Greece Scarce Leonidas Sampanis Withdrawn Olympic Games Weightlifter Stamps UM / MNH Block Of 4 Griechenland grecques

PLEASE SEE THE SCAN

This is for a block of 4 unmounted mint - mint never hinged - Leonidas Sampanis scarce withdrawn 65 cent stamps from the Greek 2004 Olympics medal winners series.

Now, in case you do not know this, Leonidas Sampanis won the Olympic Bronze Medal in the 62kg weightlifting category on the 16th of August 2004. This stamp was issued in his honour on the 17th of August but was withdrawn on the 23rd August when Leonidas was disqualified due to failing a drug test. So, this stamp was only on sale for a few days. But, and it gets better (or worse - depending on whether you have any or not) the initial issue, which was issued on the day after he ´won´ the medal, was printed digitally by the regional main Post Office of each City where Olympics events were held.

The main printing, by the offset method, was 3 or 4 days later so stamps from this offset printing were on sale for an even shorter period of time.

THE SHEET OFFERED HERE IS FROM THE OFFSET PRINTING.

No wonder that it is thought in many quarters that this will prove to be quite a scarce stamp. I have seen a major Australian dealer advertising a single unmounted mint stamp for Australia dollars 60.00, that is £24.67. I have seen it suggested that it could be fetching 2 or 3 times as much when collectors realise that this one stamp is missing from their collections. That could be quite soon as I understand that the editors of some of the major philatelic publications of the world are alert to the situation of this stamp and may be reporting on it in their forthcoming issues. Remember, this was a legally issued stamp but it was on sale for such a short time. Obviously, I do not know what it will be worth in 6 weeks, 6 months or six years time but, looking at the situation logically, it is likely to go up rather than down!

In total there were originally 17 Greek medal winners, including Leonidas Sampanis, so 17 stamps were issued showing the delighted medal winners but there are now only 16 different stamps on sale by the Greek authorities. This Leonidas Sampanis stamp is the one that is missing but many collectors do not even know that it exists!

The stamps are produced in the format of two panes of 10 (total 20 stamps) on an A4 size sheet with a vertical perforation down the middle dividing the sheet into two A5 sheets containing 10 stamps each. I might have a single sheet of 10 or a double sheet of 20 available so if you wish for one, please check my Delcampe listings and if it is not there please ask and if I do have one still available I will list it on Delcampe.

The offset printed sheets can be easily distinguished from the digital printed sheets because the digitally printed sheets have an emblem printed in the bottom right corner of each sheet which uniquely identifies the location. For example, Athens shows the Acropolis, Thessaloniki shows the White Tower etc., The offset printed sheets do not show an emblem. I understand that there is a clearer printing on the offset sheets and a small variation in the colours so it should be possible to identify the printing method used on individual stamps.

I think this stamp might have a long way to go,

Thank you for your interest in my item.

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