Heligoland

Hi to all

Thought you may like to see these. These apparently were authenticated by Stanley Gibbons in the 1970's as genuine original Heligoland, including the error.
No idea what they are worth.
Regards,
Horamakhet

Hi Horamkhet

Heligoland is not my area at all, but according to the SG specialised catalogue:

1 (1/4 sch colour reversed error): Die II so can't be SG 5a - CV £120 (which is Die I), and is therefore probably a reprint (Berlin or Hamburg)
2 (1/2 sch): Die II either SG 6a yellow-green and rose - CV £140 or SG 6b quadrille paper - £95
3 (3/4 sch): Die I SG 7 - £32
4 (1 sch): Die III (?) SG 8 rose and yellow-green - CV £140
5 (1 1/2 sch): not sure if Die I or II - as SG 9 is Die III, probably a reprint (Berlin or Hamburg, Die II)
6 (2 sch): Die I - seems to be perf, not rouletted, so perhaps a forgery.
7 (1/4 sch): Die II SG 5 - CV £28
8 (1 f / 1 pf): SG 10 - CV £13
9 (2 f / 2 pf): SG 11 - CV £13
10 (2 1/2 f / 3 pf): SG 12 (CV £225) (pale green, red and yellow)
11 (1 1/2 p / 10 pf): seems to be a label not a stamp - SG 14(a) are various tones of red and green.

Do you have a certificate of verification from SG? If not, I would suspect that the stamps are reprints, as the originals are rare, and as far as I can see several are very unlikely to be originals because the wrong dies have been used.

The differences between the dies are (a) the shape of the hair below the chignon - blob in I, separated curl in II, small double curl in III) and (b) the no of jewels in the diadem - 2 in I and III, only 1 (right at front) in II.

I must stress - I have only 2 heligoland stamps, both definitely reprints, so I am NOT an expert here.

Anyone who can elucidate this? (I suspect they'll need higher resolution scans.)

I have about a dozen of these in my collection too and I would suspect that they are also reprints.

According to some sources, the chances of getting reprints are 1000 time better than getting the genuine article.

Chimo

Bujutsu

#11 is postal stationary, wrapper type

Hi David

As these are part of the accumulation I am sorting out, I have not come across the certificate from Gibbons as yet. There was letter saying they had been sent to Gibbons for authentication and that they had been certified as genuine and not reprints, but I am always finding document and letters in the family archives, so it is possible I will come across the certificate in due course. I have five or six large boxes of family archives which have never been sorted properly and they date from the 15th century to the late 1920's so it is a big job, but being an Historian and Archaeologist I have having fun just reading some of them. Lots of the documents are very elaborate and on vellum, and of course they are in Latin and early Italian, Spanish and French and English.
I have even found odd packets of stamps in the archive boxes so who know what else will turn up. I also collect rare books and documents, so the family archives and library have given me a big start. (More than 6000 books alone)
Regards
Horamakhet

Wow, Horamkhet, sounds like you have a fascinating and massive task ahead!

I have even found odd packets of stamps in the archive boxes so who know what else will turn up

Horamkhet, I love old archives and their treasures, please, if you will have a time, show us what you found, thank you

Hi Shareminator

Here is one of the vellum documents that I found recently. It is a feoffment or a land grant between my family and others. It is dated 1610 and is written in very fine Latin scrip. It has been witnessed on the back by the Duke of Buckingham who family name is spelt the correct way which is Buckenham
Hope you find this interesting.
I also found a series of postcards from some-one doing the Grand Tour of Europe between 1901 and 1911 they must have been very wealthy. There are about fifty cards with some nice cancellations on them. I have posted three. The family it turns out were a very well known Melbourne Family Between 1880 and 1930 and I am going to prepare them for publication in the next year or two. They are an interesting insight into the Grand Tour of Europe in the late 19th and early 20th Century. They are all addressed to one person. As I sought throw more old documents I will post some if you like.
Regards.

Horamakhet.

I have some Heligoland stamps in the early 20th century book I acquired. How does one go about getting them authenticated?

Mike

If you use the search function here, you'll find lots of old posts, links to websites (one main one, really) and pictures of the different dies.

As for sending them off, I wouldn't do that unless I had run through the reprint tests and still felt I had an original one in the mix. Then I might...if it was one of the higher catalogue values, and I was trying to sell. It would be cost prohibitive to just send them all off for expertizing, when in all likelihood you can make quite a few determinations yourself. (Or post a few here...always an option.)

Mike,

I would suggest you visit the many Heligoland reprint/forgery sites available and convince yourself that you don't have a reprint/forgery first. The great majority (90++%) of Heligoland stamps are reprints/forgeries. If you send your stamps in for recognized expertizing, expect to spend at least $30 a pop (each stamp). Since the likelihood of them being genuine is very small, a little extra time spent checking out the Heligoland websites may save you a nice wad of money. Alternatively, you can try a few expertizers who will give you a preliminary opinion of high resolution pics regarding definite fakes for $5-$10 a pop.

Try this useful link:

http://www.fritzwagner.com/helgolan...rgeries.html

Hope the link helps. Best wishes!

As I was about to pull the stamp out of the album for scanning, I noticed the person who collected these 80 years ago was kind enough to lightly write "reprint" in pencil on the back. Saves me the trouble of determining if it's real or now.

Mike