WW Forgeries, Fakes, Phantoms & Reprints

Yeah, I bought a Bulgaria dealer's lot last year and found to my chagrin that all the Shipka Pass sets in there were forgeries. Ironically, I looked at some singles I had in my accumulation and they were all genuine -- unfortunately I did not have a complete set of genuine. Figures.

The sale of the British Guiana (complete with a drawing of a Weitzman shoe on the reverse - being wealthy is not synonymous with having any "class")
Anyway, it reminded me of the British Guiana making a little known headline in the 1990's courtesy of a relatively unknown "artist"


Most collectors recognize the main villains, Sperati, Fournier, Spiro etc.
However, there is a prolific modern forger who seldom makes news.

Peter Winter

A "Bon Vivant", opera singer, master stamp forger
Winter used high quality photos from the British library’s collection to make dies.
In or after 1985 he released rare stamps of various countries including the Mauritius "Post Office", the Penny Black, the Baden 9 Kreuzer error and the British Guiana 1c magenta.
He published catalogs that can be downloaded of his offerings (House of Stamps)
His main forte was producing convincing covers using his forgeries.

Notably, the Guiana stamp was so convincing that for awhile it was billed as a possible genuine find.

psestamp.com/articles/article1019.chtml

I obtained images from a German stamp dealer of his productions - actually only a small part of what he produced.

Google Drive download
drive.google.com/file/d/1ZZSzqMgTqyXDQZN9U3WvG1iBsfOLKLu5/view?usp=sharing

Upon deciding to "retire" he offered the American Philatelic Society all of his stock and a promise to stop printing for one million dollars. It was declined.

Bulgaria - 1901 Cherry Tree Cannon
Mi 48-49 / Sc 53-54


The only original canon left

Issued to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the April Uprising of 1876.
The Cherry Tree Cannon is a wooden cannon, first used by the Bulgarian anti-Ottoman revolutionaries in the April Uprising.
Pieces of metal were used as ammunition for the cannon.
It unfortunately accounted for many victims by "friendly fire" due to its unstable construction.
It is a common symbol and a decorative furniture piece in Bulgaria



The full story HERE

Finland 1956 Ovals
A true classic stamp but the chances of having a genuine
In 1845, Finland was among the first countries to issue stamped envelopes.
In 1850, the design of the stamp impression was changed to an oval shape and placed on the back flap of the envelope.
On March 1 1856, the first adhesive stamps were issued, similar to the oval impression of the stamped envelopes.
The astute Finns saved some kopeks by searching around for old used envelopes on which the oval stamp had not been cancelled (the post office people had not felt it necessary to cancel these stamps since they were part of used addressed envelopes)
They cut them out and re-used them as postage stamps instead of buying the new adhesives.


Envelope Cutouts

These stamps were simple in design so a bonus for forgers and between the 2 values produced some 40-50 forgeries
If you got an old collection you probably have a forgery but the real problems are the reprints that far outnumber the forgeries and originals.

Get the whole story HERE

Russia - China Offices 1899-1916
Russia was the first among the European Powers and America to establish postal relations with China.
In 1689, during the reign of Peter the Great, an agreement with China was reached concerning the transportation of mail, and in 1727 China granted various privileges for trade and postal communications to Russia.
An accord was included in the treaty of 1851 which provided for the mutual delivery of official correspondence, as was another with China in the treaty of 1858, which introduced a regular postal courier service for governmental and missionary correspondence.



These issues have far more fakes than genuine ones.
However, you can easily eliminate 99% of the forgeries

The full article HERE

I have some of the Springfield ones and they quite clearly have FACSIMILE on the back, unless that means they are facsimiles of the Springfield forgeries?  I feel a headache coming on.

US Sanitary Fair Stamps
The 1861 creation of the Women’s Central Association of Relief convinced the surgeon general to recommend a commission of inquiry to look into camp sanitary conditions.
The plan was approved by the Secretary of War on June 9, 1861, and approved by President Lincoln on June 13th of that year.
The commission employed inspectors and doctors for camps as well as staffing hospitals and soldiers’ homes.


WV11,12,13 - Philadelphia, Pa. Great Centennial Fair 1864, June 7~28

The first Sanitary Fair stamps were issued in December 1863 to raise funds to support these efforts.
These stamps were not valid for US postage; they were prepared for, sold and used at the fair post offices.
The Sanitary Commission raised $4.9 million in funds and an additional $15 million in supplies to aid the soldiers on the front.

The article can be found HERE

US Local - Penny Express Company
The "Penny Express" stamps were issued in 1866 by Henry Reed of the Holladay Overland Mail and Express Co., which in 1867 became part of Wells, Fargo & Company.
Printed in sheets 8X4. They were probably not placed in service



The article will also present Samuel Taylor - probably the most prolific of any forgers

More on this local HERE

Germany - Bergedorf
Bergedorf is a small city situated at the mouth of the Elbe River in Northern Germany. It was not an independent territory, but was governed by Hamburg and Lübeck.
On November 1, 1861, a series of 5 stamps were issued.



The motive of the series was a combination of the coat of arms of Hamburg and Lübeck.
The stamps were lithographed by the printing works of Carl Fuchs of Hamburg.
The stamps were valid until the separate Bergedorf postal service was abolished on December 31, by Hamburg
The stamps are generally affordable in unused condition.
Forgeries are relatively plentiful but the real problem for collectors are the very common reprints.

The full story HERE