MAURITANIA ILLEGAL STAMPS
2003

Information and Reference of illegal stamps for Mauritania dating 2003 according to U.P.U. Circular 161

The Universal Postal Union published the following Circular on April 28, 2003 denouncing illegal stamps at the request of the Postal Administration for Mauritania. This Circular was validated by K. J. S. McKeown, Director of Markets of the UPU Secretariat. The circular is number 161. You can view it in the linked file below:

UPU Circular Number 161

Here is what was stated in the circular.

Dear Sir/Madam

The postal administration of the ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF MAURITANIA asks me to
inform you of the following:

"Kindly inform all Union member countries and all our philatelic partners within the
World Association for the Development of Philately that we are greatly concerned
by the continuing proliferation of illegal postage stamps, a phenomenon of which
our postal administration is a victim.
"We have just learnt of the appearance of a whole series of fraudulent postage
stamps inscribed "REPUBLIQUE ISLAMIQUE DE MAURITANIE" on various
websites and in philatelic promotional publications. We have recorded no fewer
than 95 illegal stamps.
"We therefore wish to protest in the strongest terms against these illegal postage
stamps. The deceitful advertising goes so far as to state that "the origin of these
stamps may be questionable and may be listed as illegals. We therefore suggest
that you buy them only because you like them. We offer them because they are on
the market". As well as having face values in UM and a rather high selling price,
most of these stamps are sold in perforated and imperforate formats. Worse still,
the imperforate versions sell for double the price of perforate ones.
"The negative publicity these illegal postage stamps generate for our country
amounts to a serious attack on the moral, religious and economic integrity of
Mauritania, its postal service and the Universal Postal Union as a whole. It is a
serious and flagrant violation of article 6 of the Universal Postal Convention and the
associated provisions of the Letter Post Regulations. It is, in particular, a violation of
the national legislation of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, and in particular its law
on the Post and its provisions on counterfeit postage stamps.
"Under the terms of this law, the Mauritanian Postal Corporation alone is authorized
to issue and disseminate postage stamps in the name of the Islamic Republic of
Mauritania.
"This situation is further aggravated by the fact that the logos of various
organizations are reproduced on most of the illegal postage stamps. These
organizations may be led to believe that we have used their logos without
permission and these organizations could take legal action against us for breach of
copyright.

"We call upon all parties to redouble their efforts to combat the scourge of illegal
postage stamps and to exercise increased vigilance with regard to the production
and distribution of such stamps in their respective countries. We are counting on the
cooperation of all to help identify and track down the criminals responsible.
"We would take this opportunity to state that our postal administration has not
issued any postage stamps since the end of 2000. Legally valid postage stamps
may be purchased directly from the following address:

MAURIPOST
Service philatélique
Direction générale
B.P. 10000
NOUAKCHOTT
MAURITANIA
Fax: (+222) 525 51 74

"A list of the illegal postage stamps identified to date is annexed."

Yours faithfully,

K.J.S. McKEOWN
Director of Markets

The circular goes on to describe counterfeit illegal stamp sets inscribed with their country name REPUBLIQUE ISLAMIQUE DE MAURITANIE.

This research was extremely easy to complete namely because of the limited number of counterfeits made by the counterfeiters. The counterfeit stamps made in the name of Mauritania in 2002 and 2003 were all made by the British producer and distributed (to this day) by his crony illegal stamp dealing buddies. The statement shown in the circular about "deceitful advertising" was and is to this day used by Marlen Stamps in the U.S.A. under tons of counterfeit stamps offered by this goon. He is one of the main distributors in the U.S. connected directly with the producer who has been exposed. It is so obvious who it is. To understand who the producer is, just visit my section on the Niger illegal stamps. You will find the connections with this producer are vast throughout the study of the illegal stamp phenomena. This ghoul still selling and is involved in the production of them to this day.

Luckily for Mauritania, the postal authorities were alerted early in "the game" and they quite accurately caught and described many of the counterfeit sets the British producer (He is actually from Argentina) made in 2002 and 2003 in the name of Mauritania and quickly had circular 161 made. In many sections of this study it shows, as soon as a circular was published, production stopped and the freak runs and hides.

Mauritania is a very conservative stamp issuing entity of which many of the issues from 2000 forward are now hard to find. It is funny to see in a couple of year searches (namely 2002 and 2017) when Mauritania did not issue any stamps, that you find numerous listings of the counterfeits boldly displayed as if real.

These counterfeit illegal stamps, yes counterfeit as noted in the circulars, are everywhere now. They are in collections and dealer stocks all over the world. They are still to this day being proliferated by the same criminals who were involved in the production and proliferation of them when they were first produced! Anyone selling them should be shunned because either they are selling them with full intent to rip you off or they lack the knowledge because of being too lazy or ignorant to do the research to find out what they are. They are obviously not listed in the major catalogs which is the first and most simple way to know there is something wrong with them. Anyone who is selling them that cannot take the time to do this first check is a bogus seller in my book and is not a seller to be trusted by any means of the word.

To find out what stamps are real and legitimate for Mauritania:

You can visit the UPU WNS website and look at the Mauritania section. Sadly Mauritania has not kept up with listings there and many are missing.

The Universal Postal Union WNS website

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

The Colnect Online Catalog for Mauritania

Many of the illegal stamps are shown in their Illegal Stamps section and noted as such. Still many are not shown as you will see.

The Colnect Online Catalog Illegal Stamp Section for Mauritania

I have also found the Stampworld online catalog to be very useful as well.

The Stampworld Online Catalog for Mauritania

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 counterfeit illegal stamps.

Here we go!

2003

In 2003 the British producer attacked Mauritania again with a vengeance creating another mass of counterfeit souvenir sheets in the name of this country. In 2003 larger souvenir sheets and sets of them are made more in line with common topics this producer uses for virtually all the countries he has victimized such as Marilyn Monroe, the Space Shuttle disaster and the Pope. More than half of these were not caught by the postal authorities in Mauritania either because they were made after the circular was published in April or just not placed on the market until after the circular was made. Keeping up with counterfeit production is a constant choir. Just look at my 2021 pages for Chad or Madagascar to see why.

Anyone selling the following should be shunned like the plague no matter how "reputable" they are or how "wonderful" their feedback is. Anyone selling them is not respectable in any way.

I will note when they are described in the circular and if there are any errors made within the circular.

2003 MAURITANIA Classic Actresses Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 9

This one is described in circular 161.



2003 MAURITANIA Classic Automobiles Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6



2003 MAURITANIA Classic Locomotives Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6



2003 MAURITANIA Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 6

Sheet 1


Sheet 2


2003 MAURITANIA Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 1

Sheet 1


Sheet 2


2003 MAURITANIA Dinosaurs with Scouts Logo Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6



2003 MAURITANIA Elvis Presley Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 9

This one is described in circular 161.

This one appears to be exclusively offered only on the Avion Stamps website, thus the lousy image.



2003 MAURITANIA Famous Actresses Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 9

These are both described in circular 161.

I note these are offered by Mr. James Minns owner of the JandRStamps website. This guy is a consignor for Roger West owner of Avion Stamps. He has taken a number of the counterfeit souvenir sheets that are basically exclusively sold on the Avion Stamps (aka Stampdile) and taken new images of them for his own website and for some sales on Delcampe. Likes to put a ruler under them. Still lousy imaging taken by a camera or smartphone because he is apparently computer illiterate or too cheap to buy a scanner! He knows these are illegal and is offering them anyway so his past emails claiming he should have his reputation cleared is bunk! Avoid this cons website and any other place like Amazon, Delcampe and numerous other online venues he is using! That is right buddy, all emails preserved!

Oh...I made them better using photo editing. To bad they have the "ILLEGAL STAMPS" watermark all over them!

Sheet 1


Sheet 2


2003 MAURITANIA Hanna-Barbera Classic Cartoons Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6



2003 MAURITANIA Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6

This one is described in circular 161.

Noting how bad shape this souvenir sheet is. A majority of the counterfeit illegal stamps produced by the British producer are now having major problems with gum curling and fading due to the cheap inferior quality of the materials used to make them. Among other things like bad handling by owners and bad dealers putting their fingers all over them which can damage them with bending and folding like this one. Of course many of them can and have been reproduced by this criminal should they "run low" due to a demand for them. It is one thing for a stamp to look like this after 100 years and completely another for it to look like this after only 20 years.

The clown offering this on eBay states the souvenir sheet is "Brand New" and wants $15.00 for it! It is not worth 15 cents! Avoid!



2003 MAURITANIA Marilyn Monroe Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 9

This one is described and denounced in circular 161.

More images provided by our poor dealer who has had his reputation tarnished....JandRStamps.



The rest of these Marilyn Monroe counterfeits were not caught by the postal administration of Mauritania.

2003 MAURITANIA Marilyn Monroe Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 6

Sheet 1


Sheet 2


2003 MAURITANIA Marilyn Monroe Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 1

Sheet 1


Sheet 2

This one not even offered on the Avion Stamps website anymore! Exclusive selling rights given to the consignee?

The Nature Conservancy

The British producer made a big deal out of this topic in the name of a numerous number of countries he and his buddies victimized and are still victimizing to this day. None were caught by the postal administration of Mauritania.

2003 MAURITANIA Nature Conservancy Animals and Birds Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 9



2003 MAURITANIA Nature Conservancy Birds Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6



2003 MAURITANIA Nature Conservancy Animals and Birds Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 3

Sheet 1


Sheet 2


2003 MAURITANIA Nature Conservancy Animals and Birds Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 2



2003 MAURITANIA Nature Conservancy Animals and Birds Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1

Pope John Paul II

The British producer also made a big deal out of these pope related counterfeits. Imperforates and CTO's galore!

2003 MAURITANIA Pope John Paul II Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6

This one is described and denounced in circular 161.



The rest of these Pope John Paul II counterfeits were not caught by the postal administration of Mauritania.

2003 MAURITANIA Pope John Paul II Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 3



2003 MAURITANIA Pope John Paul II Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 2

Sheet 1


Sheet 2


Sheet 3


2003 MAURITANIA Pope John Paul II Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 1

Sheet 1


Sheet 2


2003 MAURITANIA Queen Rock Band Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 9

This one is described and denounced in circular 161.



2003 MAURITANIA Teddy Bears Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 9

This one is described and denounced in circular 161.



2003 MAURITANIA The Beatles Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 9

This one is described and denounced in circular 161.



2003 MAURITANIA The Simpsons Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 9

This one is described and denounced in circular 161.



2003 MAURITANIA Walt Disney Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 9

This one is described and denounced in circular 161.



2003 MAURITANIA Walt Disney Classic Cartoons and Movies Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 6

Sheet 1
Walt Disney Classics

Sheet 2
Walt Disney Classic Movies

As suddenly as the British producer started producing counterfeit illegal stamps in the name of Mauritania....he stopped. It appears that all production of illegal stamps in this countries name stopped until 2010. Then suddenly.....

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References taken from:
U.P.U. Circular No. 161
Major Stamp Catalogs
Internet Research

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