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According to V.E.Tyler in his book 'Philatelic Forgers, their Lives and Works' George Whitehurst and John Driscoll Harris from Birmingham and Smethwick respectively made forged first day covers of the coronation issue of 1937. His 'creations' were intended to be from the following countries: British Solomon Islands (Tulagi), Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Ascension Island, St.Helena, Belize, British Honduras, Dominica (Roseau), Gold Coast (Accra), Nyasaland Protectorate (Blantyre) and Northern Rhodesia (Broken Hill).
The following text was found on:
COUNTERFEIT items are currently a huge cost burden to many
UK industries, which lose out on millions of pounds every year.
But the production of fake goods has been around for many years,
with opportunists seeking out ways to make extra cash.
The West Midlands Police Museum has examples of some forged
products made by early twentieth century criminals. Curator Mr
David Cross said one of the more devious counterfeits stored in
the museum was contained on innocent looking envelopes. He said
that back in the 1930s, at the height of the Commonwealth, one
cunning man set out to profit from rare stamp collectors.
“George Whitehurst knew the Coronation year of King George
VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937 would be a prime time for
enthusiasts seeking rare and valuable stamps posted on May 12.
“To be of value, the stamps needed to be first day covers
– posted from the country of origin on Coronation Day. It
would have been impossible to arrange for someone in a far flung
country to post stamps back to the UK.
“So Whitehurst got around this obstacle by buying a franking
machine and forging the post marks himself.”
The UK produced all the stamps for countries in the commonwealth
and Whitehurst took advantage of a Birmingham-based stamp seller
in Temple Street, in the city centre. Mr Cross said:
“Whitehurst bought stamps costing, one, two and three pence
and would place one of each on an envelope before using his
franking machine to make it look as though the stamps had ben
sent from their country of origin. He posted letters to himself,
using a false name of Mr Harris and Son of Lightwoods Hall Road.
The 55-year-old then advertised his dodgy wares in
philatelists’ magazines and sold the envelopes to
unsuspecting collectors for around £5 each – a lot of money
in those days. The police museum has some of the envelopes
Whitehurst posted, supposedly from as far away as the Gilbert and
Ellice Islands, the Solomon Islands, Nyasaland and the Gold
Coast. Whitehurst clearly underestimated his market and was
caught out by an avid stamp collector.
Mr Cross explained: “One of his customers made a close
examination of an envelope that should have been sent from the
Gilbert and Ellice Islands.
“The collector realised they were forged by the difference
in lettering. The letter ‘L’ in Ellice was slanted to
the left.” Police raided Whitehurst’s house and found
hundreds of stamps and post-ready envelopes waiting to be sent
out. An investigation in to the quality of the forgery found that
the Nyasaland and Solomon Island stamps were good copies. But,
the Gold Coast frank lacked an additional message promoting Gold
Coast cocoa beans.
Whitehurst was charged with conspiring to cheat and sentenced to
18 months in prison.
According to Tyler, the stamp dealer Harris was sentenced to 9 months in prison.