US Confederate - New Orleans

Riddell

 In 1861, the Postmaster of New Orleans, John L. Riddell ordered the first provisionals.
They were engraved and printed by John V. Childs of New Orleans.

The first printing of the 2c stamps was in red, but they were unissued and a second printing was ordered in blue. 

The 5c stamps were engraved on wood from which stereotypes were made and mounted on wooden bases in horizontal strips of eight.

The strips were duplicated and five such strips comprised the printing form (8 x 5) of forty subjects.

Genuine stamps Sc 62X1-X4 (from auction sites}

Forgeries

Moens Forgeries

These appeared in his 1864 catalog and were used as samples for other forgers

Moens Copies Type III from unknown forger

The inset figure "8" in the 5 is missing but all the other feature are similar.

Note especially the position of the OF in OFFICE

Taylor Forgeries

Comparison to genuine on the left

- Thick C in CENTS

- O in ORLEANS filled in

- Base of 2 is thicker and other letters are shorter

Taylor 5c forgeries

- The A in PAID has a slanted left side

- The ENT are larger than the C7S

- The S in CENTS has large serifs not in the genuine

Upham Forgeries

- The letters are all thinner than the original as well as all the ornaments

- Generally a good forgery

5c Upham right compared to genuine left

-The "Waving Hand" forgery for the bottom left ornament

- The 5 is thinner

- The key feature is the large space between the O & S in POST

- Left side of A in PAID is slanted

A gutter pair

Unknown Forger

- All the letters are much smaller as are the corner elements

- The C in CENTS is almost closed

- The A in PAID has short legs and a break on the right

Primitive Forgeries

- Extremely crude overall especially the background

Modern Forgeries?

- These appear to be modern facsimiles on very white paper

- The background lines are missing and printing is rough

Bogus Stamp

This stamp was never issued and it comes in several colors

Forger unknown