Counterfit Covers/Postal History?

This is a curious document that makes me wonder about its history.I have been subscribing to stamp publications for many years and I don't remember reading anything about this case. Anyone have any info. There are 32 pages of covers printed front and back I am showing just the front cover and the first page .

Wow, how did you get hold of that?!!?

If genuine and the original documents, it is a good piece of philatelic history.

Mather was a dealer who sold FDCs in the 1960s-1970s. He is also notorious for counterfeiting FDCs and was outed by Linn's in the very late 1970's. What you have is the USPS investigation that followed.

Really cool to see that!

It would be great if you could scan the pages for archival purposes!

Thanks for posting!

k

Excellent find!

Ever considered donating it to the APS or the National Postal Museum? Or better yet, the Post Mark Collectors Club (U.S.) has a library of over 50,000 postmarks... this would help their reference collection and other collectors.

David

stampaddict......

Fantastic find !!.........Why not let all the organizations have copies ??........and please.....post them here !

I would be glad to make copies. As soon as I can find a scanner that scans legal size pages,or maybe it would be easier to photo the pages as I did the first two pages and put them on my photobucket, then send them to SCF. I will try to get that done soon. Thanks for the interest. Dean

'addict-

If you don't have any luck with a scanner, I have a big-box scanner at the office that takes legal pages. I'm not sure if we can exchange emails so that I can give you an address before you reach 50 posts, but we can figure something out. I'd scan them and return the originals and email the scans to you.

I'm happy to help with what seems like a worthwhile effort.

Collin

OK, I skimmed through the cover letter a little too quickly. It looks like merely a copy of some of the documented covers in response to a request for information. Still, a nice piece of philatelic history.

The forged covers/cancellations are pretty well documented. There use to be a couple of pretty good websites that showed many of the original fake covers (I say "original", but obviously many hundreds, perhaps thousands, were produced "on-demand"). Unfortunately, I see that the links are no longer working. However, I'm pretty sure if someone does some Googling, you will find some working links showing the various fake covers and the way the fake cancels are identified.

That is awesome! can't wait to see all of the scans! Thanks stampaddict.

khj, To me it looks like Mr.Chanove Brought the counterfeits to the attention of the postal inspection service.I assume that he purchased covers from Mr. Mather, and then thought them to be bogus. I further surmise that they requested that he supply evidence about the allegations,or he offered it.He must have sent the covers to them,Then wanted them back. Of course they were then evidence and could not be released pending the outcome of the investigation. This may be totally wrong, but that is what I get out of the reading of the cover letter. Also, you asked where I got this document, This was in the same estate auction that I got that 550 pounds of bulk stamps, but this and the albums were a separate lot.

It was requested that I copy the pages and post them, which I would be glad to do. I have photographed them and filed them on photobucket, The thing is 66 pages because it was copied on the front and back of each page. I really don't know if the moderator(s) of this forum would want this much space taken up.If they do, I will be glad to post them. Thank you for your comments. Dean

Dean, I believe you are correct. I don't have the original article from Linn's.

I've gotten to a point where I have to read something 3 times before I even come close to understanding what I am reading! Thanks for pointing out the contents of the letter to me again!

Also, thanks for taking the time to photograph so many pages! It's amazing what you can find in some of those bulk lots! Congrats on a good piece of philatelic history!

k