Friday, August 31, 2018

Send this rottweiler to Suchumi




My review of fake postage stamps on sale from Amazon. So that´s OK, but "biased reviews" are a no-no? LOL!

Abkhazia is a small republic at the Russian-Georgian border. It's “independence” has only been recognized by Russia and a few Russian allies. Most international observers consider it a Russian protectorate. In 1992-93, Abkhazia (then part of Georgia) was the scene of a brutal civil war between Georgians and the Abkhaz, the latter backed by Russia. The Georgian president Eduard Shevarnadze was trapped in Abkhazia's capital Suchumi, but narrowly escaped before the city fell to the rebels and their Russian allies. The conflict is still unresolved, being just one of many ethnic conflicts in this volatile region. The Russian ski resort of Sochi, where the next Winter Olympic Games are about to be held, is just a stone throw away…

While these tragic events were unfolding, the international market was flooded by postage stamps supposedly from Abkhazia. While some of these stamps may have been genuine and actually used at rebel-controlled territory, most are probably bogus. What are we to make of a pair of “Abkhaz” stamps lampooning Marx and Lenin in the form of Groucho Marx and John Lennon? My guess is that the stamp showed here is also of questionable provenance, spelling the name “Abkhazia” with Latin letters, and including the name of the breakaway republic in Russian, but not in Abkhaz! And yes, the stamp shows a Rottweiler. So do many other stamps supposedly hailing from obscure regions of the ex-Soviet Union. I wouldn't be too surprised if it’s the same dog on all of them...

By all means, buy this product if you're interested in fringe philately, but I don't think you can sell it to a serious collector. Nor use it in Suchumi, in the case you should become trapped there next time the ethnic tensions flare up.
A real Rottweiler might come in handier.

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