I (Try To) Collect Iran

Sometime early on in my stamp collecting career I acquired my first Scott catalogue. I remember very clearly going through the pages amazed at what I saw thinking I should decide on a country to someday specialize in. The designs for early Iran really intrigued me and so I decided this was it. I have a weakness for fine engravings and overprints and this country has it in abundance. I did not realize at the time what I was getting my self into though. Anyone who's even begun to dabble here knows that you are right away thrust into the world of forgeries and counterfeits and unauthorized reprints and all the crazier and complicated things that are a part of classic era collecting. Trial by fire it was and is. Instead of realizing I was in over my head I slogged on because I just loved them too much. I learned the terms and the methods of identifying some and started to feel a little confident about what I was seeing in dealer's inventories. To be honest though, even after years of focus and amassing a sizable collection I still have a real hard time. It seems only an elite few in the world are qualified to positively ID so many of them. I stubbornly persist by trying not to pay too much for doubtful items. I guess it's all I can do. I'm not paying to have a stamp expertized when the value doesn't merit it and too many try to sell high dollar stuff without a certificate. I usually can't afford those anyway. So here I sit still adding to it when I can and accepting the reality that much is probably not "legit".
I guess all of that wordiness was a lead into a recent acquisition I figure I should share. I bid against one other on ebay who didn't want it as much as me. It's one of those which probably never saw real postal use and my copy is an obvious CTO, still, I think it is dandy and now fills a hole.



If you have any Iran/Persia you would like to show please do.
OG

Just out of curiosity, what can you tell me about these?

Iran, early, had what I felt were some of the coolist, brightist stamps to be found, especially during that era.

Mike

WpgLwr, I can tell you one of them is upside down.

Seriously though, Nearly every one you see is a forgery. This is what I've been told and no I couldn't say how to know for sure but they point out exactly what I was talking about. You can't hardly find a pile of old Iran without there being some questionable stuff in it. That's just the way it is.

OG

That's what I figured. I can't say I didn't think they weren't.

Still, they are colorful.

True. You reminded me of one I have in that set. It's supposedly a pin perf variety of the 1 chahi. The weird thing about it is there is no background pattern. It could be something really cool or just another forged variety. Maybe someday I'll find out.



OG

It's stamps like this one that got me going on this country.

Very nice. It is amazing how "fancy" Persian stamps were in this early time frame; the use of more than one color, including silver and gold, and color combinations you wouldn't expect together. They are quite striking. I can understand how you were drawn to them.

Those are really amazing stamps!

You have pointed out the main problem with early Iran and let's face it much of early worldwide postage and that is forgery. The other problem is reprints. I truly believe,and this is by no means a criticism, that 99.99999999 percent of the sellers have no idea whether they are selling the orinal,reprint,or forgery. However,virtually all will freely own up to that fact. My advice: collect the early Iran stamp for their beauty and colors but set a firm limit on how much to pay for any particular item

OG-

Looking at that last stamp, I wonder what connection Jon Lovitz had with Persia? Why would they have put him on a stamp?

One of the members of our local philatelic society has a beautiful catalogue of early Persia created by a dealer/specialist (in New York, I think). It looks self-produced, but at a high standard. It has lots of clues for identifying forgeries and reprints. It looked like it was well worth the investment for the specialist. If you aren't familiar with it, and have some interest, I can inquire further at our next meeting.

Nice stamps.

Collin

I have an overflowing International set of pages of early Persia/Iran...many with high catalog values (if they were real). I noticed the forgery comments in the catalog which kinda dampened my enthusiasm...but upon reflection I think I will eventually print a nice album from Steiner pages to match my later well illustrated Scott International pages and combine the two moving all my vintage stamps to steiner with major scott numbers and then after say 1960 use my International pages since I don't have as many and like the illustrations for holes better than reems of blank pages. The previous owner of my Iran collection put blank pages and stamps in the margins (and hinged like shingles) on most of the pre-1950 pages which is a mess.

I like the suggestion of not spending too much and not getting too worried about fakes.

I like the recent stamps from the "Axis of Evil" period as well.

My idea is to move from pages like this:




...to more organized and complete (at least in terms of Scott major numbers and Scott organization) pages. I like seeing my stamps on pages with holes for all the members of a set...even if I won't get all of them...it gives me a quick awareness of completeness and fit within the Scott catalog vs. just a nice page with potentially full coverage. The downside is that I get a lot of blank pages and pages with just one or two stamps and it becomes harder to get a quick glimse at my collection. Interest in variations (i.e. 101b) put the collector back in the same delima faced with International pages.


Here is a sample of my Steiner pages in an Speciality binder for India. I may print Iran on cream International pages and combine with my post 1960 illustrated International Iran pages.....

I can understand not "worrying" about fakes, but I think you should definitely try to identify and/or isolate them from your legitimate stamps. I think it would be asking for trouble to lump authentic and fakes in the same album without some kind of notes or explanation.

Just my $0.02,
KirkS

[P.S. The scans look great. Wow.]

This may not be of too much interest,but I get to show two pages from my album that I designed.





Conn

Very nice layout, Conn.

I like the flags and "World War II" headers on the pages and the blue frame. Comic Sans is not my favorite font, but it seems to work well here. I can't quite read the text because of the image size, but they look very nice.

KirkS

To all, I appreciate your input and compliments.

To funcitypapa, yes that is my experience too, I agree with you completely and that is exactly how I approach it.

To Cjd, thank you, he will now and forever be Jon Lovitz to me.
I would really really appreciate it if you could find out the name of the catalogue and it's author, thanks.

To Quanah, thanks for sharing those pictures. I have such a soft spot for overflowing International pages but you are right the neatness of a well thought out page is so much better.

To King Conn, I wish I had your gumption. Seriously.

To KirkS, identification/isolation is an ongoing process. I find the fakes can be very interesting themselves. They have stories to tell too albeit sometimes dishonest ones.

On that note let me show some lions that I originally identified as unofficial reprints but am lately leaning toward at least some being fake unofficial reprints.



These show the characteristics used to identify the unofficial reprints, the most obvious being the gash in the lower part of the 4K. What leads me to believe they are of even more questionable status than that is that in some cases the denominations didn't exist officially and the colors used are either merely close or even in the fantasy realm. The 5K in the top row (far right) is printed in gold. There is also varying degrees of crudeness in the designs such as seen in the sun rays and pearls suggesting different creators.

OG