Czech 1919 Over Print

How do you identify if this is a fake or forgery?
Thanks for the help
The picture is 25mm x 30mm
The stamped words are 2.5mm apart
a 5h stamp is for reference

It looks good ,the overprint is correct .There is other stamps ,not from this same set that say the same thing but those overprints are different .

There's no way for us to know.
1) Inverted overprint aside, depending on the lighting you used, the "base" stamp could be POF 50-I (Mi 57-I), or 50-Ia (53-I) or 50-II (57-II) or...
2) What are the measurements? This design was issued with two or three different dimensions, as I recall.
3) Depending on the "base" stamp, there may not be a legitimate example of what your specimen claims itself to be. For example, only one example of POF 50b (looks just like this but on granite paper) is known, and this isn't it (nor is it a long-lost sister).

Fakes/forgeries of early Czech stamps are often very good. One picture of one side is not enough for a constructive opinion. If you want to identify whether this is genuine, either have it expertised, or find a genuine example and compare it side by side.

I wonder about that one. I'm going to have to dig out a reference or two.


ETA: I hit "Send" before seeing the reply from classic_paper. Aside from all of those totally valid points, I wonder about the spacing of the overprint, itself...

That stamp you just posted 41 minutes ago is a forgery ,please don't add stamps to previous posting ,it confuses everybody because it makes my comment above questionable .

thanks for all the info - I posted these late but here they are again
the picture is 25mm x 30mm
the overprint words are 2.5mm apart
scan of the back is added
scan of a 5h next to 4k for reference
I understand that sending to be authenticated / expertised is really the only way to get a definitive answer - but it would be nice to have an idea of what I'm dropping in the mail box in case I never see it again - insurance is nice but again need some idea of what we have here

Thanks again for the replies

floortrader - understood - sorry about that

The "monogram"-ish mark on the back is that of Antonin Cerny, a stamp dealer in Prague who died in 1938. I don't know what the other mark(s) symbolize in his system.

Just to add, the hand stamps on the back of the stamp are those of Antonin Cerny, a pre-WWII stamp dealer from Prague. They are not expertizing marks.

Stamp83 ------- My opinion is not to send it in ,the stamp as a inverted overprint catalogs $40.00 . With the two stampings on the back corner plus getting a positive reply here is good enough at that value . The cost of a cert. will not increase from what it can now bring . *** Edited by Staff - Please review the rules that you agreed to when you registered. ***

Thanks - that sounds reasonable. You mention catalog - which catalog are you referring to?

I was using a old Scott's Classic , so the price may of changed since . Still a nice stamp and with the stamping on the back helps it , these overprints were only sold at the main Post Office in Prague for charity benefit ,so it stands that a important stamp dealer in Prague ,marked it with his name confirms to me that it is real .

Notice I said "confirms" because I formed my opinion from just seeing the front of the overprinted stamp and matching that to my forgeries before posting , so the stamping on the rear helps .

There are a lot of very, very good forgeries of these overprints. The genuine are typographed and you should be able to see the indentations on the gum side. Most of the forgeries are litho and leave no impression on the gum.

I went looking for help verifying the authenticity of a few Czech 1919 Overprints and found this thread that seems to be the perfect match.

I thought folks might enjoy seeing what I found upon close inspection of this first stamp.

This stamp, along with 8 other suspect stamps, was included as throw-ins in a GB overprints collection. That immediately set off the "likely fake" alarm bells for me.

Here is the front and back of the stamp. Hopefully these images are good as this is the first time I am trying this from an Apple versus my PC.




This stamp measures in at 26x29mm, making it Type II. The color is also claret versus carmine rose. That said, it does show up lighter off the scan that it does to the naked eye under natural lighting. In Scotts Specialized Catalog, this is Czech B19c. The 2022 CV is $4,000. Hmmm ... very likely fake. Looking closely at the font, size, and overall likeness of the overprint looks pretty good. But ... when I got out the 30x magnifier, and did the scanning you can clearly see that the P in Posta and the C, the K, and the second S in Ceskoslovenska all are clearly on top of the cancel, and not underneath it like one would suspect.

Everyone agree that this is clearly a fake?

It's much tougher to tell the fakes from the genuine on used examples, since often the distinct typograph indentations have been pressed out. In your case, however, it's easy peasy. The cancel is dated 1917, so can't be the 1919 overprint...

Thank you for the response billsey, and for pointing out the "17" in the postmark that I had missed as I was so focused on the overprint.

Here are two more 1919 Czech overprints that I suspect are fakes and would appreciate input on. The Scott Catalog does not show examples of these, and I have yet to find examples in any of my online searches. So I have nothing to do a comparison to.

This first one is Scott Czech B64, which is an overprint of the Hungarian "Turul" issue.




And this second one is Scott Czech B70, which is also an overprint of the Hungarian "Turul" issue.




Again, any help on identifying whether the overprint is fake or authentic would be much appreciated. Thanks!