Latvia Bermondt Avalov First Issue First Printing

A very attractive cover sold on ebay today for $135. It was dated 12 Oct 1919 Mitava and franked with 3 Bermondt Avalov 1st printing surcharges. I was really tempted by this attractive cover until I looked closer.

The surcharges are very clean and distinct - that's good, but there are none of the small spots that are consistent on authentic first printing surcharges - that's bad. So I did some measurements and found the surcharge is smaller than authentic and the third bar angle is incorrect.

Still it would have been an attractive example for my collection, but not for $135.

The authentic image:



Forgery below:



Pochta

Thanks Pochta for analyzing that cover! I hope someone informs the seller of the forgery.

Bee See,

The cover was sold by a dealer in Riga Latvia. Who knows when it was created. It will be interesting to see if another surfaces from the same source.

Pochta

The recent offerings on ebay all have a similar look. I haven't had time to do exact measurements, but they do vary slightly in size. They may be photo (or Photoshop) variants of the same image.

The one below is interesting. All of the first printing of about 2000 surcharges were imprinted on the evening of 10 October 1919. The example below has the clear cancel of 7 June 1919. Close examination shows that the surcharge overprints the cancellation. An interesting forgery worthy of a collection:





Another, presently on ebay is a bit outrageous. The overprint is on a stamp that was prepared but never released.




I'd like to see copies of BA surcharges from poster's collections. There should be a reasonable number of existing authentic examples.

Pochta

This group was offered for sale recently on ebay:






These are all believable forgeries. They are crisp, clean and about the right size. The first clue is that they are all different. Authentic First Printings were all made with the same device (or possibly two devices - more on that later). So they must all be essentially the same. In the above group, from left to right: the top of the circle is flat; the lines are heavier; the spacing between the crosses is narrow; the spacing between the crosses does not match the others.

However, the overall appearence is good enough to mislead some purchasers.

Pochta

A quick intro for those who are not familiar with the BA first issue surcharges:

1. A Government was formed in Mitava on 6 Oct 1919. On 10 Oct 1919 it was decided to surcharge Latvian stamps to fill their postal needs and raise cash.

2. Due to printing delays it was necessary to purchase a hand stamp from a local shop to use in the interim. General Davidov and Captain Sewald spent the evening pressing surcharges onto 2697 stamps.

3. Either there was a second stamp or the original was subsequently used to surcharge an additional 3480 stamps. This second printing has thicker lines and is not as clear.

4. The surcharged stamps were all sold at the post office with a limit of two per customer.

5. Two days later the second issue was available. The hand stamp was sent to Berlin where it was destroyed.


So, the first printing of the first issue is a rarity and one that has been frequently copied.

I was curious about the surcharge on the stamp of the Western Army - super fantasy! But, on examination I found that it is a perfect copy of a legitimate first issue surcharge. As a result I purchased the lot on ebay.






LOL - the surcharge was done on a dot matrix printer. You can see the raster lines. That probably means it was done some time ago, before ink jet printers became common.

Still it is valuable for anyone interested the type, because it is a true copy of the first issue.

Pochta