How To Identify Germany 1872 Shield Forgeries?

I'm just now dipping into collecting the Germany 1872 shield issues. Something I have noticed is that some of the stamps I've seen seem to have the "eagle and shield" embossing either raised or imprinted inward. Which is correct? Also any tips on spotting forgeries in this series.
Thank you for any help!

Embossing is outwards, towards you. Some images may look inwards but is only due to the direction of the lighting.

I assume you know there are two series, one with small shield and the second with large shield. Sometimes hard to differentiate when the embossing is pressed out.

Forgeries, I don't know of any for the basic stamps but there are embossing forgeries (and plenty of postmark forgeries). Here is a link to a discussion on embossing (in German):
https://www.stampsx.com/forum/topic.php?id=9841&

Germania - Thank you for the link...... I will be reading quite a bit with translator!
Yes, I can tell between small and large shields if cancel isn't too heavy. Also, that does make sense the lighting angle could make embossing appear pushed in. Thanks again for replying!

This site says "There are many forgeries of the small shield designs"
https://www.pvoller.net/new_stamps/...any/1872.php

Germania - the wrinkling of the margins in those blocks of the 2 groschen is interesting- presumably from the drying of the dampened paper post-embossing.

This site says "There are many forgeries of the small shield designs"
https://www.pvoller.net/new_stamps/...any/1872.php

Reading that years ago at the start of my collecting prompted avoidance until I had more experience.. I started with Third Reich and worked backwards from there.
Just now find myself at the "shields".

Until today, I have never read/heard of small shield forgeries. In fact, Scott makes no mention of any such forgeries. And after checking the link provided, they make no specific references to what forgeries were alleged to exist.

So I am asking interested parties here to chime in. Other than the rare imperf(s), and 1 stamp that is valued more used than unused, what are we looking for? Searching for forgeries in early German (confederation) stamps feels like a witch hunt as none of these stamps seem rare or valuable enough to justify the paranoia.

Thoughts?

Brian

Maybe the "forgeries" mentioned in the link are referring to fake cancels?
Also, besides that, what got me paranoid was that I read (need to find link and post) that inverted embossings were forgeries..... now realizing that the source probably meant upside down, not pressed in as I thought I've seen. I appreciate everybody weighing in.... still learning everyday.

It mentions fake cancels and postmarks separately, so the author must have had some reason to say forgeries of the small shields exist.

The KlasseBoer site mentions Elbinger Postfälschung, postal forgery of the 5 groschen. Also forgeries made by pressing out the large eagle and replacing it with a small eagle.

Handheld embossers for business documents are common on the UK antique market, so presumably Germany also had many firms producing similar, so I guess the skill to make a replica small eagle was available to the forger.

I am out of town and won't be able to access my reference material till tomorrow. In the meantime I can say this, forgeries of the base stamp are rare. By base stamp I mean the part printed in ink. The Elbing forgery noted by Flightle_Bee is the only one I am aware of. Here is a picture of it.



Forgeries of the embossing are not that common, occurring on those denominations where the small shield is more valuable than the large shield (colors are the same for a particular denomination), or vice versa. Fake postmarks are the most common type of forgery found in this issue (a Germany philately headache in general).

More than one billion (1,000,000,000) of these stamps were issued so there is no shortage of genuine material. I will be able to provide more detail in another day or so.

I'm looking forward to it, Germania. Thanks!

More information on the first national issue of the German Empire.

The Elbing forgery - 4 known copies, catalog value 9,000 euros. You won't likely find one of these in a typical mixture.

The Michel catalog mentions postmark forgeries and embossing forgeries are plentiful. Here is a table that shows why that is. The catalog values are in euros, cheapest shade. If you study the table certain things stand out.

Compare Large Shield to Small Shield for unused stamps. Small Shield is generally significantly higher catalog value; that's why there are embossing forgeries.

Then compare catalog values for unused vs. used. For example, the 18k Large Shield is 12 euros unused, 2800 euros used. Expect postmark forgery as a given. Same with the 2k Large Shield.

As far as collecting these issues, if you are not against mixing unused and used on the same page then you can make a complete collection for little outlay and at the same time be assured everything is genuine.

This issue is super-intensively collected by German collectors, going into great minutiae. The Michel catalog devotes 9 pages to these 28 stamps. This is due in part that there is a tremendous amount of material available for not much money.

Great information. Thank you!

Thanks Germania!
Will print this info and keep handy when buying.

Yes, thanks! I have a page of small and large shields from an "album", actually a massive Kalamazoo ledger two foot by three foot with covers a quarter-inch thick. The collector seems to have stopped in 1981; he put the stamps in handmade mounts which he then stuck to the pages with sellotape. He painted "Germany" in gold Fraktur on the cover; the darn thing reminds me of a tank, a veritable 'Maus'.

Also some of the sellotape's failed, so the stamps were dropping out when I bought the album at auction. Of course, it was the States section that started failing.

[edit] Aha! So he had two used examples of the 2½ groschen; makes up for all them Hitler heads.