IVORY COAST ILLEGAL STAMPS
2006
Cote d'Ivoire

Information and Reference of Illegal Stamps for the Ivory Coast Created in 2006

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 this page.

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.

2006

In 2006 Ivory Coast officially issued 8 different stamp issues. There is a controversy between what the WNS system shows us to be official and what catalogs such as Michel and Yvert are showing.

In 2006 The end of the Impressor S.A. reign is apparent. Only the first issues for this year were made by them. Cartor took basically full control again as far as the stamp printing is concerned.

We have conflict again with certain "issues" produced by Impressor S.A.. Namely the Olympic Games and World Cup soccer Gold and silver issues. Dealers and apparently even the catalogs Michel and Yvert are attempting to lump them into the year 2005. If you simply look at the stamps you can see that the posting year is right on them and they say "2006". Apparently a specific issuing date is not provided by either catalog except for stating 2005 on many of the Impressor S.A. gold and silver issues and even the two aforementioned sets themselves! Why?

My theory is that Impressor S.A. "thought" that they would be continuing contracts with the Ivory coast in 2006 which obviously did not happen. These and all the other issues they produced that are not listed on the WNS system were "dumped" onto the philatelic market in 2006 in retaliation of losing the contract with the Ivory Coast and in the name of making private profits on abusive stamp issues that have been rejected by the Ivory Coast postal authority. Would someone like to prove this wrong? i would be interested to see your evidence....

We shall see soon as we await the final answer from the Ivory Coast postal authority.

THE OFFICIAL STAMP ISSUES ACCORDING TO THE U.P.U.

Ivory Coast 2006 Centenary of Senghor 1906-2006 Scott 1176-1177
Issued March 20, 2006 Printer is Impressor S.A.


Ivory Coast 2006 World Cup Soccer (FIFA) Scott 1178-1182
Issued June 9, 2006 Printer is Cartor


Ivory Coast 2006 China Africa Forum - Summit of Beijing Scott 1183-1184
Issued November 28, 2006 Printer is unknown


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.

THE UN-OFFICIAL STAMP ISSUES

As I stated above the following issues are in a controversial state. They are not listed in the WNS system. They are not listed in Scott catalogs nor Stanley Gibbons. They are listed in Michel and Yvert. According to UPU sources they appeared in 2006. The last UPU circular made for the Ivory coast dated November 21, 2005 states again all official Ivory Coast stamps have been listed on the WNS system.

I am awaiting official confirmation from the Ivory Coast postal authorities on the status of the following stamps. The confirmation will either place them in a permanent official status or it will place them as illegal stamps. If they are placed in the illegal stamp status, then Michel and Yvert will have to delist them from their catalogs or face more criticism on validity of their listings. Being influenced to list stamps by stamp dealers bent on making profits from illegitimate stamps will not be tolerated no matter who that stamp dealer is.

All of the following stamps were printed by Impressor S.A.. All are massively produced in all kinds of forms.

Ivory Coast 2006 Olympic Games (Peking 2008) Gold Foil Souvenir Sheets


Ivory Coast 2006 Olympic Games (Peking 2008) Silver Foil Souvenir Sheets


Ivory Coast 2006 World Cup Soccer Gold and Silver Foil Souvenir Sheets


Ivory Coast 2006 World Cup Soccer Gold Foil Block Souvenir Sheet (example)


Ivory Coast 2006 World Cup Soccer Gold and Silver Foil Close up View of Year Date

THE ILLEGAL STAMPS

What is really interesting is that in 2005 when Impressor S.A. got the contract to print stamps for the Ivory Coast the production of illegal stamps virtually stopped! Now why would that be? The only illegal stamps available on online venues appear to be all produced by the same producer.

2006 Olympic Games China 2008 Baseball, Rowing, Canoeing in Souvenir Sheets of 1



2006 Olympic Games China 2008 Illegal Stamps Fake Color Proofs

Figuring out who the seller of these are helps you figure out who one of the original producers of illegal stamps is....



In 2007 the production of illegal stamps for the Ivory Coast stopped entirely! The reasons why are unclear but there is a pattern forming. Production resumed again in 2009 and it began on a massive scale!

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References taken from:
WNS Website
Major Stamp Catalogs
Internet Research

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