North Borneo - 1889-92

 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

Forgery 

No dot besides the 1/2

Dash in top right letter between horizontal strokes.

Fournier corrected forgery

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 

1889 1 cent

In the forgery,

The bottpm left ornameny is too close to rhe frame

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

In the genuine

These is a constant dot top left of the "N"

There is a constant dot near the border left of the "2"

1889 3 cents

In the genuine,

There is a constant dot above the lower "N"

There is a constant dot inside the lower left ornament frame

2 Careme forgeries missing both genuine features

A pair of Careme forgeries without genuine features

1889 4 cents

In the genuine

There is a small constant dot below the 2nd letter on the right
The legs of the "&" are the same length

The forgery is missing the dot and the bottom leg of the "&" is cut off short

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

5c Forgery

5 end shorter and looking more normal

No dot besides 2nd letter right

1892 6 cents

In the genuine,

There is a constant dot in the top left ornament

The sail is curved but straight in the forgery

Forgery

Missing top left dot and straight sail

1889 8 cents

In the genuine,

There is a constant dot above the left lower frame line

The shaded inner does not touch the frame line

8c Forgery

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

The full set of Spiro forgeries

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.