This is an ongoing experiment, so it will be evolving over the next year depending on my schedule. It was inspired by several eBay users / dealers and collectors who have emailed over the last few months, and warned me about various unscrupulous sellers who make quite a cash flow selling altered common stamps as rarities. Basically, modifying cheap stamps and selling them as "reference", which in polite company means a forgery or fake. Surprisingly, many people don't read the fine print and usually pay a lot of money for something that is basically worthless. Let's get started, shall we!
New Rev5.1 Design, November 2007
Buy the Sonic Imagery Labs Specialty Perforation & Grill Multi -Gauge
Download Instruction Sheet for the Sonic Imagery Labs Specialty Perforation & Grill Multi -Gauge
Download a MAIL ORDER form for the Sonic Imagery Labs Specialty Perforation & Grill Multi -Gauge
Another Bogus Scott 519 - New November 2002
The Fake Scott 346 Private Perf - New October 2002
The Most Impressive Fake Scott 62B
The Secret Life of an Altered Scott 72
The Secret Life of a Chemically Altered Scott 78
The Secret Life of an Altered RW5 Duck Stamp
A Fake Scott #320 with Schermack Type III Perforations
Fake Scott #743a
Detecting a Flat Plate Press Vertical Coil, Fake Scott 441
Fake Reperfed 514a
Fake Reperfed 508c
Fake Reperfed 546
Fake Scott 143 w / Bogus Grill
Fake Scott 137 w / Same Bogus Grill as Fake 143
Fake Scott 139 w / Same Bogus Grill as Fake 137 and 143
Fake Scott 315 - Revised June 2002
Fake Reperfed Scott 519 - Revised June 2002
A Gallery of Bogus Stuff Part 1
A Gallery of Bogus Stuff Part 2
A Gallery of Bogus Stuff Part 3
A Gallery of Bogus Stuff Part 4
A Gallery of Bogus Stuff Part 5
Credits, Inspiration and Links of Interest
Bibliography of Research Material I Use for this Site
Download the Schermack Type III Go-NoGo Gauge
This was purchased on eBay from the seller (schuylerac).
Fakes of this series are a sad state of affairs as even the cheaper varietys in F-VF condition are a bit costly for the average collector.
The seller of this fake stamp does this for a living and is destroying what limited stock of the series is left in the world. Sad.
When I get a new Large BankNote I make a list of the possiblities of what it might really be. In this case it could be the following.
Scott 139 Brown 10c, With Grill
Scott 150 Brown 10c, No Grill
Scott 187 Brown 10c, Soft Porous Paper, No Secret Mark
Scott 161 Brown 10c, No Grill White Wove Paper
Scott 161c Brown 10c, With Grill
Scott 172 Pale Brown 10c, Hard White Paper (Special)
Scott 188 Brown 10c, Soft Porous Paper , with Secret Mark
Scott 197 Brown 10c, Soft Porous Paper (Special)
Scott 209 Brown 10c, No Grill re-engraved
This was purchased on eBay from the seller (schuylerac).
We haven't yet pointed out secret engraving marks. The forger used a sharp blade or needle to scrape away the ink of the secret mark and didn't bother finishing the job. Under the right angle of light and magnification one can see the shiney scrape imprint on the paper of the stamp. Removing the secret mark this way also leaves a hole or impression in the paper as well as paper fibers sticking up in the air.
Since this stamp had a secret mark and a fake grill we can eliminate it from being a Scott 139,150, 187, 161c. The Scott 172 and 197 are only found in unused condition so they can be eliminated as well.
The Scott 209 was reengraved and made the stamp look more bold and heavily inked. The impression of this stamp is quite light so we can eliminate the 209 as well
That leaves 161 and 188. The 188 used a thicker fluffy white porous paper. This stamp is the White Wove Paper so it can only be a 161. Not a 139 as advertised.
This was purchased on eBay from the seller (schuylerac).
The first thing I always love to do is try to identify the type of grill. There are 2 types of grill in the series. The H grill, which measures 10mm by 12 mm and the I (eye) grill which is 8.5 by 10 mm in size. It should be noted that the points of the grill are always in a straight line and look a little like little boxes all in a row.
But look at the image to the left! In this case the grill impression meets none of the above characteristics.
That strange crosshatch pattern again. Clearly this is not normal if you have seen a real grill. Folks this is a FAKE! My purchase of this fake is your gain as I am doing this for collectors who may have never seen a real grill .
The impression is remarkably the same as the FAKE 143 and FAKE 137only in a different position on the stamp.
This was purchased on eBay from the seller (schuylerac).
Heres a close up though the microscope. When the light is just right, it is actually 4 seperate impressions which look like they where made by rolling a knurled knob from an old stereo or oven onto the front of the stamp.
Heres a point I need to make at this junction of the discussion again. I have purchased 6 Banknotes from this seller mentioned above.This being the 2nd. By FAKING a grill with this technique he is leaving a telltale clue to his forgery. Sort of like a finger print. I mention this now because the next picture below is a real grill and that his FAKE grill impressions are on all 6 Banknotes I purchased from him.
This makes him a criminal and a thief.
I will prove this as I put up the next 4 FAKES I bought from him in the next few weeks.
I could afford the loss but maybe a beginner couldn't and would be hurt enough to stop collecting. That would stink.
This is a real impression of a grill
Heres what a real grill on the back of a Scott #112 looks like. I included this one because this is an unusual double grill with a faint impression of a split grill on the far right. Grills may not be in this exact location on the back of the stamp which is OK. The point of this exercise is to familiarize oneself with what a grill is and looks like. The points of the grill are always in a straight line and look a little like little boxes all in a row with blunt pointy tops. The ridges are all very straight. This is a G Grill because it measures 9 by 9.5 mm.
Thanks for visiting this site. I hope you learn something new as I am having fun doing this and stirring up the "doodoo" so to speak. You, the visitor, have my permission to copy my pages and images for the purpose of showing others how to look for fakes and forgeries. You also have my permission to link to my pages and to share the link paths to others. I only ask in return for you to send me an email if I have made a mistake or have done some other technical blunder that in my rush to put these pages up would cause the visitor confusion. Please also visit my other website www.slingshotvenus.com and support the live music arts.