How to distinguish between Originals & Forgeries.
Some History
A large number of deceptive forgeries seems to have been produced by René Carème of Paris, France. They were marketed by Lowden and Henry Revell Harmer of London, but also by the firms Westend Stamp Co. and Herbert Mack & Co Ltd. These forgeries were discovered around 1909. Around 2 million forged stamps were confiscated in Paris.
Fournier was thought to have made use of the printing plates from Careme.
However, Careme's creations were said to be of a better quality but in practice it is difficult to differentiate. Most of them are also pristine looking with full undisturbed gum. Genuine stamps very often have cracked gum. Also stamps with an irregularly thick Labuan type bar cancel are more likely to be from Carame.
These 2 were the main forgers but Spiro also contributed a rather crude forgery which is thought to account for 30% of collections.
Several other forgers were involved.
Genuines & Forgeries
These are either Careme or Fournier and represent the most dangerous forgeries.
1889 1/2 cent
Genuine
There is a constant dot right of the 1/2
No dot besides the 1/2
Dash in top right letter between horizontal strokes.
Dash removed but dot still missing.
A Careme left and a Fournier right.
The Careme cancel bars are too thick.
The Fournier is not as sharp possibly due to a worn die
In the forgery,
1889 1 cent
The bottpm left ornameny is too close to rhe frame
In the genuine
There is a large blank spot above the first hind leg
The "B" & "S" are the wrong dhape
NOTE single imperf stamps are almost always forgeries
1889 2 cents
These is a constant dot top left of the "N"
There is a constant dot near the border left of the "2"
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Forgery
In the genuine,
A pair of Careme forgeries without genuine features
In the genuine
The forgery is missing the dot and the bottom leg of the "&" is cut off short
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Lion has white appearance
1889 3 cents
There is a constant dot above the lower "N"
2 Careme forgeries missing both genuine features
There is a constant dot inside the lower left ornament frame
1889 4 cents
There is a small constant dot below the 2nd letter on the right
The legs of the "&" are the same length
The legs of the "&" are the same length
1889 5 cents
In the genuine
There is a constant dot left of the bottom right letter
The tail of the "5" extends past the vertical stroke
5 end shorter and looking more normal
No dot besides 2nd letter right
In the genuine,
Forgery
1892 6 cents
There is a constant dot in the top left ornament
The sail is curved but straight in the forgery
Missing top left dot and straight sail
1889 8 cents
There is a constant dot above the left lower frame line
The shaded inner does not touch the frame line
No dot and inner shading touches the frame line
1891 10 cents
In the genuine.
There is a constant dot above the "TH"
Forgery, no constant dot amd wide bar fake cancel
Other Forgeries
Here is the most common which accounts for 30% of all collections
Rather rough and crude, it is attributed to Spiro
Poddibly Oneglia
Here is a set for sale on HipStamps noted as being genuine.
Actually, it contains all 4 known forgeries easily noted by the lion head shape, oars, the "B" and the sea background.
North Borneo forgeries
