FINLAND 1891-1916 issues

Return To Catalogue - 1856 issue - 1860-1874 issues - 1875-1890 issues - 1917 onwards - Aunus - Carelia - Local issues for Helsingfors and Tammerfors - Miscellaneous

Note: on my website many of the pictures can not be seen! They are of course present in the cd's;
contact me if you want to purchase them: evert@klaseboer.com.

1875-1890 issues

1891 As Russian types, but little circles added in the design

  1 Kop orange
  2 Kop green
  3 Kop red
  4 Kop red
  7 Kop blue
  10 Kop blue
  14 Kop blue and red
  20 Kop blue and red
  35 Kop lilac and green
  50 Kop lilac and green
  1 Rub brown and orange
  3 Rub 50 Kop black and grey
  7 Rub black and yellow

An error exists: 3 Rub 50 kop black and yellow instead of black and grey.

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

The watermark seen on part of a sheet of 7 R stamps.

Fournier has made forgeries of these stamps, examples:

Fournier offered these forgeries as 1st choice in his 1914 pricelist for 4 Swiss Francs (both values). He also offeres the misprint 3 1/2 R black and yellow for 2 Swiss Francs. These forgeries are quite good, fortunately they can be recognized by the cancels: only the following four cancels exist (the dates are always the same):

(Fournier forged cancels, reduced size)

Tampere As Tammerfors R (+Russian town name) 8 V 98 41
Wiborg Wiipuri 11 XI 97 9b
Kuopio (+Russian town name) 1 IV 98 3 1
Helsingfors Helsinki (+Russian town name) 5 III 00

It seems that Fournier used paper from the larger margins of Russian stamp sheets. More information about these forgeries can be found at: http://jiv.dk/finland/fake.htm or http://personal.inet.fi/surf/hff/fournier.html.

Other forgeries, made from cheaper Russian stamps, but by 'adding in' the rings also exist.

Envelopes also exist with little circles added in the design for Finland:

I have also seen a 1 k orange and 2 k green (both with only little circles above the design and not below) in the same design. A 10 k blue and 20 k blue in a slightly different design (same as Russia, but with circles added in the corners) also exist. Finally a 14 k blue (similar to the postal stationery of Russia) with little circles above and below the design exists.

1901 Russian types + inscription in 'Pen' or 'Markka'

  2 Pen orange
  5 Pen green
  10 Pen red
  20 Pen blue
  40 Pen lilac and blue (1911)
  1 M lilac and green
  10 M black and green

Similar types were issued in Russia. For the specialist, the 2 p, 5 p, 10 p, 20 p and 1 M are perforated 14 1/2 x 15. The 40 p is perforated 14. The 10 M exists with perforations 13 1/2 and 14 1/2. Postal forgeries of the 10 p and 20 p exist (see there) with perforation 11 1/2. There are small differences in the stamps, (different plates), except for the 40 p, caused by the fact that these stamps were printed by three different printers: Tilgmann & Co (Finland), Berthold (Berlin) and Lilius & Herzberg (Finland, only 10 and 20 p).

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Cancels

'Gerknäs.' line cancel (two sizes) and 'GERKNÄS' line cancel

Forgeries:

A Fournier forgery exists of the 10 M value.

This is a Fournier forgery; it has comb perforation, while genuine stamps have line perforation (the vertical and horizontal perforation matches in the corners)

(The cancel used on the above forgery, 'Kuopio 1 IV 98 3 1', reduced size)

Genuin 10 M stamps have comb perforation (thus the horizontal and vertical perforation matches in the corners of the stamp). The Fournier forgeries have line peforation (the perforation doesn't match).

Tilgmann forgeries

The printer Tilgmann (responsable for the printing of the genuine stamps), made illegaly reprints of the 10 p and 20 p stamps. These stamps have the wrong perforation 11 1/2 instead of 14 1/2 x 15. Though they were intended to deceive collectors, they are known to have been used on genuine letters (rare). Sorry, I have no picture of these forgeries.
From the same source 'misprints' in the wrong colour are known of the values 2 p green, 5 p yellow, 10 p blue, 20 p red and 10 M black and yellow, and a 1 M with no center, example:

(a 'misprint': 20 p red, image obtained thanks to Marko Ylostalo, Finland)

The Philatelic Record of April 1901, page 109 says about these 'errors':
"Finland Errors: A Warning. Collectors and dealers are warned against buying so-called errors of the new issue of Finnish stamps which are being offered by printed circular. These consist of the 1 mark stamps with misplaced centre, also with centre missing; the 2 penni printed in green instead of orange ; the 5 penni printed in orange instead of green ; the 10 penni printed in blue instead of red ; and the 20 penni stamp printed in red instead of blue. Messrs. Whitfield King & Co. have received information that these stamps are quite unofficial, and have been purposely made by the printers as a private speculation, without the knowledge or consent of the authorities, and are therefore entirely spurious."

Postal forgeries (Majlund forgeries, images obtained thanks to Marko Ylostalo, Finland)

10 p

(Left and middle postal forgery, right genuine)

This postal forgery has perforation 11 1/2 (genuine 14 1/2 x 15), it has very thin ornamental design compared to the genuine stamp. The white letters seem to be thinner. The upper part of the '1' is very thin. The lowest feathers on the left hand side are joined together. The eagle's crown seems to be too close to the elliptic border and the tail too close to the arrows below it. This forgery has been described in 'Postal Forgeries of the World' by H.G. Leslie Fletcher.

20 p

(Left forgery, right genuine)

Two Majlund forgeries of the 20 p value

The above forgery also has the wrong perforation. Note that there are also many differences in the design I do not know if this forgery has ever been used on a real letter.

1911 Russian types + inscription in Pen

  2 Pen orange
  5 Pen green
  10 Pen red
  20 Pen blue

Similar types were issued in Russia. For the specialist, the 2 p, 5 p, 10 p and 20 p are perforated 14. There are 3 types of the 10 p; differing in the distance of the outer border line from the rest of the design and the coarseness of the lines in the background (in the vertical lines just above the left '10', just below the hanging leaf).

The three types of the 10 p, the vertical lines are different just above the circular ring surrounding the left '10'. In the last stamp, the outer frameline is placed much closer to the design.

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Finland 1917 onwards

Copyright by Evert Klaseboer