Azerbaijan 1921-22

1921, 0ctober 1 - 1922, January 1.

Third issue. ASSR.
Litho. Imperf. On colored paper of different quality. With or without gum.
The printed sheet of stamps with face value of 3000 rubles have 5 inverted pictures in the lower row; thus, vertical and horizontal tete-beche pairs may exist.
Because of the changes in postal rates which took place prior to the release of the third issue, stamps with denominations 1, 2, 5, 10, and 25 rubles were never postally used at their face value.
Cancelled stamps of this revalued issue are rare, especially on covers.
Stamps of this issues on mail were often hand-cancelled using a pencil or a pen.
All stamps are known with different shades of color and shifts of picture as shown below. Paper and shades are not a good indicator of possible forgeries.

Genuine Issues and Forgeries
This is one of the unusual cases where forgeries are not common. I only have a few. Accordingly the Scott catalogue notes that they are worth more than the genuine ones - SO don’t discard them!.
NOTE - the characteristics shown for the forgeries are the constant ones. There are also many other minor differences especially in the shape of the letters and paper or colors is not a forgery indicator as these issues have many different colors.

1R

Forgery features. Genuine left

Genuine, no forgery found

In the forgery (no full example available) the loops in the top left letter are incomplete
In the forgery there is no dot after the C like letter

2R

Forgery features, genuine left

Genuine left, forgery right

In the forgery (right), the letters are separated in the top right corner element and the letter a in the lower frame is broken

5R

Forgery features, genuine left

Genuine, no forgery found

In the forgery  the sickle handle and the top letter in the right circle touch the frames.

10R

Forgery features, genuine left

Genuine left, forgery right

In the forgery right, There are no dots under the top Arabic letter and the right tip of the crescent in lower than the left one

25R

Forgery features, genuine left

Genuine, no forgery found

In the forgery, the final A is not touching the frame

50R

Forgery features, genuine left

Genuine, no forgery found

In the forgery the second last letter is lacking the dot above it
The handle of the sickle does not touch the frame

100R

Forgery features, genuine left

Genuine left, forgery right

In the forgery right the tips of the crescent do not touch the frame

150R

Forgery features, genuine left

Genuine left, forgery right

In the forgery, The last letter has a dot above it instead of a large dash, the letter to the left has no dot and the 4th letter from the right is very different

250R

Forgery features, genuine left

Genuine left, forgery right

In the forgery right, the top KA are not joined
The top right branch of the K is straight and not curved as in the genuine
The bottom letters are crude and uneven

400R

Forgery features, genuine left

Genuine left, forgery right

he genuine has a small dot after the value, the forgery has none and it has a large dot between the frames

500R

Forgery features, genuine left

Genuine, no forgery found

The forgery has no dot above the 2nd last Arabic letter

1000R

Forgery features, genuine left

Genuine, no forgery found

The forgery has no curve on the oblique arm of the Arabic letter and 3 dots below it instead of 2

2000R

Forgery features, genuine left

Genuine left, forgery right

The right value tablet is missing the top dot in the forgery

3000R

Forgery features, genuine left

Genuine, no forgery found

In the forgery, the crescent tips do not touch the frame
The right value, the first letter does not touch the frame

5000R

Forgery features, genuine left

Genuine left, forgery right

In the forgery the top right corner diamonds are much smaller than the genuine.
The bottom left value, the numbers are smalle

References
- Focus on Forgeries by V. Tyler
- Post Stamps of Azerbaijan by E.S. Voykhanski, Svyaz, 1976
- Forgery & Reprint Guide 11 Azerbaijan - Barefoot
- Azerbaijan Catalog - Zagorsky 2015
- Stamps Of Azerbaijan 1919-1923 -Alexander BOVA 2007
- Klaseboer forgeries CD2 2018
- Transcaucasia Vol. 4 - By Dr Ceresa 1995
- Imperial Russian Stamps Used in Transcaucasia, Part 1 Postal History - Ashford 1972
- Postage Stamps o f Azerbaijan -Bristol, W.E. Hughes 1951
- Histoire de la Poste en Azerbaijan - 1973 Voichansky E C
- Claghorn Comparative website
- Russian Azerbaijan, 1905-1920 Swietochowski T. 1985
- Azerbaijan - The Philatelic Institute - F.J.Melville 1925