Post by kannik on Nov 13, 2013 19:48:13 GMT -5
A few months ago, on the Stamp Bears Paleophilately thread
I was introduced to the concept that many countries issue too many
stamps (Canada has NOTHING on THEM!) in order to earn foreign
currency or other reasons. When I say "too many", I mean MANY
more than they are likely to use for postage, and/or FAR TOO MANY
issues for the size of the country or population.
This ends up being frustrating to stamp collectors who have NO
INTEREST in collecting so many stamps mint, and great difficulty in finding
them used. It has also contributed to the fact that many people have
stopped collecting world stamps since 1840 to the present and has led
them instead to concentrate on a very few countries, certain dates only
and/or go to TOPICAL subjects.
Paleophilatelist (an SB member), had a list of these countries,
together with the year in which they started to over-produce stamps, on
his Paleophilately website, but I couldn`t find that list when I went looking
for it. However, I found a list that was almost as good which will do for
now. Here it is:
So Many Stamps
A short excerpt from the Scott Stamps Monthly, Vol. 28, No.10, October 2010.
Online Edition. We have listed only the countries that issued in 2009 stamps
with a total catalogue value of over $ 200.
Country 2009 Scott Champions 2009
Number Value ($) Number Value
Australia 200 278 1
Belgium 68 266
Fiji 14 342 3
France 191 468 2 2
Gambia 34 201
Great Britain 123 274 3
Korea (North) 78 215
Liberia 91 491 1
Micronesia 65 263
Netherlands Antilles 41 264
Papua New Guinea 75 337
Peru 55 290
Portugal 100 247
Sierra Leone 52 210
Surinam 9 223
The figures are so amazing and speak so well for themselves that we won't comment on them!
We will only notice that our hope that the WNS registrations will reduce the number of excessive
stamps (see below the posting from 2002) was not fulfilled. Liberia, a country listed by the WNS,
issued in 2009, after the same WNS, 76 stamps. We prefer to trust Scott and its 91 stamps
estimate but anyway $ 491 for a single year is a lot, especially for a country that: "suffer
with poor economic performance due to a fragile security situation, the devastation wrought by
its long war, its lack of infrastructure, and necessary human capital to help the country recover
from the scourges of conflict and corruption." Source
kannik adds: The reason I am putting this out there is that I would like to open discussion on
so-called "undesirable" countries and would like to find out about what other shenanigans they
are getting up to. For instance, might they reprint old issues to "BUMP" them up to the present
day? Any comments?
I was introduced to the concept that many countries issue too many
stamps (Canada has NOTHING on THEM!) in order to earn foreign
currency or other reasons. When I say "too many", I mean MANY
more than they are likely to use for postage, and/or FAR TOO MANY
issues for the size of the country or population.
This ends up being frustrating to stamp collectors who have NO
INTEREST in collecting so many stamps mint, and great difficulty in finding
them used. It has also contributed to the fact that many people have
stopped collecting world stamps since 1840 to the present and has led
them instead to concentrate on a very few countries, certain dates only
and/or go to TOPICAL subjects.
Paleophilatelist (an SB member), had a list of these countries,
together with the year in which they started to over-produce stamps, on
his Paleophilately website, but I couldn`t find that list when I went looking
for it. However, I found a list that was almost as good which will do for
now. Here it is:
So Many Stamps
A short excerpt from the Scott Stamps Monthly, Vol. 28, No.10, October 2010.
Online Edition. We have listed only the countries that issued in 2009 stamps
with a total catalogue value of over $ 200.
Country 2009 Scott Champions 2009
Number Value ($) Number Value
Australia 200 278 1
Belgium 68 266
Fiji 14 342 3
France 191 468 2 2
Gambia 34 201
Great Britain 123 274 3
Korea (North) 78 215
Liberia 91 491 1
Micronesia 65 263
Netherlands Antilles 41 264
Papua New Guinea 75 337
Peru 55 290
Portugal 100 247
Sierra Leone 52 210
Surinam 9 223
The figures are so amazing and speak so well for themselves that we won't comment on them!
We will only notice that our hope that the WNS registrations will reduce the number of excessive
stamps (see below the posting from 2002) was not fulfilled. Liberia, a country listed by the WNS,
issued in 2009, after the same WNS, 76 stamps. We prefer to trust Scott and its 91 stamps
estimate but anyway $ 491 for a single year is a lot, especially for a country that: "suffer
with poor economic performance due to a fragile security situation, the devastation wrought by
its long war, its lack of infrastructure, and necessary human capital to help the country recover
from the scourges of conflict and corruption." Source
kannik adds: The reason I am putting this out there is that I would like to open discussion on
so-called "undesirable" countries and would like to find out about what other shenanigans they
are getting up to. For instance, might they reprint old issues to "BUMP" them up to the present
day? Any comments?
). However the recent spate of issues makes them produce philatelic products like the Trucial States. I would even argue that Canada and the US are guilty of the same thing.
