Sierra Leone Forgeries

Two forgeries with a real stamp in the center.



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that is clear that postman not expert the forgery is very clear

The biggest difference is the original one Penny stamp is the color,the real color is rose not like the two forgeries which are a orange red and like the 1/2 Penny bister,Notice that the "P" of POSTAGE touch the top frame .

Floortrader, amazing. What I do not quite get is why anyone would forge a stamp, make it look that clear and yet so mis-centered? And yes, not just the word "postage" but all the others seem to be way out of place.


peter

PETER ---I believe these forgeries were made well before the clear photo reproduction in books and stamp newspapers was used ,so just a "close" design was enough to fool most collectors long ago. I recently sold some forgeries on line and the buyer went ahead and sold them as real stamps ,when I question what he was doing ,he told me I was wrong and they are real . I had to tell him that not only I check them myself and Cherrystone Auctions sold them to me and they have their own experts write up the lot . Today it is not as easy to pass off fakes like it was in the past .

The forgeries above are often accredited to Spiro.
A very easy way to distinguish them is by looking at the 'cross' in the corners.

On genuine, it is in balance.
On Spiro forgeries, they tilt to the left. Can be seen on even low-res e-bay photos.

Peter, this has often puzzled me why forgers even bother with not only relatively common stamps, but make an effort to make the forgery look genuine. I know the excuse of "the packet trade" is often made, but surely there was more than that? why go to all that effort for a low dollar stamp?

According to the Serrane Guide, published by the American Philatelic Society, the easiest way to determine genuine from forgery here is the watermark. The 1861 to 1872 issues are on paper with watermark Crown and CC (Crown Colony). The 1872 to 1895 issues are watermarked Crown and CA (Crown Agents). None of the forgeries are on watermarked paper. For the later issues, Serrane does reference an "embossed" (stamped on) watermark, or one made with a greasy instrument. I suspect these could be easily identified.

None of these have any watermarks and are Spiro forgeries .These forgeries are listed in ALBUM WEEDS by EAREE as the first forgery type. He explains it as the TA of POSTAGE touch each other also .


You can see the cross in the corners better on the blue stamps and the blotchy and indistinct cross design on the forgeries .

Could I see the reverse of the middle stamp,

Pagoda

None of these have watermarks ----means the two side stamps in each scan above {I hope you didn't read NONE OF THESE as all three of the blue stamp ,because the center stamp is real . sorry for the wording David ,good to see you posting.

https://scontent.ftpa1-2.fna.fbcdn....&oe=58D5DDF6 DAVID -Spend more of my time doing this now and reduce my time on stamps to Fakes and Forgeries . Now retired and sold my asphalt business took 10% of sales price and bought a lot of stamps from Michael Rogers Stamps Inc. when he closed his ASIAN stamp business .

You state,

" None of these have any watermarks and are Spiro forgeries ", then you state that the center stamp is real,

Pagoda

In his 1975 article in USPCS Chronicle, FORGERIES, COUNTERFEITS, ALTERATIONS; A PRIMER, Hans Stoltz concludes his description of how Jean de Sperati made one of the 18 reproductions used as evidence in his 1944 trial by saying:
"All that remains to be done is printing our design on this piece of paper, slightly off center, a desired subtlety, and we have made the perfect reproduction, identical with the genuine stamp."

Would Jean de Sperati have been exposed if he hadn't done it himself?

http://chronicle.uspcs.org/PDF/Chro..._85/7090.pdf