Return To Catalogue - Basel - Geneva - Neuchatel - Vaud - Zurich - Switzerland overview
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.
Many stamps of the first issued and cantonal stamps can be found on the website http://www.ghonegger.ch/ (with many beautiful pictures of the rarities of this country).
These stamps are commonly known as the 'Winterthur' issue, however, they were actually used in Zurich.
2 1/2 r black and red
Genuine stamps have a dot behind 'ORTSPOST', this dot is quite large (some forgeries have a small dot). There are nine curves in the ornaments of each arrow. The there are 8 strands of the left rope that holds the horn and 9 strands on the right hand side.
(Two genuine stamps, note the 'arrow' between the two stamps)
Value of the stamps |
|||
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon |
*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare |
||
| Value | Unused | Used | Remarks |
| 2 1/2 r | RRR | RRR | Issued around March 1850 |
Cancels, examples:
Pair with black Rozette cancel also used in Zurich. Also 'P.P.'
cancels of Zurich were used here.
First forgery of Album Weeds:
In the above forgeries there is no dot behind 'ORTSPOST'. The arrows and spirals outside the stamp are missing. There are many other differences with the genuine stamp. I have seen a sheet of forgeries where these forgeries are printed together with the first Vaud forgeries.
(Sheet of forgeries, printed together with Vaud issue, reduced
size)
In the genuine stamps, there should be a large stop after 'ORTSPOST'. The first stamp shown above doesn't have this stop. The forger also must have noticed this and has added a stop in the second forgery shown above. Nevertheless the '2 1/2' is placed too far to the right in this forgery. There are also many other differences.
Other forgeries
The above forgeries have the arrows different, there are small ellipses on each of them, instead of the spiral pattern of the genuine stamps. It is probably forgery No.11 described by De Reuterskiöld in The Philatelic Record 29, page 62 (1907). The central ring is too narrow and the cross has the inner frame too near to the outer one.
Fournier forgeries:
Fournier forgeries, the dot behind 'ORTSPOST' is too close to the
'T'?
(Reduced size)
The above forgeries are Fournier forgeries, however, they don't resemble the forgeries in 'The Fournier album of philatelic forgeries' (apparently he made or at least sold two types of forgeries). I've seen them with 'FAC-SIMILE' printed on the backside (as in the Fournier Album). The lower and upper arches are too long in the above forgeries.
Fournier forgery from the Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries.
The arrows have small ellipses on them instead of a wavy pattern.
The 'S' of 'POSTE' is too broad and the 'O' of 'LOCALE' is too
round. Compared to a genuine stamp, the '.' behind 'ORTSPOST' is
too close to this word (genuine stamps have the dot in the middle
of 'ORTSPOST' and 'POSTE'). I've also seen a cancelled version of
this forgery type (strongly resembling a genuine rosette cancel).
Fournier forgeries as found in a Fournier Album.
Forgery, made by Peter Winter?
I suspect that the above forgery could be one made by Peter Winter. Note the ragged frameline above the '2 1/2' in the upper right corner. Winter forgeries were made in the 1980's and are printed on very modern white paper (usually this should be enough to detect them at a glance).
(Some other Winter forgeries)
(Forgery with wrong colours of background lines)
(Forgery with overprint 'FACSIMILE', it is a Champion forgery which first appeared in
1888 http://www.swiss-stamps.us/HB/HB0206.pdf).
According to De Reuterskiöld in The Philatelic Record 29, page
62 (1907), the left side of the horn (above the 'S' of POST') has
a line that is not similar to a genuine stamp (it continues
across the horn).
I've also seen the above forgery with a much larger straight 'FACSIMILE' instead of the curved violet small 'FACSIMILE' overprint of the forgery shown above.
(A forgery with no arrows)
Two different forgeries with the bottoms of the '2's straight
instead of wavy.
Other forgery
Yet another type of forgery.
Possible cut from a Menke-Huber postcard.
Very dubious item, the black letters 'ORTSPOST POSTE LOCALE' have
red shading!
Sperati made two 'Reproductions' of this stamp:
Sperati forgeries.
Sperati forgery 'proof' of Reproduction 'B' of the red part (here
in black color), reduced size
Sperati Reproduction 'B', it has a broken outer frameline above
the upper '1/2'.
In the Bulletin of the Helvetia Society for
Collectors of Switzerland (Vol. II, no 6, 1939) http://www.swiss-stamps.us/HB/HB0206.pdf,
the following statement by Henry W. Salisbury can be found: "There
are numerous forgeries of this stamp as of all the early issues
of Switzerland but ouside of one, the photolithographed
counterfeit of Venturini,
they are fairly easily detected. ...... As I mentioned before the
realy dangerous forgery is the one put out by Oneglia-Venturini
of Turin, by a photolithograpic process which is very difficult
to recognize wihout testing very accurately for size, paper and
ink"
De Reuterskiöld in The Philatelic Record 29, page 62 (1907,
see archive.org) says with respect to this forgery:
"No. 9.—Photo-lithographic imitation by Oneglia and
Venturini, of Turin. This is a very dangerous forgery, and only
differs from the original in one or two minor details, which I do
not think it expedient to describe."
Very deceptive forgery, could this be the Venturini forgery?