Catalogue Senf Forgeries

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 his journal. These forgeries always had the overprint 'Facsimile' or 'FACSIMILE', 'Falsch' or 'FALSCH' included in the design. These forgeries also seem to have been sold directly to collectors (most of them with similar overprints indicating they were forgeries). The period in which they were produced was from about 1870 to 1890.

On http://www.klassische-briefmarken.de/ibj.htm the folllowing text can be found:
"Das Illustrierte Briefmarken - Journal ( abgekürzt I-B-J ) erschien von 1874 an unter dem Dache einer der größten Briefmarkenhandlungen Deutschlands , der Fa. Gebr. Senf in Leipzig - welche übrigens auch die berühmten Schaubekalben heraus gaben - Die Auflage, Anfangs gering wuchs um die Jahrhundertwende 1900 auf über 20.000 Exemplare und war damit die größte Fachzeitschrift im Bereich der Philatelie in Deutschland. Sie erschien bis zum zweiten Weltkrieg."

From the above text we can deduce that the first 'Illustrirtem Briefmarken Journal' (where 'Illustrirtem' is sometimes spelled as 'Illustrierte' or 'Illustriertes') appeared first in 1874. The number of magazines printed was limited at first, but rose to over 20,000 around 1900. From this we would deduce that the number of facsimiles distributed must have been considerably less than 20,000.... However, the book 'Philatelic Forgers, their Lives and Works' by V.E.Tyler states that the first facsimiles appeared in 1884 as art supplements. Tyler also says: 'The facsimiles proved, at first, to be very popular, and the Senfs also prepared and sold large quantities of them directly to collectors, thereby becoming the greatest producers of postage stamp facsimiles in the western world'.

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 Bolivar 10 Pesos
15 June 1884 Philippines 1854, 1 R blue
No 20 (15 October 1884) Philippines 1854, 10 c 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): Greece, Postage due stamp 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 + Tolima 50 c postal stationery
No 9 (5 May 1888): Guatemala 1 Peso 1872 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: 12$ USA newspaper stamp + three Colombian postal stationaries.
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 1/4 a green (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 Shillings 1880 stamp.
No 21 (2 November 1889): Salvador 1879 5 centavos; sheetlet showing all types

San Salvador: a whole sheet of 5 c blue stamps of the 1879 issue; all types are reproduced. The individual stamps have a red overprint 'Facsimile'. On top of the sheet is written 'Kunstbeigabe':

Senf also made a forgery of the three-coloured 10 c and 50 c value postal stationery of Tolima (the forgeries have inscription 'FACSIMILE' twice in the 'Remite' section at the bottom.

I've seen the 50 c value with additional inscription 'KUNST BEILAGE ZU SENF'S "ILLUSTRIERTEM BRIEFMARKEN- JOURNAL" No 1 1888'.

A similar item from Colombia with inscription 'FACSIMILE', probably also made by Senf

An advertisement for these 'Facsimiles' from Senf, where a set of 10 facsimiles are offered for a price of 2 Mark. It includes the 25 c and 50 c 1865 issue, the 50 c 1867 issue, the 50 c 1870 issue for Colombia. Also the 5 c, 10 c and 50 c of the 1879 issue and the 5 c, 10 c, and 50 c of the 1886 issues of Tolima were included.

The inscription of the above card is:

"	Angeregt durch den ausserordentlichen Beifall, den unsere verschiedenen
Facsimiles schwer zu erlangender, bezw. seltener und daher sehr teurer Postwert-
zeichen, besonders die der Amerikanischer Zeitungsmarken in allen Sammlerkreisen 
gefunden haben, bringen wir heute eine derartige Serie, die sicherlich die gleich 
gunstige Aufnahme finden wird. 
	Es sind dies
		Facsimiles
		    der
in fast allen Sammlungen ihrer Seltenheit wegen fehlenden, (in Originalen mit
120 Mark bewerteten)
		Columbia- und Tolima-
	Geldbrief-Vignetten.
der Satz von 10 Stuck besteht aus folgenden Werten:
		Columbia
1865. 25 Centavos braun, gelb, blau u. rot
      50   "
1867. 50 Centavos schwarz, gelb, blau u. rot
1870. 50 Centavos  "
		Tolima
1879. 5 Centavos braun
      10   "     schwarz u. irisfarben
      50   "        "          "
1886. 5 Cts. gelb, 10 Cts. blau u. 50 Cts. rot.
die wir zum Preise von
	2 Mark fur den Satz
allen Sammlern gegen vorherige frankierte Einsendung des Betrages ebenfalss
portofrei zu Verfugung stellen.
	Auch diese "Facsimiles" sind in gewohnt vorzuglicher Weise ausgefuhtt -
wir gaben bereits im Jahrganga 1888 des "Illustr. Briefm.-Journals mit der
Kunstbeigabe zu No.1 eine Probe davon -; sie durften vielen Sammlern als
billger Ersatz fur die so schwer erhatlbaren Originale hochwillkommen sein.
	Wir sehen recht zahlreichen Bestellungen, die sofortige Erledigung finden
werden, entgegen und zeichnen
						hochachtend
				Gebruder Senf in Leipzig."

First postcard of Guatamala given with No 1 of 1888 of the 'Illustrirtem Briefmarken - Journal'

Senf also made a forgery of the imperforate 1 R value of Russia of 1889. This forgery was distributed with No 13 (6 July 1889, thus long before the imperforate stamps of 1915 were issued), the text 'Falsch.' is printed in orange on top of the stamp:

I've also seen another Corrientes forgery made by Senf, apparently not any of the above types, without the 'FACSIMILE' overprint. He also seems to have forged the 1 r black on blue stamp of 1856.

Corrientes Senf forgery with 'FALSCH' written in the blue background at the bottom.

Naples Trinacria forgery (1/2 T blue, produced in 1884) and a forgery of the 1/2 T cross :

Senf made forgeries of the values 1/2 , 1 b, 2 b, 3 b, 4 b, 5 b, 7 b (two subtypes), 8 b, 1 Sc, 3 c, 5 c, 10 c, 20 c, 40 c and 80 c of the Papal States.

In the above two stamps of Persia the inscription 'FALSCH' is added in the bottom part of the stamp. The second mage was obtained with permission from the Forgeries idenfication site of Bill Claghorn.

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. It seems that no 1 c was forged, but instead an advertisement label was made. 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). These forgeries can be found in the cd containing Volume 1.

Columbia 1879 25 c green (overprinted 'FACSIMILE'), in the second image somebody has tried to removed this overprint and has applied a forged cancel.

Forgery of the first issue of Uruguay (60 c) with 'Facsimile.' incorporated in the design:

Russian Levant (Russian post offices in Turkey) 1865 10 pa brown and blue ('FALSCH' written at the bottom)

Modena 'BG CEN 9' black on red ('FALSCH' written in white on the background at the bottom of the stamp)

The first forgery is made by Senf, I presume the other two were also made by him.

Other possible Senf products:

(This forgery has the word 'FACSIMILE' incorporated in the design below the shield)

In the next forgeries, the word 'FACSIMILE' of the above forgery, has been coloured in (but is still faintly visible):

Basel Dove 1845 (overprint 'FACSIMILE'). The left 'FACSIMILE' overprint is partly erased, when trying to creat a 'genuine' stamp.

Neuchatel Cantonal issue (Switzerland) 5 c black and red forgery with blue 'FALSCH' overprint.

Senf forgeries of the 10 Cs and 1 R values (1 R value obtained thanks to Nigel Gooding). These forgeries do not have any indication that they are forgeries.

Other Senf forgeries, of which I don't have pictures yet:

Belgian Congo 1886 5 F violet (with 'Falsch' overprint, also without this overprint?)
Columbia 1861 5 c yellow (overprinted 'Falsch')
Columbia 1886 5 P brown (with overprint 'FALSCH')
Russia, postal stationery (stamped envelope) of 1845 5 k blue (with overprint 'FACSIMILE'?)
Spain 1853 2 r red Queen Isabella (with overprint 'FALSCH')

This postal forgery was pasted on a letter, together with two genuine stamps (2 c and 3 c) and adressed to Gebruder Senf in Leipzig (picture also obtained from the above mentioned website). Therefore I don't know if this forgery was made with some philatelic intention. The fact that it was send to Senf makes it at least 'suspicious'.

Senf Forgeries

Other possible Senf products:

Copyright by Evert Klaseboer