Classic Stamp Forgeries

Victoria's first postage stamps appeared in 1850.

They were engraved and litho locally by Thomas Ham of Melbourne, and featured a half-length portrait of Queen Victoria seated, holding orb and scepter.

There were three values: 1d in orange-vermilion, 2d in lilac-mauve, and 3d in blue. The dyes were altered several times during printing, yielding dozens of minor variations.

Genuine Issues (Half Lengths)

1850 Ham printing Sc1

1850 Ham printing Sc3

1851 Ham printing, Sc8

1855 Campbell & Fergusson printing 1d

1855 Campbell & Fergusson printing, 3d blue

Reprints

The 2p reprint is typically from a scratched die

Forgeries

Jeffryes Forgeries

George Jeffryes was an accomplished engraver involved in forgeries in the late 1800s.

His engraving of the Half Length has are excellent and have deceived many collectors over the years.

The queen's medallion looks like the number 83 along with very different eyes.

Oneglia Forgeries

These forgeries are seen in several shades which resemble the genuine colors.

The background lines are coarser and the borders on either side are a series of wavy vertical lines, whereas the genuine copies have an interwoven braided design.

The eyes are quite large.

They are generally found cancelled with a barred oval or butterfly cancel.

The 2p has a wavy line background instead of crisscrossing lines as in the genuine.

Spiro Forgeries