Romania The First Issue Of 1858

On a very crumbly page in an old album, where the actual album paper was stiff and brittle, there was a handful of old Romanian stamps. This one immediately caught my eye. It is a mess!! It is torn, bits are missing on the edge, it is folded and creased, twice, and it is very dirty with hinge remnants (old selvedge) on the reverse.

On the other hand, if it is, by some miracle, not an out and out fake, then it is a very rare stamp. For reference, it is on laid paper and the diameter of the outline circle is 20 mm. Colours of the paper and the ink are quite true to life in this scan.

The condition of the stamp itself is very fragile so I am not in the least tempted to clean it or restore it, or, in fact, even handle it for fear of causing further damage.

What I am looking for are some opinions. If there is something which immediately stands out pointing to this being a forgery, please let me know. If opinions point to it possibly being legitimate, then I am seriously considering having it expertised.

First lets get the right country ,it is a Moldavia stamp . It is a forgery.

The numeral 4 is not in that form in the genuine.The bulls head is formed differently also. Its an old type of forgery.

Absolutely a crude fake. Not even close.

Chastened and corrected, I retreat and consign the offending paper to the scrap heap. Thanks for the info.

Backroads ---Don't be so fast ,as a forgery it still has value to a forgery collector .

No worries. My Scrap Heap is a section of two or three pages with interesting but very dubious examples of the printer's art. I am far too much of a magpie to actually throw anything out. Anything bright and shiny will do.

Check out http://romaniastamps.com/ for more details on these.

That is a very interesting link. The forgery that I have matches fairly closely to one of the illustrated ones right down to the battered and beAten condition. Wonder if that was part of the scheme? Thank you.