Can We Idetify Forged Imperf Stamps..?

Hi guys...Was reading a post today about a collector who thought he may have genuine imperf stamp(s)...I thought maybe we could post some ideas on how to identify and avoid forgery with respect to imperf stamps..I thought of a couple that are probably already well known and one thaat may not be..

1 - IF THE STAMP IS NOT KNOWN TO COME IN IMPERF FORM..THEN MAYBE IT IS A FORGERY AS SHOWN BELOW AS I TRIMMED A NORMAL PERFORATED STAMP.



2 - IF STAMP HAS A REALLY SMALL BORDER ..THEN MAYBE IT IS A FORGERY..LIKE MY IMPERF STAMP TRIMMED DOWN TO SMALL BORDERS....AS SHOWN BELOW.



3 - WHEN A STAMP IS TRIMMED (WITH SAY SCISSORS) THE STAMP THICKNESS ON THE EDGES WILL CHANGE AS SHOWN WITH THE REGULAR STAMP THICKNESS AS COMPARED TO A TRIMMED STAMP THICKNESS AS SHOWN BELOW.


ARE THERE ANY MORE WE CAN THINK OF..???

Be wary of imperforate Germany, N. German Postal District, and Old German States. The Michel catalog uses a symbol to indicate when there are postal stationery items of the same design. You will see "imperforate" items offered on ebay on a regular basis. The vast majority of these are cut outs from postal envelopes. There are old postal envelopes from all over the world which can be converted to a "rare stamp." So, be careful, and know your collecting area.

Imperfed (apart from the classics) should only be bought in pairs. This is why they are priced this way.

End of discussion.
I will add one caveat that I'm aware of.
For France and those printed by the French printers, the imperfs are usually sold with a margin that leaves no doubt.

Very informative thread guys. I once got duped now I know what to look for.

Thank you for all your knowledge and guidance.

Dianne

This depends somewhat. I can think of a lot of stamps where the imperforate version is the more common variety. Of course, these are older stamps and are probably counted in the classics you are referrring to. If you're talking about modern imperf errors, I agree that pairs are best.

There are also a lot of coil stamps that are forged by trimming Booklet pane stamps or sheet stamps.

Here I present the 2-cent green Admiral coil perforated 12 horizontally.

Genuine Pair:





Genuine Single (Note the weak spot in frame line next to second leaf above the numeral box. Two other weak spots in the inner portrait oval at right of image one at shoulder and one slightly above it (circles indicate these). These are indicative of genuine copies of this stamp.



The next two images are forged copies probably from booklet pane stamps:

Hi Watermark,

In your prior posting you stated "The next two images are forged copies probably from booklet pane stamps:"

Surely if they were from booklets then there would be a straight edge at the top or bottom, or are you saying that the forger created a perforated edge?

- stamporator -

U.S. booklet panes were pane of 6, the middle stamp perforated top and bottom.

The perforation would have been trimmed from one or both vertical sides and added top or bottom horizontal side.

Watermark...
I don't see how you can get both horizontal (top & bottom) perfs from a booklet.

I've recently started paying more attention to my admirals (and Canada in general, for that matter), and you guys are making my head hurt. In a good way, of course. This is the kind of information that I can't get enough of.

watermark, I hope you don't mind, I've enlarged a detail of your image and added arrows to highlight the three areas you mention:

Sak, As I said the top or bottom horizontal perforations are added to the stamp accordingly.

Cjd, The enlargement looks great. The arrows point to the circled areas so don't get the circles confused with the stamp design... I was going to do it after I posted but had to do some other things.

Like recount your money from selling that stamp...haha
No insult intended...

Identifying the #133 Admiral coil is a sticky subject for me that is often oversimplified. I just created a new topic (https://goscf.com/t/42044) about this issue and would welcome comments from Admiral experts.