Is This Small Queen A Fake?

I just bought a few small queens off of ebay and the 5c looks fake. It almost looks like a photocopy, but the paper looks genuine and it's perf 12. Is there a way to authenticate it?

http://www.rpsc.org/library/smallqu...l_queens.htm

http://www.stamp-collecting-world.c...ps_1868.html

Some info on Small Queens

It's used, right? I doubt someone would go to the trouble of faking a low-value guy like that.

SQs were printed on ALL SORTS of different papers ;)

Good point...why would someone forge this stamp. I suppose it could be that I haven't seen too many of the 5c and the shade and ink quality just seemed off, especially against a relatively white paper. I also only had one to compare it to... Like I said, it just looks like a cheap rag printed off of a bad photocopier. Appreciate the links oldguy!

Looks genuine, dryish printing #38 from late 1870s that gives it a blotchy appearance.

I agree. Would you say it "appears closer to newsprint?"

Well, that's the exact description of one of the papers for the #38 slate green (earlier Montreal printing).

The other appears to be a #42 grey (later Ottawa). Check the perfs to be sure.

Welcome to the wacko World of Small Queens !

Newsprint! That's a great analogy. And I swear there is a tinge of green in the stamp that's noticeable when I compare it to the brownish-grey 5c shown above, so maybe it is the #38 slate green.

That's the exact reason I picked up a tiny lot of these stamps...I've read many people's comments in this forum about their experiences sorting and identifying the varieties and shades and papers and perfs, etc. Thought I'd begin a foray into the madness myself :)

Thanks everyone.

Hi All

Where catalogue values and stamp collectors are concerned, agreed, it isn't worth making forgeries of them. However, there could be fakes (forgeries)of these made at the time just to fool the post office authorities and cheat them out of the postal rates at the time (?) Just a thought.

Chimo

Bujutsu

If there were any fakes, I think they'd be worth more than the real stamps.