogan on the upper left corner. Because I have now found imaged examples (2019), I found them not to be too "explicit" to show on this reference page. Therefore they are now referenced.....permanently.




2003 Walt Disney Classics in Souvenir Sheet Pieces

Recently (2019) I found pieces from this souvenir sheet exist. Perhaps someone has the full sheet?



2003 Walt Disney Winnie the Pooh in Souvenir Sheets of 4



In 2004 the problem continues with more produced than described in the circulars.

View Next Page here!

References taken from:
U.P.U. Circular No. 269
WNS Website
Major Stamp Catalogs
Internet Research

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