MOZAMBIQUE ILLEGAL STAMPS
MOCAMBIQUE ILLEGAL STAMPS

Information and Reference of illegal stamps for Mozambique

Mozambique is one country I have tended to avoid because there is so much confusion as to what is real and what is not in regards to the postage stamps issued by the country. The country has been plagued for many years with the use of abusive stamp agencies, namely Impressor S.A., IGPC and Stamperija. Hundreds of abusive stamp sets have been produced by the three agencies in massive quantities that flood the market with a massive glut that is so bad the countries reputation as a viable country to make a collection from has been completely ruined. One would have to spend thousands of dollars to obtain them all and that investment would be foolish to make. We can see the stamps are sold (mostly by direct sales from the agency) at very high prices in which we can see within a year the price drops incredibly. Within a couple years the sets are offered for a dollar and do not even sell at that price!

It should be known that Mozambique is shutting down the postal system in 2022. Will Stamperija keep pumping out stamps after? We will see.

Mr. Bengt Bengtsson, a philatelic judge from Sweden, prepared a classification of "undesirable stamps" (3/2001) that he felt should not appear in collections presented at philatelic exhibitions. Sadly it is recommended to only buy modern Mozambique stamps that are only listed in the UPU WNS system. More disturbing is the fact that a mass of 2002 issues produced by Stamperija and IGPC are listed on the WNS system. Quite obviously just by the sheer number of them we can see that it was a mistake to list them as all are of course abusive issues that in the majority never even were used in the country. They were placed in the WNS system after the recommendation by Mr. Bengtsson and apparently missed by the PWO when they revised the recommendations in 2013. The WNS system only has the abusive Stamperija and IGPC 2002 stamps and stamps from 2003-2005 on it. This includes the Mayfair International Ltd. 2004 issues. Nothing after 2005. Montero lost the contract in 2005. In 2007 Stamperija gained it and have been pumping out tons of abusive stamps in the name of Mozambique to this day in 2022.

Mozambique is difficult to sort out because the British illegal stamp producer and his little mafia not only produced their own counterfeits but were also either in league with the likes of Stamperija or had inside help in obtaining printing materials used to make numerous counterfeit illegal stamps of "issued" stamps in deluxe sheet form, color proofs and various other varieties not authorized by Mozambique. The majority of these counterfeits are virtually exclusively sold by the distributors of the British producer. This "practice" started in 2002 and went on all the way through 2015. I found that the distributors have invested in Stamperija issues during certain years where the British producer made the "varieties" of some of those issues. Why? They are doing the same thing in current times with countries like Chad where the British counterfeit producer makes a hundred or more counterfeit souvenir sheets each year in the name of Chad which is under Stamperija control. The distributors have begun selling Stamperija issues in mass for the same year they sell all the counterfeits from, mixing them together. Here again, we see the darkest side of philately.

Let us begin!

To start, here are recommended sites to use for reference. As I stated, the WNS system is short on what is real. Listing the 2002 Stamperija and IGPC issues a mistake. It ends at 2005. Stamperija gained control again in 2007 and all of the stamps produced by Stamperija for Mozambique fall completely short of the qualifications to be listed in the system. Therefore the system is virtually useless in regards to the stamps of Mozambique.

The Universal Postal Union WNS website

I have found the Colnect online catalog to be very helpful. Sadly because of the glut of abusive issues it is a pain to go through all the pages.

The Colnect Online Catalog for Mozambique

Check out their Illegal Stamp section as well. It is upgraded as of 2023 and shows counterfeits that may be missing here.

The Colnect Online Catalog Illegal Stamp Section for Mozambique

I have found the Stampworld.com Catalog to be very helpful as well but there are problems. Again, because of the abuse many of the pages are extremely long. They are listing some of the illegal stamps there as if they are ok simply because one rouge catalog continues to list them. The 2001 World cup Soccer Sheet for one.

The Stampworld Online Catalog for Mozambique

Again, I say the major catalogs should stick with the rules they portray in not listing abusive, overproduced stamps that have no evidence of postal usage. Sadly in the recent years they are breaking their own rules and ethics by listing them. At the rate Stamperija is going, Scott catalog will have to add another catalog just to cover them! Shame on the editors for bowing down to abusive stamp agencies. More than likely there are some "bad apples" within the editing departments who are getting kickbacks for getting them listed!

Here we go!

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 experts and savvy collectors.

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 my research for the problem faced by Mozambique, I found the first production of counterfeits in the name of Mozambique was in 2001. In 2001 we can see that IGPC and Stamperija were running contracts with Mozambique. IGPC produced the Marine Life series that year. Stamperija produced massive numbers of souvenir sheet sets. In present times, Stamperija has removed all signs that they had contracts with Mozambique in 2001 and 2002 on their newer "official" website. A feeble attempt to hide the evidence. I have many snapshots of the original Stamperija website, which is still active as of May 2022, showing offers of many of the illegal stamps thus proving breach of contracts and blatant deception in selling counterfeit stamps through a supposed "official" stamp agency.

The illegal stamps produced that date 2001 are of the exact same style as the "issued" stamps made by Stamperija. All of the other sets are of the same design and style. As has been found before, Stamperija firstly started mass producing sets. Then when either part of it or all of it was rejected or not authorized by Mozambique, rather than destroy the rejected issue, Satas places them on the market. Our first example of this is the illegal World Cup Soccer (Football) in 2002 souvenir sheet. Originally, it is one of the few illegal stamps that were documented on the Colnect website. for 2001. The original description stated:
"Although produced by the same agency that produced legitimate World Cup Soccer stamps in this design for Mozambique in 2001, the Mozambique Post Office did not authorize stamps in this value and declared this sheetlet an unauthorized, illegal issue."

Here is the sheet in question.

2001 Mozambique World Cup Soccer (Football) in 2002 Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6



Even though the sheet is denounced, the Michel catalog was still listing it as the Stampworld catalog is still showing it as if it is legitimate. This is why one needs to do research before buying any stamps. If you only go by what the Stampworld catalog lists and did not check other places, you would not know this counterfeit was counterfeit, yes? There should be some kind of union with online stamp catalogs. In 2023 Michel quietly DE-LISTED it. The description for the counterfeit is now corrected on Colnect.

The next problem in 2001 for Mozambique is a series of Nude Art souvenir sheets. Apparently this Stamperija had a ton of souvenir sheets made on the topic of famous artists and their paintings. There is so much of this garbage series made that there are tons of offers on all the stamp venues (usually by shady dealers known for selling counterfeits) at present times in 2022! Imperforate versions galore and just another glut in a search for "Mozambique 2001". You can compare the following illegal souvenir sheets with the "issued" souvenir sheets of the same style and find they are the same. They are the same as the World Cup Soccer sheet. Counterfeit and illegally produced.

2001 Mozambique Painting by Amadeo Modigliani Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



2001 Mozambique Painting by Francisco de Goya Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



2001 Mozambique Painting by Joan Miro Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



2001 Mozambique Painting by Lucas Cranach Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



2001 Mozambique Painting by Pablo Picasso Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



2001 Mozambique Painting by Paul Delvaux Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



2001 Mozambique Painting by Paul Gauguin Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



2001 Mozambique Painting by Toulouse Lautrec Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



We can see by the nature of the images that they were rejected by the Mozambique postal authorities. Again, rather than destroy them, Stamperija places them on the market. Who is selling them in 2022? I could not find them on any of the main venues. All of the above are found in the Colnect Illegal stamps section.

In 2001 one other illegal stamp set was produced. They are not listed in any catalog. They were produced for Lollini Stamps as they have their logo on it. Lollini bad, that's all I will say. We can see them offered by various unscrupulous dealers and they are all available on the Avion Stamps website which shows us the British counterfeit producer is behind the making of them as he is with most of the Lollini counterfeits. The connection again shows this Juan Montero. In 2001 he was still running France Philatelie(2000) although it was shut down in this year. France Philatelie (without the "2000") was dissolved in the year 2000. During these years his little illegal stamp producing printing company called Mayfair International was still going.

2001 Mozambique Space Scientists Lollini Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6



2001 Mozambique Space Scientists Lollini Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 1



All of these being sold mainly by shady dealers and of course the sources. I would avoid them and the dealers who sell them like the plague.

In 2002 IGPC creates a mass of "issues" for Mozambique. Apparently this Stamperija did even worse! In looking at the 2001 and 2002 issues by Stamperija we can see the styles are the same as Impressor S.A. issues. Due to many stamp issues being in the same circumstances in the name of other countries it is pretty certain either Stamperija was copying Impressor styles or Impressor was actually printing them without the Impressor logo as they were shunned by Mozambique in earlier years. I go with the latter due to Stamperija issues being similar for many other countries and the fact they used Impressor to print their abusive stamps in numerous cases.

In 2002 a massive group of counterfeits was created in the name of Mozambique.

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References taken from:
Major Stamp Catalogs
Internet Research

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