Autonomous Albanian Republic of Korçë

Postage Stamps

Autonomous Albanian Republic of Korçë - issue of 1917-18.
    According to Wikipedia:

    The Autonomous Albanian Republic of Korçë (Albanian: Republika Autonome Shqipëtare e Korçës) was an autonomous state established in 1916, by the local French forces, after the city of Korçë fell under their control, during World War I and lasted till 1920.

    Due to developments in the Macedonian Front of World War I the city of Korçë came under French control (1916–20). During this time 14 representatives of Korçë and French Colonel Descoins signed a protocol that proclaimed the Autonomous Albanian Republic of Korçë under the military protection of the French army and with Themistokli Gërmenji as Prefect of Police.

    The new authorities introduced Albanian and French as the official language and replaced Greek schools with Albanian ones, which were forbidden during the Greek administration of the city. There was also a French school in Korçë and one of its many students was Enver Hoxha, who was an apprentice (1927—1930) and then teacher (1937—1939) there. He would later become the First Secretary of the Albanian Party of Labour, serving from 1941 until his death in 1985.
There were a few stamp issues produced by the Republic, which were widely forged. This is from the second typo. & litho. bi-color issue of 1917-1918, inscribed KORÇÊ / REPUBLIKA / SHQIPÊTARE ("Korce / Republic" of "Albania").
    According to Varro Tyler (Focus on Forgeries - Linn's Stamp News - 2000)

    Summarizing...
    • Plating to the 12 types is the gold standard.
    • There are some 50 forgeries that have been found (wow! )
    • The eagle is surrounded by small dots of color that are constant for each of the twelve types in the genuines. The most common counterfeits are clearly printed, and are not surrounded by dots around the eagle.
    • The tips of the eagles feathers are often broken in the genuines, while in the common counterfeits, the eagle wing tips are not broken.
    • Count the horizontal framelines between the thick outer and inner framelines. The genuines can vary with 5,6,or 7 frame lines, while the common forgeries have 6 framelines.
    • The genuine lowest denomination "1 CTM" is printed as "1 CTS" in the common forgery.
Based on this, and the fact that this block was printed as a pane of 10 stamps, I am assuming this is one of the various forgeries.

This is the 2c value, red brown & green, listed as Scott #63. It is a block (pane) of 10 stamps, uncancelled, F/VF, no gum.

Approximate Image Size: 24 x 30 mm.


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After 35+ years I decided to retire from being an active Cinderella Stamp dealer. Most of my working inventory plus backup stock was sold at public auction. However, I have retained some material that I will be offering for sale. In addition, I have some "new" material that was mixed into lots I have bought for my own collections. I will be listing some of the material in my eBay store at fixed prices. I will also be offering some material at auction, either as single items or mixed lots. There will be many bargains available. There will be large and small lots, some containing similar material, some containing a random mixture, and some containing only one or a few items. The condition will be mixed, but none of the lots will be just accumulations of damaged or faulty stamps (unless specifically listed as such).


Items in stockpage or larger lots may be removed and repackaged into glassines to save on shipping costs.

A Note about Poster Stamps and Gum: Because many poster stamp collectors are primarily interested in the image on the stamp, the absence or presence of gum on the back is of little concern. If no mention of gum is made, then there may or may not be gum present. If you are only interested in poster stamps with original gum, please inquire before bidding. Actual condition issues (that are not apparent from the scan) WILL be described.

A Note about "Stock Images": Occasionally I will have more than one example of an item in inventory. Rather than scan each one individually, I may use the same image for multiple examples of the item. If that is the case, the item supplied will be in substantially the same, or better, condition than the image. Any such items will have the words: "STOCK IMAGE" at the end of the description.


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