Thank you ClassicalStamps.
I do get the points but the site has been there for years and to change everything on it....months.
A couple complained on the colors.
I like black background because the images stand out.
I always use black background behind stamps to make the perfs clear.
If it is hard to read there is the "no style" choice in your browser settings which converts the page to plain text with no background colors etc;.
I used to sell on the site directly. shopping carts are difficult to maintain and I have always had better results in sales on
ebay.
As I stated before I specialize in archival materials. Also in materials I have acquired in research from the police evidence stock seized in the raids on the printer before the liquidation. Most of THAT was sold to others but I was lucky enough to acquire a portion from the St. Lucia and Tuvalu side which verified quantities produced.
One thing a lot of people do not seem to understand is that much of the original issues have finite quantities. Unlike U.S. and many countries where millions were made and tons are still available, most issues produced for these smaller countries ranged from 50,000 to 100,000 sets. Now, 30+ years later those stocks are dwindling and those dealers that did have hundreds or thousands are now seeing those numbers are going away.
Indeed they sell for small amounts but the fact that the topical collectors, car collectors and so forth have been buying these sets over the years for small amounts, dealer stocks are less.
The cause of the forgeries.
Not proven...yet, but because of the above factors and greed, the forgeries are being produced. Now what "looks" like a ton of them are out there indeed is just not the case. Over 50% are fakes. The scales are tipping toward a majority of available sets being those forgeries.
It has already happened with the Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley secondary reprints I have written about and which have been known to exist for years and noted in Stanley Gibbons. Around 50-60% of the sets offered are those secondary reprints. This includes imperfs, color proofs and "errors". All made AFTER Format shut down.
You now have the inverts shown at the beginning of the thread. 5-10,000 sets of them out there now. We are succeeding in stopping them before hundreds were sold.
One lot that has been stopped from sale just this month contains 10,000 normal sets of MJ and 10,000 sets of normal EP stamps. They would have been coming onto the market through
ebay next month if we (yes we) had not alerted and got the lot withdrawn among many others.
Until the forgers are stopped entirely this will continue with possibly hundreds of different issues. I am the discoverer. You are the army that can help to stop them before it is too late.
It does not matter that I sell stamps. Most of the issues I do not even have to sell! And if I do it is much more advanced than normal issues and imperfs and new trumped up "errors"!
Many sets in jeopardy are indeed high valued. Try Guyana Orchids. Try Lesotho Birds. On and on. The LOTW issues are just a beginning. Easy to forge and because "nobody cares", easy to flood onto the market undetected. Until it is too late......
Oh, and the above three posters are obvious plants from the forum from
Real intelligent bunch....
Posted 10/31/2015 10:02 am
