Design errors

From astronomy to geography

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Missing country ! Austria, between Germany and Italy, was completely forgotten ! (ITALY - 2001)


Forgotten Gazah territory. Stamp issued to show the Arab solidarity against the expansion of Israel into occupied territories. But one of these territories, the territory of Gazah, was represented on this stamp as belonging to Israel ! (IRAQ - 1970)


Greece as a continent Greece became a whole continent. But where is the rest of Europe ? (GREECE - 1956)


Wrong map If this map is correct the Persian Gulf will reach till the Mediterranean sea. (MONGOLIA - )


Wrong map On the map the Istrian province of Yugoslavia was wrongly annexed by Italy. (ITALY - 1954)


Wrong map The Agalega islands were wrongly added to the Sechelles. This was corrected, together with a better position of the Aldabra-islands. (SEYCHELLES - 1980)


Wrong map A first stamp showed a map of the islands with the very important 180° longitude line unlabelled. This was corrected two years later. (FIJI - 1938)


Wrong map A longitude of 40°30 North would have positioned the Guernsey island near Madrid. A corrected stamp was issued with the correct position 49°30N. (GUERNSEY - 1969)


Incorrect position. On the blue stamp the small islands Toku and Fonulei were wrongly depicted near Vava'u. The blue stamp shows their correct position. (TONGA - 1953)


Wrong map Stamp issued for the entrance of 10 new countriesinto the European Union. Cyprus appears to have been relocated (and takes the place of the island of Crete. Some borders are missing (Norway/Sweden ...) (IRELAND - 2002)


Two errors Stamp showing a real game between Capablanca and Lasker, played in New York in 1924. However the black bishop should be on KN1, not on KB1. Furthermore, the landmasses on the globe in the background have no relation to actual contours. (YUGOSLAVIA - 1950)


Wrong map Hopefully the participants of this sailing contest did not navigate according to this map : where Rijeka is situated on the block, you will in fact find the town of Opatija. Rijeka is located almost in the Eastern corner of this map. (YUGOSLAVIA - 1986)


Wrong map On the map, Nova Scotia appears to be attached to Gaspé Peninsula, New Foundland is badly misshaped, and Paris has been moved to the mouth of the Seine. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1927)


Wrong map Greenland has completely disappeared from the face of the earth (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1931)


Wrong map ? Correct stamp for Argentina, as they claim the Falkland Islands, and of course wrong for Great Britain. (ARGENTINA - )


Wrong globe. Impossible to recognise the continents on this globe, they only exist in the imagination of the designer. (AUSTRIA - 1955)


Hidden map The clouds and rocks are disposed to show the map of Bohemia, before it was invaded by the Nazis. The engraver was sent to a concentration camp, and a new stamp was issued. (BOHEMIA - 1939)


Potential conflict Both Bolivia and Paraguay claimed the Chaco-region. Some years after those stamps were issued, they tried to solve the conflict by arms. (BOLIVIA - 1935)


Wrong map Taiwan is pictured at least 10 times bigger as mainland China. (TAIWAN - 1959)


Inverted map Correct and mirrored map of the Dominican Island (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - 1900)


Wrong map The Persian Gulf has completely disappeared on this stamp (EGYPT - 1954)


Wrong map On the stamp, the Nothern exit of the Suez canal touches Lake Manzala. In fact, the canal passis directly into the Mediterranean. (EGYPT - 1957)


Wrong borders Non correct borders on the colored part of the map. Was corrected. (ROMANIA - 1993)


Forgotten countries. England and Ireland seem to have been forgotten on this map. (GABON - 1974)


Upside down. This map was pictured upside down, with the nord at the bottom of the design. (GERMANY - 1969)


Territory extension. Belice (British Honduras) has disappeared, and has been integrated in Guatemala. A correct stamp, however, was issued some years before. (GUATEMALA - 1948)


Wrong map. Pink stamp issued to commemorate the visit of the Italian president to Peru. A wrong map was issued by the designer. To avoid diplomatic incidents, a new grey stamp with corrected map was issued. Some stamps, however, were already in circulation. This stamp, unfortunately for me, is a forgery. (ITALY - 1961)


Wrong map. Gotha, Vienna, Rome and Madrid are misplaced on this map. (MONACO - 1964)


Partial correction. Cape Bauld was wrongly located on the Nord of Cape Norman, instead of South of it. The error was corrected but another error 'Straits of Belle Isle' instead of 'Strait of Belle Isle' was forgotten. (NEWFOUNDLAND - 1928)


Wrong location The location 166°E was wrongly shown as 166°E. (NEW HEBRIDES - )


Partial correction. The wrong position 21°10S was corrected in 20°10S. But 57°30E was wrong too, and was surprisingly not corrected in 57°10E (MAURITIUS - 1950)


Wrong country The winner of a golden medal, pictured on this stamp, was a Norwegian from Oslo. He has no direct link with … STOCKHOLM ! (PARAGUAY - 1972)


Wrong map Map of the Antarctica, with missplaced longitudes 110W and 120W (ARGENTINA - )


Reversed map. The map in the circle is reversed. Wheb the stamp itself is reversed, the map appears correctly. (HUNGARY - )


Wrong landscape The wrong skyline of the mountains was corrected by issuing a new stamp. (SWITZERLAND - 1983)


Missing island The island of Madagascar is missing (TOGO - )


Name inversion Inversion of the names of Bosnia Herzegovina and Croatia (ALBANIA - 2011)


Diplomatic incident Diplomatic iincident between Turkey and Armenia, when Armenia issued a stamp with mount Ararat. This mount is indeeed located in Turkey.. (ARMENIA - 1920)


Other territory The islands right below do not belong to the Bahamas, but to the Turks and Caicos islands (BAHAMAS - 1976)


Wrong map Jamaica was brought into the picture where San Domingo, a much bigger island ought to be. (BARBADOS - 1969)


Annexation The red color is covering more than the half of Finland (RUSSIA - 1927)


Political statement It is obvioous that the country that issued yhis stamp did not recognize the state Israël. (YEMEN - 1960)


Missing countries Greenland and Iceland are missing on this stamp.gr (ITALY - 1992)


Missing countries Greenland and Iceland were forgotten. (ITALY - 1953 ?)


Missing border Missing border between the Czec Republic and Slovakia, independent countries since 1992. (MOLDOVA - 1999)


Wrong position on map The location of the city of Perdasdefogu is not correct (ITALY - 2006)


Wrong place Flensburg is situated in SCHLESWIG. Correct on stamp, but the FDC says put it in HOLSTEIN. (GERMANY - 1966)


Wrong map The map includes a territory between the rivers Orange and Molopo that belongs to the Republic of South Africa (BOTSWANA - 1975)


Vaster than reality ! Some of the territories coloured in red did not belong to the British Empire. (CANADA - 1898)


Wrong map The map showed on this stamp is larger than the one designed by Thompson, when he discovered those territories. (CANADA - 1957)


Flag and bay. The shape of the Hudson Bay is not correct (see other stamp). And there is no red line around the white part of the Canadian flag. (CANADA - 1967)


Not the first The Basilea map of 1540 was not the first map of America, The first map was published in an edition of the Polyhistor by Solinus, which Sebastian Munster edited and printed in Basel, 1538. (COSTA RICA - 1977)


Wrong map The places featured on this stamp are not in the right position. (CZECHOSLOVAKIA - 1963)


Three errors Novia Scotia is pictured as an island, and the USA include the Province of Quebec south of the Lawrence River. And in the upper margin,Trans-Atlantic should have been Transatlantic. (DOMINICA - 1977)


Correct It has been claimed that on this stamp the western degree of latitude was 6° instead of 61° : however a careful examination shows that the figure 1 is present, bu superimposed on the line itself. (FALKLAND ISLANDS - 1952)


Forgotten The island of Madagascar was forgotten. (SPAIN - 1952)


Two little details The coast between Ceuta and Tanger is cut for more sharply on the stamp as in rerazlity. The Spanish town La Linea is wrongly shown as one single word. (GIBRALTAR - 1960)


Error in map The cities Mahlanapeng and Mokhotlong have been transposed. (LESOTHO - 1974)


Wrong map This map is not quite correct as the northern part, Ulster, belonged in fact to Great Britain. (IRELAND - 1922)


Wrong map Greece covers a large part of the globe, ans the Peloponesis is featured as an island. (GREECE - )


Annexation On this stamp Egypt gives away to Israel the complete Gazah stroke that belongs to Palestina. (UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC - 1967)


Missing countries Greenland and Iceland are missing on the map in the red heart. (BELGIUM - 1972)


Wrong map The map of Estonia represents the situation before 1945, and includes two landstrips (Petersi and Narva) that now belong to Russia. (ESTONIA - 1991)


Missing continent Antartica was omitted on the two globes (BULGARIA - 1957)


Missing continent and island. Antartica was omitted on both of the globes of this world map. The island of Madagascar has also disappeared. (BULGARIA - 1964)


Forgotten continent Antartica was omitted (CANADA - 1983)


Forgotten islands Madagascar and Iceland were forgotten on this map. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1991)


Missing continent The Antarcic continent has been forgotten. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - )


Out of proportion Iceland is much too big, and too close to Groenland and Europa (ICELAND - 1938)


Errors in map Errors in map : Ottawa located in the USA, Washington at the seaside. Corrected a year later. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1992)


Claimed islands Matthews Island and Hunter Island are claimed by Vanuatu, but belong in fact to New Zealand (VANUATU - )


Missing continent Antartica is missing on this earthglobe. (CHILE - 1950)


Wrong map The Hudson Bay has almost completely disappeared. (VENEZUELA - 1956)


Not correct Madagascar and Iceland were forgotten, and Alaska is much too large. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - )


Not correct The design of the East-coast of America is far from reality. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1928)


Wrong direction According to the map, the sun is rising in the Nord. (TURKEY - 1931)


Wrong country First stamp of Rwanda, showing wrongly a map of Burundi. (RWANDA - 1962)


Missing countries Greenland, Iceland and Antartica are missing. (UNITED KINGDOM - 1957)


Two errors Portugese instead of Portuguese Guinea. And the country name of Ivory Coast is missing. (GHANA - 1959)


Mystery map The map in the background looks real, but does not represent a known location. (FRANCE - 2004)


Wrong border Wrong representation of the border between France and Italy. (FRANCE - 1955)


Missing continent All Europe was forgotten on this globe. (UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC - 1958)


Wrong country The stamp commemorates the stay of Che Guevara in the formal Belgian Congo, but shows a map of Congo-Brazzaville. (CUBA - 2000)


Forgotten country The territory of Israël was included in Jordania (QATAR - 1972)


Missing island The island of Madagascar was forgotten on this map. See correct map on other stamp. (GERMANY - 1991)


Missing island The island of Madagascar was forgotten on this map. See correct map on other stamp. (CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - 1975)


Wrong countryname It is not England, but the United Kingdom which is a member of the European Union. (NETHERLANDS - 1979)


Wrong countryname It is not England, but the United Kingdom which is a member of the European Union. Correct on the other stamp. (NETHERLANDS - 1989)


Missing island The island of Madagascar was forgotten on this map of Africa. (UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC - 1961)


Ownership As in other stamps, Argentina claims the ownership of the Malvinas. From their point of vue of course, this is not an error. (ARGENTINA - 1964)


Distorsion Wrong representation of the Hudson Bay. Compare with the map. (CANADA - 1966)


Wrong position The position of the island Madagascar is not correct, comparing to Africa. (BENIN - 1982)


Wrong border Wrong design of the border between France and Italy. (ALGERIA - 1955)


Wrong map The map of Germany shows only the formal West-Germany. (GREECE - 1992)


Missing island The island of Madagascar was forgotten. (LIBYA - 1990)


Missing island The island of Madagascar was forgotten. (GUINEA - 1962)


Extended map The Republic of Ireland added Ulster (North Ireland)to its territory. (IRELAND - 1922)


Wrong borders Borders of Greece and Italy are not correct (MONACO - 2002)


Too the left The map on the stamp is slightly turned to to left comparing to the exact situation. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 1955)


Missing island The island of Madagascar was forgotten. (CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - )


Missing countries Greenland and Iceland are missing on this stamp. (GERMANY - 2001)


Missing island The island of Madagascar was forgotten, and the Gibraltar strait is much too wide. (ITALY - 1989)


Error in country name Wrong : Afghanestan - Correct : Afghanistan (AFGHANISTAN - 1938)


Wrong number The zero meridian is the Greenwich one, not the meridan of Bogota. (COLOMBIA - 1956)


Missing island The island of Madagascar was forgotten. (CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - )


Wrong location The location of the Von Neumayer Polar Research Station was modified. The stamp still shows the original location, the red arrow the real location. (GERMANY - 1981)


Super sized The USA are 100 times larger than Liberia, but on the stamp their size is almost equal. (LIBERIA - 1976)


Not equal Liberia is much bigger than Sierra Leone, but on the stamp they have almost the same size. (LIBERIA - 1975)


Not the same size Norfolk (left) is 50% smaller than Pitcairn (right), although they have been represented at the same size. Furthermore the map of Norfolk is slightly inclunated. (PITCAIRN ISLANDS - 1961)


Not visible The Florida peninsula shouls be visible on the stamp. (NORFOLK - 1969)


Big continent Australia is almost as large as North America, and the design of Europe could have been better. (GUATEMALA - 1946)


Wrong position The equator does not cross the American continent in Middle-America, but lower. (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - 1940)


Wrong position Wrong : 45°05' - Correct : 46°05'. (FRENCH ANTARTIC TERRITORIES - 1990)


Missing territories The Palestinian territories (Westbank and Gazah) were forgotten. (IRAQ - 1969)


Wrong border The border between France, Germany and Switzerland is completely inaccurate. (BENIN - 1982)


Errors in map Borders of different countries are not correct. (MONACO - 2000)


Poor map Strange shape and missing name of Luxemburg, and badly featured border between Belgium and Germany. (GRENADA GRENADINES - 1992)


Wrong position The latitude line 177°E was not positionned correctly (FIJI - 1966)


Dispute through stamps Argentina claims the Falklands, as they have done before on other stamps. (ARGENTINA - 1982)


Missing island The island of Madagascar is missing (TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO - 1973)


Wrong map The Persian Gulf was omitted on the stamp. (YEMEN - 1954)


Under water The present Russian part of East Prussia (Königsberg) has disappeared under the water of the Baltic sea. (DENMARK - 2013)


Missing province The present Russian part of East Prussia (Königsberg) has disappeared under the water of the Baltic sea. (FRANCE - 2013)


Missing continent Antartica is missing (AUSTRIA - 2012)


Wrong shape and position The shape and the orientation of the Barbuda island are wrong on this old map, the position (17°35 - 61°42) however is correct (ANTIGUA - )


Missing island Combined issue Belgium-Netherland. On the Belgian stamp, the island of Marken is missing, correct on the Dutch stamp. (BELGIUM - 1989)


Wrong order The stamp designer first wrote GAMBIA insead of THE GAMBIA. He corrected his error without changing the afphabetical order of the countries. (SINGAPORE - 1971)


Not an island As North-Korea was not featured, South-Korea seems to be an island. (SOUTH KOREA - 1949)


Too big The size of the island of Jersey is out of proportion (JERSEY - 1969)


Too big The size of the island of Jersey is out of proportion (JERSEY - 1969)


Drifting continents All the continents are on the front side of the globe (BENIN - 1978)


Missing island Cuba is missing on this map (BENIN - 1992)


Rising sea level The Netherlands almost completely under water, maybe like it would be in 2100 ? (TURKEY - 2012)


In the neighbourhood The correct position shown on the stamp is not 17°35 - 61°49 but 17°36 - 61°49 (BARBUDA - )


Inverted map The Norway map in the background is inverted (ANGOLA - 2019)


In another continent Mount Huascarran is not located in Nepal, but in Peru (PALAU - 2002)


Political statement? Modify the name of Israel into Palestina will certainly not promote peace. (UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC - 1961)


Political statement? Israël has been replaced by Palestina (UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC - 3317)


Unknown island Unknown island near to Africa (BULGARIA - 2005)


Wrong direction The direction of the next continent after Africa should have been Asia, before Australia (NORWAY - 1949)


Continental shift All the continent have been located on the same side of the earth (UNITED NATIONS - 1975)


Continental shift All the continents have drifted to the North (SWITZERLAND - 1949)


Missing continent Antartica is missing (COLOMBIA - 1949)


Forgotten Cuba is missing (BRAZIL - 1969)


Too close Europe and America are much too close (BRAZIL - 1975)


Missing continent Antartica is missing (CHILE - 1973)


Missing continent Antartica was forgotten (CANADA - 1964)


On the move Continents on the move (UNITED NATIONS - 1950)


Missing continent Antartica is missing (UNITED NATIONS - 1950)


Missing island Where is Madagascar ? (UNITED NATIONS - 1973)


Oversized Laos is oversized on this globe (LAO - 1962)


Wrong country This railway is not located in Switzerland, but in Germany. (CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - 2000)


Missing continent Antartica is missing (INDIA - 1971)


Missing continent Antartica is missing (INDIA - 1983)