Scott Catalogue
Because I live in Canada, the catalogue I am most familiar with is Scott’s. Accordingly I have used Scott to help me decide whether a stamp is shown on my site or not. If it is listed in Scott, then I will list it. Similarly if it is a variation on a stamp listed in Scott, I will list it. However, I am not listing many stamps that Scott does not list.
Other, European catalogues, such as Michel and Yvert, do list some stamps that Scott does not. In particular, they list more recent stamps from some African countries. I have chosen to wait and see if Scott lists a stamp before listing it in the case of these countries.
Cinderellas and Frauds
Since the year 2000 there has developed an industry of producing stamps that pretend to be from a legitimate country but in fact have not been authorized by the postal authorities of that country. This mostly has affected some African countries and countries of the former USSR.
Many of these fake stamps are easily identifiable by the washed-out colours that they use or by being labelled Tortues, Tartarugas, Reptiles and so on.
My policy is to not encourage the fraudsters by listing their efforts on my website. There are more than enough other places on the web to see these stamps if you are interested in doing so.
Wallpaper
Another recent development is the outsourcing of stamp production to agent companies. Small countries such as Solomon Islands, Sao Tome and Principe, Mozambique and Samoa have done just this. These companies often go on to produce hundreds of new issues each year, most of which have nothing to do with the particular country – trains, movie stars, Elvis, nude paintings, etc. These stamps are referred to as Wallpaper. If Scott lists these stamps, I will reluctantly list them too.
Locals, Breakaways
Stamps that are issued by, or purport to be issued by, local authorities, cities, regions and so on, are not shown on this site.
I do show stamps from breakaway regions that have achieved some degree of legitimacy, such as Turkish Cyprus or Transdniestrian Moldovan republic.
Personalized and Privatized Stamps
There is nothing illegal or fraudulent about personalized or privatized stamps. I have chosen to exclude them unless they are listed by Scott.
Acknowledgements
Thus website was created in 2020-2021 by Rachel Hettinga for Joe Leven using WordPress. It runs on the DreamHost platform. It is a successor to the website Turtle and Tortoise Stamp Collecting created in 2012 by Joe Leven. That in turn was a successor website to the late Don Riemer’s site, A World Wide List of Turtles and Tortoises on Stamps.
Links
Here are some useful links for the collector of turtle and tortoise stamps:
SeaTurtle Postage Stamps of the World
I would like to hear from you with any comments or suggestions.