Russian Philatelic Forgeries

Introduction

Forgers profit by selling current unused stamps for postal use, or by selling counterfeit forged material to philatelists. In some cases, forgers created copies for their own satisfaction, with out any intent to defraud.

A very well known example of forgery involves the first stamp issued in Imperial Russia.Because a perforating machine was not available, these were issued without perforations in December 1857. By January, the machines were in place, and the same stamp was issued with perforations. The imperforate stamp is, as a result, more rare than the perforate. The temptation to trim the perforations off the cheaper stamp is great. A more sophisticated forger might attempt to expand the margins on the stamp by flattening it before cutting.

Skilled forgers are often also very knowledgeable about the current market for various items. They may have a collection of inexpensive mint stamps which can be made into "scarce" items by forging a rare postal mark onto the stamp. Without a close examination, it can be very difficult to distinguish a genuine postal mark from a dot-matrix printing. These can then be offered for sale at online auctions.

Proving that an item is fraudulent by examining the online image is difficult if not impossible.

Categories

Forgeries can be divided into the following categories:

1. Forgeries of a basic stamp. These are not so common. Examples include Fournier's forgeries of the 3.50R and 7R high value stamps "without thunderbolts" and the Rostov famine issue of the early 1920s. Some issues of the Civil War have also been forged, such as the definitives issued by Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.

2. Forgeries of an overprint or surcharge on a common basic stamp. The Civil War period is particularly full of these. Any batch of the "Z" monogram overprints of Armenia will contain up to 100% forged overprints! Overprinted stamps issued by the various "White" Armies have also been forged extensively. The stamps issued by the North-West Armies were particularly popular with the forgers, and dozens of different forgeries have been identified.

3. Forgeries of a perforation. There have been many attempts to "create" a stamp with a rare perforation by taking an imperforate version of the stamp and forging the perforation. Examples include the Zeppelin issues of the early 1930s, many of which exist with a forged perf 11 1/2. Forging the perforation also allows for perforation varieties to be created to order.

4. Forgeries of the gum. Gum forgeries are usually made by regumming an old stamp, turning it into a pristine "Mint never hinged" stamp.

5. Forgeries of a postmark on a loose stamp. A notorious batch of these are the "Shtempelgate" forgeries of rare postmarks from the Russian Offices Abroad, usually on common ruble stamps. Unfortunately, these are very easyto forge, and have been known to appear with alarming frequency on ebay.

6. "Embellishment" of a cover or other postal history item. This can be by adding a (forged) rare postmark, replacing one stamp by a more rare stamp (which may or may not be genuine), adding a stamp and postmark to what was originally a stampless cover, etc.

7. Forgeries of an entire cover or other postal history item. These are fairly uncommon. Examples are covers bearing forged overprinted stamps and a forged postmark, all intended to make the stamps look "legitimate".

ources

An excellent source of current and past information about forgeries is available at [http://www.rossica.org/Samovar/ The Samovar] - a public bulletin board maintained by The Rossica Society of Russian Philately.

References

* Ceresa, Ray "Postage Stamps of Russia 1917-1923" Distributed by [http://www.trevorpateman.co.uk/ceresahandbooks.html Trevor Pateman] .
* "Forgery Alert" The Journal of the Rossica Society of Russian Philately published by [http://rossica.org The Rossica Society of Russian Philately] , no. 131-132 October 1998-April 1999