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 from the seller (schuylerac). It is a very good looking pair of stamps.
It has nice perforations on the left and right sides. But is missing the perforations in the center, top and bottom. Once again, as I stated on the other pages, I always whip out my 2002 Scotts Specialized Catalog of US Stamps and Covers and check out the variations and specifications.
Did I mention that this catalog is the greatest $40.00 investment one could ever make!
The catalog has a listing for 743a and states "Vert. Pair, Imperf. Horiz., with gum." .......$875 Wooo Hooo! Big bucks!
Well theres clearly no gum on the back, the stamp is post office fresh and no cancellation, the perf11's on the side are flawless so it wasn't soaked off a envelope.
Must be a FAKE! Hmmm...How was it made and, what is it really? And whats up with the perfs on the edges?
The tips of the left edge perfs are so clean and straight that it had to be that the original stamp was part of an imperforate sheet of 200 or a block six of the National Parks series of 1935. That would be Scott #759.
The perf holes are so clean and crisp. This isn't typical of a real perforation. It is easy to see under magnification and real obvious if you compare stamps side by side.
I also believe that stamps with straight edges are booklet panes and the straight edge is never perfed. (Someone email me about this)
Heres another close up of the fake, which in both pictures is on the left side of each image. The stamp on the right hand side of each image is a genuine Scott #743. The holes of the fake perfs are to clean and sharp. There is even slight bevel on the fake hole which is never present on genuine stamps of this series.
Heres a fun experiment. Take an ordinary store bought fresh paper punch. The squeezy kind that schools make the kids buy in September. Punch a piece of 24 - 40lb. white laser printer paper and look at it under high magnification and you will see a ridge and bevel like the fake. Thats because the punch is ever so slightly larger than the hole it cuts through and crushes and pinches the paper flat before actually cutting through it. US stamps of this era I believe don't have this characteristic. At least I cannot find it in any of my genuine stamps. I believe that perfs are cut with steel rule dies as a paper punch type method would wear out very quickly. A steel rule die can also be easily replaced and sharpened. (Someone email me about this as my manufacturing knowledge gets a little thin here.)
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.