Classic Stamp Forgeries: November 2024

Issue Dates : 1 July 1856 - 1 January 1862

Printed by : P.A. Sparre 1 sk, G. Scheutz 3 öre

Print Process : typo

Perforations : 14

The stamps were first rubberized with a dextrin solution, this has pulverized over the years and fallen off. Later this was replaced with gum Arabic, which lasted better .

With typical star cancel

Forgeries

FOR too large

Center shield wrong

Note any imperf must be regarded as potential forgery

As above with different perfs

Crude forgert

FOR too large

Spaxe i background lines too wide

much wider perfs

No dots on the "A"

Fournier illustrative forgery

No dots on the "A"

Torres Forgery

Uneven pearls and letters

"E" instead of "F"

Reprints

1868 reprint

Test print Undented proof for the 1871 reprint These are printed on a greyish paper

On 1.1.1862 the stamps were issued in brown color and from that day replaced the black ones which were valid until 31.12.1910 but were no longer sold. The stamp was now given the same status as the regular stamps and could be used for local letters in other locations as well.

Around the same time as the brown stamps came out, the now very worn star stamp was replaced in Stockholm with a circle-shaped luck stamp, hence star stamps are rarer on the brown stamps.

The best forgery of the brown stamp is the Paris forgery which differ from the originals in detail but most distinctively they are serrated with uneven corners. In addition, the gumming, if left, is "checkered" and sometimes they are stamped "Paris forgery" on the back to prevent them from being sold as original brands.

New printing 1871 perf 14

New printing in 1885 perf 13

The Forgers

Wada

Wada, Kotaro of Tokyo was the premier forger of Japanese classic stamps. During the 1890's and the first decade of the 20th century, Wada prepared hundreds of thousands of good to excellent counterfeits.

Wada forged the Dragon, Cherry Blossom, and old Koban issues of Japan.

Most of his forgeries were printed from small copperplates of six (3x2) or eight (4x2) with each design hand-etched.

Some of the forgeries were signed with sankö or mozö, meaning imitation, in small kanji characters. Later printings have these characters removed.

Wada Postmarks

Hirose

Little in known about Hirose, his forgeries were first learned about by European collectors in 1894 in an article in German.

About five different forged cancels were used. These forgeries are not as numerous as those of Maeda and Wada but they are among the most deceptive,

Kamigata

This name was used to identify a group of forgeries that were being sold by the Kamigaiaya {Kamigata company). A forger by the name of Maeda Kihei was responsible for all the forgeries previously attributed to Kamigata. The Kamigataya was a Tokyo 5tamp and book business that in the early 1890's that sold forgeries of Japan, China, Shanghai Taiwan and Korea that were prepared to order.There is some evidence that Maeda Kihei was an owner of Kamigataya. His forgeries range from relatively crude early productions to more sophisticated later imitations. Many of his used copies have a circular dste stamp with th word "IMITATION" The imitations the Kamigataya sold included the Dragon, Cherry Blossoms and Old Koban issues of 1871-1879

H. R. Ramsden

H. R. Ramsden was an English resident of Yokohama, where he served as honorary Cuban consul. He was very prominent in philatelic circles in that city.

He was the editor of The Numismatic and Philatelic journal of Japan the first real philatelic magazine in that country.

Sometime during this period, Ramsden prepared sheets of lithographed forgeries of a least eight different stamps of the Japanese Cherry Blossom issue. The counterfeits were printed in an unusual format, consisting of 108 stamps (12 x 9) on grayish wove paper,

Spiros

The Spiros turned their attention to Japanese postage stamps sometime prior to October,1875. Correspondence from Japan was scarce in those early days, and as a result the spaces reserved for these stamps remained vacant in most collector's albums.

The stamps of Japan he forged include the Dragon, the Cherry Blossoms, and the old Koban. All were lithographed.

The first comprehensive philatelic descriptions of the Spiro Japanese forgeries appeared in a series of articles titled the "Spud Papers" which were published in several English stamp periodicals between 1871 and 1881.

Many Spiro forgeries may be recognized readily and easily by the cancellations which were almost always applied by the manufacturer.

ABC Kurabu (ABC Club)

These forgeries were produced in great numbers from the early 1950's until the 1960's and sold mainly in department stores.

They are poorly printed by offset-lithography from photographs of genuine stamps. Despite the poor quality of the printing, the designs were faithfully copied from the genuine.

These forgeries differ from genuine stamps in color and perforations as well as paper and printing method.

Most forgeries are easily identified with these added characters found at various positions on the stamp