NSW Os Question Is This Real Or Fake?

I've had this 1898 Sheild stamp from New South Wales. I haven't been able to figure out if it is real or fake. NSW stopped using the OS perfins in 1895. My Scott book says the post office came out with a set of reprinted OS versions and some new OS stamps canceled with a ring of three concentric circles. Was this stamp a part of that set or do you think this a philatelic prankster? The reverse image was flipped to show the perfin lettering and spacing.

Australian-area perfins (called "punctures" in Australia) have been extensively counterfeited to the point where you can scarcely buy one without a certificate, and the number of expertizers willing to certify them at all has declined substantially. One of the casualties of the computer age.

Counterfeiting is less of a problem with the Australian States, however.

That's interesting to know. This particular stamp doesn't show where it was ever made with the OS puncture(perfin).

It's fine, quite normal OS NSW
fairly common.

I agree with Rod

In perfect condition (on a good day) it's worth up to $1 so not worth faking.

OK, let me rephrase the question. The Scott book (which is all I have) says the last OS stamps issued for NSW was the A20 design QV 10d issued in 1894. It states Official stamps became obsolete on December 31,1894. Yet it has the "sheild" design being issued in 1897. Did they continue on with the Official puncture after 1894?

Yes they did,
they were still puncturing up to 1970's, perhaps beyond,
but they had changed the OS NSW to NSW / G
Hope that helps.

I would be more explicit, however I do not own an Aussie perfin catalogue, sorry.


The thing to understand is, the punctured "OS" issues,
are regarded as "Commonwealth Issues", the perforated individual states stamps are not.
The big bucks lie in the commonwelath issues of rarity etc.

Most Australian perfins are only worth a couple of dollars so why would you forge them.

In the 70's & 80's many forgeries were made on stamps that had never before been found to have perfins on them.

Used perfins where the ink of the cancel is seen where the cut of the perfin is, is a good way to tell if it is real or not.

Lineing up one perfin over another is a help with the poor fakes.

Overprints are the true nightmare! In the USA it is precancels I believe. We have some overprints here that are trouble.

I have always liked Australian states and commonwealth stamps in general. I really need to find a better source than Scott. I saw that Stanley Gibbons 2013 COMMONWEALTH & BRITISH EMPIRE STAMP CATALOGUE (part 1) does it drill down enough to rely on or is there a better catalog one should buy especially for Australia and states?

In an earlier thread concerning this perfin stamp, rod222 posted the information that "New South Wales issues were perforated "OS" over "NSW" between 1902 & 1933"

https://goscf.com/t/12293

Nicely researched 22crows, I have no idea where I sourced that
info, and I had failed to preserve it under my perfin folder.
I have now.

1847 Cannot assist, I don't collect Aust specifically,
unsure of the best States ref, but would suggest it
would have to be Gibbons, but what catalogue,
I cannot say.

SG has two different ranges of catalogues with varying levels of specialization, unlike Scott which has a single range (with the exception of US stamps, for which they do have a specialized catalogue).

The low-level range of SG catalogues is their Stamps Of The World set, which is fairly equivalent to the level of detail found in the Scott catalogues. SG also has individual country / region catalogues which have more detail to them. The Commonwealth catalogue you mentioned above has the detail level of these specialized catalogues, but the data stops at 1970. If you're looking for listings of modern stamps, you would need their Australia specialized catalogue to have more detailed listings than Scott. For pre-decimal stamps, the Commonwealth catalogue is a good choice because of all the countries included.

The Brusden-White catalogues are more detailed for Australia, and they're ferociously expensive. You can get them in individual sections, based on time periods that roughly coincide with royal reigns.

http://www.brusden-white.com.au/

Ryan

I have acquired a lot of BCW stamps. The SG will be the first choice. Most of my collecting is pre 1945. You have to draw the line somewhere. If SG doesn't fit I'll have another look at the Brusden-White. You guys have been very informative. Many thanks for that!
By the way, it really boogles my mind that the information listed in different areas is either dubious or misleading. It pays to have several sources to research and a world of fellow collectors to help.

I would flesh this out slightly by saying that the Scott 1840-1940 Classic Specialized has more detail than the regular Scott listings for the era it covers. It is not just a straight republishing of the material in the main 6-volume set.