Classic Stamp Forgeries: Portugal Colonies

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)