Real Or Fake?

what is everybody's opinion on these 3 stamps they all have the gum on the back

found a few more

Are the cancels the same place & date ?

I am sure that the unused ones are okay. Whether the cancelled ones are legitimately cancelled is open to question, but one cannot discount that they are favor cancels. This is not necessarily bad; it just shows that they were not used postally.

However, if the cancels are fake, that's a whole different situation, because the intent might be to make them the last postally used stamps of the Nazi era. What are the dates on them?

These are either favour cancelled or fakes... Russians taking over Berlin occurred only few days after the date of issue these stamps, so there is practicly non-existant possibilities of real usage for these stamps.

German Michel lists the favour cancelled worth 10€ ea., real used would be 1,200€ ea.

whats that in american money?

the dates are the same it is 21 4 45

Michel also lists a warning on these issues. Sold only at the Berlin PO's both perf. or imperf. Many of these stamps were taken by Russian's troops and took advantage of the situation. These stamps in general are among the rarest during Nazi era, regardless on cancelation being real or fake. Michel does say that May dated cancelations are false.

Mike

Tina in 1995 Scott MNH 7.50 each, authentic used cancel $16.00

Michel lists 1st date of issue 4/20/45, while Scott's state 4/21/45.
I would tend to believe Michel is correct.

Tina, Looking at the cancels in this case I believe they are false. To well centered, plus gum.

The Legioen Nederland is Netherlands Scott# B144 when they were occupied by Germany.

Hmmmm...surely anyone can buy a stamp on the day of issue and have it cancelled over the counter; that doesn't make the postmark fake, surely.

The only way I would consider the postmark to be fake is if someone manufactured their own cancelling device and ran off a batch.

I do note, though, that the cancels are very similary (if not identically) positioned on the stamps of the same denomination.



In fact, the placement of the cancel looks too precise to have been done by human hands, so I would have to concur with the suggestion that they are likely fake first day cancellations.

Michel warns of false cancels used since the Soviet army captured stamps & cancelling devices so the cancels were made by the correct devices on real stamps. They could reset the date and back cancel the stamps.

I believe I would call them favor cancels before I called them fake or forgeries. That makes them akin to CTO's to my way of thinking. Either way, they make an interesting little mini-collection and an interesting area for further study.

Tina - you might want to check out a membership in the GPS - Germany Philatelic Society given your interest in Hitler era material.

That is correct. The only way to make an accurate determination of whether the cancel is genuine is to have an example on full cover with other supporting postal markings. For examples off cover, even if the dates are in the right period of use, you MUST examine the actual ink used. Most of the fake cancels made with the genuine stolen cancelling devices used a different type of ink.

The stamp must be physically examined to confirm.

Those semipostals were issued just days before Hitler's suicide. If it's cancelled and has gum on the back, it's almost certainly a fake.