We’ve talked a lot about famous and valuable postage stamps. A stamp’s value is often a good reason for someone to create a forgery. Besides cheating collectors, forgeries were also made to cheat the post office, and sometimes even for war propaganda. Today, we’ll take a look at the first 5 of the top 10 forged stamps, focusing on some of the most famous and most interesting forgeries in philatelic history.
“The Hawaiian Missionaries are the first postage stamps of the Kingdom of Hawaii, issued in 1851.” - en.wikipedia.org
The Hawaiian Missionaries are among the most famous early stamps in the world. They were issued in Hawaii in 1851 and are extremely rare today, which made them a perfect target for controversy.
Hawaiian Missionaries
Kingdom of Hawaii - 1851
The most famous case was the Grinnell Missionaries, a group of stamps that appeared in the early 20th century and were sold for $65,000. In 1922, a court ruled that the Grinnell stamps were fake, although collectors and experts continued to debate them for many years after that.
"Grinnell would spend the rest of his life working to prove the stamps were legitimate, and after his death his heirs carried on with the quest.
In the many decades since the stamps were first judged as forgeries in a court of law, Grinnell's Missionaries have been among the most studied, documented, and opined upon scraps of paper in the hobby. Luminary philatelic journalists George Linn and Harry Lindquist both wrote about the controversy. Noted forgery expert Varro E. Tyler weighed in, and in an article published shortly after his death said he believed the stamps to be authentic." - www.thestampcollector.net
The Mauritius “Post Office” stamps from 1847 are among the legendary stamps of philately. They were issued in 1847 in two denominations: an orange-red one penny (1d) and a deep blue two pence (2d). Because only a very small number of genuine examples exist, any new copy would immediately attract serious attention.
Mauritius "Post Office" stamps
Mauritius - 1847
Famous forger Jean de Sperati also worked on imitations of this issue, using his careful photolithographic methods. This makes the Mauritius “Post Office” not only a great rarity, but also one of the classic stamps connected with high-level philatelic forgery.
The British Guiana 1c Magenta is often called the world’s rarest stamp. The National Postal Museum describes the known example as the only universally recognized copy, which already shows why any “new discovery” would be suspicious.
“For starters the 1856 1c magenta was printed locally in Georgetown with the design being an approximation of that used in 1852, as the stamps of 1852 were still regarded with affection by the people of British Guiana. Despite the relatively crude design, neither the 1852 nor 1856 stamps were hand drawn; the 1852 stamps were printed by lithography and the 1856 stamps were printed by typography (letterpress).” - sgbaldwins.com
British Guiana 1c magenta stamp
British Guiana - 1856
One famous disputed example appeared in Bremen and was connected with Peter Winter, who was known for producing facsimiles of classic rarities. The Royal Philatelic Society London examined that stamp and judged it to be fake.
The Inverted Jenny is probably the most famous American stamp error. Only one sheet of 100 examples was sold by the U.S. Post Office, so the population of genuine copies is very well known.
Inverted Jenny
USA - 1918
That makes it different from many other rare stamps: if someone suddenly “finds” a new Inverted Jenny, experts can compare it with the known sheet positions. This is why altered, repaired, or suspicious examples are a serious part of the Jenny story.
The Cape of Good Hope triangular stamps are beautiful, unusual, and very collectible.
“Few classic issues combine smart design, real colonial history, and collector appeal like the Cape of Good Hope triangle stamps. First released in 1853, these iconic triangles became the first triangular postage stamps in the world, and they remain some of the most recognizable stamps of the 19th century.” - mysticstamp.com
1d Cape Triangular
Cape of Good Hope - 1853
Their shape alone makes them stand out, but their value also made them attractive to forgers. The South African Collectors Society notes that at least twenty forgers of Cape triangles have been recorded. Many forged examples were made to look used, but the postmarks often give them away because they do not match real Cape postmarks.
Stamp forgeries are not only a problem for collectors. They are also an important part of philatelic history. Some were made for profit, some for fraud, and some even for war. Today, we’ve looked at the first 5 of the 10 most interesting stamp forgeries. In the next article, we’ll continue with 5 more famous and fascinating examples.
