From 3 to 35 – the 35 Kopeck Overprint

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 Overprint.

While often the same type of digits where used for different “sets” of overprints the “3” used here is definitely a different type as the single “3” described in the article from yesterday.

Like Rays said, the basic 35 Kopeck overprint without “back-conversion” to a “3” with the help of a manual script “K” is quite rare. Here an example with an Alexandropol Sh cancellation.

More common is the manually corrected overprint.

As you can see both overprints are quite clear with concise borders and similar ink. The middle bar of the “3” is quite long and the ball-serifs well formed.

Genuine 35 K overprints are quite scarce. The fakes are much more common. Like Ray says: 95%.

Here two examples of fake overprints with different shapes and ink.

Much more interesting is the second type of the genuine (?) overprint. I happen to have a stamp with this overprint too.

To this date I consider(ed) this overprint a forgery. The ink differs from the genuine overprints and the shape differs too. It has the “damage” on the top of the “3”. The serif-balls are smaller etc. I really hope Ray reads this and can tell us why he thinks this overprint is a genuine one.

Perhaps he can say something to this overprint too. Another one, different form the usual faked ones, more like the type shown above.

The ink is even more like the genuine ones. The most noticeable difference to the genuine shape is the middle bar, which is much to short. Since its a clear impression otherwise, we can probably rule out an unclean cancel.

For comparison I put together a collage of all shown overprints. First row: genuine overprints. Second row: doubtful overprints (considered fake until proved otherwise). Last row: fake overprints.