Specific measures were included in the first stamps to prevent counterfeiting.
The printing office opted to use the American Dickinson Safety Paper for its stamps.The silk thread was not applied on the paper as some countries did but was actually part of the actual paper making process. Trying to duplicate this was
essentially impossible.
The silk thread was intended only as a protection against counterfeiting mint stamps for mailing.
Furthermore, the print itself was carried out in three rounds. They were first printed with the eagle heads, feathers and the feet.
In the second pass the entire image, including the eagle was printed without the words POST and SCHILLING below.
In the third pass, the embossing of the middle oval took place.
You can clearly see areas that were printed more than once with slightly different colors.
Obviously, a difficult problem for counterfeiters to fully overcome and none did.
1850 Genuine Issues
Genuine Features
2. The shading from the previous printing pass is visible in the letters “P & S”.
3. There is a bar above the “H”
4. A very thin slanting crossbar in the “H”. There are also 9 background lines above the crossbar and the frame line.
5. The top of the “G” is very faint. Also the top does not come out as far as the bottom
6. The right “1” thickens near the base.
7. The “I” is very isolated from the adjoining letters.
8. The “H & I” are joined at the top.
9. The crossbar of the “H” has a slight tilt.
10. There is no frame line around the ovals.
11. The “C” is very isolated from the adjoining letters. Also the top has a longer serif than the bottom.
Forgeries
The circulation of 1 schilling was 1,300,000, the 2 shillings 700,000 pieces. But it is estimated only 8,000 of the 1 schilling and 4,000 of the 2 shillings, were used making the used ones much more valuable and prone to being fakes.
Forgeries are very few.
The book “Weeds” notes 2 forgeries
The serifs on the top left “S” are too small.
The crossbar of the top right “H” is too thick & straight.
The “H & I” are not joined at the top. There is no shading in the letters and around the eagle from the first pass.
The crossbar of the H is too thick ( common in forgeries)
The crossbar of the top right “H” is too thick & straight.
The “H & I” are not joined at the top. There is no shading in the letters and around the eagle from the first pass.
The top ovals are too high
The bottom left 1 is slanted
The top “S & H” are too low.
The background is made up of very thin lines.
The central embossing is indistinct.
The oval circles are not well defined.
The outside border is thick.
The H crossbar too thick
The background is made up of very thin lines.
The central embossing is indistinct.
The oval circles are not well defined.
The outside border is thick.
The 2's are curved on bottom
No silk thread
Fournier forgeries
The cancel lacks a numeral POThe background has no visible lines
Possibly Oneglia forgeries
Silk line added in
No shading in the letters and around the eagle from the first pass
Silk line printed on
Right side numerals lager than left ones
In the 2 Sch, the right top H is higher than left S which is slightly lopsided
Reprints
A private reprint was made by Albin Rosenkranz with the original printing plate, It has no silk thread, there is no background behind the eagle
1. The silk thread in the paper is missing.
2 . Behind the eagle no background is to be found.
3 . The paper differs from the original in many ways.
4. No shading is visible behind the letters
5. The serifs on the “1’s” are longer
On the right is a bogus non existing forgery from Rosenkranz
2 . Behind the eagle no background is to be found.
3 . The paper differs from the original in many ways.
4. No shading is visible behind the letters
5. The serifs on the “1’s” are longer
On the right is a bogus non existing forgery from Rosenkranz
