Barbados 1852-59

 Barbados 1852-59

An Inland Post Office was set up on August 1st, 1851.
A need for postage stamps arose for the purpose of denoting the prepayment of the inland postal rate.
Perkins, Bacon & Co. was asked what would be the expense of substituting the name of the island on stamps for Mauritius or Trinidad.
Fortunately the original die was without the name. This expedited the printing and they decided not to print any name and use the same die to print different colors denoting a specific value.
The quantities and dates are noted below. The initial shipment of the 2d on the SS Amazon mail ship (below) was lost at sea by fire.

Genuine Issues

All the forgeries I have seen are rather crude so there is no problem in distinguishing them.

1. The size of the genuine stamps is 21.75 x 18.5 mm., but the majority of the forgeries, with a few exceptions, vary in size.

2. The first issues on bluish paper forgeries are generally on off white paper

3. The forgeries are usually found used, and carry a heavy barred or circular postmark which is not used in Barbados

4. The overall quality of the forgeries is poor especially the cap and ship

Plate Proof showing the fine details

Characteristics of the original.

1. The ornaments are all symmetrical with 12 complete ones on top.

2. The spear has shading lines on the right side and the tip is above the tip of the cap

3. The cap tilts to the right

4. The stars have a central white spot and the corner rays do not touch the frame

5. There is a prominent star on the cap

6. There is a white outline around the head - most forgeries lack this feature

7. The flag is long and straight

8. The sails are very distinct

9. The shield has 14 full vertical lines

Original issues

Sc1-2-2a

Sc3-3a-4

Sc5-5a-6

Sc8-9

Forgeries

All the forgeries are rather crude and easily distinguishable
They are also for the most part not attributed to a specific forger.

The above are attributed to Oneglia but it is far from the quality of his normal work although it is engraved as are most of of his forgeries.

The forgery is immediately recognized by the chain link like background and the lack of side ornaments

This is an intriguing forgery

The chain link background is much larger than the previous Oneglia forgeries

As noted by the "FAUX" stamp it might be considered a Fournier forgery.
It is located in the Geneva Fournier collection but there is little doubt that he did not create these.

The best estimates is that they are either "early" Oneglia or "late" Torres

These are the same forgeries with a typical cancel. A similar cancel is to be found on Torres forgeries.

Torres Forgeries?
It appears Torres or an associate made reproductions of all the first series.
Key features are:
1. The ship lacks sails
2. The skirt lacks vertical lines.
3. The letters are shorter and look more squat
1859 Sc9
4. The bales on the left are different
5. The spear point is below the tip of the cap
6. The head is tilted slightly to the right

Sc1 & Sc 2 Reproductions

Sc 4 & Sc 5 Reproductions

Sc 5a & Sc 8 Reproductions

Sc 9 Reproduction

This forgery is very different from the others.
Large corner stars with no white dot in them
Very thin ends on the S
Different face with large blotch below the nose
Appears to be lacking the small top sail

Another rather crude set of forgeries

They all have the same cancel
These may be another Torres issue and the dies may be worn