Pacific Steam Navigation

 The Pacific Stem Navigation Co. (PSNCo) was a shipping company founded in 1838 by the American businessman William Wheelwright (1798-1873).

The Company operated a line of ships for the transport of cargo and passengers on the west coast of South America, from Valparaíso (Chile) to Panama. 

They had agencies and offices in the main Chilean ports, Peruvians, Ecuadorians and Colombians.

A listing of the ships involved can be found HERE

William Wheelwright

In 1839 Wheelwright was awarded a Royal Charter of Incorporation in England and founded the company with a capital base of £250,000 ($1.25 million). His plan was to build four steamers of 450-500 tons each at a total cost of £47,326. They would generate revenues of £93,390, thus paying for all four ships in the first year of operation while earning a net profit of more than £ 46,000. 

In October 1840 the first two ships, the Bristol-built, wooden paddle wheelers Peru and Chile arrived in Valparaiso. Below Wheelwright and a Chilean steamship.

In 1847 Wheelwright decided to implement the use of postage stamps for the postage of letters received and transported by the Company. For this, he contacted his cousin Joshua Butters Bacon, who worked in London for the printing company Perkins, Bacon & Co.

He requested the design and printing of two stamps, in which appeared the steam boats Peru (1 real, blue) and Chile (2 reales, reddish brown).

For the firm Perkins, Bacon & Co. this commission represented the first contract for printing postage stamps received from abroad.

These two dies were engraved on steel by William Salter, the chief engraver at Perkins, Bacon & Petch and each contained 160 units in 10 rows of 16.

The stamps were dispatched to Callao, one shipment on November 17, 1847 and the other on January 15, 1848.

Altogether there were 628 sheets (100,480 stamps) of 1 real blue and 88 sheets (14,080 stamps) of 2 reales reddish chestnut.

The color that makes the paper blue seems to be due to the ink used that had Prussian blue.

For some unknown reason the 1 and 2 reales stamps were never used by the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, but as subsequent information has shown they became the first provisional postage stamps of the Republic of Peru.

P.S.N.C. stamps were used as a provisional issue by the Peruvian Government only between 1st December 1857 and 28th February 1858.

Considering that these stamps were only in use for the short period of three ~- months and then only locally in Lima, Chorillos and Callao, very few could have been used, which accounts for their rarity either in unused or used condition.

The remainders, some 40-45% of the original shipment were destroyed and officially observed.

Reprints
These are legitimate reprints made from the original dies and not as some collectors and catalogs call them "Prepared but not Issued"
They are mainly printed in the wrong colors and in very limited quantities.

They were printed on 6 known occasions between Dec. 1861 and July 1863.

The ones printed July 1863 number 800 copies of each but are the most plentiful of the reprints.

The reprints below are from this series.

Reprint dates and quantities

Dec. 1861

Stout wove paper, bluish tinge

1 rl. red - 30

2 rls. blue - 30

April 1862

Thin to medium wove paper

1 rl. blue - 160

July 1862

Thin to medium wove paper

2 rls. brown 320

Oct. 1862

White vertically laid paper

1 rl. red - 160

2 rls. blue - 160

July 1863

Medium white wove paper

1 rl. red - 800

1 rl. blue - 800

1 rl. green - 800

1 rl. yellow - 800

July 1863

Medium white wove paper

2 rls. red - 800

2 rls. blue - 800

2 rls. green - 800

2 rls. yellow - 800

2 rls. brown - 800

Proofs

Original Essay Submitted

Left, Die Proof on wove paper, right brown proof

Cancels

A the stamps were only postally used for a short period, most stamps with any cancels are genuine with fake cancels or mainly forgeries with fake cancels.

The main genuine cancels are;

- Large numeral with four parallel lines above and below it forming an oval and two curved lines on either side.

- CALLAO or AFRICA within three ovals of dots. No dates

- Oval inscribed LIMA at top , with month, day, year below. All letters with serifs.

Genuine Stamps

Genuine Features

There are 49 chain like 'links' forming  the outer frame of the oval

1. Bluish thick wove paper (.0049" avg.)

2. The serifs at the back of the P touch the 3rd vertical line of the background, counting from the left. 

3. The shadow of the P ends at the 16th line.

4.  The dot after the P from its left side to the shadow on its right side is situated between the 12th and 16th lines from the left.

The shadow of the dot touches the oval frame line.

5. The curve at the back of the S at the upper part of the stamp touches the 15th line from the right.

6. The shadow at the right of the top part of the S ends between the 5th and 6th lines from the right.

7. The shadow touches the frame

8. The 3 masts touch the inner oval frame. The rear mast crosses the frame line slightly.

9. These are 6 ropes attaching the fore mast.

10. There are 3 passengers visible.

11. The water lines are smooth and consistently spaced.

12. The shadow inside the C follows the contour.

13. The shadow of the N touches the frame line

Aside from the ship facing right the 2Rls has the same basic features

A key feature to look for and compare are the letters dots and shadows. 

1. Uniform size letters and dots

2. Specific distances from outside frame lines

3. Shadows and whether they connect the letter and dots or to the frame lines

Forgeries

Moens Facsimile

An exact replica of the original stamp produced by Moens in 1864 as an illustration for his stamp catalogue. It was reproduced and distributed after hi death.

In the 1Rl, the differences are;

1. The white space under the hull is very large

2. The N and C are much shorter

3. The P is further from the edge

In the 2Rl

1. The white space under the hull is very large

2. The C is small

3. The dot after the c is poorly formed

Bynof notes that the Spiro has 51 chain links, the ones I counted has 54 ??

Spiro Bros ??

Generally noted as a type I and the First Forgery by Rev. Earee

It was probably made around 1863 and is VERY common.

However there are some differences in the "Spiro's" examined

The stamps below appear identical but the left one has the typical Spiro cancel.

The background behind the ship is not as heavy and the shape of the waves is different.

Also notable on the right one is the color spot on the right frameline at 3 o'clock.

It is more visible on the green 1Rl below

This shows up on all the 25 stamp sheets below.

General Features

1. Printed on white wove paper thinner than the genuine & no gum. 

2. The top curve of the top S has a dent in it. The small S has a pointed top serif.

3. The 2 solid lines around the perimeter of the oval are farther apart than the ones on the genuine. 

4. The 2 has a bump on the foot.

5. The background and water lines around the ship are very dark and heavy.

6. The top dots are small.

7. On the 2Rls, the ship points in the wrong direction

NOTE -Spiro forgeries are often found in sheets of 25. However there is also some evidence that Spiro's only sold forgeries for a short period.

They posted a comment in a period stamp magazine that they only sold facsimiles and most were obtained in England (Prahl?)

All the ones below have the color spot at 3 o'clock on the frame edge.

They do not have the more typical Spiro oval cancel with horizontal bars separated by 5 opposing curved bars.

So, are they sold by Spiro Torres or someone else to Fournier, 

Fournier Forgeries

Forgeries attributed to Fournier are considerably in doubt. It is evident from the 5 volume Geneva collection that Fournier actually only sold most of his "forgeries" produced by period forgers.

This group from the Fournier Geneva Collection clearly shows that he sold stamps from different forgers.

Jeffries Forgery

This engraved forgery was apparently made by Jeffries who made many forgeries of pacific area stamps

1. The ship points to the right in both values. 

2. The rigging is very clear and there are eight lines from the bow

3. The ship is sailing into the waves and not level with the sea.

4. The letters and especially the dots are smaller than the original

5. The 2 is thin and the 1 is larger than the 0

I have seen this forgery being sold as a "genuine proof"

Earee Third Forgery

Probably made in 1863 by Rev. Chauncey L. Young who may have copied the reprints.

I appears he was quite prolific and also produced bogus colors.

Note the guide lines on the edges.

There are 49 chain links as in the genuine

On white wove paper thinner than the genuine 

1. The dot is joined into the shadow of the P unlike the genuine. 

2. The bottom serif at the tail of the S is cut off by the oval frame line. 

3. The l has a steeper top serif than the genuine.

4. The oval frame lines are further apart than the genuine

5. The water lines are not as well defined but the white area is more prominent.

6. The sky shading lines are heavier.

8. In the 2Rls. the ship faces the wrong way

Although Young is relatively an obscure forger, he made several forgeries and fake US covers.

Oneglia Forgeries

It was made about 1892 by the famous Italian forger Erasmo Oneglia.
1. Lithographed on very brittle white wove paper.

2. The colours are very distinct and the brown is a true brown and not a red-brown.

3. The ship points the wrong way

4. The key feature is the very tall P with the top out of proportion to the base

Torres Forgery

I'm told that this is a Torres forgery based on his VF cancel

It has the features of a "Spiro" forgery

Torres is well known as an illustrator and probably had several sources for his "forgeries"

His 1879 catalog shows a very different illustration (below)

The letters and numerals are very thin

The ship and color are reasonably correct

See Friedl forgery below

Friedl or Torres?

This is apparently a woodcut Woodcut executed by S. Friedl about 1870. 

The boat is sailing to the right on the 2 reales value. T

he surface is very dark (coal-black). 

Figures and letters are very thin.

Note that this is almost an exact copy of the Torres above, so perhaps Friedl copied the Torres forgery

Zechmeyer Forgeries

Very crude reproductions probably created around 1862 by Georg Zechmayer.

He was well known for making transfers of genuine and phantasy stamps.

Aside from the overall blotchy appearance, there is a vertical white line in the C that identifies the forger.

The 2R ship is facing the wrong way.

His forgeries include bogus colors

More Zechmeyer forgeries. I was told these might be from Patroni but they have the same feature as the ones above.

Unknown 1

This forgery is printed on thine wove paper.

1. There is no dot after the P. 

2. The chain link pattern around the oval has been replaced with dashes. 

3. The 1/2 and the Z are much smaller type than the genuine. 

4. The oval does not touch the frame lines.

Unknown 2

Another very crude forgery with the ship direction as the only redeeming features.

It might be the 4th forgery of  Earee

1. The paper is white wove , very hard and almost card stock like. 

2. It appears only in blue. 

3. The letters are tall and thin while the numbers are short and thin. 

4. The N is too far left.

5. The dots under the ls are almost invisible

6. The ship and background are crude and dark.

Unknown 3

Overall a reasonable forgery

1. The letters and numerals are very tall

2. The ship is higher in the water than the genuine

3. the l has no serif and too far up.

4. The S has an upper and lower serif on the bottom end.

Unknown 4

This forgery appeared in London around 1870

Possibly a Prahl forgery?

Printed in flat black

There is a large white space in the sea under the ship.

These are Luggage Receipt Revenue stamps with control number 

I am not aware of any forgeries