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In response to a direct enquiry by a leading Moldovan philatelist, Mr Vladimir Babich, to Mr Pavel Filip, the Minister for Information Technology and Communications, Deputy Minister Jakob Michaela has confirmed this is is unlawful to use postage stamps cut from prepaid postal stationery items (envelopes and postcards) for any postal use.

Accordingly, MoldovaStamps.org warns all collectors who are involved in the production of private Maximum Cards that they should discontinue the use of such stamps right away. Additionally, the FIP Maximaphilately regulations are very clear on this matter. Maximum cards that bear stamps cut from postal stationery are only admissible at exhibition provided that the issuing postal authorities permit this.

You can read the letter from the Deputy Minister here (PDF - Russian Language).

Today I received notification the Posta Moldovei has abandoned its plans for the emission of stamps to commemorate the 2012 European Football Championships.

Apparently, the controlling body, UEFA, were demanding a huge fee from Posta Moldovei for permission to use their emblems. Being unable or unwilling to pay, Posta Moldovei has decided against the emission of the stamps.

The Moldovan Post Office, Posta Moldovei, maintains a list of all the stamps it has emitted from the beginning (1991) up to 2008 at its website page at http://www.posta.md/ro/filatelia/ Here you will find much useful information about each stamp emission. However, it should be noted that in nearly every case, the stamp images displayed are quite incorrect. The colours being displayed have little or no resemblance to the physical, printed stamp. Read More...

Yesterday, I received a letter from Posta Moldovei which confirms that Moldovan postage stamps are protected by copyright but that it is perfectly permissible to publish images of them on websites and in printed materials, in their original form. The copyright protection simply exists to prevent forgeries, alterations and other unauthorized reproduction of the stamps.

This is certainly a big relief for me and, I'm sure, for all other publishers of Moldovan stamp images. This also firmly closes any debates on Wikipedia/Wikimedia regarding the right to publish images of the stamps. Thanks to Posta Moldovei for clarifying this matter.

If MoldovaStamps.org becomes aware of the existence of such material, their images will be published on this website but they will be classified as "Fake Official FDCs" with no philatelic value. This will be done in an effort to discourage the manufacture and sale of such material and to warn collectors not to take these into their collections.

Many thanks to Posta Moldovei for their co-operation in this matter.

MoldovaStamps.org has now performed a complete review of all its listings with a view to identifying any examples of the material described above and has clearly indicated the true nature of such material.

Finally, MoldovaStamps.org encourages all stamp dealers to prepare their own private FDCs. The practice enriches the field of Moldovan Philately by introducing new and creative materials. However, MoldovaStamps.org will only consider such material to be legitimate provided that the envelope designs are not unauthorized, fake reproductions of the official FDC cachets, which mislead collectors into believing that the items are official emissions of the Moldova Post Office.

Examples of privately made FDCs which use reproduced copies of the official FDC envelopes. The Moldovan Post Office did not emit the block and booklet pane illustrated above on FDCs.

Up until now, MoldovaStamps.org has believed that all postage stamps produced by Moldova were free from copyright protection and that the designs were in the public domain, thus permitting scanned images of those stamps to be displayed on websites and in catalogues, without the need for any special permission.

This belief was based on the Wikipedia "permissions" tag that has been applied to images of Moldovan postage stamps displayed on the various Wiki website. You can view the permissions tag here. Additionally, in 2009, there had been an image deletion request process regarding this matter. You can view the details here. The deletion request was rejected with specific references to Article 7.1b of the Moldovan Law ON COPYRIGHT AND NEIGHBOURING RIGHTS no. 293-XIII of November 23, 1994 (Amended by Law no. 1268-XV, of July 25, 2002. Another deletion request was opened on Wikimedia just in the past few weeks, where this matter was discussed in great detail. This process also made reference to a recent revision in Moldovan Law, specifically, Decree No. 1254 of the Government of Republic of Moldova dated November 10, 2008, which appears to classify postage stamps as being "signs of payment", thus firmly establishing that postage stamps do, indeed, fall under the provisions of Article 7.1b of the in the Law ON COPYRIGHT AND NEIGHBOURING RIGHTS no. 293-XIII and are therefore not protected by copyright. This secondary deletion request was also rejected.

Now it has been brought to my attention that Posta Moldovei is disputing that Article 7.1b relates to postage stamps and that postage stamps are, in fact, protected by copyright. Click here to see an image of the 1999 "Pushkin" stamp and scroll down to the section "Permission". Observe the footnote: "Based on emails from Poşta Moldovei, the postal agency of Moldova, postal stamps are granted copyright protection and does not fall under Art 7. 1.b"

The implications of this are very worrying, not only from the perspective of MoldovaStamps.org but also for any stamp dealer or catalogue publisher who has ever published images of Moldovan postage stamps on the internet or in printed form. It would appear that we are all in breach of copyright law and that we are all exposed to the possibility of legal action. If this is true, then this would certainly spell the end of Moldovan Philately!

I have requested clarification of this matter in an article on Wikipedia. I will also be sending a communication to Posta Moldovei requesting urgent clarification of their position. Any new information I receive will be posted here immediately.

In 2007, the Moldovan Post Office published a report into its findings in a special internal investigation into the production of the tariff stamps. This investigation was requested by Mr Vladimir Babich following the publication of a monograph titled "Poşta Moldovei”: ştampile tarifare de inflaţie 1991-1993" authored by Ş. Ciobanu, C. Ciobanu and M. Godorozea in Chişinău in 2005. The details of this report can be read here.

Poşta Moldovei have clearly stated that they wish this report to be published by the philatelic press. The complete report (in Russian) can be downloaded here in PDF format.

Complaints About Reproduction Official FDCs Lead to a Change in the Website's Listing Policy.

In Moldova, it is permitted to bring an envelope or postcard, bearing genuine postage stamps, to the Post Office and have the envelope or postcard cancelled with the official First Day cancellation. This permits the local stamp dealers to create "private" but perfectly legitimate First Day Covers and Maximum Cards. The website catalogue will attempt to list all known examples of these items. The "private" FDCs and MCs are clearly indicated and are categorized separately from the "official" emissions of the Moldovan Post Office.

However, it has been brought to my attention that some dealers are making fake reproductions of the official FDC envelopes and then having them cancelled with the official First Day postmark by unwitting workers at the Post Office. The dealers are then selling these items as if they were official emissions of the Post Office, whereas in truth, they are privately made.

Example of a privately made FDC which uses a reproduced copy of the official FDC envelope. The Moldovan Post Office did not emit the block illustrated above on a FDC.

MoldovaStamps.org wishes to discourage and denounce this practice for two main reasons: 1. Collectors are being misled into believing that the material was officially emitted by the Moldovan Post Office, which devalues and degrades the field of Moldovan Philately and 2. Whereas the postage stamps and cancellations emitted by the Moldovan Post Office may be copyright-free and in the public domain, the First Day Cover envelopes are protected by copyright under Moldovan and international law. Any unauthorized reproduction of those envelopes is in violation of those laws and is illegal.

MoldovaStamps.org admits that it has erroneously included some of the material described above in its listings as "private" First Day Covers (with legitimacy implied). MoldovaStamps.org now commits to perform a complete review of all its listings with a view to identifying any examples of the material described above and to clearly indicate the true nature of such material.

Unlike other stamp catalogue publishers, MoldovaStamps.org has a policy of listing all philatelic materials, even if that material is bogus, forged, fake or otherwise and to clearly indicate the nature of the items. This is done in the hope that collectors will be properly informed. On this basis, MoldovaStamps.org will continue to list the fake official FDCs mentioned above, but will reclassify them to indicate their true nature.

It has also been known for stamp dealers in Moldova to acquire surplus, officially emitted FDC envelopes which have not had any stamps or cancellations applied to them, and then to make private FDCs from these. This is a grey area. The envelopes are official, the stamps and cancellations are genuine but the Moldovan Post Office never emitted the cover officially. In these rare cases, special notes will be provided.

Finally, MoldovaStamps.org encourages all stamp dealers to  prepare their own private FDCs. The practice enriches the field of Moldovan Philately by introducing new and creative materials. However, MoldovaStamps.org will only consider such material to be legitimate provided that the following three conditions are met:

1. The envelope has genuine Moldovan postage stamp(s) affixed
2. The stamps(s) are cancelled using the official First Day postmark as designed by Moldovan Post Office
3. The envelope is not a fake reproduction of the official FDC envelope designed by the Moldovan Post Office and does not have the word "Official" printed thereon (in any language).

Click here to read the MoldovaStamps.org Policies document.

Leading Moldovan Stamp Dealers Provides New Issues Information.

Regrettably, I have been unsuccessful in getting any technical co-operation from Posta Moldovei regarding new issues or, indeed, any other matters, even though their own website does not list any information beyond 2008.

However, I am pleased to announce that Gheorghe Plugaru of the leading dealers, Moldphila.com has kindly allowed me copy the relevant details from his excellent website. I have created the new issues page here and will update my listings as soon as any new information becomes available.

Many Updates and Additions Added to FDC and Maxi-Card Listings.

Thanks to the generous assistance of Andy van Tilburg in the Netherlands, I have been able to make substantial updates and additions to many of the FDC and Maxi-Card listings throughout the website. Andy has provided me with corrected size and printing quantities details as well as many high-resolutions scans for both officially issued items and privately-produced material.

Collector in Holland Provides Information About Proof Type for the First Emission.

Many thanks to Andy van Tilburg in Holland for providing me with scanned images and information relating to proofs for the very first emission of Moldovan stamps in 1991.

Andy has also supplied me with scans for many other emissions and I will publish all of this information over the coming days.

Colour error proof for No.3. Click the image for more information.

Attempting to Create a Page Containing Profile Information for the Major Moldovan Stamp Designers.

Rather than simply mentioning the names of the various designers associated, I would like to create a page that profiles the designers. However, information is proving to be very hard to find. You can view my preliminary efforts here.

As you can see, I have much work to do in this regard. If anyone has any information about any of these people, please pass it along to me.

The Site is Now Apture Enhanced to Allow Wikipedia Links.

Much of the postal material emitted by Moldova refers to people, places and events that will be unfamiliar to non-Moldovans (like me). Serious collectors will certainly want to learn more about these subjects and will expect a good catalogue to have some background information.

Rather than my attempting to clog my neatly designed pages with lots of text, I have decided that Wikipedia has all the information required, so a link to their articles would be an ideal solution.

A super, free tools from Apture allows me to link any selected text to Wikipedia articles and to have those links open in a neat little pop-up window, without leaving this site.

As a demonstration, click the little book icon in front of the word Moldova and see how the information appears. I think this is a very useful tool anyone wanting to create highly-referenced web resources.

I have already added the Wikipedia links for all the Envelopes and Postcards pages. I am now starting work on the Postage Stamps pages. Expect to find updates on a regular basis.

UPDATE November 12, 2011

I have today been informed that Apture was acquired by Google and that they will discontinue their services from December 20, 2011. The Apture functionality has now been removed from MoldovaStamps.org.

Google Custom Search Facility Allows Searching by Catalogue Number or Theme.

Thanks to those nice people at Google, I have just added a new custom search facility to the site. Now it is possible to search for any material by catalogue number, theme, description or year of emission. Just click the "Search" menu option on the left. I hope you find it useful.

Listings for Envelopes & Postcards Updated to 2011.

Today I have completed the listings for all pre-paid enveloped and postcards, right up to 2001. I have also split the listing index between the various emission years so that the pages will load more quickly and so that materials may be located more easily.

Extremely High-Resolution Stamp Images Provided Are Provided by the UPU WNS Service.

The UPU WNS Service attempts to list every officially emitted postage stamp for its member countries. The service was launched in an effort to reduce faking and commenced in 2002. Moldovan stamps are listed for the years 2006 to 2010.

The WNS site features exceptionally high-resolution scans for each stamp. I have integrated this web site with their service. On any of my pages, where you see this icon, you may click the stamp image an see the super-high-resolution version supplied by WNS.

All Postage Stamps Emissions from 2008 to 2011 Are Now Online.

After my long absence, I have taken a considerable amount of time to update all the postage stamps listings to include all emissions from 2008 to 2011.

I am now committed to maintaining these lists on a regular basis.

The MoldovaStamps Site Has Been Re-Designed and Re-Launched.

Due to personal and business commitments, I had to discontinue support and development of the MoldovaStamps site early in 2007. Now I'm delighted to announce the site's return, with a complete re-design and lots of new listings, right up to 2011.

Over the coming weeks and months, I plan to carefully review all my research materials and hopefully add some more rare and unusual items. I also need to bring all the postal stationery listings up to date.

In the meantime, please enjoy the new site and if you have any comments, questions or feedback, I am always happy to hear from you. You can contact me at info@moldovastamps.org

The site has been split into two. One site for Moldova and one for PMR.

Regrettably, Moldova and PMR, as states, simply do not get on. This is a fact of life and I cannot ignore it any more. Whilst this site has no political agenda, nor does it take sides in the dispute between these states, I have come to the conclusion that I will never receive any official approval or technical assistance from the postal authorities of either administration whilst the two catalogues are joined under the single address www.moldovastamps.org.

Therefore I have decided to split the listings into two. Yesterday I launched www.pmrstamps.org. Today I have removed all references to PMR from the MoldovaStamps catalogue. But I will link the two sites using banner adverts.

Vast quantities of Gagauzia bogus material printed in 2006 makes detailed listings impractical.

When first I decided to create this catalogue, my plan was to include all the bogus material inscribed "Gagauzia". This was in an effort to assist unwary collectors to identify what was genuine material and what was bogus.

During 2006 I was offered simply vast quantities of Gagauzia material. It seemed that every week a new "issue" would appear. I needed to acquire this material for this catalogue and the costs were becoming astronomical... and all of it completely worthless !

I began to wonder if much of this very cheap and nasty stuff was being produced just for me. In the middle of the year I decided to cease the purchase of any new material. I have also decided not to attempt to scan and list any more of this rubbish. There is zero control over it's production and any attempt to produce a comprehensive listing would be futile.

I have decided to radically simplify the Gagauzia section of the catalogue. I will retain the listings of the early overprints and the early "definitive" types, but all the later and current material will not be listed, except for a single page including some sample scans.

My catalogue update plans for the coming 12 months:

The Moldova 2006 catalogue update was relatively simple, however, much work remains to be done on the Moldovan "Tariff" stamps listings. Here is my plan:

• Moldova - Tariff stamps updates

• Moldova - Imperfs and Errors updates

• Moldova - Special cancellations

Lack of funds forces cancellation of the Moldovan National Stamp Exhibition.

The national exhibition was due to take place in Chişinău in August 2006. I have been informed by my friends there that this had to be cancelled due to lack of funds.

The economic situation in Moldova appears to be getting worse. The country in in desperate need of foreign capital investment. There are currently no plans to hold another exhibition in the near future. I will keep you informed with any new developments.

All new issues for 2006 for Moldova are now online.

Better late then never. All new issues for Moldova for 2006 are now available to view online. I have updated the catalogues for stamps, minisheets, FDC's, prepaid envelopes and postcards.

I don't have access to the latest Scott numbers just yet, but I'll be adding them as the information becomes available.

Enjoy !

Away for more then 10 months - but now I'm back !

My apologies for my long absence. 2006 has been a hectic year for me with domestic and work changes. At last I seem t have gotten on top of things and I'll have some time to make much needed updates to the site. Here's hoping anyway !

One of the most complex and mysterious areas of Moldovan philately is the tariff stamp issues of 1992/93. Click here for the index.

At last I have completed Phase 1 of the tariff stamps list. The goal of Phase 1 was to create a complete and comprehensive list of all the official tariff stamps issued by Moldova in 1992 and 1993.

Every issue is now scanned and listed by catalogue number/issue date and background information is supplied.

Phase 2 will involve the cross-referencing of all the tariff stamp values to the individual town names and listing all the hundreds of forged and fake varieties in clear tabular form. So far I have only managed to produce these lists up to the town of Bender, but I hope the have all the remaining towns completed by the end of January 2006. As I complete each town listing, I will publish the files, so check back frequently for updates.

The MoldovaStamps catalogue now includes the first listings for Maximum Cards (Cartes Maximes).

We have never seen a listing for Moldovan Maximum Cards in any catalogue. Fortunately, we have recently received what we understand to be a complete collection of this highly rare items and we are delighted to be able to include them now in the main body of our catalogue listings. The MC's are few in number, too few to justify a dedicated section.

There is no official information from the Moldovan Post regarding these items, so it is possible that we have missed something. Please contact us if you have more information.

We have also included the fake MC's for the 1992 WWF "Snakes" issue and it looks like there were made by the same private individuals who produced the fake FDC's for this issue.

For those collectors only interested in FDC's, our dedicated FDC catalogue listings are now online.

We have taken the main "year" listings for Moldova and stripped out everything expect the FDC links.

Now you can locate the exact item you need or browse through the lists without being distracted by other formats.

At last...the main body of this web site has now been completed...the catalogue for Moldova stamps from 1991 to date. Click here for the main index.

After years of work, researching, collecting, categorising and scanning, I am, at last, delighted to announce that the main catalogue for Moldova stamp issues from 1991 to date is now completed and online.

I have taken great care to ensure the completeness, accuracy and ease of navigation of this catalogue. It is the first definitive English-language web-based catalogue which attempts to list every item of postal material issued by Moldova since her independence in 1991.

I now have complete (of 99% complete), colour scans and technical information for the following:

• Stamps
• Souvenir Sheets
• Booklets & Booklet Panes
• Minisheets (sheetlets)
• FDC's
• Varieties, Errors, Proofs, Imperforates & Fakes

Work is progressing on the postal stationery area and is expected to be completed by the end of October 2005.

An invitation has been received from the Moldovan Stamp Society to produce the MoldovaStamps catalogue in printed form.

During my recent visit to Moldova, the stamp society has invited me to convert the MoldovsStamps web site into book format.

It was suggested that one draft copy be produced initially and entered into the national stamp exhibition in August 2006.

Public reaction to the printed catalogue could then be gauged and a decision could be made whether or not to seek a publisher.

I will keep you updated on the future developments of this idea.