FFE #1
Fakes Forgeries Experts
Class: TR
A. Ronald Butler
A brief outline of FFE taxonomy, with examples: A faked stamp is a genuine stamp that has been altered with a view to enhancing its philatelic value. A forged stamp is a fraudulent imitation of a genuine stamp, overprint, surcharge or postal obliteration. The term "Expert" may apply to individuals as well as committees.
FFE #1
Wondrous transformations
Class: TR
Albert Louis and Karl Albert Louis
Thirty-four illustrated and annotated examples (22 Great Britain, 12 Netherlands) of manipulations of rare classic material. Evidence is mainly gathered by comparative study of auction catalogues, old and new. Even unique and beautiful items are demonstrably "improved". Various types of manipulations are shown.
FFE #1
Postal fraud in tsarist Russia
Class: TR
Zbigniew S. Mikulski
Classic Russia and Poland (no.1). Thirty-one illustrated examples of postal fraud, including triple use of a stamp. With historical and geographical context notes. Fraudulent re-use (removed ink cancellation, etc), 18 examples. Plus postal forgeries, 13 examples with different types and places of production and use of early 20th century forgeries of 7 k. and 70 kopeck, and 3.50 rubles.
FFE #1
A rare stamp that should not be in existence
Class: TR
Emil Rellstab
PRO AERO 1938, 75 rappen, un-used ! - The cover article explains the background of the issue and how, rarely and only by mistake, a few copies of this stamp escaped cancellation. A forgery of the overprint is also described and shown.
FFE #1
Mutton dressed as lamb
Class: TR
Alain Huggins
A warning for GB embossed stamps 1847-1854 imitated by manipulation of telegraph forms and stamped to order postal stationery imprinted with similar dies. A particular note of skepticism concerning the 'die 5' of 10d, which may be non-existent. Even certificated copies could all be cut from postal stationery.
FFE #1
Forgeries of the second issue of Tibet
Class: TR
Wolfgang C. Hellrigl
Description and illustration of forged 4 tangka blue and 8 tangka red issue of 1914 (or perhaps 1920) in sheets of six. Nine different types appearing 1957-1992 (and a total of 39 distinct clichés). - By far, the classic Tibetan issue least plagued by forgeries !.
FFE #1
Recent Hong Kong forgeries
Class: TR
Andrew M. T. Cheung
1891 "Jubilee" overprint; mint Q. Victoria 4c; inverted watermarks; Q. Victoria 18c Wm. Crown CC; 1948 $10 silver wedding; 1990's "mystery" missing yellows; SPECIMENs; THREE on 5c on 18c postcard; QE Annigoni $10 glazed paper w. PVA gum; treaty port postmarks; modern postmarks - even FDC's.
FFE #1
I got caught more than once
Class: TR
Otto Hornung
Personal experiences with repaired "1914 Sultans" of Turkey. A warning that probably manipulated covers are the main problems in Turkish philately. Since postal rates were little known, for long fakers had rich opportunity to "improve" covers by adding interesting stamps. Today, one must be wary of such covers.
FFE #1
Forgeries and literature in the electronic era
Class: TR
Charles J. Peterson
An argument and a call for FIP and/or AIEP to establish a centralised web page with information on forgeries. With illustrations and examples from the commendable Spanish [Barcelona] "Graus-web", to be found [01/2006] at http://graus.com/pral.asp
FFE #1
New Zealand 1996 "Teddy Bear" health stamps
Class: TR
Colin G. Capill
Story of how the 40c health stamp 1996 was recalled (and replaced) three weeks before issue because the original design depicted an illegal position of a child seat in a car. A few stamps with the erroneous design were inadvertantly sold. The status of the miniature sheet with the incorrect design, however, is "not officially issued" as it was never sold "over the counter".
FFE #1
We need postal history expertisers
Class: TR
Ernst M. Cohn
A philosophically inclined article emphasizing challenges of postal history expertising. Subtitles: The improved cover - The bogus cover - The genuine cover - Expertizing covers - Conclusions. - Statement that experts too often fail to recognize grey (as opposed to back and white) situations where it is right to say "No opinion", or "Yes, but...".
FFE #1
Postage due handstamps of Malta - fakes
Class: TR
Anthony Fenech
Description and illustration of forged ½d and 7d postage due handstamps. Genuine use of those denominations is still unknown, but faked letters from the 'Matteo Tabone e figli' correspondence have surfaced with forged ½d and 7d postage due handstamps.
FFE #1
Russian varieties are not always what they seem
Class: TR
Andrew Cronin
Description and illustration of how double perforated and partially imperforate ("fantail") stamps from Russia/USSR have arisen. A warning that systematic "improvement" of fantails has taken place to produce all imperforate stamps with margins, typically by cutting away the partial three-sided perforation. Very few USSR stamps genuinely exist completely imperforate.
FFE #1
Forged cancellations used on cover Dutch East Indies, made by R. E. P. Maier, found in the PTT Museum, The Hague, Netherlands
Class: TR
Hendrik W. van der Vlist
Description and illustration of forged "prephilatelic" JAVA GENERAL POST OFFICE BATAVIA DOL=LORS STY=VERS and JAVA POST OFFICE SAMARANG DOL=LORS STY=VERS cancellations deriving from R. E. P. Maier (tried and convicted in 1963).
FFE #1
1 May 1840 - The story of an investigation
Class: TR
Patrick C. Pearson
Story of how the 1 May 1840 lettersheet from the Smith correspondence was examined in 1997 by philatelic and forensic experts and finally declared authentic by the Expert Committee of the Royal Philatelic Society London in the face of two previous submissions (1978 and 1992) having yielded the opposite result. P. Holcombe and BPA already believed it to be genuine in 1992.
FFE #1
Belgique - Falsification de marque postales
Class: TR
Leo De Clercq
Arched AFFR INSUFF handstamps on classic Belgian covers. Forged and genuine examples
FFE #1
The only forgery I detected myself
Class: TR
Paul H. Jensen
A faked overprint on the rare 1888 Norwegian 3/5 öre postal stationery reply paid ("double") postcard (believed to have a genuine circulation of only 50 cards printed). The forgery is believed to be old and a copy has been found in collections in each of Belgium and Germany.
FFE #1
"Gronchi Rosa"
Class: TR
Giorgio Colla Asinelli
A dangerous forgery of the L. 205 "Gronchi Rosa" from 1961.
FFE #1
How are the philatelic experts organised in the FIP member federations?
Class: TR
Paolo Vollmeier
Results of a questionnaire. Summary of ten questions answered by 56 national philatelic federations.
FFE #1
New methods to identify fakes
Class: TR
Paolo Vollmeier
Mass spectrographic examination as applied to handstamps, forged and genuine, on prephilatelic letters from Italy, notably Venezia. With 22 illustrations.
FFE #1
The Fournier Collection at the Museum of Communication in Berne
Class: TR
Jean-Claude Lavanchy
Who was Francois Fournier? - Was he a counterfeiter, or not? - What do we know about his company's history? - With nine illustrations and some transcriptions of letters (in French).
FFE #1
FIAP expert teams working at Asian international stamp exhibitions 1996-1997
Class: TR
Tay Peng Hian
Findings from TAIPEI '96 and HONG KONG '97. With nine illustrations and further recommendations.