Expertizing Berlin Overprints

If you are really interested in the BERLIN overprints, you may want to borrow the appropriate Germany Philatelic Society forgery manual from the APRL. You will discover that these forgeries are very well done, and that trying to discern the good from the bad is not something that a Germany specialist would even dream of doing on their own. You cannot expertize your own stamps using 1200 dpi images of expertized stamps. Sending material to the Bundespruefers in Germany is THE way to be sure you have the correct items.

Yep, I have a complete set of the forgery manuals and I wouldn't dream of trying to proof these. There are 5 genuine types and 60 or so different types of forgeries. I'm not even going to bother trying on one stamp, much less 34 of them. I'm in the market for a set of these sometime soon and I'm just going to find a signed/certified set from a seller in Germany. The same goes for the expensive varieties of the posthorn overprints from the postwar period - multiple forgeries, many of them fairly good. The extra cost will be well worth it just in the aggravation it would save me alone.

bookbndrbob,


I don't believe I said anything about using the set of 1200dpi images to expertize my own stamps?

1200dpi images - when scanned correctly - is a very useful learning instrument.

Saw this cover offered on ebay the other day and thought I would resurrect this thread since we discussed appropriate venues for expertizing certain areas of German philately.

This cover has an APS certificate stating that Germany C44 is "genuine in all respects". I am by no means an expert, but it is clear that this stamp is a forgery. All German zeppelin stamps issued between 1928 and 1933 (Scott C35-C45) were comb perforated. As you can tell from the close up of the cancelled stamp, this example is line perforated. I have already conferred with PostmasterGS and he is in agreement with this conclusion.

Caveat emptor!


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Germany-C44...AOSwBOtY~2Dp