 |
Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms |
|
|
|
 |
 |
Tannu
Tuva Collectors' Society, Inc. APS Affiliate #235 |
 |
ILLEGAL
STAMPS:
philately's rough trade
by
J. M. Chute. Views expressed in this article
do not necessatrily reflect those of the Society and its Officers.
Part Two.
(Originally published in TbBA,
#27 2002.) Part One
|
3 Retailers Dealers While some of the above distributors sell retail, they also mainly wholesale in bulk to dealers, who provide the main points of public sale. (There are rumors of a warehouse in London, England, which supplies in bulk to selected dealers on a personal acquaintance basis.) Some of these are large and well established concerns, also handling legitimate material, and the growth of internet shopping has boosted their market. Shamefully, some are members of dealers' organizations that pay lip service to standards of integrity (see below). The worst offenders appear to be: Marlen Stamp & Coins Ltd of New York [Dr Leonard G Cohen; 156B Middle Neck Rd, Great Neck, N Y 11021; www.marlen-stamps.com; marlen@travelin.com]. Established for 30 years and a major advertiser in Linn's Stamp News, Marlen's stock includes huge quantities of Conquest and Stampdile material. Dr Cohen is very sensitive to questions about his sources. Greg Caron Stamps [Coolstamps/10,000 Topical Stamps/Space Stamps/Princess Diana Stamps etc.] of California [Greg and Paulette Caron; PO Box 5125, Vacaville, CA 95696; www.coolstamps.com; www.topical-stamps.com; www.spacestamps.com; www.princess-diana-stamps.com]. The "web's largest source of Cool Topical Stamps" features a worryingly spooky image of the Carons ("We treat you like family") with links to more lovely family pictures. Semi-literate captions appeal shamelessly to children: "Take a Good look at the eyes of this cute Panda - He wants you to take him home - Just click - $3.95." A large part of the Carons' stock appears to be illegals. Presumably the "family-friendly" Carons think it's just fine to rip kids off this way.
Tony Bray of the United Kingdom [71 Bradford Rd, Shipley, West Yorks BD18 3DT]. This big UK new issue dealer, established in 1971 and a major advertiser in Gibbons Stamp Monthly, handles both Conquest and Stampdile material. Some that is not advertised appears in his lists. Again, very sensitive to questions about his sources. Wonderful World of Stamps (Judaica Sales) of Canada [Isidore Baum, P O Box 55, St. Martin, Laval, Quebec H7V 3P4; www.topicalsetc.com; info@judaicasales.com]. Established 25 years and "the largest dealer in Russian topical locals in North America ... We also carry various other locals issued by different entities around the world." Massive stocks of ex-Soviet territory illegals, plus Angola, Somaliland etc. To be fair, described as "not valid for postage", but "locals" is a highly misleading term here. Illegals on Ebay Ebay internet auctions offer an unrivalled opportunity to shift huge quantities of illegals. A determined operator, with the aid of bulk auction listing software, can post up hundreds, if not thousands, of items per week. Duplicate offers and extended bidding periods (sometimes months) make some of these sales "auctions" in name only. Even if the majority of items find no bidders, the turnover of items is so vast that the income is still worthwhile, and unsold items are easily relisted. Stampdile is often very busy in this respect, under the i.d. stamps2buy. Our quick search also threw up the following list, before we got tired of counting. Some of these regularly stock illegals among larger amounts of legitimate material, while others offer wall to wall illegals, mostly Stampdile/BiStamp type material. A few, sadly, are long established dealers. Some are American Philatelic Society members. alex@stampcenter.com
(County Stamp Center) [PO Box 3373, Annapolis, MD 21403] No use in complaining to Ebay Customer Support about this. An auto-response will explain that "you may see active items which are in violation, and we encourage you to report those to us." However, usually "we cannot remove items reported to us, as the content of the listing is not sufficient evidence of an infringement." So that's OK, then. Big money Lest anyone should think that we're talking insignificant pocket money amounts, we pause here to point out that a set of Angola "20th century personalities" souvenir sheets, perf and imperf, will cost you $236.95 from Marlen, who will also ask you $419.95 for six sheets, perf and imperf, with matching "first day covers", on the unlikely Mongolian topic of the Three Stooges. Even single items can be ludicrously overpriced; on Ebay stampsoz ask $22.50 for a single Angola Tiger Woods sheetlet. These things may be wholesaled close to source at a dollar or two each, but at the retail end of the line substantial prices are asked and paid. In November 2000 three Turkmenistan Tiger Woods sheetlets, mind-numbingly, went on Ebay for no less than $1,225.
Though these labels will never have catalog status, and therefore no "official" value, the established wisdom that "a dealer will never buy this back" may no longer apply to the most faddish topics, at least in the short term. In selected cases artificial scarcity, with claimed print runs of as low as 100 copies per item, is cleverly used to manipulate prices.
No one knows how much the global illegals market is worth. A recent estimate of the annual turnover of just one distributor, based on their price lists, came to several million dollars. An insider has suggested to us that the whole annual market is now worth between $200 million and $500 million. This may well be exaggerated, but it should be food for thought to the administrations of developing nations who have unwittingly had their names pirated for this scam.
|
Pornographic illegals have recently appeared in the name of Rwanda, a desperately impoverished nation still recovering from the after effects of genocide. The entire annual governmental expenditure of Rwanda is about $400 million. 4 Forgery & organised crime A related issue is the recent resurgence of "postal forgery", the mass production of forged current stamps. These are aimed not at the collector (though odd specimens may find a second hand market in the collecting scene) but at unscrupulous bulk mailers. In September 2000 German customs seized a shipment of 630,000 such stamps. If only at the level of gossip, there are rumors that this trade is connected with illegals production. There are also whispers that some illegals production has links with wider organized crime, ex-Soviet areas included. We know of no evidence for this, but the allegation is interesting. However, one should allow for an element of deliberate misinformation thrown out in the ongoing turf war between illegals producers. 5 Fight back – what fight back? Organized philately, "the King of Hobbies and the Hobby of Kings", has a wealthy and prestigious international establishment, though sometimes the well heeled at the tip of the pyramid seem too well insulated from seedier goings-on down at the rough end. The serious collectors of the future should emerge from the schoolkid and leisure markets, now very much focused on topicals, and precisely the markets under threat from illegals. So what are the great and the good doing to safeguard the whole body in the longer term? Or has short-termism blinded them? The press It is the duty of the philatelic press to sound the alarm, and loudly. To be fair, the subject has been given an occasional airing on this side of the Atlantic (UK), but in general response has often been muted. For instance, given United Kingdom involvement in this business, we might have expected more than the occasional tiny, grudging notices of UPU circulars (see below) in the UK journals. Gibbons Stamp Monthly, once the flag ship of the philatelic press, and once not above proper investigative writing, is now reduced to the reactionary saloon bar ramblings of Ken Lake, and the clubby, snobby self-promotions of Peter Jennings FRPSL, Knight of Merit with Star in the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St George, etc. etc. Is serious philatelic journalism dead in the UK? Maybe
the reluctance of the philatelic press to condemn illegals is connected
with the sensitivities of some of their advertisers? What is Gibbons
prepared to do about Bray's adverts, or Linn's
Stamp News about Marlen's? The case of Linn's
is interesting. In response to the warnings of columnist Les
Winick, about the only philatelic writer to tackle the issue courageously,
Linn's has run
a series of waspish editorial defenses, on pseudo-libertarian grounds,
of "so-called[sic]
illegal stamps" by Michael Laurence [www.linns.com/print/archives/20010212/ "Those who are denouncing illegal stamps don't collect them. Those who collect illegal stamps don't care ... Collectors should collect what they please. Critics should get a life." (If this seems a touch insensitive, remember that this is the man who recently called the painter Frida Kahlo "a bisexual female Hispanic atheist Communist cripple.") But here's the crunch: "Linn's permits such material to be advertised, though we insist that the items be described as what they are, when that is known." Really? Aside from one or two ex-Soviet illegals listed, inaccurately, as "locals", you'll look in vain for any such disclaimers from Marlen. Lenny Cohen may insist that he doesn't know what he's selling, and Laurence may find it convenient to go along with that, but it beggars belief, especially given the regularity with which stamps distributed by Marlen are the subject of UPU circulars on illegals (see below) which name the Marlen website. As for the mainstream press, so far we have seen no sign of interest, despite rumors that a major British newspaper was preparing an exposé, but pulled the story. Dealer associations Dealer associations, besides promoting their members' welfare, make lots of noises about safeguarding professional integrity. The American Stamp Dealers' Association (ASDA) [www.asdaonline.com] submits its members to "the ASDA pledge", including requirements to "refrain from dealing in ... counterfeit material" and "to be truthful in my advertising". The definition of "counterfeit" may need broadening here, but the essence of the pledge is clear. Likewise the UK based Philatelic Traders' Society (PTS) [www.philatelic-traders-society.co.uk] ("Our reputation for honesty, integrity and professionalism spans the globe") requires members to abide by its Code of Ethics, including: "Counterfeit stamps shall never knowingly be offered as genuine ... If it is wished to sell items which are not postage stamps ... their status must be described." The lofty objectives of the International Federation of Stamp Dealers' Associations (IFSDA) [www.ifsda.com] include "To promote and maintain a high standard of professional integrity among Philatelic dealers throughout the world" while the Federation is pledged to cooperate with others "in actions to prevent or reduce the sale of stamps which have not been issued under satisfactory circumstances." We would be fascinated to know of an instance of a dealer association taking any action against a member for infringement of these rules in connection with illegals. We haven't heard of any, and don't expect to. Of those mentioned above as trading in illegals, Dr Leonard Cohen of Marlen is a member of ASDA, Isidore Baum of ASDA and the Canadian Stamp Dealers' Association (CSDA), Tony Bray of the PTS, and Mr J C Marino Montero of Anglo-European of the Sociedad de Comerciantes Filatelicos de la Republica Argentina (SOCOFIRA), an IFSDA affiliate. Dr Cohen and Clive Feigenbaum of Stampdile are virtually the only members outside Israel of another IFSDA affiliate, the Israel Stamp Dealers' Association (ISDA), a privilege they share with Mr Sam Malamud of the powerful Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation (IGPC), the largest "legitimate" agency producing topicals [see IFSDA website]. Maybe IFSDA Vice-President and ASDA board member Malamud should keep more respectable company? The Universal Postal Union, the World Association for the Development of Philately and the Web League Against Illegal Stamps If the trade won't put its own house in order, how can vulnerable postal administrations regain their philatelic earnings, creamed off by the illegals' business? Since, as mentioned above, they are members of the Universal Postal Union, what can the UPU do to aid them? Although the UPU can share information, it cannot take legal action on behalf of its members against those handling illegals, and its role is strictly advisory. Staff at the International Bureau of the UPU heroically attempt to monitor the rapid growth of those illegals about which they receive information (a Herculean task), and advise member administrations of the appearance of illegals in their name. Official complaints by members are distributed in UPU circulars, and 49 such circulars have been issued since 1996, on behalf of:
The affected regions, republics etc. of the Russian Federation are:
|
At the time of writing, a circular for Guiné-Bissau is imminent, while "likely denouncements" are awaited from Burkina Faso, Burundi, East Timor, Estonia, Guinea, Kosovo, Myanmar, Sao Tome é Principé, Somalia, and Tadjikistan, as well as others already listed. This may give some idea of the scope of the problem, which now appears far greater than once had been thought possible. Though these circulars are made available to the philatelic community, they are, bizarrely, not yet posted on the UPU website [www.upu.int], though they are helpfully reproduced on the sites of the Worldwide Society of Russian Philately [www.home.nestor.minsk.by/fsunews], AskPhil [www.askphil.org/d000.htm] and the Philatelic Webmasters' Association (see below).
Within the World Association for the Development of Philately (WADP), the UPU is partnered by: The International
Federation of Philately (FIP) [www.f-i-p.ch] Neither IFSDA, FIP or ASCAT has yet managed to reproduce the UPU circulars online. Philatelic journals usually manage to find a small corner in which to announce the release of these circulars (though not to reproduce them) in the smallest possible type. At Linn's (see above) Michael Laurence describes UPU circulars as "aggressive", criticizing their brevity while refusing to publish them in detail or to add images (which in any case it is not UPU policy to supply): "Linn's wouldn't publish photos even if the UPU were to provide them. We don't have the space (or the inclination) ..." Of course, if Laurence did publish the texts of the circulars, his readers might notice Linn's advertiser Marlen writ large in some as a seller of illegals, and that would never do ... It has been left to others to pursue a more active approach. AskPhil provides a first rate write-up by Les Winick [www.askphil.org/dintro.htm] plus UPU circulars, while on the website of the Swiss-based Philatelic Webmasters' Association, Victor Manta maintains a busy and informative sub-site [www.pwmo.org/Illegals/frame-illegals-en.htm] where good background information is provided, the UPU circulars are again reproduced, and where sellers of illegals are named and challenged on behalf of the "Philatelic Web Watch" of the Web League Against Illegal Stamps. We applaud his efforts!
The WADP Numbering System For better or for worse, the WADP's main weapon in the fight against illegals is to be the WADP Numbering System (WNS), agreed unanimously at its General Assembly in Brussels on June 12 2001, and coming into force from 2002. The idea (see UPU and FIP websites) is simple: every genuine stamp notified by member nations to the UPU from January 1 2002 will be given a unique WNS number, complementing the numbering systems used by established catalogs. This data will be made available to the philatelic industry. Stamps without WNS numbers will not be eligible for display in competitions sponsored by the FIP.
The WADP declares this "the optimal method for ensuring authenticity" and "a major breakthrough in the philatelic world," while the FIP believes that this scheme will "undoubtedly be the best method to protect our hobby against illegal issues." But will it? Once stamps are listed in the established catalogs, their status is defined anyway. Admittedly, the WNS will usefully fill the information gap in the period between the appearance of a new item and the publication of the next catalog, but only if all involved are committed to its success. Already, the omens are not good: Michael Laurence of Linn's (see above), scoffing at anything emanating from the "marbled halls" of the UPU, has declared that "this idea will go nowhere." Despite the pledged support of all WADP partners, ASCAT included, Gibbons and Scott's, the main English language catalog publishers, have declined to incorporate WNS numbers. Postal administrations will have to pay to register their issues with the WNS, and it appears that, for the time being, those not yet plagued by illegals are reluctant to do so; we're told that a third of UPU members have signed up in the first month of the scheme. WADP unanimity still has some way to go ...
6 What next? If the WNS does anything to impede the growth of illegals, it deserves to be successful. But irrespective of any debate about its viability, there is a danger that it will be claimed as a sufficient measure by those in philately with a responsibility (and a reluctance) to do more, but with a need to be seen to be "doing something". The self-regulatory approach of the philatelic trade, like most self-regulatory approaches, is a demonstrable failure, and merely serves as a poor cover for short-termism and self-interest.
The World Intellectual Property Organization [www.wipo.org] defines "geographical indications" and "appellations of origin" as "industrial property" protected by copyright under national laws – with sanctions ranging from injunction preventing unauthorized use up to imprisonment – and by international treaties, notably Articles 22 to 24 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Additionally, from the collector viewpoint, consumer protection laws are clearly relevant here. Despite the problems with evidence of production (as opposed to distribution) that appear to have bedeviled earlier attempts, major players in the illegals business could, and should, be pursued in the courts. A case can be built. But who within the philatelic establishment has the will, the authority and the resources to undertake this, and to coordinate an international legal effort? Whatever the consequences
for the future of philately, in the final analysis the rooking of relatively
affluent Western and Asian collectors with more money than judgment
matters less than the exploitation and impoverishment by illegals producers
of some of the poorest and most vulnerable populations on earth.
|
TTCS Main page | Map | Hoomei | Covers | Classic Tuva stamps | Contact | Want to join?
