US Locals - Bucks Richmond Express

 Bucks Richmond Express

Initially this stamp was cataloged as a genuine series in 1862 and originating in England

They were apparently made and sold by C. Gloyn of the Acomb House of Manchester, England

By 1865 it was known as nothing more than a BOGUS issue

Obviously Taylor was involved but the varieties indicate several others were also.

This is a great item for collectors as there are 3 main types and over 20 sub types with unlisted new ones being found.

1863 ad in the Stamp Collector's Magazine

Types

Type I stamps 

- All have a period after "ONLY" 

- No dash under the first "S" of "STATES." 

- No reported 25¢ or 50¢ stamps of Type 1

- There are some 15 sub types

Type 2 Stamps

These were primarily made by Taylor but the varieties indicate others may be involved.

- All have no period after "ONLY" or "Cents" 

- All have a dash under the first "S" of "STATES." 

- No reported 1¢ stamp of Type II.

- There are about 8 sub types

2c

5c

10c

15c

20c

25c

50c

Type Ill stamp 

- Have ornaments resembling Maltese crosses in the four corners instead of the eight point stars found in Types I and II.

- It appears there are no sub types

- This is apparently a modern forgery and not common and I have no copies.

US Locals - Kidder's City Express

 The Brooklyn post was formed when Wellington Walton, proprietor of Walton & Co.'s City Express, sold his post to Henry Kidder in 1847. 

The original Kidder's City Express Post stamps were only printed in black on glazed surface paper in shades of blue. This feature quickly identifies the majority of online colored offers as forgeries.

Kidder sold the post to Issac C. Snedeker in 1851

Issac Snedecker continued to use the stamps when he took over the post. 

Around this time, the manuscript control mark in 2 different styles "IS" (Issac Snedecker) was added to the stamps. 

The post changed hands a few more times and eventually became the "Brooklyn City Express Post"

The Kidder stamps are quite rare and seldom show up in reputable auctions.

The original stamp from an auction with the IS manuscript

Hussey apparently obtained the original dies in the early 1860's and made "reprints" in sheets of 10. These are more likely the source of online sales.

This stamp was sold as a genuine original.

However it matches perfectly the position 1 of the Hussey "reprint"

Frame break above the 2nd "D" and a top break in the 2nd "S"

S.A. Taylor forgeries

These are by far the most common and can be found mainly in 2 distinct varieties

Forgery A - the 2nd Taylor printing

Taylor Forgery A - his 2nd forgery

- The first "D" in "KIDDER'S" is slightly shorter and wider than the second "D".

- The rider has a hat with a front and rear brim.

- The "R" in "KIDDER'S" has no right foot extension 

- The upright of the "P" in "POST" is tilted slightly backwards

- The horse's head is shaded with diagonal lines not always visible 

- Behind the rear leg are constant lines & dot that look like flaws

Taylor forgery C - his 1st. forgery

- The cap has only a long front peak 

- The "R" in " KIDDER'S" leans to the left

- The dust cloud behind the horse's rear left looks like a "2"

- The horse's head is proportionally too long.

- The "C" in "CTS'' has a straight top

- "CITY" is in thin letters and there is a large space between "CITY" and "EXPRESS".

Taylor forgery C1

- Likely a variation of Taylor's 1st forgery

- Key feature is the 2Cts where the C looks like an O

G. Hussey forgery

Often the singles are sold as genuine - as noted earlier

This is an original sheet of 10 (2X5)

W. Scott - Forgery B

- These are relatively common

- The key feature is the small break of the oblique frame line below the "S" of "KIDDER'S"

- The "R" in "KIDDER'S" has a small hook at the end of the foot

- The rider's hat with a longer front brim than rear brim.

Forgery E - source unknown

An uncommon forgery from unknown source

- Very crude design

- This forgery has large flaws in front and behind the horse.

- Proportionately small rider

Forgery F - source unknown

- Easily identified by the lack of a line or dot under the small S of 2Cts

- The middle bar of the E of EXPRESS is noticeably high

- There is no shading between the horse's middle hoofs

- The "R" in "KIDDER'S" has a long thin straight foot

- The hat brim points upwards

Portugal Colonies - Crown Issues

 Many Portuguese colonies issued stamps in the Crown design; Angola, Cape Verde, Macao, Mozambique, Portuguese Guinea (overprinted on Cape Verde), Portuguese India (two series in different currency), St Thomas and Prince and Timor (overprinted on Macao). They exists with perforation 12 1/2 or 13 1/2. Angola has 'ANGOLA' on top, all other countries have 'CORREIO' on top and the country name written in the circle.

Angola

Genuine Features

1. The corner gammadions (spandrels) are very evenly shaped and are mirror images of each other with top & bottom facing in different directions

2. The scallop shape on the right has a bigger central lobe than the others. They are very close to the frames but do not touch

3. Maltese cross attached to the orb, on some forgeries it is not attached and just a plain cross. The cross also has a slight tilt to the right

4. The inner frame line is generally thinner than the outer one. Over inking may not show this & I have seen some where the outer right line appears thinner

5. & 9.  The frame line extends to the outer one in all corners

6. The numerals and letters are all evenly sized with prominent serifs that are mostly curved

7. The genuine has 121 dots in the ring

8. Crown lobes have 9, 10, 5, 10, 9 pearls, perfectly round, easy to count.

There are 2 types depending on the shape of the numerals

The Angola issue is different from the other Colonies in the shape of the lobes of the

crown. This is round for Angola but oval and angular on all the other Colonies. The corner gammadions are also different as shown below.

Angola Forgeries

They greatly outnumber the originals.

Collectors should especially beware of the 20r bister, 25r rose (perf 14) , 40r blue and 50r green whose high CV makes them prime targets for forgery

Fournier Forgery

Fournier offers them in his 1914 pricelist: the stamps of the 1877 issue (9 values) are offered for 2 Swiss Francs and the others (5 values) for 1 Swiss Franc.
The Fournier collection has a large quantity of full sheets and singles of all the Colonies but there is no evidence that he did anything other than resell them from another source

Features
- The printing is less sharp and lines rougher, particularly noticeable in the lettering but a good forgery.
- Shade line inside the "O" in "ANGOLA" is incomplete

- The cross on top of the crown is less detailed with small sections and usually detached from the orb
- The letters appear to be thicker
- The pearls around the crown are smaller
- The right clamshell has an incomplete line and the result is a heart shape

A number of Fournier offerings are shown in the Addendum.

Spiro Forgeries - 2 types

Features

In all denominations

- The "R" in "REIS" starts from the center of the stamp while in the genuine it starts left of the center

- The "A" leans to the right

- The crown is rounder

- The 5 has a flat top

- The cross is separated from the orb

- The "G" has a curved protrusion on the bottom right

- The central line of pearls is almost invisible

The Type 2 on the right has even less details

Spiro on top, original on the bottom

Type I forgery

Features

- The source is unknown and overall crudely executed

- The top letters are very uneven in particular the slanted last A

- The shadow line in the O is incomplete

- The cross is wrong and separated from the orb

- The pearls in the crown are uneven

- The pearls in the ring are uneven and missing

Type II Forgery

Features

- The small "50 REIS" is the obvious issue

- The cross is not Maltese and ha s large central hole

- The "G" is oddly shaped

- The crown has too many pearls and the central jewels are wrong

- The crown is too rounded

- The scallops are all the same 

Forgery Type III

Features

- The corner spandrels are in the shape of swastikas and all face in the same direction

- The cross is tilted to the right and the wrong shape 

- Some scallop shapes have too many lobes

- The base of the crown is inclined

- The crown pearls are not round and the number of them is wrong

- The letters are poorly executed

- The top letters are very tall

- The pearls are uneven, there are only four pearls on the central arm of the crown

Forgery Type IV

Features

- The crown has a tapered base

- The "G" has a thin top

- The "5" is not curved on top as much as the original

- The cross is plain with a larger central hole

- The "R" han an upturned serif on the right leg

- The spandrels do not match

Forgery Type V

Features

One of the better forgeries 

- The cross on top of the crown is larger, clearly dettached and not symetrical 

- The three lower pearls of the central arm are flatened. 

- The lines under "ANGOLA" and over "5 REIS" do not touch the frame. 

- The "S" in "REIS" is thick 

- The "G" is larger than the other letters

- The "5" is oddly shaped

- The frame lines above the value & below the top do not extend to the outer frame.

Forgery Type VI

Features

- The "G" in "ANGOLA" is very different from the original. 

- The lower part of the crown has no collar but is a constant diameter

- Numbers in value are very different.

Forgery Type VII

Features

- Pale

- cross different,

 - large 1 

- N touches frame

Unknown

The odd feature of this one is the last A of ANGOLA is very high

Cabo Verde

Forgeries

A Fournier product with the same faults as the Fournier Angola

Brazilian Forgery?

- Said to originate in Brazil - Quite possibly Oneglia based on the cancels

-In the forgery the "E" in "CORREIO" has a mark on its top right - this is a common trait for this type of forgery. 

-In the right top decoration, the top left square is parted diagonally in a colored and a non-colored areas, while the lower right square of the same decoration shows a comma inside, instead of the geometrical decoration of the original. 

-The forgeries are obliterated with a bar cancel. When surcharged to forge the Guinea stamps, the surcharge is much smaller than the original.

Fake small overprint on Cabo Verde stamps

India Portugal

Original

Forgery

Fournier forgery

Possible reprints or proofs

Macau

Original Sc6a

Forgeries

The "circle" forgery

Features
The orb under the cross has been replaced with a circle
The pearls in the crown are small
The letters in MACAU are thin
The corner spandrels are not scalloped but angular (sides are straight)

Fournier forgeries

Mocambique

Originals

Forgeries

Fournier forgeries

Torres Forgeries

Sperati forgery

There is a white spot in the tail of the R of REIS
There is a minute break at the top of the numeral 2

India Portugal

Original

Forgery

Fournier

St. Thome & Principe

Original

2 types depending on numerals

Forgeries

Left genuine

The forgery on the right

- small cross

- oblique lines in the crown are lacking

- pearls in the frame are uneven

- base of crown not flared as with original

Fournier forgeries

Spiro Type I forgery

Overall very poor copy

Crown central vertical pearls missing

Uneven letters

Small uneven pearls around crown

From unknown source

Very crude crown

Note typical forgery guide lines on sides

Crude crown

Cancel similar to Torres forgeries

Timor

Fournier forgeries

Addendum

Fournier cancels

Rare Fournier packet trade samples

Sections of Fournier full sheets