Category Archives: First Essayan

First Constantinople

Hello again – an old “friend” visits

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Stefan

A while ago I wrote about an item that was offered at Cherrystone. See here for details:  A real rarity … really? Cherrystone withdraw the item and apologized. Now the owner took the item to a different auction house. The 32. … Continue reading →

Posted in First Essayan, Forged | 1 Comment

Raritan auction #66

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Stefan

A short comment to the current auction at Raritan. The Armenian stuff looks quite good. The got some interesting items. For example that one: This is one of the more difficult overprints. If the basic features (stamp itself) are ok, … Continue reading →

Posted in Ebay, Delcampe and Co, First Essayan, Forged, Genuine | 1 Comment

Forgeries at Cherrystone

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Stefan

Some of the most common overprint forgeries on the First Essayan Pictorial Issue can (again) be bought at Cherrystone. This forgery of the 35 Gold-kopeck overprint is quite crude and easily spotted. You can check here  for my article with … Continue reading →

Posted in Ebay, Delcampe and Co, First Essayan, Forged | Leave a comment

Shades of the 250 ruble stamp from the first Essayan pictorial issue

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Stefan

Reading the comment from Trevor about the rare stamps of this set, I put together some material about the 250 ruble stamp. Here are the main shades of the basic stamp as I found in my collection. The 3rd and … Continue reading →

Posted in First Essayan, Genuine | 1 Comment

Rare stamps of the first Essayan pictorial set

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Stefan

If you want to collect all stamps from this set, you face not much hurdles. The most obvious problem are the forgeries and the reprints. Once you got that sorted out the stamps are quite common and you wont need … Continue reading →

Posted in First Essayan, Genuine | 2 Comments

Recent Additions – the gutter block

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Stefan

The latest addition to my collection is this horizontal gutter block (a pair is only two stamps). The basic stamp is the 2000 ruble value from the unissued first Essayan set. With all the pictorial sets it is important to … Continue reading →

Posted in First Essayan, Genuine | 4 Comments

The 15 Overprint in Detail

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Stefan

The 15 Gold Kopeck Overprint as quite common, just like the 20 Gold Kopeck from the post before. Still the forgeries are much more difficult to spot. Part of the problem is the dark and well inked background, which hides … Continue reading →

Posted in First Essayan, Forged, Genuine | 1 Comment

The 20 overprint in Detail

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Stefan

The 20 Goldkopeck overprint is quite common. Still the forgers did not neglect it and we can discuss the different types of forgeries. This is a genuine overprint on a genuine basic stamp. Please not the blue signature on top … Continue reading →

Posted in First Essayan, Forged, Genuine | 4 Comments

From 3 to 35 – the 35 Kopeck Overprint

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Stefan

While browsing the “3” Kopeck overprint I stumbled over the description of a second genuine type of the 35 K overprint in Rays Forgery Guide. This is a scan of the front cover. And here is the passage about the 35 K … Continue reading →

Posted in First Essayan | 2 Comments

Forged Overprints on Reprints

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Stefan

Currently on Delcampe: 10 lots offered by the same seller sharing a common flaw – the stamps are reprints and the overprints are all fake. A rather strong self-confidence probably in conjunction with ignorance of the details of the stamps … Continue reading →

Posted in Ebay, Delcampe and Co, First Essayan, Forged, Second Essayan | 1 Comment