Another $100 Cinderella - Inverted Jenny Fakes

I previously posted a thread about Mystic Stamp Company selling fake Penny Black stamps. Now it seems they have migrated to doing virtually the same thing with the Inverted Jenny:



I know it's a poor reproduction that anyone with any experience in stamps would spot right off, but then again there are those with no previous stamp experience that could be duped into believing that they found a "gem" that is in reality a worthless reproduction.

Although I suspect not many of these are sold because of the high asking price ($99.95) don't you think it compromises the integrity of a company that is known for their genuine (if not often overpriced) stamps?

(By the way, I was intrigued by the phrase that these are being offered "with very good centering". One would think that as reproductions, the centering should be "excellent"!)

I bet more than one person is breaking up the sheet of 100 and trying to sell singles for more than the $1 investment.

Cjd, I frequently find single reproductions on ebay for several dollars each stamp.

Personally I think it is not only irresponsible for a reputable stamp company to print these, but to charge $100.00 for something that probably cost less than $1.00 to print is outrageous. As Cjd has indicated, these can foster deceptive sales. At the very least there should be a notation on each stamp indicatibg it is a replica.

Mystic is a shyster operation, akin to late night shopping channels hawking "collectables" at 5x-50x their actual worth. Their ads on the back page of Linn's each week are always at multiples of retail, trying to reel people into their approval service.

Mysterio is reputable? Hucksters at best.




When I was a subscriber to Linn's I was amazed and puzzled by the Mysterio ads on the back page, I always felt that the reader base of Linn's was that of more advanced collectors, not likely to be taken in by the "Z" grille or Jenny invert block moniker on the Mysterio ads. A non-collector would most likely not stumble across Linn's and if Mysterio was counting on newbs picking up there first copy of Linn's and being wowed by the back page ad, those numbers would be very small and even then, that seems remote. I think I can count on two fingers the number of retail outlets I have seen a Linn's at. So that being said, I find it bizarre that Mysterio could recoup advertising dollars from Linn.s

complete rubbish targeted at people with little knowledge to rip them off is my view - gives the hobby a bad name

I always wondered the same. I also wonder, what do they do with all the collections they buy (or advertise to buy in American Philatelist). They don't seem to sell much besides readily available overpriced stamps. But if they buy as much as they claim they do, where does it all go?