Werner's Replicas - Forgeries

*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***
"Werner's replicas" appear on eBay by the sheet. What is the background? How to tell them from originals? I am not yet very experienced

There is something wrong with this ad on Ebay . They don't make clear in one of their ads on what you get .

They have a ad that says you can buy all three different stamps for $15.00,they show blocks of 9 stamps ,so do you get 27 stamps {3 blocks of 9 stamps } or do you get one of each {3stamps } ? I am going order the stamps and better get 27 as the ad shows ,there is no clear statement that it is for one set of three stamps or 27 stamps .......When I get them, then we can see what they look like next to or on top of the real stamps .

The genuine stamps are engraved. These replicas may be offset, maybe a photocopy. But not engraved.

Very likely laser printed. Nice perfs, though. He seems to have the equipment for mass producing fake perfs.
These offers started to appear a few years ago on German ebay. Meanwhile, there is a plethoria of copies of classic US stamps, not just Zepps.
Who needs this stuff? - I don't know.

Who needs them? Crooks maybe, to sell the stamps singly as originals? Having aged them somehow (in dirty water? in tea?) and adding a black smear as postmark? Let me get back to my question - how can a relatively inexperienced collector as myself tell such from the real thing? Thanks in advance for any advice....

you can get all three (3) for $15 .... THREE (one of each issue) bad marketing speak but you get three for $15, the all is an inclusive to refer to issue. don't depend on 'picture' to represent what the wording expresses. There is someone who sued BK for false advertising because the Whopper pictured on the menu board did not represent the Whopper she received in store.

Who Needs them ? I NEED THEM .

Because your part of the BRAIN DRAIN .

I am amazed how the stamp community has a brain freeze for the past 30 years . Yes! that is part of the Philatelic Brain Drain .

Every site about forgeries on-line is full of material that was researched and written up more than 30 years ago and it explains stuff that has been in text books for 100 years ago . Yes websites have copied 100 year old information that is already out there . Plus we call these people who feed us that information EXPERTS .

Back to your question ----who needs them -----Someone who is building a reference library for FUTURE reference of fakes and forgeries for the next generation , so as we go thru this Brain Drain many have been crying about here ,so maybe one person will be able to show the next generation of collectors the forgeries they will run into .

For the new collectors and readers here ,please excuse me here, because this is important for the future ,it needs a reference place after most of these one foot in the grave EXPERTS are gone . Someone has to carry on and be able to explain these new or recent forgeries .

I got to get off here and go for a 6 mile run to McDonalds for ice coffee after causing the regulars here to spit up their coffee while reading this ..

Beat you by an additional 15 miles.




Someone gives themselves too much credit.

Can you imagine asking for iced coffee in Milan? You've upset me.

From a picture? That is not always possible as a clever picture can hide everything...
From the real fake in you hands? That is relatively easy.

The real Zepps were printed on flat plates. That means the paper was pressed into the grooves of the plates that made the design. As a consequence, if you glide a finger over the stamp surface, you can feel the raised parts of the paper that were pressed into the plate. On the laser printed copies, it's just flatland - nothing "sticks out".
Also flat plate stamps usually have a sharp design while fakes are a little fuzzier. But you would need a side-by-side comparison with a genuine stamp to see the difference.

Grüezi drkohler and thank you. Your advice is very helpful for me. I understand that more valuable stamps should better be acquired at stamp shows or auction previews where they can be inspected in person. Happy hunting, Sigi

A sacrilege for sure. I was the ugly Starbucks American until spending much time in the Middle East and Asia. The absolute best cuppa I ever had was a Turkish coffee a cart vendor was serving in the breakdown lane of a highway in Amman, Jordan. It was sublime and there was no melting ice or vanilla mocha almond milk.

Coffee??? Horrible stuff, can't imagine ever wanting to drink it.