TURKMENISTAN ILLEGAL STAMPS
2001

Information and Reference of illegal stamps for Turkmenistan Dating 2001

On May 29, 2000 the postal administration for Turkmenistan by request to M.S. Raman (Assistant Director-General) posted to the Universal Postal Union a circular warning of the discovery of illegal stamps created with their country name that are on the market. The circular is number 184. It states the following

Dear Sir/Madam

The postal administration of TURKMENISTAN asks me to inform you that sheets of postage stamps belonging to the EURO 2000 European Football Championship issue, with a face value of 120.00 TMM, are unofficial stamp issues not issued by Turkmenistan.

The above stamps were manufactured in violation of the Detailed Regulations of the UPU Convention and the legislation of Turkmenistan. Consequently, they cannot be accepted as a means of postal prepayment.

Yours faithfully,
M S RAMAN
Assistant Director-General

The circular only describes the EURO teams counterfeit illegal stamps and nothing else. Sadly, it does not complain about the massive number of counterfeit illegal stamps produced and distributed dating since 1997 in the name of Turkmenistan. Also sadly, no other circulars were produced for the later years either.The issues described are dated 2000.

Luckily the Scott Catalog notes many of the earlier illegal stamps. From earlier UPU circulars or through direct contact with the postal authorities, it is not known what the notes are based on. I will note under the titles that the issue is noted in the catalog.

Many more have been produced than on the list. The illegal stamps described in this circular and what follows are still on the market today. They are available through private stamp dealers and their websites. They are available on eBay and Delcampe. They are everywhere! These illegal issues are fabrication of stamps that have never had any postal validity in Turkmenistan and have been denounced as fraudulent. They were and are created by certain greedy, unethical and immoral stamp dealers. Any stamp seller out there that offers these "stamps" either does not know they are illegal stamps or is deceitful and they should be avoided at all costs. The deceitful ones prey upon unknowing collectors new and old. They prey upon topical collectors mostly because the majority do not have the knowledge that they are worthless in the stamp market. Some are quite obvious because they have hundreds of lots available on eBay and other public auction venues.

For years now there has been arguments as to whether these issues should be imaged for public viewing. The against argument being that collectors that see images of them will want them for their collections. We can see by the availability on the market and the sales generated that this argument has not worked. By only relying on descriptions of the illegal stamps through the UPU circulars the majority of collectors don't even know what they are.

I am a firm advocate against illegal stamps and the creators of them and the sellers of them. Perspective buyers of them need more than UPU circulars to be alerted to the problem. They need to see them and be able to recognize them when they are searching for stamps to buy on the internet or at stamp shows or buying from local dealers.

Because I am independent and run a site that is very public for collectors, I have decided that it is time for someone to display images of these illegal issues that have and are being reported to the UPU. The countries that are being victimized by these fraudulent printers need help and the UPU is not enough. It is up to you and me to get the word out and to let everyone know and understand about them since auction venues, stamp societies and catalogs seem to want to ignore the problem. Some who sell these fakes are large volume stamp dealers with supposed impeccable reputations. Some are in high positions in the stamp societies and in the auction venues. They in turn are avoiding the very problem by allowing these kind of sellers to peddle this junk because they also sell legitimate stamps on a large scale. The only way to stop the flow is to hit them where it hurts.

If they are selling this junk then avoid them!
Even if they have legitimate stamps for sale. Buy from sellers that do not have these in their offerings. If you are buying legitimate stamps from them you are still supporting the illegal stamp trade because they are supporting it. Tell them that you do not want to buy from them because they sell illegal stamps. There is no excuse to make them available to anyone.

The following images are of illegal stamps produced for Turkmenistan. 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.

Although Turkmenistan is a member of the UPU, they have never registered any stamps on the WNS system. I have found the Colnect online catalog to be very helpful. You will see the illegal stamps differ greatly from genuine issues.

The Colnect Online Catalog for Turkmenistan

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 Turkmenistan

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

The Stampworld Online Catalog for Turkmenistan

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 (2020) 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.

2001

In 2001 the British counterfeit producer decreased production slightly of illegal stamps in the name of Turkmenistan. Many of the same topics were targeted. These counterfeit illegal stamps in the name of Turkmenistan are still to this day in 2020 being massively offered and sold.

In 2001 Turkmenistan officially issued four sets of stamps according to the Scott Catalog, Stampworld and the Colnect Online Catalogs.

Turkmenistan 2001 National Symbols
Scott Catalog No. 73-74
Issued April 24, 2001 Printer is unknown
IGPC does not list this on their website.


Turkmenistan 2001 Horses
Scott Catalog No. 75
Issued August 20, 2001 Printer is unknown
IGPC does list this on their website.


Turkmenistan 2001 Horses
Scott Catalog No. 76-77
Issued August 20, 2001 Printer is unknown
IGPC does list these on their website.


Turkmenistan 2001 Horses
Scott Catalog No. 78
Issued August 20, 2001 Printer is unknown
IGPC does list this on their website.


Turkmenistan 2001 Independence
Scott Catalog No. 79-85
Issued August 20, 2001 Printer is unknown
IGPC does not list these on their website.





Turkmenistan 2001 Mohammed Ali Jinnah First Governor General of Pakistan
Scott Catalog No. 86
Issued December 25, 2001 Printer is unknown
IGPC does not list this on their website.


The stamp agency in control of Turkmenistan stamps in 2001 was not Impressor S.A. nor this Mayfair International as they printed their own stamps which I might add, is against every UPU rule for stamp production. Therefore should either "claim" they had contracts, their "contracts" are bogus and nothing more than a piece of paper made up by a fraudulent illegal stamp producing criminal. The circular, the noted stamps in Scott catalog, the Turkmenistan postal authorities and IGPC the stamp agency are all that are needed to destroy any such claim. IGPC was the controlling stamp agent from 1992 through 2002 for Turkmenistan.

This means any stamp dating 2001 in the name of Turkmenistan other than the stamps shown above is a counterfeit illegal stamp!

Following are images of the illegal stamps I have found offered for Turkmenistan dating 2001. There may and probably are more. All of these I found in searches on eBay, Hipstamps and Delcampe and all are illegal stamps made by a producer bent on ripping you off!

A note on the numbered souvenir sheets. This was just a ploy by the counterfeiter to insure sales. Getting people to think there is something valuable about this garbage by putting numbers on them is just a "tactic". This criminal can reproduce them as many times as they sell. Look at it this way. Who would know unless two of the same numbers showed up in the same place at the same time or a collector who has one number and sees it somewhere else. By then...it is too late. Any way you look at it though, numbered or not, these stamps are all worthless because why?
They are COUNTERFEIT ILLEGAL STAMPS.

2001 9-11 Saluting Emergency Rescue Workers Souvenir Sheet of 9

Here we have yet another illegal stamp set designed to take advantage of a current tragedy for profit. How many emotionally struck people got ripped off by this? How many are still being ripped off to this day? With the new Covid-19 pandemic, what do you think these evil producers will do? Expect them to produce a ton of counterfeit illegal stamps on the topic. Avoid all of them unless certain they came from a valid postal authority and can be positively identified as genuine stamps. These criminals are still here producing them in the name of other countries twenty years later!



2001 Aaliyah Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Academy Awards Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Art by Boris Vallejo Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Art by Julie Bell Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Art by Luis Royo Souvenir Sheet of 6



2001 Art by Olivia Souvenir Sheet of 3



2001 Butterflies and Orchids Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Chow Yun-fat Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Dale Earnhardt NASCAR Driver Souvenir Sheet of 9

It looks like the counterfeit producer was going to make this one of those "limited" editions, then decided not to. Still leaving the numbering background on the lower right corner without the numbers. Note how he uses any current death to make profits.



2001 Dinosaurs Souvenir Sheet of 6



2001 Dinosaurs with Hologram Scouts Logo Souvenir Sheet of 6

Exists with gold or silver logo.



2001 Dogs Souvenir Sheet of 6



2001 Dogs with Hologram Scouts Logo Souvenir Sheet of 6

Exists with gold or silver logo.



2001 Dragon World Souvenir Sheet of 6



2001 Elvis Presley Souvenir Sheet of 3



2001 Famous Pop Stars Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Famous Sportsmen of the Millennium Souvenir Sheet of 9

This souvenir sheet is noted as unauthorized in the Scott Catalog.
Venus Williams and Tiger Woods. I do not know why the producer calls Venus "sportsmen".



2001 Gladiator Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Golfer of the Millennium Tiger Woods Souvenir Sheet of 7



2001 Harry Potter Souvenir Sheet of 1

This souvenir sheet is odd. The producer made a Harry Potter set in the name of Tajikistan in this year with two souvenir sheets with the same image but with different images on the stamp. It is possible there is more to this set that I could not get at the time of making this page.



2001 Horses Horse Jumping Souvenir Sheet of 9

Icons of the 20th Century

2001 Icons of the 20th Century Elvis Presley Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Icons of the 20th Century Elvis Presley Souvenir Sheets of 1



2001 Icons of the 20th Century James Bond Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Icons of the 20th Century James Bond Souvenir Sheets of 1



2001 Icons of the 20th Century Jimi Hendrix Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Icons of the 20th Century Jimi Hendrix Souvenir Sheets of 1



2001 Icons of the 20th Century Marilyn Monroe Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Icons of the 20th Century Marilyn Monroe Souvenir Sheets of 1



2001 Jennifer Lopez Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Louis Armstrong Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon Souvenir Sheet of 1



2001 MTV European Top 20 Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Paintings by Camille Pissarro Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Paintings by Camille Pissarro Souvenir Sheet of 2



2001 Paintings by Paul Cezanne Souvenir Sheet of 2



2001 Paintings by Toulouse Lautrec Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Paintings by Vincent Van Gogh Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Paintings of Dogs Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Pearl Harbor Movie Souvenir Sheets of 6



2001 Penguins Souvenir Sheet of 1

This same style of counterfeit souvenir sheet was made in the name of Tajikistan only with different images of penguins.



2001 Pope John Paul II Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Pope John Paul II Souvenir Sheet of 3



2001 Poster Art Golf Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Princess Diana and Prince William Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Racing Motorcyclists Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Rolling Stones Souvenir Sheet of 3



2001 Shrek Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 South Park Christmas Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Space Planets Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Steam Trains Souvenir Sheet of 4

Another badly produced souvenir sheet with distorted images on the sides.



2001 Tennis Stars of the Millennium Souvenir Sheet of 9

This souvenir sheet is noted as unauthorized in the Scott Catalog.



2001 The Schumacher's Formula I Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Tiger Woods Golf Souvenir Sheets of 4



2001 Tiger Woods Grand Slam Golf Souvenir Sheet of 6



2001 Tiger Woods Grand Slam Golf Souvenir Sheet of 1



2001 Tigers Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Tribute to George Harrison Souvenir Sheet of 9



2001 Xena Warrior Princess Souvenir Sheet of 12



2001 Xena Warrior Princess Souvenir Sheets of 2



2001 Xena Warrior Princess Souvenir Sheets of 1



In 2002 the British counterfeit producer almost stopped production of illegal stamps in the name of Turkmenistan. Probably because of the circulars coming out of that region of the world. Like a rat he appears and then disappears when frightened.

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References taken from:
U.P.U. Circular No. 184
Major Stamp Catalogs
Internet Research

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