Diego-Suarez 1890

 One of the most sought after stamps both for their rarity and simplicity of design.

As the overprinted French stamps were completely exhausted it was decreed that provisionals be printed and exclusively used in Diego-Suarez. This need probably accounts for the simple design.

Lithographed on white paper.

The ink color is greyish not black and generally shows many white spots due to lack of coverage from the ink used.

Catalogs of the period note the following quantities initially produced, sold and destroyed.

Critics of the period did not give this issue favourable opinions

“Not content with the quartet of horribles inflicted upon us last year, the authorities have just issued a new provisional of local workmanship. "A very sad stamp" is a free translation of M. Moens' comment concerning it.

We think our readers will agree with him.

Overall, information on this issue is very limited and little more than a few blocks exist as multiples. I have not seen or heard of any plating efforts and generally catalogs have forgeries or facsimiles as examples.

These stamps appear to be readily available on both reliable and common online sites but the vast majority are forgeries. Even “signed” stamps need to be viewed with caution.

Genuine Stamps and Features

1. The G is higher than the other letters

2. The S has a larger lower section

3. The U is above the S and inclined slightly to the right

4. The A is tall and the right leg is longer

5. The is a larger space between the EZ

6. The top of the Z is shorter than the bottom

7. Note the shape of the clouds

8. The mast and rope are open

9. Note the thickness of this line, some forgeries have a much thicker line

10. Note the thickness of the 1 as well as the long serif which has a slight curve. The right side of the foot is thicker than the left side

11. The S in POSTES is the tallest letter and the top of the T is slightly inclined.

12. Note the thick wave under the ship

13. This wave connects with the ship

14. Note the shape, quantity and direction of the large and small waves.

15. The A is tilted to the left

16. There appears to be 1 or 2 passengers here

All these traits may not apply in every stamp

1. The top of the S is smaller
2. The right side of the U is taller
3.The Z is tall and the top is shorter than the bottom
4. The G has a pronounced serif
5. The middle bar of the A is inclined and the right leg is much more inclined
6. There are 4 thick bars here
7.There are 2 openings in the hair lines
8. The hair lines all touch the frame
9. Note the length of the tear drop
10. Note the relative thickness of the frame lines
11. Note the shape and size of the ball
12. Opening here
13. The P has an even serif
14. The O is thin at the top and bottom
15. The E has a larger lower serif
16. The tail of the Q is straight and does not touch the frame
17. Note the shape and size of the SE
18. The dot is close to the letter
19. Note the shape of the cedilla and in particular the right angle.
All these traits may not apply in every stamp

1. The top of the S is smaller
2. The middle bar is straight
3. The Z is not as tall as the E and is shorter on top
4. Note the shape of the hair lines
5. 10 lines here
6. Note the size and shape of this line
7. The 1 has a long slightly curved serif
8. Note the thickness of the frame lines
9. The right foot of the 1 is thicker than the left side
10. The O has a thin top and bottom with the top appearing flat
11. Note the shape & size of the SE
12. The dot is very close to the letter and the cedilla is not well defined
13. The top of the S is much smaller than the bottom
14. The tail of the Q is short and thick
All these traits may not apply in every stamp

1. The U is slightly longer on the right side
1a. The D has a the shape of a 0
2. The bottom leg of the E is longer
3. The O is taller than the other letters
4. Note the thick shading
5. The middle bar of the A is slightly inclined
6. Pointed helmet with blotchy shading lower right
7. 8 distinct lines
8. The tip of the 5 is rounded
9. This hair line does not touch the frame
10. The end of the 2 is flat
11. Note the thickness of the frame lines
12. The O is thin top and bottom
13. Prominent serifs on the S. Note also that the letters taper in height from left to right
14. The S is larger than the E
15. The cedilla in distinct and has a right angle, The dot is close to the letter and generally dash shaped
16. The L has a slight incline

Forgeries

Francois Fournier

There were 2 main forgers who account for the majority of offerings online and both executed very good examples.

The first is the well known François Fournier (shown right)  and the second is the less known Poirier

Mr. Poirier was superintendent of the post office in Diego Garcia.

He created many forgeries after the original stamps he had in his custody.

His stamps after a photo which he then reproduced on a lithographic stone like the originals.

Many were cancelled with the genuine cancel.

It was only some years later that philatelists in Paris discovered the existence of these Forgeries but then it was too late as the stamps were already found in collections everywhere.

Aside from these 2 forgers there are indications that several more were involved to a lesser extent.

Fournier Forgeries

I am only highlighting the main features. Differences exist in the waves and the ship

1. Thick frame line

2. Foot thicker on left side

3. T not taller than the E

4. S much larger than the E

5. Wave does not touch the ship

6. Waves have thick lines

1. The G has a rounded back
2. The top of the E is not inclined
3. No breaks in the hair
4. Too many lines
5. The shading lines have no breaks
6. No opening here
7. Several letters are shaped differently and some are too high
8. The dot is too close and the cedilla is poorly shaped  

1. G lacking serif

2. Middle bar is inclined

3. Top of the Z is too small

4. Dragon has a different shape

5. Lines are very different

6. The tear drop is inclined the wrong way

7. Too many small dashes

8. Short serif

9. Large C and dot in wrong place

1. D has more proper shape
2. The U has a wide opening
3. The top of the E is too long
4. No dark shading
5. Round tip instead of pointed
6. Too many lines
7. Hair strands different
8. End of 2 is pointed instead of flat
9. Small top on S
10. Tail touches frame
11. Cedilla wrong shape and touches the frame

A Fournier block - often found in auctions and rarely in line with the catalog value

From the original Fournier books in Geneva

Poirier Forgeries

1. G is wide

2. Middle bar is not inclined

3. Middle bar is too high

4. No opening here

5. Thin 1

6. Wave does not touch ship and the vertical line is a common trait

7. Line is similar to original

8. T has a wide top, also the S is much smaller than in the original

9. Waves have different shapes

10. Tail is too long

1. Only one break instead of 2

2. Probably a short 4th line hidden by cancel

3. Thick line and thin right frame

4. Letters different shape and the O is inclined

5. No opening here

6. E is poorly shaped

7. The dot is too small and many letters are crudely formed

1. Dragon is different

2. Dots have no white centers

3. Hairline is very different

4. Thick frame

5. Too many lines

6. Tear drop different

7. Both S are high

8. E has a high curl

9. Short hairline

1. Dragon is different

2. Dots have no white centers

3. Hairline is very different

4. Thick frame

5. Too many lines

6. Tear drop different

7. Both S are high

8. E has a high curl

9. Short hairline

Poirier Block of 4

Unknown Forgers

Does not match the other forgeries

1. Tall A in SUAREZ

2. The first bottom R is oddly shaped as is the second E

3. The tops of the EZ are bent downwards

4. The right side of the 1 foot is noticeably thicker

5. First bottom E is slightly inclined

6, The C is very tall

1. The G is very large
2. The lines do not touch the frame
3. Very long serif
4. The C is inclined
5. The E is tilted
6. The wave lines are different  

This one has a modern look

1. The letters are all very even and in a different font

2. Different clouds

3. Thick uniform frame line all around

4. The ship is very crude

5. No foot on the 1

6. Crude wave pattern

This might be a modern forgery also
1. Narrow O and the S is large
2. Normal frame line
3. Hairlines do not touch the frame
4. No opening
5. O is very high
6. Short R  

1. Large inclined top of the E
2. Dragon very different
3. Large dots in the wrong position
4. Frame line touches other lines
5. Long tear drop
6. Very thick frame
7. 5 is above the 1
8. Frame line curved
9. Tall T with missing foot
10. Large head on the P

This is most certainly a modern forgery

Letters and frames are all "perfect" and a different font

It might be a cutout of some type.

This block was described as Trial Color Proofs

This seems unlikely as they are obvious forgeries

Probably a bogus set.

They are similar to the Samuel Taylor bogus color issues

This is a VERY crude set with very little matching the originals.

I have some suspicions that this is a Torres production

His forgeries tend from good to very crude

This last set has a modern look

The letters are all very uniform

The fake cancel is very odd 

Cancels

Fake cancels abound in this issue especially the Fournier forgeries with cancel

"DIEGO SUAREZ MADAGASCAR 15 MARS 90"

"DIEGO-SUAREZ 15 MARS 90 MADAGASCAR"

"DIEGO SUAREZ 28 SEP 91 MADAGASCAR"

"DIEGO SUAREZ 27 SEP 90 MADAGASCAR"

"DIEGO-SUAREZ 1 SEPT 92 MADAGASCAR"

"DIEGO-SUAREZ 3 OCT 90 MADAGASCAR"

Others certainly exist.

Ionian Islands 1859

Greek Single-island and inter-island postal rates were required, as well as one that would cover mail to Greece, but there was some debate over which unit of currency should be used, the British penny, or the local obol?

It was decided to avoid denominations altogether and code the rates by color. 

The genuine orange stamps don't have a watermark, the blue stamp has a '2' (this stamp was originally intended to serve as a 2 d stamp) and the red stamp has a watermark '1' (this stamp was intended to serve as a 1 d stamp first)

All three stamps were printed from the same plate, with only a change in color.  

50,000 sets were recess printed by Perkins, Bacon & Co and they went on sale on June 15, 1859.

Charles H. Jeens engraved the queen's head after a Henry Corbould drawing.  

A Corbould drawing also was the inspiration for the Penny Black.

Genuinely cancelled stamps are very scarce, so forged cancellations abound.

On June 28, 1864 Greece took possession of the islands, invalidating the Ionian Islands stamps and putting Greek stamp use in their place.

The abundant remaining stocks of obsolete Ionian Islands stamps were eventually sold to the stamp trade, creating a glut on the market (at least temporarily).

Genuine Stamps

Watermarks

Forgeries

The original source of these forgeries is very much in doubt.

Fournier, Spiro, Panelli, Oneglia, Torres and others produced or sold these but there was obvious interaction between them.

Most forgeries display characteristics of other forgeries which may in part  be due to copying other forgeries rather than the rare originals.

So, as a guide I am presenting groups (in no particular order) that have similar characteristics.

Type I

Queen has thick eyebrow and pointed nose

Large top hole in the end of the belt

The KP is joined

The right leg of the first K is lacking a complete serif

The top right of the N is curved

Type II

The key feature is the poorly designed eye

The right side of the last letter is too long and the left side lacks the extended serif

There is only one hole on the right of the buckle instead of 2

Type III

The queen has a staring vacant look

The top right leg of the K's are too long

Only one hole right of the buckle

There is a flaw in the middle of the neck that repeats on all the values

Type IV

The top hole at the end of the belt is large

The KP is joined

The left side of the last letter is distorted

Based on the cancel (fake), this may be a Spiro and/or Fournier

Type V

This set matches the sample in the Torres catalog

The key feature is the thin frameline that the letters are attached to.

The top right branch of the K's are very long

The queen has a wide eyed look

The letters are taller

Type VI

The queen has a curved pointed nose

The eyes are piercing and heavily shaded

The buckle is smaller

The O's are smaller

The P has a short leg

The cancel that appears on others of this set is a typical B62 Hong Kong cancel

Type VII

These are almost identical to the type IV except for the added hole beneath the last letter

There are also minor differences in the letters.

Type VIII

Overall these are very well made

They may be from Oneglia or Panelli

They can be found with very large margins - these images were cropped

The key feature is the last letter which is tilted

Fournier

It is well accepted that Fournier sold forgeries produced by others.

These sheets from the Geneva Fournier collection and identical to the Type VI above.

Type IX

The key feature is the wider letters and the narrow N

Several of the letters have the tops cut off

The queen has an angry look

The eyebrow is heavily shaded

Primitive - Sources unknown

Very crude & rough design.

Possibly a product from India

Another very crude design

Face heavily dotted

Letters do not match

Note the broken buckle

These show up more frequently than the others above

The letters do not match

The face is heavily striated and indistinct

Korea Kamigata

Kamigataya shop with postal box display

Korea’s First Issues and the Kamigata Forgeries

Aside from Wada, the next most prolific Japan producer of forgeries of the early series of Japanese postage stamps was the firm of Kamigataya. 

Consequently, up until recently, Kamigata has been identified as the producer of these forgeries in western literature.

There is no real evidence that a person named Kamigata even existed.

Kamigataya forgeries were actually made by Maeda Kihei, and Kamigataya was the publisher of Maeda's forgeries.

This new information has been primarily sourced from the inscriptions on the Kamigataya tourist sheets which are relatively rare.

It is noted that the first Maeda Korea tourist sheets contained genuine stamps but as the demand increased and genuine stocks depleted, facsimiles were added until finally all the stamps were forgeries.

It should be noted that Maeda/Kamigata produced forgeries from some other countries as well as the ones from Korea explored in this article.

Many forgeries from Kamigataya were attributed to Spiro, Mercier or Oneglia and merely sold by Kamigata but an obscure Japanese publication in 1954 the Kitte no Ie (House of Stamps) confirmed that Kamigataya was the originator of some 20 different country forgeries.

To date, at least 50 non Asian forgeries have been identified as being produced by Kamigataya

The 5 & 10 Mon were printed in sheets of 80 (8X10)
Printed by: Stamp Bureau, Japanese Finance Dept., Tokyo.
Designed and Engraved by: Saito Chuzo. 

Original designs by Hong Yong Sik, planned by a Mr. Hutchinson in Shanghai. 

Then revised in Japan, reportedly by one JeDeimg Chi.
Typographed on white, wove un-watermarked paper with a thick white or yellowish gum..
Size: 23 x 26 mm
Number printed:
5 Mon 490,000
10 Mon 995,000
25 Mon 497,500 - color variations are common but are changelings not printing varieties
50 Mon 498,000
100 Mon 299,000 The 100 Mon is listed a being blue and pink with a rare color error of only blue. 

It is noted that only the 5 & 10 Mon were used due to political events and that the first delivery in Seoul took place Dec. 4 1884 but ended 3 days later when riots broke out and the post office and the majority of stamp stocks were destroyed. 

Some authors point out that the stamps were only used on Dec 4. From that point on until 1895, mail was handled by the Japanese and Korean Customs Office.
In any event, genuine postally used 5 & 10 Mon are extremely rare and only a few with genuine cancels are known. It is thought that some that escaped being destroyed in the riots were stolen and made into fake covers.
The diagrams on the left show the genuine cancels used. 

Genuine Stamps

5 Mon perf 9 & 11.5. The 11.5 may be a Reprint

10 & 25 Mon

50 & 100 Mon

Forgeries

NOTE - there are many more forgeries than just the "Kamigataya" but these are the most common. There is also a rare Bogus 2 Mon .

The 2 main types of Kamigataya cancels are the 5 ring type and a double ring with the word IMITATION inside

5 Mon 

Left Type I 

The white center is too small and red side too large

The top of the 5 is too short

The top letters in the side circles are too large

All the ornaments are different

Right Type II 

A long slash besides right bottom M

The corner ornaments are different

The rolled ends of the side containers are incomplete

Left Type III 

5 short & thick and small extension on top left

The rolled ends of the side containers are incomplete

The center circles are uneven

Right Type IV very good forgery

5 top slopes up

Top corner letters are smaller

10Mon

Left Type I very crude

The 1 of the 10 is too long

Symbols in the ring do not match

Many broken frame lines and no clear outer frame

Right Type II very crude

Very tall 1

Letters are uneven and distorted

Odd ring symbols

Very thick outer border

Left Type III

The C almost closed

The man shaped symbol bottom right is attached to the frame 

Odd symbols in the ring

Right Type IV

Coarse lines inside the inner circle

The R of COREAN is higher

Oblique line below the bottom N is short & thick

25 Mon

Left Type I very crude

Very thick corner letters

Thin symbols in the ring

Thick outer border

Lack of white shading

Right Type IV 

COREAN spelled OOREAN

Overall a good forgery

Too much orange shading

Outer border attached to inner border in several places

50 Mon

Left Type I - very crude

Small N looks like a M

Yin-Yang symbol very crude

COREAN looks like COFEAN and all letters distorted

Top corner symbols are too large

Right Type II

Corner symbols and numerals are very thick

Yin Yang uneven

Small N is a M

Bottom letters are thin & uneven

Left Type III

Outer border is not separated from the inner one

Corner circles are smaller

Top & bottom letters are uneven and thinner

Side symbols are smaller

Right Type IV - the best of the series

Side letters are thinner as are the top & bottom letters

The background elements are lacking

The corner symbols and numerals are thicker

100 Mon

Left Type I - very crude

Yin yang very distorted 

Letters in circle do not match

Bottom letters are tall & distorted

Tall thin 100

Right Type II

Similar to Type I in the bottom section

The symbols in the ring have been improved but still different

The yin yang is too large and distoreted

Left Type III - fair forgery

The center of the yin yang has a left color spot

The word COREAN reds COAEN and letters are very thin

Bottom symbols in the ring are large and thick

The 100 has tall 0

Background elements are different

Right Type IV - fair forgery

100 is thin

Lower letters are thin

Outer and inner frame merge in many places

Above Type V - very good forgery

Bottom letters are uneven

The right top and left bottom of the N in MN are uneven

The 5 ring cancel is key