Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Theresienstadt Parcel Admission Stamp

Theresienstadt Parcel Admission Stamp
During World War II in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the Gestapo used Theresienstadt as a ghetto for Jews from Czechoslovakia, as well as many from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Denmark
On 10 July 1943, authorities in Bohemia and Moravia began issuing this stamp for use on packages sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. If a resident of the ghetto wished to receive a parcel, he could fill out a request every two months. The request would be forwarded to the Jewish Council in Prague, who would then send a notice to the proposed sender of the parcel containing the admission stamp and instructions on its use.
Upon receipt of the parcel, the inmate could send a pre-printed card acknowledging receipt of the parcel
Theresienstadt Camp
Genuine Stamp
1. The background lines are straight and unbroken.
2. There should be 3 dots here.
3. The tower roof has 3 white lines. Note the number of windows.
4. This should be a discernible dot and dash.
5. These markers have 6 dots.
6. Lines are made up of short dashes.
7. The engraver‘s initials “FC” are here


Genuine in brown

Genuine Misperf


Used ones with genuine postmarks.
Many used ones have fake cancels.

The notice to the proposed sender of the parcel containing the admission stamp and instructions on its use.

Forgeries
Typical forgery which will apply to most variations
1. Parallel lines are broken, the lines tend to be thicket and uneven. Clouds tend to be darker with pronounced dark areas between them.
2. Series of 3 dots only partial or missing entirely
3. Up to 4 visible horizontal lines in spire in genuine – this is also an inking issues and may not be visible. The lower structures on the right should also have visible windows.
4. Item a single blotch instead of a distinct dot with a dash underneath as in the genuine
5. Wrong number and alignment of dots in markers, particularly the left one which should show 6 dots
6. Dashes throughout the stamp that are more like heavy dots, this is a main feature of the forgeries , often these lines are vertical as well as horizontal
7. Initials "FC" often hard to see or missing.

Other Forgeries






Forgery Block

NOTE - many of these stamps are signed by Gilbert. Often fakes of his signature are found.

Proofs


Forgeries


Red Cross Souvenirs
The Red Cross delegates were given a guided tour in which they followed a red line on the ground and were not permitted to speak to most of the inhabitants.  Upon the conclusion of the visit, the delegates published positive reports of the visit.  The Germans were ecstatic, going so far as to produce a propaganda film about the visit.

As part of the propaganda effort, souvenir sheets of the Theresienstadt Parcel Admission Stamp were produced for distribution to IRC delegates on official visits. These sheets were found in remainder stocks post-war. They can be found in black, brown, and dark green, and were numbered sequentially



Forgeries

RC BLOCK FORGERY TYPE I ( Black Stamps)
The paper is grayish instead of white, the details in the printing vary considerably.
The numbers are printed in black instead of red and are preceded by "No." which is not the case on the- genuine blocks. Also, the type style of the numbers varies,
This forgery exists imperforate and perforated , while genuine blocks are always imperforate

BLOCK FORGERY TYPE II
The paper is grayish instead of white and the printing varies considerably from the genuine blocks. There is an “ink blob" on the upper right stamp above the tree at right.
The numbers vary in type style from the original

RC BLOCK FORGERY TYPE IIA
This forgery has the missing number. These blocks are often offered as “proofs.”

RC BLOCK FORGERY TYPE III
Printed on yellowish paper, the color of the stamps is much darker than on the genuine blocks. Some of the details arc blurred. These forgeries are numbered in the color of the biock while the genuine, brown and green biocks are numbered in red.

Saturday, October 18, 2025

Austria 1851 Mercury Issues

 Three stamps of the same design but different colours were issued on 1 Jan 1851: the 0.6Kr blue (for a single inland newspaper), the 6Kr yellow (for bundles of 10 newspapers), and the 30Kr rose (for bundles of 50 newspapers).
The blue was used directly on the newspaper or an address label so is relatively common; the others were stuck on the wrapper of the bundle so almost none survived,
The great difficulty in determining these issues are the numerous authorised reprints which I will touch on later.

Genuine Issues
Three types exists of these stamps. 
The blue stamp was printed in all three types. 
The yellow and red stamp were printed only in type I. 
The orange stamp was printed in type III only
In type I the "G" of "ZEITUNGS" has no crossbar and the dots on "A" of "STAMPEL" are evenly placed on the "A"
In type II the "G" also has no crossbar, but the right dot on the "A" is placed slightly more to the left, so the two dots are closer together
In type III, the "G" has a crossbar and the "A" is as in type II

Ank 6 TI

Ank 6 TIIa

Ank 6 TIIIb

Genuine key features based on AUSTRIAN PHILATELY
1- Engraved on greyish-white wove paper, thick or thin or ribbed paper.
2- A most peculiar long curly line attached to the base of the P of POST at left and the K of K.K at right of the stamp, pointing to the left.
-      Type I – curly lines are very strong and broad.
-      Type II – curly lines not very strong.
-      Type IIa – merely hair-lines.
3- A hyphen after ZEITUNGS is about 1mm, distant from S and level with the centres of the letters.
4- Corner Ornaments have 4 petals like heraldic roses and 4 small ones peeping out from behind it.
5- Lip stick out - upper one projects beyond the lower.
6- A very strong line of shading at the corner of the nose.
7-  The shading of the central square is very much closer and darker at the bottom than at the top. Most of reprints are always well printed and in much deeper colour.
8- The diaeresis or double dots on top of the A of STAMPEL does not touch white line above it. However, Type II the double dots are slightly too much to the left.
9- The nose has a slightly Roman outline.
10- From the brooch on the shoulder some oblique dark lines of shading radiate to right and left on the tunic.
-   1 line ends exactly above the S of STAMPEL, 2nd between TA, 3rd between AM and 4th above the beginning of the M.
-   The front white outline of the tunic reaches the bottom some distance before the S.
-   The first dark line, running from the brooch to the right, ends exactly above the L.
11- The letters K.K. in the right hand label are place to read upwards and feet towards the centre of the stamp.

Forgeries
Spiro Forgeries
Unmistakable  in the odd facial feature and his typical square dots cancel.
Fournier also sold these Spiro forgeries (second choice as he offered them)

Fournier unmarked forgeries
These forgeries are very well executed.
The letters are thicker and the bottom background is different.
The dots above the A are missing.


The same forgeries with the "FAUX" stamp and his common cancels.
Fournier common cancels on newsoaper stamps.

Peter Winter forgeries (1985?)
Winter is one of the finest forgers.
Here the face is weak in detail overall and the final L placed too high
Also the corner elements lack the small inner petal.

Some forgeries from unknown sources
These are well executed.
The distinguising feature is  break/dent in the lower left outer frameline .


Large final L
Corner elements very differenr.

From 3 different forgers
Background lines are wrong as well as corner elements.

Crude Forgeries
Aside from obvious poor facial design, the "KK" is reversed.

Very poor reproductions. with many faults.

Modern forgeries
These show in common auctions. The freshness and low initial pricing are a warning.

Sperati forgeries
Not much chance one will ever see these except in high end auctions.
Features
1851 Mercury Newspaper Design, from a Type I in yellow
1. the horizontal strokes of the letters in top label are all missing or defective
2. top part of second "K" in "K.K." is missing.

1856 Mercury Newspaper Design, from a Type II in vermilion
1. there is a white spot in the outer frame in the top right corner
2. there are two spots of color un the upper part of teh "T" of "STAMPEL" and the top serifs of the "M" and "P" appear as two dots between the heads of the letters

Friedl forgery
Taken from a fake envelope.
Letters are uneven. Corner elements are wrong.

Reprints
These stamps are uncommon and prized by specialists
1870

1887

1894

1904
Reprint I (delivered on March 20, 1866, print run of 5 sheets x 100 stamps = 500 pieces):
Blue Mercury: light blue or dark blue
Blue Mercury, reprint from 1866
Yellow Mercury: vivid light yellow
Pink Mercury: bright pink
Red Mercury: vivid carmine-cinnabar

Reprint II (27 January to 25 August 1870, 100 sheets x 100 stamps = circulation of 10,000 each):
Blue Mercury: dark ultramarine
Yellow Mercury: dark yellow
Pink Mercury: dark pink
Red Mercury: vermillion

Reprint III (delivered on October 18, 1884, 10 sheets x 100 stamps = print run of 1,000 each):
Blue Mercury: greenish-blue
Yellow Mercury: lemon yellow
Pink Mercury: dirty pink
Red Mercury: dark vermillion

Reprint IV (delivered on April 21, 1886, 20 sheets x 100 stamps = circulation of 2,000):
so-called Fellner reprints printed on poor, fibrous and soft paper, so-called waste paper.

Reprint V (each 2,000 copies):
Blue Mercury: slate blue
Yellow Mercury: light yellow
Rose Mercury: dark violet-pink
Red Mercury: carmine cinnabar

Reprint VI (delivered on May 3, 1887, 100 sheets x 100 stamps = print run of 10,000 each):
Blue Mercury: dark slate blue
Yellow Mercury: dark yellow
Pink Mercury: light violet pink
Red Mercury: dark vermillion

Reprint VII (delivered in May 1894, edition 11,300 each):
Blue Mercury: light slate blue
Yellow Mercury: golden yellow
Pink Mercury: light violet pink
Red Mercury: light vermillion

Reprint VIII (delivered in two editions in 1904 (slightly different), total edition 1904 20,000 each):
Blue Mercury: light slate blue
Yellow Mercury: golden yellow
Pink Mercury: light violet pink
Red Mercury: light vermillion

Thursday, September 18, 2025

Tibet 1912 Forgeries

 Sc1-5 were forged by unknown forgers in the period of the mid 1920's to late 1930's.
Most are quite crude and can easily be identified with reference to the original sheets of 12.
Originals are printed on native imperf paper with no watermarks..
Private repros were made 1n 1986 by the J. Crow Co. and sold for $5 for the complete set

Sc 1 1/16 Trangka
Genuine Sheet

Forgeries











Modern forgery
Sc2 1/3 Trangka
Genuine sheet

Forgeries







Tete Beche Forgery

Modern Forgery

Sc3 1/2 Trangka
Genuine Sheet

Forgeries







Sc3 2/3 Trangka
Genuine sheet

Forgeries









Modern forgery

Sc3 1 Trangka
Genuine sheet

Forgeries







Modern forgery