Albania Forgery - Guaranteed

Saw this set in my collection, and copied the first stamp (Scott 62). There is a note that "Counterfeits abound". Looking at this one carefully, I can see why. Other than the poor print quality, do you see anything obvious?

Forgery- Albania 1917-18 Scott 62 1c dark brown & green "Coat of Arms"
Forgery Scott 65 5c green & black

I'm not an expert on Albania (Far from it! ), but I do take an interest in WW classical forgeries.

Varro Tyler (Focus on Forgeries -2000) has a Forgery/Genuine comparison for the 1917-18 Double Eagle issues of Scott 54-61, and Scott 62-68.

Summarizing...
• Plating to the 12 types is the gold standard.
• There are some 50 forgeries that have been found (wow! )
• The eagle is surrounded by small dots of color that are constant for each of the twelve types in the genuines. The most common counterfeits are clearly printed, and are not surrounded by dots around the eagle.
• The tips of the eagles feathers are often broken in the genuines, while in the common counterfeits, the eagle wing tips are not broken.
• Count the horizontal framelines between the thick outer and inner framelines. The genuines can vary with 5,6,or 7 frame lines, while the common forgeries have 6 framelines.
• The genuine lowest denomination "1 CTM" is printed as "1 CTS" in the common forgery.

Looking at my specimens...
• Clean, well printed eagle without broken wing tips, and no small dots surrounding the eagle....probable forgery
• Six horizontal lines between the thicker frame lines...consistant with a forgery ( although a genuine may have 6 lines also).
• The 1c dark brown & green is "1 CTS" rather than the genuine "1 CTM"
...clear evidence of a forgery!

Looking at your specimen Partime...
- Greater chance this is a genuine than my specimens!
Why?
• 5 frame lines between the thicker framelines. Remember, the most common forgeries have 6 framelines.
•The eagle wing tips look broken.
• The denomination is "1 CTM", consistant with a genuine stamp.

OTOH, I don't see many color dots around the double eagle, and it does look quite crudely drawn.

Someone with more knowledge and experience would need to give their interpretation.

Well, that is quite interesting ... I had thought that the 1 CTM was the dead give away as my Scott's doesn't even mention that variety for the 1 CTS. I'll have to look closer at my other specimens and scan tomorrow to see if they are not forgeries, especially looking for the color dots, etc. I might have to change the title of this thread. Thanks for the information.

Here are my other examples. All crudely drawn. All with 5 horizontal lines. None have the color dots, nor the broken wing tips. All also have similar cancels, making it look like CTO. My vote is counterfeit, but interesting to have anyway.











You wouldn't have an extra counterfeit Scott 66 that you don't need? It would be nice to fill in that extra hole.

Yes, they all look pretty dodgy.

(But I'm no expert either)

I have a complete set of forgeries for Scott 62-68 (lucky me ), but no extra 66, sorry.

Hello fellow Collectors !

I came across this post while searching for info over the stamps mentioned above .

I have a couple of questions and hope someone can help me with this
This is what I have got :





Scott 54 : Fake(s) or Genuine ??







Any ideas on the above stamps reading back on your previous post I think there's a good chance that one of those 1 CTM stamps might be genuine or ?

Notice the second picture there's a round coloured circle above the left head , would that be a plate fault ? (have moore stamps in this series with that circle)

Hope someone can shed some light on this.

best regards,
Eric

I don't collect Albania, but find the topic interesting nonetheless. I grabbed my Scott classic catalogue and can offer one clue as to the authenticity of your stamps.

There is no 1 "CTM" variety listed in Scott. Scott only lists the 2 CTM and 3 CTM. That tells me that your first two stamps are almost certainly forgeries. I can't offer an opinion on your 3rd stamp.

Brian

TF1, welcome to the forum! En hoe is het weer in Nederland? I am no expert when it comes to these, but after reading the above threads I believe your first two stamps are genuine, the third one is fake.
And yes, I believe the circles may be a plate fault.

Peter

Helo guys thank you for the input !

I myself don;t have a specialized catalogue for the Balkan and like Rilesan says in scott for instance a 1 CTM version is not mentioned , but that could be because they are rare and therefore not mentioned in a "standard" catalogue .

I'm 99% sure the 3rd stamp I posted is indeed a Fake but the "jury is still out" on the first 2 stamps..

cheers,
Eric


@Peter, heerlijk weertje hiero joh ! graadje of 19 vandaag ...

Eric, we hebben hier in het zuid-oosten ( Georgia ) nu voor het eest in maanden goed weer!
The first two are in my opinion genuine because of several factors. The main one being the broken wingtips. Also 5 framelines between the thick outer ones and CTM instead of CTS.
I can on your scans see colordots which is another clue to its being genuine.

Peter

Scott is notorius for not listing all varieties of stamps. However, Scott does not dismiss items just because they are rare. Scott lists all the unique million dollar stamps I could think of, and Scott also lists the known "CTM" error stamps from Albania ($100 stamps). I think it highly unlikely they would leave this one out just because it's allegedly rare. Afterall, I see three copies in this thread alone. How rare can it be?

My money is on these being forgeries ...

Brian

@RileySan Jkjblue posted this earlier in this threat :




wouldn't this mean that there are indeed 1 CTM stamps or am I reading this wrong ?

Eric

Some days I just need to stay in bed. CTM is the actual denomination! Thanks for the correction. /facepalm

I wonder if anyone has noticed that my original posted stamps are quite different than the later ones posted by TF1. The most noticeable difference is on the left and right sides.

On my stamp, the Left side, reading up, is "Republika"
Right side, reading down, is "Shqipetare"

On the TR1 stamps, the Left side, reading up, is "Shqiperie"
Right side, reading down, is "Vetqeveritare"

Note that JKjBlue's also match my Left/Right sides.

(I completely forgot about this older post ...)

Hi Partime !

the texts on the sides of the stamps are different because your serie is the 62-68 serie and mine is the 54-61 :)

I have both in my collection :



Scott 54-61





Scott 62-68




Does anyone knows if the following stamps are indeed real and if the supposed "plate errors" (coloured circle above left head) is catalogized somewhere and what would be the added value ??

Scott 59


Scott 54 (CTM)


Scott 61


I also noticed a difference in the tekst layout of Scott 61


Your input is much appreciated !

Well, that makes total sense then, doesn't it.