Sg142 Newfoundland 3c First Trans Atlantic Air Post April, 1919

Hi - I have one of these and was wondering how do you tell if it's fake or fortune.
Est value £12000

Can we see a picture of the stamp please? (I don't have an SG book.) If you are talking about this one, then the pamphlet "Newfoundland Fakes and Forgeries" by Ed Wener points out these options:

I would love to but havng great difficulty uploading picture despite the
wonderful "easy instructions" - Do you have an email I could use to send to you direct.

You might have better luck uploading by reading this short primer I wrote several years ago:

https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/SCF/help1.html

Did you use the image optimiser to manage the file size within 300KB before downloading and check the file in your downloads folder is no bigger than 300 KB?

Here it is:

You are getting closer. We need a flat bed scan of the entire stamp. It needs to be in focus. Phone pictures are not as good most of the time.

I have seen an authentic one (per the dealer and the certificate opinion) in person and two things stood out. First was that the overprint ink was quite crisp and clear. Second was the capital N's had very strong "blocky" serifs. I see neither of those markers evident in the stamp above, albeit the photo is not optimal. I would be quite suspect of this stamp.

A good friend of mine, Jim Haxby, put together the presentation "The Daily Mail "Demolition Derby" of 1919 - The Race Across the Atlantic" and it has several good images of the stamp in question in this thread. It turned his PowerPoint presentation into a YouTube video and it can be viewed below.

Note, best viewed full screen (click on icon in lower right of the video.)
Don



A real Sg142 Newfoundland 3c on cover

Topmansmithy,

Thank you for posting. I understand the upload process is a little clunky, but we need a better image of the stamp. Trick is to get the size of the file not too big. Either using the website's optimizer or your own scan to be less than 300 KB.

Some of my thoughts--being a long time, Newfoundland only collector.

1. I'm aligned with all the other comments above. 51Studebaker--nice image of that cover. Its a good reference for Topmansmithy and enjoyable.

2. Some background info on this stamp, and the cover. From NSSC: This stamp was produced for the race to make the First Flight with mail. There was a substantial money prize and basically 3 planes tried in 1919 (51Studebaker shared a link of this competition).

3.The stamp you are sharing is from the 1919 Sopwith (name of the plane), piloted by Hawker and Grieve. The first plane to try, but it crashed in the ocean.

3. There are 3 sets of covers from this flight, all very rare: (A) Postmarked April 12, 1919 at St Johns, and there are only 80 known covers that flew. There are some un-waterlogged cover which have no back cancel; and some waterlogged ones which were sealed and had a label/back cancel of May 30, 1919.
(B) May 2, 1919 and back canceled May 30, 1919. Ultra rare; not sure how many are known to exist. (C) May 17, 1919, with supplementary 3 cent stamp but not overprinted; back cancel May 30.

4. The 2nd plane was a Martinsyde plane (pilots Raynham & Morgan), about 20 known covers from April 19, 1919. Another 28 covers with later dates. I have one of these and will share shortly.

5. The 3rd plane was a Vickers-Vimy plane (Alcock & Brown pilots) that won the race. Meaning they successfully made it to UK in June (10th to 13th cancels). About 197 covers exist. I will share my image of the one that I have.

6. There was another plane Handley-Page (Kerr & Brackley) from June 9, 1919. About 115 known covers.

I've given you the count of the stamp used on an envelope (aka "a cover") as these are best way to know the stamp is legit. I'm not suggesting your stamp is a forgery, it might be legit stamp not used on an envelope, but keep trying to share a good image.

Thanks

Here are my covers from these flights.

1. April 19, 1919. The "Martinsyde" plane.
2. June 13, 1919. The "Vickers-Vimy" plane.
3. July 22, 1919. The "Handley Page" plane.

Enjoy