Real Or Fake

First I hope this image comes up good enough in this post. Now take a look at the stamps. Can you tell me if they are real or fake? The scan may not be the best so I will point out what you need to look at. The perforations.

Fake. Perforations are just pinholes.

A number of private roulette perforations were produced and this could very well be a contemporary perforation, The perforations do not match the "Kansas City Perf" but look similar to others I have seen sometimes refered to as "sewing machine perf". Interesting private perf by any means, thanks for sharing the image.

Russ you know your stamps. These are not the KC ones but they are in the same style. These are actually called the Wilson Roulettes. They are imperforated sheets. They were given to a Pittsburgh bank as forfeiture. The bank tried to exchange them with the PO but of course the PO would not take them back. So the bank bought a tracing wheel and used the stamps.

In the case of the KCR's the actual post office made those with a dressmakers tracing wheel and sold them over the counter.

SO when looking at stamps there is a lot of things you have to look for including the stamp and perforations. Certainly when ever you see these type of perforations you have to next make sure the stamp itself is real then learn about the perforations used.

In most cases alterations devalue a stamp sometimes it adds some history and value. Then sometimes it is just a fake.

I hope that this was interesting to some of you.

I have a certified KC roulette (1 cent) and your perfs are not the same. Would be nice if they were.

Ro these are not the KC stamps, just done in the same style not same design. My guess is there were many difference patterns of tracing wheels. :)

MKFarm, nice lesson. everyone pointed out something TRUE about the stamps I espically like Smauggie caught that they were pin holes, Thanks for the history lesson! just another NEW thing I learned today in SCF.

hope you do another one, I like getting a change to think about it then later getting the true story definitively helps to hone the skills when you get the real answer later on.

with Edwin. Its good to learn facts, and also to think about your own observational skills Sometimes its helpful just to know that you know enough to know that you don't know enough! (Did that sound a bit Rumsfeldt?!)

you should keep this up.. it's good learning.