Stamps Or Labels : You Make The Call.

Prince Blango is the president of a small country, Blangoland.
Lets say, it has 4 villages and 500 people.

Prince Blango, has just watched "Top Gear"
and rather fancies owning a new lamborghini.
Ah! idea! Prince Blango goes ahead, with an agreement with others
to print 80 million stamps of Blangoland. (80,000,000)

Duly printed the stamps sell well initially,
and Prince Blango has made $250,000 a nice downpayment.

Ooops! Prince Bongo's agents in London and New York are
arrested and charged with distributing stamps
that may defraud innocent collectors.

Questions: did Prince Blango's agents get convicted?

Do you consider the perforated pieces of paper
(remainders? CTO? call it what you will) stamps? or labels?

It's your call.

If they're valid for postage in Blangoland, then they're stamps. As mmost/every other country prints more stamps than will be postally used, it would be difficult for the prosecution to make a valid case.

(I take it Bongo was a typo and you are not pulling a where do they bury the survivors trick on us... just checking ).

Nice answer Stampgal, (yes a typo :)

The Blango stamps were printed in the US
and it is not established yet if any were used
on cover in Blangoland.

Do you recognise here that ethics are being stretched.

Seems to me that if this Blango guy had the legitimate authority to issue stamps for his country, and his stamps could not be confused for other stamps (thus demonstrating an attempt to defraud) there can be no legal grounds upon which to prosecute his stamp agents.

__________________________

In response to your question about ethics (which I didn't see until after I had posted) I would agree that this type of behavior is sleazy.

I understand your point, but I'm not sure I accept its unethical...
Unless the "stamps" are being sold as something that they are not - e.g. sold as postally valid when they are not, then they are what they are and collectors will choose whether to buy them or not. To make a limited edition of something, whatever that something is, and sell it is not unethical. Do you think that Lamborghini would be able to charge what it does for its cars if it made thousands of each model? Supply and demand.

I like a good debate!

OK, maybe there is an ethical slant to this, but for me its more about what he's doing with the money. If his people are starving and he's spending that amount of money (however earned) on a car, that is unethical. The flip side of this - if he was to raise the money in the same way but spend it on schools and hospitals - would that still make the sale unethical?

What if they are postally valid?
Let's say 1 stamp was used on a cover, to mail
a christmas card to Mrs Blango, in Miami.
the other 79,999,999 stamps are never used
but sold as genuine.

It's getting sticky, isn't it

You knew there was going to be something else

October 1972...
about the same period of The Kathiri state of Hadhramut.




The Jury's result soon....

I would say it is unethical yes. What not issue a legitimate stamp for charity?
This is a topic that will run and run. Personally I dislike these 'dunes' as for the most part they are hideous examples of design but some people like them and we are all unique in our likes and dislikes which shape our collecting habits so go for it.
I can appreciate why some 'traditional' collectors turn their noses up at these but I'm not a fan of collecting for purely financial gain which many people wouldn't understand either.
Unforunately for me rariety and financial value are normally closely tied and like most collectors I am a fan of rarieties and complete sets so you will always have to remain flexible in your collecting ethos to avoid missing out on items you like but would normally avoid.

The King should of used personalized stamps with his face on the tab.
He could of made more money that way with less stamps and less court costs..

It is a wonder that some of the more popular people in the world have not used personalized stamps as a money spinner. They could change the image on the stamp every month or so. What a collection that could be.

Lest we forget that the concept of an ethic is not a universal one, but a subjective one. Perhaps Prince Blango's ethic is to have as much fun in life as possible. He would then be acting ethically by raising money to own a Lambourghini.

Rod then raises a question. What ethics are we applying to the actions of this prince/king and his agents? On what grounds are we deciding his goal (i.e. his ethic) in life should be?

PS
Who doesn't love Top Gear?

Sounds very similar to Tuvalu in the 1980's. As it turned out, they got off free because one corrupt minister in the Tuvalu government went to London and signed a paper saying they could do it (even though not consulting fully with the Tuvalu Post Office and other officials).

http://tuvaluislands.com/stamps/LOW_story.htm

Now zillions of the stamps are all over ebay for a fraction of face value.

Exactly,
stampgals and others reasoning is sound,
using the escape device of BeeSee's Tuvalu......

DEALERS DISCHARGED
"Stamp Collecting" (UK) reports that at the Central Criminal Court,
London, Julian Clive, aged 60, and his son, Michael Clive aged 33,
both stamp dealers trading as Southern Stamp Service Ltd., were, at
the direction of the judge, discharged on December 6.
Judge King-Hamilton addressing the jury, said that, in his view, there
was no case to answer and he accordingly stopped the proceedings
and ordered the release of the Clives who had been charged with
conspiring, together with George Yussuf Koro and Bruce Conde
(neither of whom appeared, both living abroad), and others unknown,
to cheat and defraud such persons as might be induced to buy certain
labels by falsely representing that they were genuine postage stamps
genuinely issued by the Kingdom of Yemen, operating a genuine
postal system. Both defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The case remains for each individual, are these stamps or labels?
There's no question in my mind,
I collect them, because they exist but do not actively seek them.
There is very rarely a topical collection that does not use a "dune" label" here or there.

They are not postage stamps. Just plain stamps whose value only ever was in the eye of the beholder.

Oh, and in Tuvalu's case, collectors did not bite - that is why the agents bit the dust.

I am in Blangoland and I post 3 letters to friends in 3 different countries using using Blangoland stamps. If the letters are delivered, they were valid postage stamps.
Edit. CTO remainder stock I view as nothing more than labels, their primary purpose is no longer for postal use. No differnt than a Christmas seal at that point.