Drug cheat creates Olympic rarity

What could prove to be one of the major Olympic rarities of all time has been caused by the Greek Post Office (ELTA) issuing an 'instant' stamp for the bronze medal winning weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis that had to be withdrawn within days after Sampanis failed two drugs tests.
Sampanis won his medal in the 62kg weight class on Monday, August 16, 2004 and the digitally printed stamps were on sale in a few post offices from August 17. But Sampanis later failed two drug tests and on Sunday, August 22 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped him of his medal.
Later that Sunday ELTA sent a memo to all post offices ordering that all remaining Sampanis stamps were to be taken off sale nationally, audited, and immediately returned to its central office on Monday.
Five Greek cities were involved in this digital print campaign and the quantities (of A4 sheets) printed the day after the medal was won were - Athens: 750; Thessaloniki: 500; Volos: 400; Patrai: 400; and Herakleion: 500. They were printed and issued in PO sheetlets of 20 - i.e. two 'A5' sheetlets of 10 separated by roulette type serrations, making a standard A4-sized paper sheet.
This legally issued stamp was freely on sale at face value for four working days at post offices across Greece and it will certainly be listed and priced in all stamp catalogues, and a space will be allowed for it in all printed albums worldwide. Demand for it is likely to heavily increase from mid-2005 when catalogues are issued and album supplements mailed to thousands of collectors globally.High price expected
It's believed the Sampanis stamp could soon be the second (or even first) highest priced Greek issue of the past 50 years. Right now the priciest distinction is held by the 1954 purple Ancient Art top value that, even with a high million print run, is catalogued at €270.
It's unclear exactly how many 65c Sampanis stamps were sold but ELTA spokesperson Kyriakos Vlastarakos was quoted in the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini stating that only 136,000 Sampanis stamps had been printed. A number of sources in Greece told STAMP MAGAZINE that only 30,000 to 40,000 of these were sold before their withdrawal. Nearly all those sold were to members of the public and tourists in sheetlets of 10 and 20. Many were used on mail and postcards as the 65c rate covered airpost worldwide so they will be largely lost forever to philately.
In 1940 Greece issued a set of National Youth stamps and only allowed them to be on sale for postage use for three days, but retained sets on sale at Post Offices for another six months for collectors. Despite the length of sale of this set, the current catalogue price is €1,485. The Sampanis issue on sale for four days is a valid comparison. It appears to have less copies issued than any stamp from Greece since that 1940 Youth issue.
A contact within the Greek PO confirmed to STAMP MAGAZINE that there were only small routine sales of this stamp to post offices with nothing larger or more unusual than for the other 16 medal winning stamps. It's believed that stamp dealers in Greece have either sold whatever stock they held for well over face value, assuming ELTA would back down and issue the stamps again, and the price would normalise or they are sitting on stocks.Rare first day covers
First day covers of the Sampanis issue are very scarce. Greece colour catalogue producer, and leading dealer A. Karamitzos explained: 'These FDCs are really very rare. Maybe only a few hundred exist, possibly less. I have one in my current auction with a starting price of €150'. The stamps have been selling on the web at around £25 each but with ELTA not releasing more it's likely that price will double or treble.
ELTA has about 13,000 standing order customers on its books and planned to mail each of these a sheetlet of 10 at face value as a reward for being loyal customers. However, after taking two sets of legal advice ELTA was strongly advised that these stamps can't be mailed out as the IOC would be likely to take punitive legal action due to its zero tolerance policy on identified drug cheats.
Also, as these stamps have the Olympic Ring symbols on them the IOC needs to approve all such stamp issues. So, it's likely that ELTA will not be mailing any more of the Sampanis stamps out to existing customers.
With 13,000 regular collectors of every Greece new issue all needing at least one copy of the Sampanis stamp and the Olympics being one of the most collected thematics there is clearly going to be a huge demand for this issue.