W-F Coils Scare Me...

So many have been faked... What do you all think of these? The perf horiz 1c is slightly narrower than the 2c, by maybe 1/4mm, the 1c 21m and the 2c 21.25mm. The perf vert 2c is ever so slightly taller than the 5c, 24.25mm vs. 24mm.

I've been looking at them for 20+ years and they still scare me too. Regarding measurement, genuine W/F coils should ideally measure:
Vertical Coils (North/South straight edges)21.5mm across straight edge to straight edge, although some genuine Early W/F coils are know to measure only 21.0mm. Horizontal coils (East/West straight edges) 25.0mm across straight edge to straight edge, again some genuine Early coils are know to measure only 24.5mm. Many W/F coils, mostly those that are on the higher catalogue value side, are fakes. Some say as much as 90% of those on the market. They are faked by using look-alike unperforated issues-adding perforations, by perforated issues by cutting off perforations and by using booklet pane stamps and cutting off perforations. All those you have posted, according to the measurement you have listed, as well as just looking at the image, say two of the four are surely fakes and the two-cent vertical coil may or may not be a fake depending upon other factors and the one-cent vertical coil could be good, but I don't think it is. When looking at coils, look for the straight edges to appear cut too sharply, for partial perf holes (dimples) along the cut edge, for straight edges that are not parallel to one another, for perf holes that are too round and cleanly cut. Genuine perf holes should show paper fibers, may show a slightly oblong hole (sometimes), and may show a slight buckling (stress on the paper) on one side of the hole caused by the strip moving along as the perforations are added. I'm sure I've left out some things that others may add to this. On expensive coils, its best to buy certified copies and to buy from reputable sources.

Most used faked coils were sheet stamps trimmed to resemble coil stamps. It is possible to match the edges in Photoshop or other software to determine if they are parallel or not. Height or width measurements can be misleading because the width of vertical rows could vary from 2 to 3 millimeters. Some coils like the 5 cent are known to be short relative to the "ideal" height. Both two cent stamps appear to be trimmed. The image below illustrates how coil edges may be slightly irregular but must remain parallel.

Clark

So, doing a little copy'n'pasting along with cropping, I get these:


1 cent horizontal


2 cent horizontal


2 cent vertical


5 cent vertical

First and last one don't look too bad, the two 2 cent examples are obviously bad. So, since these all purport to be early W-F coils, the 21mm width on the 1c is within range. The 24mm height on the 5c is out of range, too short by at least 1/2mm.

I have a bunch more of these to go through, a consignment to the local club auction 'seemed' to have a nearly complete set of W-Fs, and the bulk of them actually are correctly IDed. The coils, on the other hand...

Finally got a chance to sit and measure... 27 of the 40 are too big or too small to be good. I'll try and scan the last 13 next week to see if they're parallel. I also have two more from the batch I scanned at the start of this thread, both measure OK (1910 perf 12) and I'll watermark before scanning to see if they're close to the right ID.

billsey,

Check the edges first. Rejection based on size may result in condemning a genuine coil. Some coils like the 5 cent horizontal double line watermark Scott 355 are known to be somewhat short. Too wide or too tall is more likely to be a red flag than too short. Check the Siegel Auction population of the Orangeburg coil, the 3 cent single line watermark Scott 389.

Clark

OK Clark, I'll scan all of them before rejecting. I'll be at the house next week except for the Tuesday OSS meeting so should be able to carve out some time.

Are you doing many shows there on the right coast? Missed you this year at PIPEX.

Is it mostly the perforation 12 coil stamps, which are all flat plate printing, which are the scariest?

Clark, you mention #355 as sometimes being somewhat short. What is the accepted measurement range for it? Would like to know the shortest accepted size as a reference. Also, which others besides #355 are know with shorter measurements?