Forgeries

Hi, Asami here.
Forgeries:- They are around and those without experience can get caught. These images were sent to us from one of our readers. He purchased them and he wishes we will display them as a warning to others. I have been asked to do a page on them as others are busy on other projects.

        The story is that a comment was left on our page 1949 - 1952 Cancelled Royal Visits. The reader said he had discovered these stamps in a collection book and he was trying to establish if they were real or forgeries. 

       1949 Royal Visit.

1949 - 1952 Cancelled Royal Visits

1894 The Wreck of the SS Wairarapa.

         In the third worst shipwreck ever in New Zealand waters, 121 lives were lost when the Union Steam Ship Company steamer SS Wairarapa struck Miners Head, on the northern tip of Great Barrier Island, 90 km north-east of Auckland. As the island’s only contact with the outside world was via a weekly steamer, news of the shipwreck took three days to reach Auckland. This highlighted the need for better communication between the island and the mainland. A need that would eventually lead to the Great Barrier Pigeongram Services.

Great Barrier Pigeon Post.

        Great Barrier Island is the largest island in the Hauraki Gulf, laying only 65 miles (105Km) from Auckland City. The island can be seen from Auckland on a clear day, it is that close, but back in the 1800s, it was isolated with no communication other than by sea with an irregular ship service. When in 1894, the Northern Steamship Company's ship SS Wairarapa hit the northern end of the island with the loss of 121 lives, the news took several days to reach Auckland. It highlighted the need for better communication between the island and the mainland. See our post Wreck of the Wairarapa.

       The Great Barrier Pigeongram Agency was created in early 1897 with a purpose of providing a mail service using pigeons. The letters carried, known as flimsies, were written on extremely lightweight paper. A few months later, on 14th May 1897, a rival pigeon mail service was established under the name of The Original Great Barrier Pigeongram Service. The two companies, commonly known as the 'Agency' and the 'Service', competed with each other until 1908 when a telephone cable was laid between the island and the mainland.