Heligoland Michel 9 Stamp Needs ID

Hi I need help to find out if this stamp is authentic or not. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks Aundra

Welcome to Stamp Community Forum, Aundra!

99%++ of all those Heligoland stamps you will see are either fakes or reprints.

The cancels on the stamps you posted are all fake (looks like someone simply used some dated business canceller).

Since the cancels are fake, it's a very good bet that the stamps are also not originals. I did not bother to check whether the stamps are fake or reprints. You'd have to provide much higher resolution scans.

A quick check -- is the Queen's head embossed? If it is embossed, then it "might" be an original. If embossed, then post higher resolution pics and I'll take a look at it again. Reprints/forgeries are plentiful and of low retail value.

Kim

Heligoland is one of those examples where used items are generally worth quite a bit more than unused, so forged cancels on genuine stamps are not particularly uncommon.

50,000 of this particular issue were printed, and almost 40,000 remained when this stamp was withdrawn from use in 1875 (so, sold to collectors without cancels).

Heligoland was also reprinted extensively for collectors, so there are some beautiful examples that are not "original." Specialists can discern between the reprints made in Berlin, Leipzig and Hamburg. (Except for the variation in the perforations, which represent low-hanging fruit, I'm not adept at the i.d.)

I agree with k, that: (a) if it will be possible to have an idea about authenticity, we would need much more resolution (and even then, no guarantees); (b) this looks like a half-hearted attempt to produce a stamp that appears used; and (c) welcome to the forum! If you have the ability to measure perforations, we might get somewhere, quickly.

I love Heligoland stamps, even if most of mine are reprints.

This IS a reprint! The Cancel is complete FANTASY!

It looks like a Leipsig Reprint from Mar, 1888. If it is It should be perf. 13.5 x 14.5
If by some chance it is perf. 14 X 14 it is a Hamburg Reprint.

If the Head is not embossed it is a forgery of the reprint.

If you do not want it I would welcome an opportunity to trade you for it, or purchase it, for my German Forgery referance files. However, by club rules you must have 50 posts first.

Thanks for the info folks. The head is embossed. I will try to get better pics. Thanks Aundra.

not needed




Then it is an 1888 Type 1 REPRINT not a Forgery.

To know whether it is a Leipzig or Hamburg for sure you need to check the perforation's. I think you will find the are 13.5 x 14.5 (Based on the pic. that's what they look like). That would make it a Leipzig.

The perfs are unquestionably compound; whether they are 13.5x14.25 or -14.5, I cannot say without doing some algebra.

The base of the neck looks like it has a bit of a crank in it, unlike the Type I base; maybe that is just the angle from the photos? The chin definitely looks like Type I, and the chignon and curl look more like Type I than the other choices, though the cancel hits in just the wrong places.

Anyone else think the cancel says "Cleveland"?

I think it says Cleveland. Thanks.

Here they are for comparison. Absolutely Type 1.

Cleveland? Could be. Maybe Cleveland, Germany

Here is where Rod posts an old photo of the SS Cleveland, showing locals rowing out to it in ancient longboats with their mail. Maybe a couple of Heligoland paquebot covers to go with it...

LMAO



Rod were waiting!

OK, OK, @31!&%$%34@88(!~ !!

I only have this one,
featuring a family get together, group pic.

That's Cjd, Revstampman, and BeeSee at Cleveland.

Rod, you never fail to amaze!

Were you going out? when the pic was taken BeeSee.
I notice you are wearing a tux.

Luckily, Cleveland seems not to have an Equus africanus in its collection...dodged a bullet there...