Counterfeit Of Ro112A

I found what appears to be another rarity while surfing the ebay for Match Stamps. I noticed there was a difference in the appearance of this stamp- the color was not that of the RO112a nor of the Ro112u that I have in my collection, so I checked with the article in the Boston Boston Revenue Stamps of the United States[u and contacted the person that would be the best to know about this counterfeit, Mr. Eric Jackson. Eric stated he has seen one copy of this stamp in his career and for me to send him pictures. After examining the picture of the original RO112a with a sharp impression on the left and the picture of the stamp in question on the right. Eric believes it to be the real thing and to send it to the APS for certification. This stamp has the greenish cast that doesn't appear on the genuine stamp, the upper portion of the ground is much lighter with the shade lines either absent or indistinct that they can only be distinguished under magnification. Also, the shading on the wings of the eagle are too heavy and dark, and the shrub the eagle is perched is differently shaped. I noticed the "A"'s in "TELEGRAPH STAMPS" are shorter than the original. Many other slight differences are noted in the printing of the letters such as the length and thickness of the serfs. According to Christopher West's book on Private Die Match Stamps only one or two counterfeit being known. I would like the opinions from the members concerning stamp.

There is an article in the Philatelic Foundation's book Opinions VIII: Philatelic Expertizing - An Inside View. The article was authored by Bart's brother, so Bart may have more to add.

Right stamp looks worn, that is, toned from a hard life.

I wonder how toned the maker looked after spending 5 years of hard labor for making this stamp?

These are both genuine. The counterfeit has some significant design differences, one of the foremost being that the first H of B & H D Howard is badly damaged and looks more like a K then an H. I have only seen 2 examples of the counterfeit. If one searches "Benoni Howard in google books, there is some interesting info out there, but not as much as one would wish. The same people who created the counterfeit stamp were involved in counterfeiting securities and so the government was very leery of what was allowed to be written.

Here is the counterfeit, PF cert 465778.


http://pfsearch.org/pfsearch/pf_grd...=&certsymbol[]=All&subtype[]=All&certcolor=&keyoper=both&keyword=&recsperpage=10&pscolumn=default&sortord=DESC&calledfrom=lkp

Also note the right star at the top, another obvious clue.