In Part 1, we mentioned the first 5 out of the top 10 forged stamps in history. Today, we’ll continue with the next 5 stamps. Each original stamp in this part comes from a different country, and each one has its own interesting forgery story. And at the end, we’ll see something truly special - not just one forged stamp, but one of the most famous stamp forgers in history.
The Moldavian Bull’s Heads from 1858 are primitive-looking stamps, but that is part of their charm. They are also among the most important classic stamps of Romania and Moldavia. Because genuine examples are rare and valuable, forgeries can be dangerous, especially when they are placed on pieces or covers to look more convincing.
Moldavian Bull’s Heads
Principality of Moldavia - 1858
David Feldman described one Bull’s Head forgery on piece as a good reproduction and “a very dangerous piece”, which says a lot about how careful collectors need to be with this issue.
The Basel Dove is one of the most beautiful classic European stamps. It was issued in 1845 and is famous for its elegant design, three-color printing, and embossed dove. Ironically, even though the relief printing was meant to help protect it from forgery, the stamp was still extensively forged in the late 19th century. Today, collectors need to pay close attention to details such as embossing, color, paper, and printing quality.
Basel Dove
Basel (Switzerland) - 1845
The Great Britain 1 shilling green Stock Exchange forgery is different from most collector forgeries. This was not mainly about fooling stamp collectors, but about postal fraud. In 1872–73, forged 1 shilling stamps were used on telegraph forms at the London Stock Exchange, probably by clerks who handled the payments. The clever part is that the fraud was not discovered until many years later, which makes it one of the most interesting real postal forgeries in British philately.
1s Green Stock Exchange Forgery - UK
1872 & 1873
“Forgers have at many times attempted to defraud the collector, but only once has a forger successfully defrauded our own Post Office. In 1872 a person, or a number of persons, produced a forgery of SG 117 PL 5 and 6 1/- GREEN. These stamps were used in quantity at the LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE. They were applied (sometimes with other values) to telegraph forms. One would hand in the completed form together with payment. A forgery would then be taken from a box under the counter, applied and cancelled and the shilling pocketed. The forgeries themselves are of a very high standard. The design and engraving being extremely good and it is no surprise that the forger, or forgers, were never caught and their names never known. It is not known how much money was stolen from the post office by this means but the figure must surely be high and could well have run to many thousands of pounds. The forgeries were not noticed until twenty six years had passed. Charles Nisson, a well-known dealer of that time acquired a large number of telegraph forms and realised what they were. Limited information exists on how the stamps were produced, no printing plates have been found and as no one was ever charged we only have the stamps to look at.” - johnlamonby.com
During World War II, stamps were also used as weapons of propaganda. In Operation Cornflakes, the American OSS made forged German Hitler-head stamps and used them on fake letters filled with anti-Nazi material. These letters were dropped near bombed mail trains, with the hope that the German postal system would deliver them as normal mail. Some versions even changed the inscription from “Deutsches Reich” to “Futsches Reich,” meaning something like a ruined empire.
Operation Cornflakes - OSS
1944 & 1945
“To launch the operation, OSS operatives quizzed German POWs who had been postal workers to learn even the smallest details about the mail service. Stamp samples, cancellations, mail sacks and envelopes were studied. Two million mailing addresses gathered and envelopes were created using legitimate businesses as return addresses. Propaganda pieces were printed and special bombs were produced to carry mailbags (we’ll learn why in a minute). A newspaper entitled Das Neue Deutschland, which claimed to be printed by an opposition group in Germany, was produced to urge fellow Germans to join the movement.
And most importantly, stamps had to be produced. The then-current 6pf and 12pf German stamps picturing Adolf Hitler were forged for use on covers.
A third version of the 12pf stamp was also printed with an image of Hitler’s skull and the inscription “Futsches Reich” (Ruined Empire). These stamps were included inside the envelopes along with other anti-Nazi propaganda pieces.
To smuggle the stamps into Germany, OSS officials planned to bomb mail trains and drop mailbags near the wreckage. By using the specially-designed bombs mentioned earlier, OSS operatives hoped to mimic realistic damage caused by bombs without destroying the propaganda pieces.” - mysticstamp.com
Jean de Sperati deserves his own place in any article about forged stamps. He did not simply make crude copies; he created very high-quality reproductions of many valuable classic stamps from different countries, including British Empire, India, and United States issues. His work was so good that some forgeries stayed in collections for years before being detected. In the 1950s, his material was acquired by the British Philatelic Association, which later helped experts understand and identify his methods.
Sperati Forgeries
“One of the most fascinating aspects of the Sperati forgeries is that he imitated not only great rarities but what were in his day very inexpensive stamps. That also made him more dangerous than most forgers. He truly had some sort of genuine love for what he was doing and considered himself an artist. He made a living by his forgeries but he spent more care on his individual "philatelic imitations" than probably any other forger before or since. In his younger days, he was cheated by some stamp dealers, and he spent the rest of his life getting his revenge on dealers. Certainly we are talking about an obsessive personality here, but he really looked upon himself not as a faker but as an artist. In fact, when he was finally caught and prosecuted he successfully defended himself by claiming his fakeries were actually works of art which he signed. This may or may not be true as any number of his works exist today in an unsigned state. He continued to insist that his signature was erased by dishonest individuals. This is a matter of speculation but, luckily, due to the printing methods he employed, certain constant flaws exist in his designs aiding specialists in identifying his counterfeits.” - sperati.org
In Part 2 of this article, we’ve seen the last 5 of the 10 important stamp forgeries in history. While all of them are interesting in their own way, for me the most fascinating ones were the last two - Operation Cornflakes forgeries and classic Sperati forgeries. One was created as part of wartime propaganda, while the other shows just how skilled and dangerous one stamp forger could be.
