"Illegal" Bear Stamps
Last Update: Tuesday December 26, 2006
In an effort to inform collectors of bear stamps about illegal issues which may be found for sale online and at stamp shows, I am attempting to keep up with illegal issue circulars published by the UPU (http://www.upu.int/philately/en/) I have found the Ask Phil website is actually better at keeping up with the illegal issue bulletins then the UPU site is.
It is ultimately up to the collector as to whether they buy these stamps or not. My goal is to inform potential buyers of such stamps that they are in fact illegal issues and are therefore invalid for use as postage, and have no philatelic value.
ANGOLA
International Bureau Circular 406
- Sheetlet of 6
stamps, 3500000 NKz, depicting pandas
AZERBAIJAN
International
Bureau Circular 251 - Stamps are inscribed "Autonomous Republic of
Naxcivan"
- 5 stamps
se-tenant stamps depicting bear, wolf, tiger; face values are 100, 200, 300,
500, 1000 m; issued in 1997
- 5 stamps
se-tenant stamps depicting pandas; face values are 100, 200, 300, 500, 1000 m;
issued in 1997
AFGHANISTAN
International
Bureau Circular 345 - any postage stamps issued since 1989 are illegal
issues
(this includes the bears set currently on my unlisted page.
I unfortunately purchased those before I knew of this!)
BENIN
International
Bureau Circular 30 - 02-Feb-2004
- 4 stamps depicting Winnie the
Pooh; face values are 1000f each. Inscribed "POSTES 2003".
- 6 stamps in a mini sheet
depicting polar bears and arctic owls. Face value is 100FCFA each. Sheet
is inscribed in the top
right in French
"Les animaux de l’Arctique" ("Arctic animals").
- 10 stamps in a mini sheet
depicting black bears. 5 stamps are valued 100f and other 5 are 250f.
Inscriptions include "POSTES
2003" and
"OURS" ("BEARS"). Other bears are depicted on the margins of the miniature
sheet.
- 9 stamps in a mini-sheet
showing polar bears. Values, in rows from left to right, are 100f, 150f,
200f, 250f, 300f, 350f, 400f,
450f and 500f.
Stamps are inscribed "POSTES 2003" and have a "Scouts" logo on them. Eyes of
polar bears are depicted on
the margins of the
miniature sheet
- 2 stamps from a mini-sheet
sheet depicting pandas in the background and inscribed at the top in French
"SCIENCES DU
MONDE". Each
postage stamp is inscribed with a value of 500 FCFA, the "Scouts" logo and an
illegible year.
- 6 postage stamps on a
mini-sheet featuring pandas. The sheet is inscribed "PANDAS". Values of
the stamps from left to right
are 100f, 250f,
300f, 400f, 450f and 500f. Each stamp is inscribed "POSTES 2002".
Stamps are inscribed "Republic du Benin"
- Sheet of 6 stamps depicting
pandas (This information is from Scott Stamp Monthly. I don't know what UPU circular it
comes from.)
- Sheet of 9 stamps depicting
polar bears
(This information came from the March 2004 issue of Scott Stamp Monthly. I
don't know what UPU
circular it comes from.)
COMOROS
International
Bureau Circular 201
- One souvenir
sheet "PANDAS" with values of 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450 and 500 CF.
DJIBOUTI
International Bureau Circular 226
- A sheetlet of 25 stamps showing
pandas. Each stamp has a value of 200 F.
- One sheetlet of 6 six stamps
showing pandas. Each stamp has a value of 90 F and says 2004 and "République
de Djibouti" on it.
ERITREA
International Bureau Circular 294
- A sheetlet
containing a strip of three panda stamps featuring with values 5 Nfa each and
dated 2002.
- A mini sheet
showing a panda and cub with a stamp featuring another panda, value 8 Nfa and
dated 2002.
- Two sheetlets
each containing six stamps depicting teddy bears. The sheets say "Mole
Island Bears" on them.
The values are 1, 1, 3, 3, 5 and 5 (no currency identifier) and are dated as
2001.
- Four mini sheets
with teddy bears similar to the Mole Island Bears issue above. The sheets
have a value of 5 on them
(no
currency identifier) and are dated 2001.
-
Sheetlet of 4 panda stamps (with Scouting emblems) (from October 2004 Scott
Stamp Monthly...not sure which UPU
circular this is from!)
-
Souvenir sheet of containing one panda stamp, face value 8n.
KYRGYZSTAN
(From the 2005 Scott Catalog Volume 4):
- Sheet of 9 teddy
bears, face value 20s each
- Sheet of 9 panda
stamps, face value 20s each
- Sheet of 9 teddy
bear stamps, face value each stamp 20s
MAURITANIA
International
Bureau Circular 161 (stamps are inscribed "Repbulique Islamique de
Mauritanie")"
- Two
miniature sheets each containing 6 stamps, with each stamp depicting various
polar bear scenes. The value shown on
each stamp is 60 UM, and each stamp is dated 2002.
- One miniature
sheet containing 9 stamps, each stamp featuring a different scene from a
series or film on teddy bears.
The miniature sheet is inscribed "TEDDY BEARS" at the top. The value shown on
each stamp is 60 UM, and each
stamp is inscribed with the year 2003.
NIGER
International
Bureau Circular 194
- Pandas 9 values:
10-20-30-40-50-100-200-300-500 F
OMAN
Stamps inscribed "State of Oman" are not listed by the Scott,
Stanley Gibbons, and Michel catalogs. Please visit
http://www.oman.org/phil8.htm
RWANDA
International Bureau Circular 504
- A miniature sheet
comprising three postage stamps illustrating various scenes from the Winnie
the Pooh
stories.
The miniature sheet is entitled "POOH" and includes other
illustrations from the stories in the margins. The stamps
have
face values of 300 F and are arranged horizontally.
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