Karachay-Cherkessia

Karachay-Cherkessia, or Карачаево-Черкесия, is a republic of the Russian Federation. It is in the Caucasus region on the Black Sea.

While it is quite real, it does not and never issued its own stamps; the stamps supposedly being issued by it are not genuine. Beginning in the early 1990s, old Soviet stamps were surcharged with РЕСПУБЛИКА / КАРАЧАЕВО / ЧЕРКЕСИЯ or РЕСПУБЛИКА / ЧЕРКЕСИЯ. Various topical sheetlets and suchlike followed, inscribed Republic of Karachaevo-Cherkesia, Karachaevo-Cherkesia, Karachaevo-Cherkasia, or bilingually with КАРАЧАЕВО-ЧЕРКЕСИЯ / Carachaevo-Cherkesia. We await more variations as new counterfeiters join the party.  File:Karachay birds.jpg|From the (bogus) birds surcharges. File:Karachay T rex.jpg|From the bogus Tyrannosaurus rex sheetlet, because who doesn't want a stamp with a T. rex claw? I hope it's a claw, anyway. 

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