Misidentified Narcotic Stamp, And Fake As Well

ebay item number 292069055885.

Described as RJA15 but it's actually a fake RJA39 (cat. $3.75 if real).

I let the seller know earlier today, but the lot still remains.

Jim

Interesting. One can think of several scenarios for faking a narcotic stamp. What is your guess?

Hi

The real press-printed overprints were make by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1919. They were popular with collectors at the time, as were the earlier provisional overprints applied with rubber stamps by local Internal Revenue district offices. To meet collector demand, regular documentary stamps were handstamped and press-printed by parties unknown (but probably some stamp dealers). They were not made to deceive tax collectors, just to feed demand from stamp collectors.

Jim

This counterfeit is well known, and come in several values and two types. My info is that type A was made about 1920 and type B about 1930. This example appears to be type B. The C's are even more slanted then type A and the overprint itself is larger then type A. Both are too large in any case.

The type A NARCOTIC philatelic forgery came in the standard denominations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, and 25¢. The same forged overprint is also seen on the 50¢ denomination, which was never produced by BEP. It also is seen printed horizontally on the $1, whereas the BEP NARCOTIC overprint read up vertically. Finally, it was printed inverted on the 3¢ denomination. It apparently was seen frequently enough that the inverted overprint was listed in the Scott catalog around 1924. Thus the circa 1920 attribution. I have searched for ads in the philatelic press of the era, in hopes that such a listing would lead us to the perpetrator of this particular set of forgeries. Alas, if such an ad exists, it has eluded my eyes.

The type B forgery as pictured in this thread is decidedly less common. I have examples the 2, 4, 10, 25, and 40¢, the latter not being a BEP produced denomination. Also I have the NARCOTIC inverted on the 2 and 10¢. My examples on the dollar denominations are on the $1 reading up and down, the $2 up and down, and the $3 and $5 reading up. Nothing above $1 was produced by BEP.

As usual, you have more then I do. I have the 2,3,5,8,10, and 25 cent type A, and the 2 cent and $1 reading up type B.

May I ask where you are getting your types A and B from?

According to "Caveat Emptor – Counterfeits of U. S. Narcotic Tax Stamps," Louis S. Alfano, The American Revenuer, Volume 30, Number 5, April, 1976, on pages 97 to 101:

For the CO letters, the "bottoms (are) slightly above those of other letters" is the description for a type B. There is nothing about the "C's are even more slanted then (sic) type A."

Can you show me what a supposed type B looks like?

I also believe that the image that I posted is a type A, not a B, but I'll wait for a comparison image.

Thanks

Jim

I knew Louis Alfano well in those days. As I recall, he typed the first few counterfeit examples that I came across. The A types that I have have a somewhat smaller appearing overprint then the B type and were not as heavily inked.

For those interested in this area, this is a summary of Alfano's type A:

Jim

Type B:

I have written to the ebay consigner of this forgery. The response I got was that Livvy would take the stamp for a second look. No change in the listing as of 6am march 30.

This misidentified philatelic forgery brought $23.50. Find this hard to believe.

It's real value is about 10% of that.

Bart,

I agree with your estimate of real value. On top of that, there is the additional misidentification with inflated catalog value. Two of us even wrote to the firm that listed the item! Caveat emptor on ebay.

Just to close out this particular thread, shown below is Alfano's type B. Not the greatest resolution, sorry.

Jim