The first stamps, denominated 1 penny, green, and 6 pence, rose, were issued in December 1866 and early 1867, and featured a depiction of Saint Ursula. Actually, the Virgin depicted on the early stamps is neither St. Ursula nor a Madonna. The model given to the engraver was the impression of the seal of the local court of justice featuring the goddess of justice holding the scales in one hand.
Genuine Issues
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| Sc3, Sc4, Sc5a |
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| Sc7, Sc8a, Sc9 |
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| Sc16, Sc16a, Sc17 |
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| Sc18, Sc19, Sc20 |
It is often mentioned that the easist way to tell forgeries is by St Ursula's face - "If looks more like Jesus than Ursula it's a forgery. The forged issues of the smaller stamps are almost universally terrible."
This is a FALSE statement as can be seen by the next forgeries.
Dangerous engraved Oneglia forgeries that do not fit the typical forgery ID noted.
This background issue is the same with other values though less noticeable or the size oe the pearls surounding the oval.
With these, we have typical Spiro cancels as well as very noticeable differences is the features.
Spiro Forgeries
Note the separation guidelines on some,
The face, stars, letters and pearls are all wrong.
Fournier Forgeries
Fournier appears to have sold mainly forgeries from Spiro
Torres Forgeries
These resemble the Spiro forgeries and may be Spiro's source.
Primitive Forgeries of Sc 1
Other Forgeries
