OLDENBURG Forgeries of the 1861 issue

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Forgeries of the 1861 arms issue, (couloured on white paper)

Examples of forgeries:

The letters of "OLDENBURG" in the above forgeries are all straight and not slanting with the label as in the genuine stamps.

The letters in 'OLDENBURG' are too tall in the above rather blur forgeries of the 2 g value.

Very primitive forgery of the 1 g value. At the back some other forgeries are printed.

Note the position of the word 'Ein' in the above forgery of the 1 g stamp, in the genuine 1 g stamps, there should be a small dot to the right of the left '1' (almost in the ellipse) and a similar dot to the left of the right '1'. These dots are absent in the above stamp. There is a row of 10 large pearls at the bottom of the stamps. The crown touches the oval. The lion looks more like a giraffe. The shield is much smaller than in the genuine stamps. This forgery is described in Album Weeds (second forgery of the 1 g blue). On Bill Claghorn's website a similar forgery can be found with these large pearls at the bottom (the 2 Gr black on red of the previous issue). In Album Weeds some forgeries of the 1/3 g green, 2 g red and 3 g yellow with 10 pearls at the bottom are described (presumably made by the same forger). Next to the 1 g stamp, a 2 g black on lilac is shown apparently made by the same forger as well.

Improved version of the 1 g forgery as shown above?

Spiro forgeries:

The above Spiro forgery is described in 'The Spud Papers'. It is exactly the same as the forgery of the previous issue (except for the colour). The point of the shield is too close to the bottom of the oval, the lion is badly shaped and appears to have one big eye (or mouth?). The lettering is different. Spiro forgeries exist for all values. I have often seen it cancelled 'OLDENBURG IM GROSSHERZOGTUM'

The next stamps are Fournier forgeries

(Fournier forgeries, images obtained thanks to Bill Claghorn's forgery site http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/Oldenburg )

Distinguishing characteristics:

The 'U' of 'OLDENBURG' is badly done (2 g only?)

An easy means to distinguish Fournier forgeries are the cancels: the cancels I have often seen on these forgeries are (I don't think the dates could be changed): 'OLDENBURG 16 10 1-2 N' in a double circle; 'VAREL 16/6' in a rectangle; 'ABBEHAUSEN 11/VI' in a rectangle and 'RASTEDE 18/11' in a rectangle. The 'FRANCO' cancel on the 2 g is not shown in 'The Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries'.

The Fournier cancels as shown in the 'Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries'.

I've been told that the next stamp is also a Fournier forgery. However, it does not resemble the forgeries in 'The Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries':

Other forgery with the crown too small:

(Other forgeries with 7 pearls at the bottom)

(Other primitive forgery of the 1 g stamp)

Other primitive forgeries of the 1/3 g stamp.

Forgery of the 1/3 g value with '1/3' too large. The lion in the bottom part of the arms is totally missing and instead two half circles separated by a vertical line have been put there. The crown is too large. I've also seen this forgery in 1/3 g blue (wrong color). I've seen it with a box cancel 'OLDENBURG'.

Other forgeries.

(Peter Winter forgeries)

Forged letter with Peter Winter forgeries.

Peter Winter made forgeries of all four values. I've seen the value 1/3 g with cancel 'BREMEN 30 8 * 6-6' in a box.

Sperati forgeries:

(Sperati forgeries, reproduction 'C' with a dot outside the design above the 'L' of 'OLDENBURG')

The above forgery is a Sperati forgery. Sperati made 3 different forgeries of this stamp. The following distinguishing characteristics apply to these forgeries:
1) The 'G' of 'Groschen' has a white spot
2) There is a line above the 'o' of 'Groschen'
3) A dot outside the design of the stamps above the 'L' of 'OLDENBURG' (Reproduction C)
4) A dot outside the stamp left to the '2'
5) The left lower corner has several dots

Other Sperati forgeries:

First picture obtained from: http://www.seymourfamily.com/rfrajola/Sperati/speratiindex.htm

These stamps have the distinguishing characteristics 1 and 2 of the previous forgery:
1) The 'G' of 'Groschen' has a white spot
2) There is a line above the 'o' of 'Groschen'

Sperati forgery with blue 'PEPPENS 30/6' in a box cancel and another with 'BREMEN' cancel.

Another Sperati forgery, left image obtained from: http://www.seymourfamily.com/rfrajola/Sperati/speratiindex.htm

Sperati forgery 'B' of the 2 g stamp, with a forged 'KLAGE' cancel.

It seems that the cancel "OLDENBURG 28 1 8-1 V" in a double circle has been used often. Other cancels that can be found above are "OLDENBURG 13/3" in a box and "WILDESHAUSEN 18/11" in a box. Examples of these and other Sperati cancels can be found here.

Sperati has also made forgeries of the other 3 values:

(Sperati forgeries)

Front and backside of a Sperati forgery 'A' of the 3 g

Sperati forgery of the 1/3 g with forged "OLDENBURG 27 8 1-4N" and "OLDENBURG 29 8 1-8 N" cancels

(1/3 g Sperati forgery, reduced size)

Other forgeries note that the 'D' of 'Drei' is slanting to the left in the first forgery! Both forgeries have too many ornaments above the 'r' of 'Drei' and the 'H' of 'Groschen' (genuine 3 g stamps do not have these ornaments).

Other forgery.

Forgeries of the 1860 arms issue (shield on coloured background and different frame)

The 1/4 g is cheaper in unused condition (worth about ten times less unused); therefore many forged cancels exist!

Forgeries, examples:

In the above forgeries, the inscription 'OLDENBURG' is much bigger than in the genuine stamps. The forger even made bogus values of 1/2 gr black and 2 g red.

(Left image obtained from Bill Claghorn's forgery site)

The above forgery has the 'H' of 'Halber' almost straight, while it is slanting to the right in the genuine stamp. The letters of the inscriptions seem to be larger.

(Peter Winter forgeries)

Winter forgery of the 1/4 g on piece with blue cancel 'OLDENBURG 6 2 8-1 N'

1/4 g forgery with blue cancel 'OLDENBURG 17 2 3 8 N' in a double circle

Peter Winter made forgeries of both values. My 1/4 g forgery has the cancel 'OLDENBURG 17 2 3 8 N' in a double circle (in blue, see image above). My 1/2 g forgery has the cancel 'ZETEL 11 12' in a rectangle. I've also seen a block of four 1/4 g Winter forgeries (in the colour of the 1/2 g?) with blue cancels 'EDEWECHT 4/12'.

Sperati forgeries:

Sperati made two forgeries of the 1/2 gr value; 'Reproduction A' and 'Reproduction B'.

Sperati forgeries, Reproduction A: damaged bottom part of 'B' of 'OLDENBURG'. Sperati used 'BREMEN 9*5 6' in a box cancels and various other cancels of Oldenburg, such as 'VAREL 12/6', 'OLDENBURG 21 8 8-1V' and 'OLDENBURG 27 8 1-4N' as shown above.

Sperati made two forgeries; 'Reproduction A' and 'Reproduction B'. In the above forgeries, there is a brown dot in the white line below the 'sc' of 'Groschen'.

Sperati forgery of the 1/2 g stamp: 'Reproduction B': this forgery has a blotch of ink just below the bottom left part of the 'E' of 'OLDENBURG'. It has a forged 'PEPPENS 30/6' cancel.

Sperati also made two forgeries of the 1/4 g value: Reproduction A and Reproduction B:

Sperati forgery 'Reproduction A' of the 1/4 g stamp. It has some breaks in the upper left frameline and also a break in the upper frameline above the 'G' of 'OLDENBURG'.