Let's Talk About Machins

How does one tell a forgery from a real one?

Hello

It is not difficult.


The forgery had a very poor print and perforation 11.


The normal stamp had perforation 15x14

Thank you
Fm

Nice find novato. For ID it also looks
like it is line perfed.

Here are some of my blocks of 4 side collection. Very difficult to find.

You must have sorted through a lot of
kiloware to get those!

novato wrote "Hello OK, look this, found it today! the famous 24p forgery" referring to the 24p Machin forgery pictured in his posting.


Just to play Devil's Advocate It is illegal in the UK to have them in your possession. Luckily novato is not a UK subject

2012 2nd Class Machin definitive code MA12 MRIL with number 06470 on the back

Illegal it may be, but no one will do anything about it if you possess one.
They are advertised regularly by British dealers and auctions and are also discussed in the Philatelic press like they were just normal issues.
It's no wonder there are so many 'illegal' stamps when just about everyone turns a blind eye.

Londonbus1

Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981:
s5(5)(c) specifically includes 'United Kingdom postage stamps'.
"knowingly having them in your possession without lawful authority is in its self a criminal offence".

Apparently, in the unlikely event of a prosecution, a defense of "...but I'm a collector" would not work and up to 2 years in jail can be anticipated

I cannot see the attraction to modern forgeries... the real thing is so much better. At least in times of war, civil unrest, or putting across some political or national point there is a justification.

I wrote on another thread a long time ago what I am writing now.
If all those dealers,auction houses and collectors were prosecuted for having 'illegal' stamps in their possession, the Philatelic Trade would come to a temporary end !

Dare I say it, most Internet forums too !

Londonbus1

These genuine stamps often advertised for sale but not listed, as far as I know, by Stanley Gibbons. "From clandestine sources" often appears in the wording of the advertisement.



Not illegal to buy,sell or have in your stamp album
I have nothing against anyone having fakes or forgeries.
I am just very interested in how people rationalise sometimes. e.g. I worked for some time in a casualty hospital and regularly saw the results of speeding drivers on the children they hit. Often the drivers excused themselves by stating they were only a few miles per hour over the speed limit as if that was a mitigating factor.
I think it is a case of all of us choosing which laws to obey or not.

As the above posting is not Machin... can any Machin collector shed some light on the 68p definitive from sheets? I am led to believe it exists with the M12L code but was either withdrawn or not issued as the rates went up shortly before or after printing.

Gibbons list a 3d Tete-Beche pair #545aa and also mention a #575 being 'known' Tete-Beche though unissued.
They sometimes crop up on auction or dealer lists.

It's been nearly a year, and you probably already have the answer. I just checked my collection, and I do have a 68p with code M12L. I bought it from a dealer, so it was released at some point in 2012.



Cheers, Robert

Edit: Fixed typos.

nice Deegam profile, thank you.