Wow, VERY nicely done, SForgCa!
This earlier topic scratched the surface, and in it, I mention my primary reference on La Guairá...
Private Ship Letter Posts: Caribbean
...which has been The Private Ship Letter Stamps of the World, Part 1 The Caribbean by Ringstrom and Tester (copyright unknown). About half that book is devoted to the La Guairá/Puerto Cabello/St Thomas issues. It appears to me that you've studied this area in more depth than those authors! Very interesting area of study...
Just to be clear, in your last posting above, showing pairs of stamps, the ones on the left are all genuine, correct? That would be my judgment. Genuine stamps (almost?) universally have horizontal shading lines crossing the frame lines on the right side of the stamps. And, vice versa, forged stamps rarely (never?) have those horizontal lines cross the right side frame lines. If I were you, I would Edit your posting to make this more clear.
I have a nice forgery of the 4 Centavo on its way to me, just to add to my reference collection. It's definitely a forgery, as the horizontal shading lines are crudely done. But, it's now about a week overdue, from Croatia. (sigh) I'll post it if/when it ever gets here.
Thanks!
-Paul
https://stampforgeries.com/
great site ...
Thank you !
This looks like a good place to recycle a SOR posting of mine from January 2018, slightly edited.
From information in my copy of The Private Ship Letter Stamps of the World, Part I: The Caribbean, these were printed by M. Stern (Paris) in 1869, commemorating the Clara Rothe, which was built for the St Thomas-Puerto Rico mail service, named after the daughter of C.A. Rothe, governor of the DWI, 1820-1822. The ship spent a year as a packet boat in the DWI, 1865-1866.
It is presumed that these stamps were prepared for use, but never issued. So, no postally used copies should exist. There were 1/2, 1, 2, and 3 centavo versions printed in black, as well as versions printed in other colors.
This one is DEFINITELY genuine - it has all the hallmarks. So, we have genuine and forged juxtaposed. There are lots of forgeries out there by Spiro and others. These very rarely come up for sale, so I ignored the condition issues (it's hinged). It's a prized item in my Danish Colonies collection.
-Paul
I just acquired Bulgaria #1-5. I will be happy to get an opinion based on scans. Will post something later on today.
These are the stamps I recently purchased. Thought they are genuine, but who knows.
Just received this item, from a seller in Slovakia. In my experience, forgeries of the 1864 La Guairá 4 Centavo are quite uncommon. Here's one:
Paper is dyed way too dark, and the crudeness of the shading lines around the "4" are dead giveaways. Compare to SForgCa's scan of a strip of 4 of the genuine 1864 4 Centavo above.
The black smudges near the top edge of this stamp seem to suggest a cancellation. If so, it is probably a forged cancellation as well. I don't think I've ever seen a stamp in this issue cancelled, either for real or forged.
-Paul
Thank you for this very good work.I searched an articles for Bergedorf stampa and I find (bnf.fr) an old book (1925) by Serrane.
Hello SForgCa.
My main area of interest is Crete so it was a very pleasant surprise to see your post just now.
I have downloaded your pdf and will study it with care.
I'm particularly impressed with the clarity of the images.
Thank you very much indeed for sharing these articles with us.
Was attracted to several lots of GB used abroad in Jamaica, but then I noticed that one of the cancellations looked faked:
When I looked at the rest of the lots, most of the cancellations looked faked:
The heaviest cancellations in both lots have soaked all the way through the stamp paper. Probably all from the same collection, since they were listed together. Both lots sold for less than $5. Since these Caribbean cancellations often sell for more than $100 each, I presume that nobody but the novices were fooled.
Any other opinions?
Thanks,
Paul
Wow. Some undertaking! How long have you been working on this? Thanks for sharing.
re: WW Forgeries, Fakes, Phantoms & Reprints
Wow, VERY nicely done, SForgCa!
This earlier topic scratched the surface, and in it, I mention my primary reference on La Guairá...
Private Ship Letter Posts: Caribbean
...which has been The Private Ship Letter Stamps of the World, Part 1 The Caribbean by Ringstrom and Tester (copyright unknown). About half that book is devoted to the La Guairá/Puerto Cabello/St Thomas issues. It appears to me that you've studied this area in more depth than those authors! Very interesting area of study...
Just to be clear, in your last posting above, showing pairs of stamps, the ones on the left are all genuine, correct? That would be my judgment. Genuine stamps (almost?) universally have horizontal shading lines crossing the frame lines on the right side of the stamps. And, vice versa, forged stamps rarely (never?) have those horizontal lines cross the right side frame lines. If I were you, I would Edit your posting to make this more clear.
I have a nice forgery of the 4 Centavo on its way to me, just to add to my reference collection. It's definitely a forgery, as the horizontal shading lines are crudely done. But, it's now about a week overdue, from Croatia. (sigh) I'll post it if/when it ever gets here.
Thanks!
-Paul
re: WW Forgeries, Fakes, Phantoms & Reprints
https://stampforgeries.com/
great site ...
re: WW Forgeries, Fakes, Phantoms & Reprints
Thank you !
re: WW Forgeries, Fakes, Phantoms & Reprints
This looks like a good place to recycle a SOR posting of mine from January 2018, slightly edited.
From information in my copy of The Private Ship Letter Stamps of the World, Part I: The Caribbean, these were printed by M. Stern (Paris) in 1869, commemorating the Clara Rothe, which was built for the St Thomas-Puerto Rico mail service, named after the daughter of C.A. Rothe, governor of the DWI, 1820-1822. The ship spent a year as a packet boat in the DWI, 1865-1866.
It is presumed that these stamps were prepared for use, but never issued. So, no postally used copies should exist. There were 1/2, 1, 2, and 3 centavo versions printed in black, as well as versions printed in other colors.
This one is DEFINITELY genuine - it has all the hallmarks. So, we have genuine and forged juxtaposed. There are lots of forgeries out there by Spiro and others. These very rarely come up for sale, so I ignored the condition issues (it's hinged). It's a prized item in my Danish Colonies collection.
-Paul
re: WW Forgeries, Fakes, Phantoms & Reprints
I just acquired Bulgaria #1-5. I will be happy to get an opinion based on scans. Will post something later on today.
re: WW Forgeries, Fakes, Phantoms & Reprints
These are the stamps I recently purchased. Thought they are genuine, but who knows.
re: WW Forgeries, Fakes, Phantoms & Reprints
Just received this item, from a seller in Slovakia. In my experience, forgeries of the 1864 La Guairá 4 Centavo are quite uncommon. Here's one:
Paper is dyed way too dark, and the crudeness of the shading lines around the "4" are dead giveaways. Compare to SForgCa's scan of a strip of 4 of the genuine 1864 4 Centavo above.
The black smudges near the top edge of this stamp seem to suggest a cancellation. If so, it is probably a forged cancellation as well. I don't think I've ever seen a stamp in this issue cancelled, either for real or forged.
-Paul
re: WW Forgeries, Fakes, Phantoms & Reprints
Thank you for this very good work.I searched an articles for Bergedorf stampa and I find (bnf.fr) an old book (1925) by Serrane.
re: WW Forgeries, Fakes, Phantoms & Reprints
Hello SForgCa.
My main area of interest is Crete so it was a very pleasant surprise to see your post just now.
I have downloaded your pdf and will study it with care.
I'm particularly impressed with the clarity of the images.
Thank you very much indeed for sharing these articles with us.
re: WW Forgeries, Fakes, Phantoms & Reprints
Was attracted to several lots of GB used abroad in Jamaica, but then I noticed that one of the cancellations looked faked:
When I looked at the rest of the lots, most of the cancellations looked faked:
The heaviest cancellations in both lots have soaked all the way through the stamp paper. Probably all from the same collection, since they were listed together. Both lots sold for less than $5. Since these Caribbean cancellations often sell for more than $100 each, I presume that nobody but the novices were fooled.
Any other opinions?
Thanks,
Paul