Philatelic Hallucinations

It seems in times of political turmoil in small countries, culture takes shape. You might never imagine though, that it would evolve into a trash-culture wayback machine. If a nation's pride is mirrored by who is represented on their postage stamps, then the countries of Rwanda, Tuva and Mordovia to name a few have some serious self-esteem issues. Cases in point:

God Save The Queen (of rock n' roll, Stevie Nicks),

Alternative life-stylings of Xena, Warrior Princess,

Karakalpakia, in central asia, honors a great warrior,

Tupac Lives! (somewhere in the Russian Federation),

Say My Name! The Congo shows it's Bootylicious pride.

Comments

[toober]

This is a way for third world government post offices to make money. Nearly all of these cheesy stamps get sold in approval sets in the U.S and Europe. Very few get used in their native countries. Some actually are not usable.

(Former stamp geek talking - but then weren't we all at some point?)

[listenerstan]

Crap!

The auction for the Buffy stamps is already over!

I hope you enjoy them, Pseu.

[Pseu Braun]

I was only hoping the Xena stamps were *not* the self-adhesive kind...

[Bruce Lokeinsky]

Back in the days when I was Lubavitcher with little professional work experience, I got a job working for SSCA, Sports Stamps Collector's Association, in Hicksville, L.I. We were in partnership with IGPC, Intergovernmental Philatelic Corporation, both Lubavitcher-owned corps. IGPC was the agent for the printing, design and shipping of stamps and coins for several dozen small countries, as almost all small countries have their stamps (and coins) manufactured by old-school London presses and mints.

SSCA sold 'gold' stamps of all sorts of baseball players, they scooped the official release of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe stamps by several months.

What a shlock-haus business, though. Oh, the stories I'll tell in my future memoir...

[Brad]

Many stamps found on Ebay, many like the ones you show above, are actually illegal issues of stamps. They have been printed without the knowledge or consent of the country that they claim to represent. Again, back to the stamp sheet pictured above. Although it reads "Rwanda", it was printed by a very shady character in Lithuania. The money generated from these stamps goes to the printer and the seller. Not a penny goes to Rwanda. Then of course there are the countries like Mordovia and Tuva that you mention. Well, they are not countries and they do not have a postal administration. Tuva, is an ethnic republic in Russia, but does not issue stamps. There is no such place as Mordovia which is a play on Moldova, that actually does exist and issues stamps.

The fact is that unknowing collectors are buying millions of dollars worth of fake stamps that are absolutely worthless. Real stamp collectors wouldn't pay anything for them and dealers would kick you out of their stores. So be aware!!

Best regards,

Brad

[A]

Whatever gets people involved in stamp collecting (even if they are cheesy).
I recently picked up this hobby again thanks to an article by Armand Rousso "Philately Extends Life". Armand, who founded the first online stamp exchange, reminded me about all the great reasons to do philately!