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 as part of a larger much larger collection and so I don't believe the seller (tamarackstamps) knew or looked closely to see if it was genuine.
It is clearly imperforate and it has the typical Schermack
Type III perforations
Scroll down below to see how I figured it out.
The first thing I always do when I get an older classic is whip out my Scotts Specialized Catalog of US Stamps and Covers and check out the variations. The first is to check the engraving type. It is clearly type 1 as the leaf cuts through the border.
As I was looking at the Schermack Type III perf hole under a high powered stereo microscope (that I bought on ebay) I noticed that the edges of the cut have a slope to them. This isn't how I imagined a perfing stamp and die machine would cut paper . Looks more like a bad Xacto knife cutting job. I went and grabbed a Scott 576 with Schermack perf and compared them.
I actually looked at all my Schermack Type III's in my collection and they all are clean and tight as you can see in the photos on the left.
The final piece of evidence was some little clipped edges at the upper left of the stamp. I thought it would be impossible to hold the perf gauge, the stamp and look under the microscope at the same time. I found that I could and the clipped holes lined up exactly to perf 12 on the gauge. A FAKE Scott #320. Wow! My first phony stamp. Its really a Scott #319 that has had its perforations cutoff and a fake Schermack Type III looking perf cut into it.
I thought for a while why someone would alter this stamp.
The 2002 Specialized Catalog of US Stamps and Covers lists the value of a 320 type I with Schermack Type III perf at $5.00 used.
Clearly the Schermack perf holes are fake.
The 2002 Specialized Catalog of US Stamps and Covers lists the value of a 320 type I without the Type III private perf at $12.00 used. Why did the faker add a perf that would lower its value?
I will never be able to solve that one
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.