Crete Occupation Part 1

Part 1 British Occupation

Crete was Turkish after 1669, gained independence in 1878, but was controlled by the Turks from 1889. In 1897 an uprising of the local population took place with Greek aid (causing the Greek-Turkish war), and the Turks appealed to the European powers to intervene.
Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia sent ships in 1898 and occupied a section of the island until 1909.

On October 25th 1898, the assistant-commissioner, W. E. Fairholme established a postal service in the British sector. 

Stamps with values of 10 and 20 parades were ordered from Athens but as they were late in arriving, provisional stamps were made locally from a design of the director of the Austrian post office.

The stamp was produced by means of a brass or copper handstamp and not rubber. This handstamp was later destroyed so no reprints could be made. So any not matching the original are forgeries.

The genuine stamp is 17.8 mm. wide and 24.5 mm. high.

The top ornament, separating the first and second lines, is 15 mm. long

The middle bar, separating the second and third lines, is 12.7 mm. long

The bottom ornament, which separates the third line from the value line, is 13.8 mm. long

It is noted that 2000 were initially produced in late 1898 followed by another 1000.

The paper used varied in thickness and roughness. The purpose was not making varieties but simply necessity.

They were used for fiscal purposes, by writing in the value in paras or piastres, and the date

1. The top-borderline slopes down slightly to the right.

2. The bottom borderline is lightly curved.

3. The first and the last character of the word ПPOΣQPINON

are touching the margins.

4. In the same word the characters ПPand PIN are connected.

5. In the word TAXYΔPOM. All characters except the M are connected.

6. In the word HPAKΛEIOY all characters except the last two, are connected.

7. In ПAPMEΣ only the Σ is not connected. 2 and 0 are connected at the top.

8. The design tapers in from bottom to top

9. Note the shape of the corners.

The most common cancel is the straight line

Forgeries

Genuine left, forgery right

This forgery was on a prestige auction and sold for a substantial sum despite my notice to them.

Note the rounded corners

The top slopes upwards

The letters are thinner

The top end letters do not touch the frame

The 2 & 0 are not joined

This forgery appears to have similarities to the previous one but many letters are shaped differently

The 2 has a curved bottom

The letters are generally thicker than the previous one

A pair of forgeries

The key feature is the awkward 20

Any multiples are a cause for concern given their rarity

In late 1898 the stamps ordered from Athens arrived in a 10 Parades Pale Blue and 20 Parades Green. The

stamps were designed and lithographed by the Athens printing office of Grundman & Stangel in sheets of 100

stamps with a line perforated 11.5.

It is possible the stamps were hand perforated by a clerk at the main post office and some perf errors exist.

As well, some imperf ones exist and may be proofs.

As the first order ran out, a new series was delivered in early 1899 but in new colors for reasons not recorded.

The 10 parades changed to pale brown and the 20 parades to red.

These are relatively common and an estimated 300,000 were printed in total

Although printed in sheets of 100, the litho transfers consisted of blocks of 10 that have minor differences making plating very simple.

The transfers of 10 were arranged differently in the second printing so the reconstructions are different

Below genuine stamps with the position feature(s) indicated

Forgeries

Forgeries abound in this series and at least 3 types exist

Grundman & Stangel forgeries

Some catalogs note these as being “reprints” but although made by the original printers on similar paper, they were made from new stones with different characteristics from the originals, so they are nothing more than forgeries.

These are often quoted as being easily distinguished by the partial sun. 

This is correct 95% of the time and 100% if you also take into account the  broken outer frame line found on forgeries - shown above.

There is a case of the genuine transfer V of the brown 10 Parades having a partial sun but not the broken frame line as well as the 2 plate characteristics shown below.

Some other transfers the sun is very weak and with inking variations the sun may also appear as "broken" when it is not

Forgeries Type I & Type II

Above on the left what we can call the Type I Grundman & Stangel forgery with 11.5 perfs with large holes as with the original.

On the right, we have the Type II. The colors are slightly different and the perf is 11.25 with noticeably smaller holes. This type appears to be the least common and may be a Grundman & Stangel variety.

Type III forgery - Fournier

The Type III is the very common Fournier forgery with and without the typical “FAUX” of the Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries 

The Fournier forgeries appear to be copied from the Type I Grundman & Stangel.

The frames and letters are thicker and the corner elements tend to be indistinct.

However if one closely examines the Fournier you will notice that the stamps are not square, they are tilted to the left - as seen below.

Also it appears there are 2 types of "Fournier". One where the perfs are relatively neat and the other they are very rough and the bottom corner ornaments are blotchy. Fournier forgeries were not necessarily made by him as it appears he sold stamps from other sources. His catalog lists would mention 1st and 2nd quality stamps.

Above is a sample of a common French cancel that will show up on the British stamps.