FFE Journal - Fakes Forgeries Experts
Articles from FFE #13
FFE #13
A forged cancel attributed to Spiro
Class: TR
Hans J. A. Vinkenborg
A reconstruction of a fantasy canceller is presented, of which only fractions are to be found on individual stamps - but on such a variety of different stamps that it is clearly the work of a forger. Without conclusive evidence, it is argued that Spiro is the most likely culprit.
FFE #13
Forged Faroe Islands #1 on 1919 postcard to Denmark
Class: TR
Geoffrey Noer
Even a certificate from a recognised expert is not a 100% guarantee. Experts do have bad days, and forgers excel at times. But the truth may still prevail, as was the case with an unusual #1 postcard with VESTMANHAVN cancellation.
FFE #13
Great Britain - Postal stationery fakes
Class: TR
Alan Huggins
An alert to the fact that postal stationery material is available and "authentic" - also to forgers who can use it as a foundation upon which to construct more unusual and seemingly attractive items by adding more stamps and cancellations. With two examples.
FFE #13
The last letter dispatched from the French post office of Yokohama, and its hapless trips
Class: TR
Jun Ichi Matsumoto
A thorough and imaginative trace of what must - by deduction - be the last of a series of letters with French postage stamps mailed from Japan. With 9 stations on its 1880 way from Japan to France - and back to the unhappy sender in Japan!
FFE #13
The engraved forgeries of Sicily
Class: TR
Carl Walske
Classic Sicilian stamps - Bomba heads - are as popular with forgers as with collectors. Seven different types of engraved forgeries are illustrated and discussed.
FFE #13
Forgeries in Maximaphily
Class: TR
Jos Wolff
By four examples - from Latvia, Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy - it is demonstrated that forgeries are also an issue within maximaphilately, some are more obvious than others and can be identified with just the right combination of scepticism and awareness.
FFE #13
The Prosser fantasies
Class: TR
Charles J. G. Verge
The story of the Prosser fantasies within Canadian philately is told. The quality and nature of these works of art make them all the more dangerous to collectors, since they are really made by a qualified artist just to develop his professional skills, not to defraud collectors!
FFE #13
Some Brazilian fakes and forgeries
Class: TR
Paulo Comelli
With much detail and many elaborate arguments, thirteen examples are presented of fakes and forgeries within classic Brazilian philately - even some with misguided certificates.
FFE #13
The Great Britain 1883 high values on blued paper - A story of forgery and deceit
Class: TR
Trevor I. Harris
Just what the title says! - With special emphasis on forgeries, their background and their appearance.
FFE #13
Issues of the independence of Portugal 1926-1928
Class: TR
Pedro Vaz Pereira
The interesting story behind these early Portuguese commemoratives and their speculative character is laid out. A warning is signalled for forged "proofs", which appeared in the market 1955, then disappeared but resurfaced in 1989.
FFE #13
About the Homonnay cancellations shown in FEPAPOST 94
Class: TR
Hendrik W. van der Vlist
A presentation of pre-philatelic Hungarian HOMONNAY cancellations - and their fakes.
FFE #13
Forgeries of Norwegian first day covers - The "1975-forgeries"
Class: TR
Peer-Christian Ånensen
An interesting story and a tabular listing of forgeries found of modern material not often attracting the attention of forgers. But Norway is different, and the details are found here, including suspicious if not totally conclusive evidence such as how stamps are positioned and cancellations are placed on FDCs.
FFE #13
A somewhat early, or very late, Kurland letter
Class: TR
Harry v. Hofmann
A nice-looking eBay offering of a rare WW2 cover is figuratively torn to pieces by a subject matter expert.
FFE #13
The Perkins Bacon 3 pence on fourpence stamp
Class: TR
Anthony D. Presgrave
The article, though dealing with all of the rare 3 Pence on Four Pence stamp (from South Australia), is primarily aimed at settling once and for all the status of the O. S. overprints. It will not be popular with collectors who possess examples of these O. S. stamps...
FFE #13
Designs, Proofs, Essays
Class: TR
Jean-François Brun
A thorough and well argued piece about the pitfalls of this increasingly popular subject - with many examples from within French philately.
FFE #13
The faker who shot himself in the foot
Class: TR
Robin Gwynn
An entertaining exposition of a faker who manipulated a VICTORIA LAND overprint to simulate a variety - and in doing so he overlooked and ruined a rare plate flaw in the original stamp, which was twice as rare as the would-be overprint error!
FFE #13
Cancellation manipulations
Class: TR
Roland Frahm
Cancellation manipulations found on modern Scandinavian stamps - with many examples.
FFE #13
Elementary analysis of the Richardson inks
Class: TR
Robert P. Odenweller
An example of X-ray fluorescence assisted expert work on the subject of New Zealand Chalon Heads. The work is experimental and results are not totally conclusive.
FFE #13
Great Britain postal stationery - A W. H. Smith & Son advertising collar mystery
Class: TR
Alan Huggins
The true mystery of an exotic British stationery cut (two examples seen), which must be a reproduction, yet without any possible significant financial gain attached.
FFE #13
Philippines: The emission 5 & 10 cuartos 1858-1862
Class: TR
Eduardo Escalada-Goicoechea
NB! Correction for the article: The figure text for figure 6 says it is a forgery. THIS IS NOT CORRECT - it is genuine. The figure with the wrong figure text is shown here.
The article content is just as the title says. It is a story well told and with first rate illustrations.
FFE #13
Great Britain medicine tax - Forgeries of the engraved issues
Class: TR
Chris Harman
An unusual story about revenue seals and contemporary falsification of them - primarily executed outside the British realm to signal British origin and official approval of products without risking the heavy penalty imposed within Britain for such falsification.
FFE #13
Misuse of genuine cancels - Examples from previous Yugoslavia
Class: TR
Jovan Velickovic
(I) A forged cover with the "Listopad" stamp, only valid 29 November 1918, is presented.
(II) The story of forged 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics FDCs, and similar faked modern items, is given.
(III) Serbian telegram forms 1941-44 franked with provisionals are analyzed and shown to be faked.
FFE #13
Ecuador: The Seebeck 1894 reprinted card
Class: TR
Bernie Beston
Type B of the stationery card in question - widely regarded as a fabrication to defraud collectors - is shown to exist genuinely used and is thus rehabilitated!
FFE #13
Most seductive double frankings
Class: TR
Michèle Chauvet
By numerous examples - all concerning France and a second country - it is shown that such attractive objects as covers with stamps from two countries are particularly prone to be the "artistic" work of scrupulous forgers, and may even come with certificates from misled "experts".
FFE #13
The Lowden forgery - The full story told for the first time
Class: TR
Trevor I. Harris
The entertaining crime story behind a particular forgery, of which only the few copies that played an active part in the ensuing court case are still in existence today.
FFE #13
The forgeries of general Balbos 1933 flight from Newfoundland
Class: TR
Richard Gratton
Full explanation and illustrations pertaining to all four types of this rare provisional and their most prevalent falsifications.
FFE #13
The "Un Pranc" error
Class: TR
Raymond Goebel
A detailed explanation and some wonderful illustrations of this most attractive and rare overprint error from Luxembourg, of which - perhaps surprisingly - less than a dozen are estimated to exist today.
FFE #13
Modern stamp forgeries of Great Britain
Class: TR
Hendrik W. van der Vlist
Detailed information on false Machin stamps, denominations 24p, 2nd, and 1st.
FFE #13
Mixed frankings Belgium & France
Class: TR
Jan Huys
A warning about early covers from France to Belgium with stamps from both countries, of which at least one does not belong on the cover. At least three are supposed to exist, and at least one has been offered for sale at several occasions in recent years.
FFE #13
The first "forgers": Philip Spiro, Hamburg
Class: TR
Wolfgang Maassen
The interesting story of one of the notorious classic wholesale reproducers of early stamps, and a description of the philatelic dilemmas associated with early falsification of stamps.
FFE #13
A great Heligoland cover is lost for the future
Class: TR
Lars Peter Svendsen
A great collection was dissolved and a well-known item long regarded by all as a gem stone of Heligoland philately proved to be something else.
FFE #13
Fight against fakes and forgeries on internet sales
Class: TR
Andrew M. T. Cheung
A story from Hong Kong about how dispersion of fakes and forgeries through internet sales are combated there. With many concrete examples, both new and old, and richly illustrated.
FFE #13
New aspects of identifying the Slovenian 15 and 20 kronen forgeries
Class: TR
Per Friis Mortensen
Story of an attempt to use 1200 dpi scanning and subsequent RGB colour separation to identify genuine and forged examples of two Slovenian stamps. Unfortunately, in this case the method did not prove to be a feasible means of doing so.