Emil Louis Richard Senf and Wilhelm August Louis Senf
Emil Louis Richard Senf (2 August 1855 - 17 January 1941) and Wilhelm August Louis Senf (2 August 1852 - 12 February 1940)
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.
The Senf brothers (Emil Louis Richard and Wilhelm August Louis) printed a journal, the 'Illustrierten Briefmarken Journal', in Leipzig, Germany. They added 'Kunst-Beigaben' or 'art supplements' to each issue of their journal from 1884 onwards. These forgeries always had the overprint 'Facsimile' or 'FACSIMILE' or 'FALSCH' included in the design. These forgeries also seem to have been sold directly to collectors.
Emil Louis Richard Senf and Wilhelm August Louis Senf
Above image obtained from: http://www.philatelistenverein-leipzig.de/koenig_joomla_2.5/philleipzig/index.php/lipsia-2007/89-135-jahre-gebrueder-senf-1872-2007
Example of a forgery of British Bechuanaland:
Often genuine stamps were also given ('Gratis-Beigabe') with this journal.
A total of 90 stamps (or sometimes sheets) and 4 postal stationary were given with the journal (source: 'Philatelic Forgers Their Lives and Works' by Varro E. Tyler). Other examples of his 'supplements' that I know of:
1884:
1 January 1884 Bolivar 10 Pesos (together with a genuine
Bolivia 5 c provisional 1871 stamp).
1 June Newfoundland 1 Sh (together with a genuine 5 p green
Helgoland cut from a postcard)
15 June 1884 Philippines 1854, 1 R blue
No 20 (15 October 1884) Philippines 1854, 10 c red
1885:
No 21: (5 November 1885) Philippines 1863, 1 Real red
1886:
No 1: Mulready envelope
of Great Britain, 2 p blue
No 2: (22 January 1886) Philippines 1855, 5 Cuartos red.
No 5 (5 March 1886): Russian post in Turkey 1865 10 c issue
(together with a 'genuine' Helgoland 1 f stamp)
No 20 (16 October 1886): Spain 1853, 2 r red
No 24 (18 December 1886): Neuchatel cantonal issue 5 c black and
red
1887:
No 14 (16 July 1887): Parma 1854, 5 c yellow
No 16 (20th August 1887): Postage due stamp of Greece of 1875, 1
D black and green
No 19 (1st October 1887): Bolivar 1863: 10 c green
No 23 (3 December 1887): Finland, envelope-cut of 1845, 20 k red
No 24 (17 December 1887): Russian post office in the Levant,
1863, 6 k blue
1888:
No 1 Guatemala's first postcard
No 9 Guatemala 1 Peso (together with a Helgoland 3/4 Sch
and a Spain 1855 official 1/2 onza stamp)
No 13 Colombia Tolima, very large 'Certificacion con
Contenido'
No 14 (21 July 1888): British Bechuanaland, 1888, 5 Pounds lilac
and black
No 23 Great Britain, reprint of a Mulready
envelope, 1 p black
1889:
No 1 USA 12 Dollars newspaper stamp and three Columbia postal
stationaries (printed on the page, one from Tolima)
No 4 (16 February 1889): Surinam, King William, 2G50c green and
orange
No 10 (18 Mai 1889): Curacao, King William, 2G50 c brown and
violet
No 12 (15 June 1889): Bhopal, 1888, sheet with 32 1/4 a green
stamps (reduced to 2/3 of its size)
No 13 (6 July 1889): Russia, 1889, 1 R brown and orange
No 16 (17 August 1889): St Vincent 5 Sh 1880, together with 3
Bergedorf reprints (1/2 Sch, 1 Sch and 3 Sch)
No 21 (2 November 1889) San Salvador 1879 sheet with 25
'reproductions' of all types.
No 25 (14 December 1889), Corrientes sheetlet with eight black
stamps (together with a genuine Bulgaria, a Helgoland cut and a
Porto Rico 1879 25 c blue stamp).
Senf forgeries of a Mulready envelope of Great Britain (apparently two types exist of the 1 p value):
Senf also made a forgery of the 2 p Mulready envelope:
A forgery of the 1880 2 Sh orange stamp of Great Britain was also forged by Senf, it has the overprint 'FACSIMILE':
A Senf forgery of Great Britain with overprint 'FACSIMILE'
Examples of other Senf forgeries:
(Mauritius, 'FACSIMILE' added in the design)
(Cape of Good Hope, inscription 'Facsimile')
(Cape of Good Hope, overprinted 'FACSIMILE')
Confederate States of America: I know of a 10 c stamp with 'Facsimile No.10' on the backside (sorry, no picture available).
The Senf brothers also made forgeries of the newspaper stamps of the United States. The word 'FALSCH' (=forged in German) is incorporated in the design. Twenty four values (all except 1 c) were imitated and also offered for 4 M per set (source: Schweizer Illustr. Briefmarken-Zeitung May 1885 or http://briefmarken.ag/). It seems that no 1 c was forged, but instead an advertisement label was made:
(Senf advertisement label, reduced size, inscription 'Gebr. Senf
Leipzig')
(Facsimile overprint, 'FALSCH' incorporated in the design)
(Zoom-in of the word 'FALSCH')
Four of these stamps were distributed in the 'Illustrierten Briefmarken Journal' (the Dollar values), other values were sold to collectors (another 23 stamps; 19 of the 1875 issue and 3 of the 1865 issue).
Forgeries of the Department of State stamps of the United States, I presume the next forgery is a Senf forgery:
(Could this be Senf forgeries?)
(Zoom in of the 'FACSIMILE' overprint)
The word 'FACSIMILE' is printed between the words 'DEPARTMENT' and 'STATE'. Senf made forgeries of all four values in this serie ($2, $5, $10 and $ 20).
(Note the words 'FALSCH')
In the above postmaster stamp, the word 'FALSCH' is printed three times (see arrows in enlarged picture).
A Senf forgery of Van Diemen's Land, 4 p, 'FACSIMILE' written on top:
(With 'FACSIMILE.' added on top of the design)
and some forgeries of British Columbia (all with 'FALSCH' overprint):
The perforation on these stamps is printed
and a 1 Sh stamp of Newfoundland:
With 'FALSCH!' overprint
And some forgeries of Victoria:
Victoria 5 Sh stamp
Victoria Pounds stamps, the perforation is printed and the hair
covers the ear
(Victoria 'TOO LATE' stamp, 'FALSCH' overprinted in green)
Virgin Islands:
(Virgin Island 1 Sh, with 'FALSCH.' overprinted at the bottom)
(Wurttemberg 70 k with 'FALSCH.' overprint)
Some Senf forgeries of the 1860 issue of Nova Scotia with 'SPECIMEN' overprint. Many people think they are Fournier forgeries (since they can be found in the Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries). Fournier only sold them (and later Hirschberger, the successor of Fournier), but they were made by Senf:
Stamp of Hannover produced by Senf:
(10 gr 1859 Hanover stamp with 'FALSCH' overprint)
(Fiji forgery of the 5 Sh stamp, the perforation has been cut out
by someone, Senf printed the perforation only, this forgery has a
red overprint 'FALSCH' at the bottom, but is hardly visible since
the perforation has cut off this word almost entirely)
Most likely a Senf forgery of India.
Senf forgery of the first stamp of Saxony.
Bhopal sheet (2/3 size of the genuine stamps).
A 5 M 1879 stamp of Heligoland was also forged by Senf (if my information is correct, 'FALSCH' is written in yellow on this stamp), if anybody possesses a picture, please contact me!
Other Senf forgeries can be found on the cd with Volume 2: