Forged Stamps of New Zealand

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. 

1855-1873. Queen Victoria. Chalon. One Penny

Genuine vs. Reprint vs. Forgeries

 

 

Genuine – SG#1

Genuine – SG#4

Genuine – SG#33

Genuine – SG#35

Reprint

Genuine – SG#69

Forged roulettes on otherwise genuine stamp

Odenweller/AIEP certificate #35413 (2015)

Forgery

Forgery

1855-1873. Queen Victoria. Chalon. Two Pence

Genuine vs. Reprint vs. Forgeries

 

 

Genuine – SG#2

Genuine – SG#9

Genuine – SG#10

Perkins Bacon proof

Hausberg “London” 1905 reprint

Genuine – SG#96a

Repaired SG#38. Right margin added and other corners strengthened

Odenweller/AIEP certificate #35825 (2015)

Forged roulettes on genuine SG#36 var. Bottom-right corner repaired

Odenweller/AIEP certificate #36488 (2016)

Forgery

1864-1872. Queen Victoria. Chalon. Three Pence

Genuine vs. Forgeries

 

 

Genuine

Forged roulettes on genuine stamp

Odenweller/AIEP certificate #35414 (2015)

Forged perforations on unperforated SG#116

Odenweller/AIEP certificate (2015)

1864-1872. Queen Victoria. Chalon. Four Pence

Genuine vs. Forgery

 

 

Genuine

Forgery

Illustration by Plácido Ramón de Torres: Album ilustrado de sellos de correo, Barcelona 1879. Torres sold illustrations to various dealers/forgers from 1864 onwards, as well as made forgeries himself.

1864-1872. Queen Victoria. Chalon. Six Pence

Genuine vs. Reprint vs. Forgeries

 

 

Genuine SG#41

Genuine SG#42

Genuine SG#43

1884 reprint

Details more ‘crisp’. Thinner paper.

Genuine SG#67h

RPSL cert (1975) & RPSNZ cert (2012)

Repaired SG#43. Filled thins and strenghtened upper and lower righthand corners.

Odenweller/AIEP certificate (2015)

Forged roulettes on genuine stamp

Forged cover using two defective 6d brown Chalons on much older wrapper to Scotland

 

Forgery

 

1855-1873. Queen Victoria. Chalon. One Shilling

Genuine vs. Forgery

 

 

Genuine – SG#6

Genuine – SG#16

Genuine – SG#17

Genuine – SG#44

Genuine – SG#45

Forgery

Forged roulettes on genuine SG#104

Odenweller/AIEP certificate #35434 (2015)

Forged roulettes on genuine SG#58

Odenweller/AIEP certificate #35416 (2015)

Forgery

1906. Christchurch Exhibition

Genuine vs. Forgeries

 

 

Forged postmarks on genuine stamps

Genuine postmarks 

1910-1913. Surcharged Victoria land.

Used by the Scott Antarctic Expedition

Forgeries

 

 

Forged overprint on genuine stamp

Forged overprint on genuine stamp

       1949 Royal Visit.

1949 - 1952 Cancelled Royal Visits

1949 3d - HMS Vanguard.

Good looking stamp with mint gum on the back.

Now, this was one of a set of four designed and printed for the 1949 royal tour. When the tour was cancelled due to the King's poor health all the stamps were said to have been destroyed. More recently 7 examples of the 3d HMS Vanguard have been found. They are supposed to have escaped being destroyed in the furnace. All are in poor condition, creases, lacking gum and two even have pieces cut off.

Here we have one that appears to be a perfect mint example. The photography is poor so it's hard to tell for sure just how good the stamp actually is. Allan and Mary, our two stamps 'experts' were concerned so they suggested that the stamp was shown to a real expert.

Then five more stamp images arrived, complete with images showing their backs in perfect condition.

1949 6d - Royal Crown and Sceptre.

This stamp appears to come from the same issue as the HMS Vanguard above, the 1949 Royal Visit Issue but does not carry the date as did the original. As far as we know there are no known copies of this value but considering the missing date, this is a pretty poor copy, anyway. 

As you can see, this collection becomes more and more unbelievable as we move down the page.

1952 Royal Visit.

1949 - 1952 Cancelled Royal Visits

All four values of the 1952 Royal Visit issue were present in this collection. We believe that these stamps are only found as unperforated proofs. Here they were mint, gummed stamps. Again we have images showing perfect backs for each stamp.

1952 2d - The Waitangi Treaty House.

The colours on this image are different to the example we display on our post

1949 - 1952 Cancelled Royal Visits

1952 3d - RMS Gothic.

This must be the most common of all the 1952 stamps, but only as printer's proofs.

1952 5d - King George VI, Queen Elizabeth,

Princess Margaret.

1952 1/3 - Princess Elizabeth &

Duke of Edinburgh.

By now we knew these were all wrong. We suggested this to our reader and he agreed that they all appeared to be forgeries. It was then that he sent us another set of images.

1899 Pigeon Post Stamps.

Great Barrier Pigeon Post

When we saw these it was like Wow! Anyone who has seen the Great Barrier Pigeon Post will know that in 1899 the Great Barrier Pigeongram Agency produced two triangular stamps for their mail service with a 6d Blue for mail from the island to Auckland and a 1/- Red for mail from Auckland to the island. There were never any 1/- light purple or 6d green stamps.

Again four backs in perfect condition. The perforations were too perfect for this period too.

1931 Health Stamps.

It's getting 'better' as we continue. Look at these!

Health Stamps - Part One.

1931 Health Issue had two values known as the 1d Red Boy and the 2d Blue Boy.

There were never a 3d Brown Boy and a 9d Olive Boy. 9d plus 3d charity, I'm not sure many people in 1931, during the Great Depression, would want to pay 1/- (one shilling) for a health stamp.

Now, let's have a closer look at the 1931 Blue Boy. 

It doesn't look too bad according to this image but if we continue to zoom in until we get to the two images below you will see the design is made up of dots (more modern lithography printing), rather than the original engraving of surface printed typography.  Notice he has been able to capture the flaw that appeared under the word 'Charity' above the 'D.'

  

Hi Allan,
I paid 175 euro good learning lessons, I will pen mark as fakes, I don't want them to pass on to others.
This is what I get from Stampboard below.
 Taiwanese seller (eBay) Scott Visnjic. He makes all kind of fantasy stamps as well as forgeries of real ones - from King Edward VIII stamps, Malta telegraphs, Western Australia Court Fees, fictional countries like 'Imperial Coldland' etc.
How did I miss that information? He is selling on eBay.
Yes, you should feature his stamps so others can beware of them.perforation is very important here too.
Chris.

Allan here.

        First off, I want to thank our reader who has allowed us to create this page. He could have hidden these stamps away or even destroyed them rather than admitting his mistake in public like this. I admire his desire to tell others so they won't be caught by the same trap.

        Asami has done a good job of this page but we feel it should be finished with a warning about buying stamps off sites like eBay. First, be very careful if the stamp offered is rare or higher in price. One would expect stamps such as these would fetch better prices by being offered at auction. So why has this seller offering them at a much cheaper price on a trading site? Second, do some research on the stamps. A simple catalogue will tell you that there were only 2 1931 Health Stamps, the blue boy and the red boy. Third, get the stamps checked by an expert before you purchase. While these forgeries were fairly easy to spot once you know what to look for, there are others that are a lot harder to spot.

        Now, this passing them off as 'fantasy stamps' is great if they are actually fictional stamps but those shown on the page above are copies of rare stamps which in my book makes them forgeries. Our reader is marking then as 'fakes' which is good as they will not become confused as real ones in the future. I would do the same if I added any to my collection too. But now I wonder just how many of these are floating around the internet, waiting to be purchased by unsuspecting buyers.

                

Posted with a pretty poor copy of the Blue Boy New Zealand health stamp in the top corner. The blue stamp was printed by local boys for a school fund raising private mail run in about 1988. Very small numbers were printed. Also an orchard stamp from the special World Stamp Exhibition mini-sheet. Here ripped in half but showing the date of the Exhibition - 2nd, September 1990. And posted at the World Stamp Exhibition in Auckland New Zealand where it was posted marked with the Exhibition postmark only used at the Exhibition

1958. Queen Elizabeth II. Surcharged 2d

Genuine vs. Forgery

 

 

Genuine SG#763b

Forged overprint

1989. Kiwi

Genuine vs. Fake

 

 

Genuine

Fake

Red color bleached away with chemicals