(Genuine stamps)
Return To Catalogue - Forgeries of the second issue, 6 1/2 p, 8 p, 1 Sh - Forgeries of the first issue - Newfoundland - Canada
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pictures can not be seen! They are of course present in the cd's;
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Many of these stamps exist bisected on cover. But these bisected stamps also have been forged. For example by the forger Raoul de Thuin; see 'The Yucatan Affair, The work of Raoul Ch. de Thuin, Philatelic Counterfeiter', published by The American Philatelic Society.
(Genuine stamps)
(Spiro Forgeries)
1) Several bogus cancels were used
2) The 'E' of 'NEWFOUNDLAND' is very ugly, the center part is
badly done.
3) The pearls are not very well done especially in the right
upper corner under the '2'.
4) There are 7 pearls to the left of the word 'POSTAGE' (in the
genuine there are only 6 pearls)
5) All the 2's are different from the genuine stamp.
6) This forgery is lithographed.
The plate to make this forgey was extensively used, so wear can be observed in the later forgeries (missing serifs, letters missing etc.)
(forgery from a worn out plate)
(Oneglia forgery?)
1) This forgery is engraved.
2) The apstrophe behind 'JOHN' is too round.
3) The upper side of the 'G' of 'POSTAGE' is very faint.
General remark about the Oneglia forgeries: The Oneglia forgeries were intially thought to have been made by Panelli. However, Panelli only sold them, while Oneglia made them.
Sperati 'proof'. This Sperati forgery is very deceptive.
Other forgeries.
(Genuine stamps)
(Sorry, no picture available yet)
There are flaws through the base of the 4 in the left top corner. Another cuts into the 'O' though the 'S' and 'E' of 'POSTAGE' according to Album Weeds.
Moens forgery? Right image obtained with permission from the Forgeries idenfication
site of Bill Claghorn.
1) This forgery looks pale
2) The letters are very crude
I'm not quite sure if this is the Moens forgery, note the very strange '5' in a star cancel. This forgery also exists in purple color. See: http://www.easternstamps.com/images%5CPublication_FLd.pdf. These forgeries do not resemble the illustration in the Moens catalogue (Les Timbres-poste Illustres of 1864).
Spiro forgery, image obtained with permission from the Forgeries idenfication
site of Bill Claghorn.
1) The rose is touching the circle above it
2) The 'G' of 'POSTAGE' has a cross bar
3) The cancels are often typical 'Spiro' cancels.
I think this is the second forgery described in Album Weeds. It can often be found with a circular cancel with unreadable letters and 'VF' in the center.
I've been told that these are also Spiro forgeries, but they are
slightly different in desing. Also note the almost identical
cancels on the first two stamps.
Oneglia forgeries, left image obtained with permission from the Forgeries idenfication
site of Bill Claghorn.
1) The apostrophe behind 'JOHN' has changed into a dot in this forgery
Note that this forgery is engraved. In my opinion, the lower part of the 'E' of 'POSTAGE' is always badly done in these forgeries.
Sperati made three different forgeries of the 4 p value: Reproduction A, B and C:
The next Sperati forgery (Reproduction A) has a cancel reproduced by lithography (Sperati copied a genuine cancel). But the cancel is printed on exactly the same position in many forgeries (so-called constant cancel).
Sperati constant cancel forgery 'Reproduction A', image obtained
from Richard Frajola's site: http://www.seymourfamily.com/rfrajola/Sperati/speratiindex.htm;
this forgery always has the cancel in the same position.
Sperati forgeries Reproduction B. The cancel 'ST JOHNS
NEWFOUNLAND PAID FB 5 1859' was also forged by Sperati. There is
sometimes a weak spot in the ornamental design below the 'ND' of
'NEWFOUNDLAND' (Sperati later touched up this area). The second
'D' of 'NEWFOUNDLAND' has a wavy bottom part.
Sperati Reproduction C.
Other primitive forgery.
(Genuine stamps)
(Genuine?)
Distinguishing characteristics of this forgery:
(Dist. char. 5 and 6)
1) The cancellations are quite 'peculiar'
2) These forgeries are lithographed
3) The letters of 'POSTAGE' and 'SIX PENCE' are larger than in
the genuine stamps
4) 'F' and 'O' in 'NEWFOUNDLAND' evenly spaced
5) Apostrophe in 'JOHN'S' is long and thin
6) The period under 'T' of 'ST' is an oblong
7) Note that the '6's look thinner in this forgery.
This is the second forgey described in Album Weeds.
Distinguishing characteristics of this forgery:
(Oneglia forgeries, reduced sizes)
(Oneglia forgery?)
(Dist. char. 2, 3 and 5)
1) The stamp is engraved
2) Apostrophe in 'JOHN'S' is roundish but has a very small tail
3) 'N' in 'PENCE' has the left hand upright broken near the base
4) 'F' and 'O' in 'NEWFOUNDLAND' are seperate
5) 'T' of 'ST.' is smaller and thinner than the genuine stamp
Another Ongelia forgery in a different type?
This Sperati forgery can most easily be
recognized by:
1) A line in the design between the lower part of the 'S' of
'SIX' and the circle surrounding the '6' to the left hand side of
it.
2) Some 'smudges' between the 'X' of 'SIX' and 'P' of 'PENCE'.
Sperati only made one forgery type of this stamp.
A whole sheet of Oneglia forgeries, printed in rows of 6, all six values below each other:
(Reduced sizes)
Sperati forgeries (blackprints) and forged cancels.
Some genuine cancels on genuine stamps exist, but with the cancel applied after the stamps were invalid. The cancel used is shown below. The '9' was inverted to become a '6' in '1864'. They were produced in the 1940's. The most common ones are St.Johns, but Grand Falls also seems to exist. They are sometimes accompagnied by a mute line cancel (as in the second example). Source: http://www.easternstamps.com/images%5CPublication_FLd.pdf. I've seen several dates. Some examples of these forgeries:
A Raoul de Thuin forgery, the Crepusfund cancel, the 'D3c' cancel
and the 'More To Pay' were all forged by him.
Stamp forgeries - Timbres-Poste faux - Briefmarken Fälschungen