Sally,
Where are you finding these forgeries? For real... we hear stories about these things being printed by hostile foreign regimes.
My local utility company saves the envelopes they receive and I pick them up once a month. I used to get the entire envelope but now they only give me the half with the stamp (privacy concerns). The town I live near has a population of less than 500 but the phone company serves several counties. It’s mostly rural Iowa, and so I was very surprised to find so many counterfeits. Guessing people are ordering the cheap stamps off the internet instead of purchasing real ones from our tiny little post office.
Another member of the local stamp club gets the envelopes from a utility company in rural Wisconsin. I haven’t found as many counterfeits in those, and the ones I have found are different than the ones I get locally
I buy boxes of kiloware and go through them. I’ve got an envelope of counterfeits that keeps growing. I don’t find as many as I could as I am going through the definitives pretty quick. I don’t understand why they won’t put a stop to it. I think most are produced by Chinese communist operatives working right here in the U.S.
Thought I would start to post some of the other counterfeits I have found. I am sure there are other counterfeit varieties but sometimes examples with photos help in identification.
Genuine Scott 5342:
and a close up of the bottom die cuts (same as the top die cuts) and microprinting
Counterfeit example:
and close ups of the top and bottom die cuts
Other than the die cut shapes, obvious differences on the counterfeit are: no microprinting in lower left corner of the flag, "FOREVER / USA" is thicker and darker, and the overall picture is coarser and has rough edges.
re: Counterfeit 5342
Sally,
Where are you finding these forgeries? For real... we hear stories about these things being printed by hostile foreign regimes.
re: Counterfeit 5342
My local utility company saves the envelopes they receive and I pick them up once a month. I used to get the entire envelope but now they only give me the half with the stamp (privacy concerns). The town I live near has a population of less than 500 but the phone company serves several counties. It’s mostly rural Iowa, and so I was very surprised to find so many counterfeits. Guessing people are ordering the cheap stamps off the internet instead of purchasing real ones from our tiny little post office.
Another member of the local stamp club gets the envelopes from a utility company in rural Wisconsin. I haven’t found as many counterfeits in those, and the ones I have found are different than the ones I get locally
re: Counterfeit 5342
I buy boxes of kiloware and go through them. I’ve got an envelope of counterfeits that keeps growing. I don’t find as many as I could as I am going through the definitives pretty quick. I don’t understand why they won’t put a stop to it. I think most are produced by Chinese communist operatives working right here in the U.S.