The difference between forgeries, counterfeits, and fakes in stamp collecting

By Eurostamper — May 31, 2008
See more about: Collecting tips | Fakes and forgeries

Although the terms fake, forgery, and counterfeit are often used interchangeably, they technically refer to rather different concepts in the world of philately. When trying to avoid them while collecting (or while trying to concentrate on collecting only stamps of this kind) it is useful to keep them separate.

Forgeries
These are stamps that are created for the purpose of deceiving collectors, i.e. for making money from tricking a buyer into thinking that the stamp is in fact a legitimately produced collectible. This type of phony stamp has been around since about 1860, only twenty years after postage stamps in the modern sense were invented.

Fakes
This refers to a legitimate stamp that has been altered in some way to make it appear to be of a more valuable type. This could be altering the overprint, the cancellation, the colors, details of the design, or even the perforation.

Counterfeits
This is a copy of a legitimate stamp made to fool authorities; i.e., to be used to actually send a parcel.

The waters of phony stamp identification are muddied considerably not only by people using these terms interchangeably, but by the question of what constitutes a legitimate stamp in the first place, and by the fact that governments have occasionally issued their own phony-baloney and propaganda stamps.

For example, Great Britain released counterfeits of its own stamp into circulation in 1856 to test its own security features. Also, during times of war governments have made counterfeits of their enemies’ stamps, either to deprive the enemy of postal revenue, or (altering details on the stamp) to demoralize the enemy.

Examples of such stamps are stamps that Germany created in the 1930s that were copies of Britain’s Silver Jubilee stamps, but with the Jewish Star of David etched into the background, and the legend changed to boldly read “THIS WAR IS A JEWISH WAR”; and American-made “German” stamps from 1944 changing “Deutsches Reich” to “Futsches Reich” (”the Reich is gone”) and adding cadaverous facial features to stamps showing Adolf Hitler. (It must be said that the workmanship on the German stamp outdoes the American one.)

To further confuse matters, many counterfeits and forgeries, being highly collectible, have themselves been forged. The stamps of the infamous Jean de Sperati, an Italian stamp forger, are so famous that they are often worth more than the original stamps he was forging.

There are other categories of wholly or partially not-real stamps, such as bogus stamps, which are stamps that copy the general look of an issuing body’s stamps, but are in fact original (and illegitimate) designs. These bogus stamps have also been forged, of course.

These categories can be very interesting and exciting niches to collect, but caution must be exercised when obtaining such issues. Who knows how many levels of phoniness the stamp you buy is buried under!

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Stamp Blog Review: “Southwest Stamps Blog”

By Eurostamper — March 6, 2008
See more about: Collecting tips | Stamp Blog Reviews | eBay

This is an interesting blog. Southwest Stamps Blog (http://blogs.ebay.com/gsquared7/) is hosted on eBay by a longtime seller of stamps, and it is used to warn people about scams or other things to look out for, to opine about eBay policies, and to offer helpful stamp guides.

Unlike many vendors, the author (gsquared7) doesn’t make all his posts crass attempts at funneling buyers to his auctions. That’s obviously a priority, but his blunt opinionated posts are genuinely helpful, and he doesn’t seem to care whose toes he steps on to make a point.

He picks out specific listings that catch his eye, and if necessary warns possible buyers or gives opinions about the stamps for sale. The basic thrust of the blog seems to be, lately at least, that people are selling “junk” stamps on eBay and hyping them as if they were more valuable or interesting than they really are. Given eBay’s safe buying policies, buyers are generally happy with their purchases; the issue is that misleading descriptions can lead to a sort of false sense of buyer happiness. gsquared7 aims to educate.

For example, in this post from December 2007, he describes how he bought two stamps from another eBay vendor, but was unhappy with how the language in the original description was somewhat misleading. He asked for and prompty received a refund from the seller, but noticed the stamps re-listed on eBay with the original description intact.

The posting frequency of this blog is rather low - about once every 2-3 weeks or more. The layout, too, isn’t much to speak of - eBay’s usual color scheme and a distinct lack of HTML formatting give the blog a very no-nonsense air (note too the complete lack of pictures accompanying the posts). But as a window into the inner workings of stamp buying and selling on eBay.com, it is a great resource.

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What is a “maximum card” in stamp collecting/philately?

By Eurostamper — February 28, 2008
See more about: Collecting tips | Maximum cards

A maximum card is a postcard that is pre-printed with its stamp on the front (picture) side of the card, the stamp being related (often exactly similar) to the picture and to the cancellation stamp. The cancellation is often on the first day of issue; these cards are for collectors rather than the general public. For example:

This card’s main picture, stamp, and cancellation are all the exact same thing, Pablo Picasso’s “Woman Reading”. (This is a French issue from 1982.)

Maximum cards come in just about every conceivable category, and it is not only the first-day cancellation and the unity between their elements that make them unique and coveted by collectors. There is also great interest in exactly how the cards are designed, in the relationship and similarity or disparity between the three areas involved.

 
This maximum card honors the marriage of Grace Kelly to Monaco’s Prince Ranier III - the card is black and white but the stamp is color, and unlike the Picasso the cancellation is not a copy of the main image but an ornate decoration:

 
This rather striking Dutch example shows a 1944 stamp depicting the Nieuw Amsterdam, a liner built for the Holland America Line in 1938. The picture is a realistic depiction of the vessel, while the stamp is a stylized interpretation. Such juxtapositions satisfy collectors who have an eye for graphic design, which features heavily in maximum card design:

Collecting maximum cards can be an excellent niche for your hobby. Many are available, whether you choose to concentrate on a particular subject (wildlife, transportation, famous people) or examples from a specific country or region.

Browse current maximum card auctions here.

Do you have an interesting or unique maximum card? Or have you found a good one on the internet? Tell us about it in Comments, or send a scan of it to the_oldsalt(a)yahoo.com; we’ll write a blog post about any neat ones we get information about.

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Themed stamp collecting: languages and alphabets

By Eurostamper — January 31, 2008
See more about: Collecting tips | Languages & Alphabets | alphabets | collecting | languages | stamp collecting | themed collecting

Most stamp collectors like to focus on some certain area of history or geography. One person may collect stamps featuring birds; another may collect stamps issued in occupied territories; a third may concentrate on primarily blue stamps. There is no end to the permutations and concepts you can dream up.

For travel and culture enthusiasts, one interesting approach is to collect examples of every language ever used on postage stamps in a given country or area.

For example, in Albania, stamps have been issued over the decades in English, Albanian, Turkish, German, Greek (see picture) and Italian. Finding one of each of these can be great fun, and will teach you something about history as well.

Most European countries have a history interesting enough to make this stamp collecting angle viable and interesting. Furthermore, this concept is made even better by the use of different alphabets.

We will be listing the different languages available for a variety of European countries in the coming weeks. Subscribe to the Europe Stamps Blog feed to get this information automatically.

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