Reprints

Posted on August 12, 2010 by Stefan

Another dangerous field. Of all the pictorial issues exist reprints which differ from the genuine stamps and are just fakes. Here an example. The stamp would be rare and interesting, if this were the real issue. The seller writes in the notes far below the image: “Reprint issue”. So its one of the sellers, that knows what he sells. Thats rare, most just offer the stamp and wait if someone bids.

Be aware that there exist several rare and interesting variations of genuine stamps and they often have an “ugly” twin in the reprint class.

This is on eBay with “Buy It now” of $100. Is this worth $100 if its just a reprint? You decide.

Posted in Ebay, Delcampe and Co, First Erivan, Forged, Stamp belongs to | 1 Comment

Dangerous: Genuine stamp, but faked overprint

Posted on August 12, 2010 by Stefan

This time the stamp is genuine. However, both, overprint and Romeko signature are fake. The genuine Romeko signature is clear and not so smudged.

The genuine overprint on these set comes generally in two types, normally in black, but red, lila and mixed inks are possible. Also, the second type exists in the variation “part of digit 3 missing”.

Here examples for the two types of overprints (those are genuine).

As you can see, it compares badly against each of the genuine types. The first digit from the second overprint type is always larger than the rest of the digits. Also, but this is just an indicator, this overprint is usually applied vertically and not horizontally.

If genuine, this would be a really rare stamp. In this case, be extremely cautions.

However, there are buyers.

Take care!

EDIT: Sold for $182,50 finally.

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

You can make a lot of money with fakes…

Posted on August 12, 2010 by Stefan

Again, all basic items are fake. The overprints are crude. They not even look like the  genuine ones. Still there are buyers that do not hesitate to shell out more then $200!

I know how hard it is, when you start collection stamps from Armenia. So many forgeries. So few informations. Even in the Scott catalog images of fakes are present. And the genuine items are quite rare. Some very rare. So when you see something on the Internet and the seller has over 4500 feedback ratings with a perfect score of 100%, what do you do? At the beginning I too bought some of the forgeries. Still, I think, that should not be necessary.

I am planning to start a little service. You send me a link to an item (picture, eBay lot etc.) and for a small handling fee of $10 I give you my opinion. While this is not enough for a complete research of an expensive and difficult item, its definitely enough to weed out all the crude and obvious forgeries. And if I see something that is difficult I will tell you so.

Expect an addition with a request form to this site in the near future!

Over $900 for crudely faked overprints on fake stamps…

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

Forged Overprints On Forged Stamps – There are buyers!

Posted on August 8, 2010 by Stefan

What have all stamps shown below in common? Well, all the basic stamps are forgeries. Can the overprints then be genuine? Of course not. And they are not. Why do some buyers offer over 100 USD for some of these? I really don’t know.  All I can say is: I would not. oO

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

Ebay lot with many framed “Z”s

Posted on August 8, 2010 by Stefan

This is a lot from another ebay seller. I have marked all fake overprints with an “F” and all genuine looking ones with an “G”. Overprints which need more detailed study are left unmarked.

Enjoy!

Posted in Ebay, Delcampe and Co, Forged, Framed Z, Genuine | Leave a comment

Ebay Lot with JR Stolow Signature

Posted on August 8, 2010 by Stefan

All these stamps were offered by the same seller. It is interesting to see that the same house mark (J. & R. STOLOW) – which is NOT an expertizing mark – is on stamps with genuine looking overprints as well as on stamps with obvious faked ones. In this case all the basic stamps are genuine. So lets have a look at the overprints.

The overprint looks good. However, very good forgeries of this overprint exist and further study with the stamp itself is necessary.

Again the overprint looks not bad. However, further study is necessary.

That is an easy to detect forgery. The ink is wrong and the shape is in mismatch with the genuine one (foot is not even).

Both overprints look good. All characteristics of the genuine overprint are present.

Again a forgery. The signature “UZ” – which is in fact Armenian script – is almost always a sign of a forgery. Shape and color of the “4” are wrong. The round end on the left side of the “4” is the most prominent giveaway in this case.

Looks not bad, but is a difficult overprint. Further study necessary.

This is interesting. The left overprint looks good (shape and ink) while the right one looks really bad. The bluish ink is a sign of the forgery!

I cannot say anything here, because the overprint is not clearly visible.

This is almost certainly a forgery. The “0” of the genuine overprint has breaks at the top and at the foot – which are missing here and the ink is too weak. However there is some variation within the genuine overprint. When it is not possible to decide if an overprint is genuine – its the same as with an clearly faked one. Its not a good stamp, that a collector can insert into his collection.

Thats an interesting one. Following the literature of Tchilingarian and Ceresa one must decide that this is a fake. However, in the Artar Catalogue this one is listed as genuine. Since I have not seen a genuine overprint of this type one a genuine cover or even with a genuine cancel – it is still a forgery for me. I will get in touch with the author of the catalog in order to learn, why he thinks this one is genuine.

An obvious forgery. The “0” is too round and uneven and the ink is wrong. The most common forgery of the 50k overprint.

This looks like the genuine overprint. A pity the stamp is damaged

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

Beware of the dogs (Forgeries)!

Posted on August 8, 2010 by Stefan

All of the overprints and all of the stamps that were produced during 1919 till 23 were forged. Forging started already during the time when the stamps were used – you could fetch high prices for those stamps in Europe – and even today new forgeries appear on eBay, Delcampe and in the stock books of many stamp dealers. Last week I found auctions on ebay.com where a seller from Texas found a buyer that was ready (and we should assume he has then) to pay over 100 USD for a crude forgery. So you can make money with forgeries even today. While other classic stamps were forged too (e.g. by Sperati, Fournier) for Armenian stamps exists mass forgeries. I think its very safe to say that there are more forgeries on the market than genuine stamps!

Many seller and stamps dealer don’t care if the (Armenian) stamps they sell are genuine or not. It is an exotic and very difficult terrain. Literature exists but is rare too. So it is up to you to check what you are buying.

Starting today I will present pictures of common forgeries, that appear on the Internet and discuss why I think there are forgeries or why not.

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

Welcome

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Stefan

I am a collector of the stamps of Armenia that have been made and used from the start of the First Republic in 1918 till the end of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1923.

Soon I encountered a big problem. All the stamps that were used during that time have been massively forged. When you see Armenian stamps on eBay, Delcampe, even by your usual dealer (I know only one exception), the chances to see genuine overprints and stamps is not very high. What to do? Ask an expert? There was none and several years ago I decided to become my own expert.

Based on publishings by Tchilinghirian, Ceresa and Zakiyan (to name the most important ones), lots of time and lots of stamps to compare I got better and better.
This page will allow me to post comments on topics of current interest: research findings, questions of common interest to other collectors of Armenian stamps and generally news regarding the world of Armenian stamps.

Lets see what happens.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments