Forgeries and Facsimiles seen on Online Auction Sites, etc

[Jerry Weirich]

Another example of the SPECIMEN forgery on a 1d platypus is posted on eBay by "bluewonder143" of NSW, Australia. Other examples of this forgery were posted on eBay under the forger's seller id's of "niftystamps111" of NSW, Australia (see 4 Nov 2023 TPS BB post) and by "seela-64" of QLD, Australia (see 18 Apr 2023 TPS BB post).

SPECIMEN forgery 1d platypus (3).jpg (66.75 KiB) Viewed 164103 times

[Jerry Weirich]

More forgeries and damaged stamps are listed on eBay by "moomstamps-24" of QLD, Australia. The group shown below has two forgeries: the 4d cut-to-shape Courier (which is the creation of the NSW forger) and the 1/ Chalon (which is an old-time forgery). The rest of the stamps are genuine, but all are damaged (except possibly the 1/ Keyplate which could be thinned based on the scan of the reverse side of the group [not shown here]). Many of genuine stamps were previously on eBay in a listing by a US seller in July 2023. The 4d Courier forgery appears to be added to make the group more attractive. Of particular interest is the 4d Chalon with Victoria(Huon) postal manuscript of 10/12/60. This stamp was part of the July 2023 eBay sale, but it appears that the forgers immersed the stamp in an effort to remove the pen cancellation. In July, the cancellation was black. Now the cancellation appears dull red which is an indication of tampering. Such a shame since the Victoria(Huon) postal manuscript is scarce. I have highlighted the two different conditions of the Victoria(Huon) postal manuscript from July and the changed version from December.

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Victoria 1860-12-10 (from July 2023).jpg (12.57 KiB) Viewed 164100 times

Victoria 1860-12-10 (from Dec 2023).png (41.86 KiB) Viewed 164100 times

[Jerry Weirich]

More forgeries on eBay from "masterxroshi" of Punchbowl, NSW, Australia and "bluewonder143" of NSW, Australia. The 4d Courier forgery and the halfpenny lithograph SPECIMEN forgery are listed by "masterxroshi", and the two Chalon forgeries are listed by "bluewonder143". The 2d Chalon forgery was previously listed on eBay by "niftystamps111" of NSW, Australia (see 3 Dec 2023 TPS BB post).

4d Courier forgery 22.png (222.52 KiB) Viewed 164097 times

halfpenny SPECIMEN forgery 4.png (394.37 KiB) Viewed 164097 times

forged Chalons.jpg (143.74 KiB) Viewed 164097 times

[Jerry Weirich]

'bluewonder143" of NSW, Australia has posted another forgery on eBay and modified another post of forgeries. The new addition is another SPECIMEN forgery on a halfpenny lithograph pictorial. This creation is posted with two other pictorials to make the lot more attractive to a buyer. The seller also deleted their previous eBay post of two forged Chalons (see TPS BB post of 28 Dec 2023) and reposted just the 4d forgery. These Chalon forgeries could be deceptive for new collectors, so I posted the image again to help educate new readers.

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4d Chalon forgery 2.jpg (75.42 KiB) Viewed 164082 times

[Jerry Weirich]

"bluewonder143" of NSW, Australia kicks off the new year with another forgery on eBay of the 1d Courier.

1d Courier forgery 27.jpg (62.01 KiB) Viewed 164066 times

[Jerry Weirich]

Collectors Beware! A new eBay seller id that appears to be associated with the NSW forger: "PioneerStamps" with a location of QLD, Australia. The seller has posted a Specimen forgery on a halfpenny litho pictorial. An interesting note is that the halfpenny litho stamp shown here appears to be the lower stamp of a pair that also had a different forged Specimen overprint added (see TPS BB post of 29 October 2023 from Iohel-0). A visit to the seller's webpage shows a number of forged OS perfins on Commonwealth stamps, two Tasmania REPRINT overprint forgeries similar to what "niftystamps111" of NSW, Australia has posted on eBay, some questionable overprints and surcharges on other colony stamps, and (once again) the damaged 1d electro pictorial being offered as a plate flaw (see TPS BB posts of 5 June 2023 and 16 November 2023). This 1d hoax was previously seen with seller ids of "seela-64" of QLD, Australia and "moomstamps-24" of QLD, Australia. A number of these seller ids are known to be or are associated with the NSW forger, so I believe this new seller id is also part of the forgery gang. Be careful buying anything from these sellers!

Halfpenny Specimen forgery 6.png (396.64 KiB) Viewed 163982 times

[Jerry Weirich]

A £1 Keyplate forgery is listed on eBay by seller "YHStamps2020" with a location of London, UK. In addition, the same seller listed two Chalons that appear to be forgeries. All three items have no watermark. It is possible that the two Chalons are official reprints on card, but they are not described that way and I am not familiar with the color shades shown as being reprinted. Hence my belief they are forgeries. I did visit the seller's website and did find many dubious items, but I do not have the expertise to comments on their status. I recommend all collectors be careful buying anything from this seller.

One Pound Keyplate forgery (no wmk).jpg (222.04 KiB) Viewed 163945 times

Chalon poss forgeries.jpg (201.37 KiB) Viewed 163945 times

[Jerry Weirich]

More reasons to be concerned about eBay seller "YHStamps2020" of London, UK. Two additional Chalon forgeries are listed on eBay by this seller. In addition, the £1 Keyplate that was previously listed has been relisted (see 10 January 2024 TPS BB post). I continue to recommend that all collectors be careful buying anything from this seller.

Chalon forgeries (2) from UK.jpg (239.36 KiB) Viewed 157202 times

[Jerry Weirich]

More forgeries on eBay from seller "bluewonder143" of NSW, Australia. The REPRINT overprint and the so-called Chalon stamps are both forgeries. In my TPS BB post of 12 November 2023, I indicated that I was not certain about the REPRINT overprint, but I have done some research and can now say they are definitely bad. The same forged REPRINT creations that were mentioned in the 12 Nov 2023 post were listed on eBay by seller "niftystamps111" of NSW, Australia. These posts show the continuing relationship between the forgery gang. In addition to the forged REPRINT creations, "bluewonder143" also listed another of the forger's 4d Courier creations. Continue to be vigilant and be careful buying anything from these sellers.

REPRINT Chalon forgeries 3.jpg (91.84 KiB) Viewed 149898 times

4d Courier forgery 23.jpg (81.92 KiB) Viewed 149898 times

[Jerry Weirich]

Two more forgeries on eBay from another new seller: "mightystamps-1" of NSW, Australia. I suspect the seller is the same as "mightystamps000" of NSW, Australia since both are selling the NSW forger's creations. This time we have a 1d Chalon forgery with the typical forged cancel and another 4d Courier forgery. The 4d Courier forgery is the exact same item offered less than a week ago by another member of the forgery gang "bluewonder143" of NSW, Australia (see 16 January 2024 TPS BB post).

1d Chalon forgery 4.jpg (69.68 KiB) Viewed 133894 times

4d Courier forgery 24.jpg (83.59 KiB) Viewed 133894 times

[Jerry Weirich]

More forgeries on eBay from seller "mightystamps-1" of NSW, Australia. The forgeries were previously offered by other members of the forgery gang. The 1d Chalon forgery by "stampswunder" of NSW, Australia (see TPS BB post of 1 Oct 2023). In addition, the seller has relisted a group of OS forgeries that were previously listed by "bluewonder143" of NSW, Australia (see 14 Dec 2023 post under the TPS BB Section entitled Official and Private Perfins).

1d Chalon forgery 2.jpg (67.92 KiB) Viewed 130897 times

[Jerry Weirich]

Another type of a forged numeral cancel has been identified on a 1/ Chalon. The forged cancel has been applied over fiscally used pen marks. I am not sure if the numerals are supposed to be 66 or 99, but in either case it is the first time that I have seen this canceller. The item is on eBay under the seller "sunsetstampssydney" of Maroubra, NSW, Australia.

fake cancel 5.jpg (93.38 KiB) Viewed 117335 times

[Jerry Weirich]

An old-time forgery of the 2d Chalon is posted on Ebay. The seller is "stormer19 stamps" of Camas, Washington, US.

2d Chalon forgery 4.jpg (197.7 KiB) Viewed 102653 times

[Jerry Weirich]

Another example of the forged cancel with Z-Z code has been listed on eBay. See TPS BB post of 1 October 2023 for the first example that was reported. The difference between them is the town name (Launceston vs Hobart), but the date is the same! The seller is "stormer19 stamps" of Camas, Washington, US.

forged Launceston duplex, Z-Z code.jpg (370.42 KiB) Viewed 101172 times

[Jerry Weirich]

This item--a genuine 6d Chalon that was fiscally used--has a fake cancel in an attempt to hide the pen marks that can still be seen under the cancel. This item, currently on eBay (and has been on eBay previously), is posted here for educational purposes. Tasmania never used numerals in concentric circle cancels.

fake cancel 6.jpg (159.48 KiB) Viewed 99806 times

[Jerry Weirich]

After a brief pause, the NSW forgery gang is back! "mightystamps-1" of NSW, Australia is selling another of their standard 1d Courier forgeries.

1d Courier forgery 28.jpg (59.77 KiB) Viewed 94126 times

[Jerry Weirich]

An old-time forgery has been posted on eBay by "richmondstamps" of West Molesey, UK. I notified the seller that the item was a forgery. The seller indicated they could not change the title of the item (which I know is incorrect) but did add that the item was "possibly a well-executed forgery" in the additional information area at the bottom of the eBay page. This a is a well-known forgery and additional examples of this type are shown on other pages of this topic.

4d Courier forgery 26.jpg (21.16 KiB) Viewed 92309 times

[Jerry Weirich]

Another old-time 4d Courier forgery has been posted on eBay by a Tasmanian seller. I notified the seller that the item was a forgery and he acknowledged that he thought it may have been. The cancel is also not one used by the colonial government. As of the date of this BB post, the seller had not updated the description or removed the item.

4d Courier forgery 27.png (1005.6 KiB) Viewed 87255 times

[Jerry Weirich]

Seller "scottvisnjic" of Changhua City, Taiwan has posted on eBay a set of Keyplate forgeries. The seller has listed them as reproductions, but the Tasmanian Government never reproduced these stamps. To this seller's credit, he has REPLICA on the back, but that doesn't mean that all copes are sold that way. It's good to recognize the differences of these forgeries to the genuine, particularly the £1 value because it is an expensive stamp.

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Keyplate forgeries reverse.jpg (80.25 KiB) Viewed 78687 times

[Jerry Weirich]

Another 4d Courier forgery on eBay from "mightystamps-1" of NSW, Australia.

4d Courier forgery 28.jpg (78.28 KiB) Viewed 74136 times

[Jerry Weirich]

For readers of my posts on forgeries (but it applies to any of my bulletin board posts), I will sometimes reference earlier posts and I have just discovered that the dates I reference may be off by a day. It turns out that when I make a post, the website dates the post to the Australian local date and time. That's not a problem, but when I log in to make a post, the date and time reverts back to the local time of when I submitted the post. Since I'm in the US the date can be a day off from Australian time depending upon when I make my post. So, if I did my research on previous posts that I intend to reference before logging into the bulletin board the dates should be accurate, but if I did the research after logging in there is a good chance that the days that I'm referencing will be one day off. I'm sorry for any confusion this may have caused, and I will try to make sure I get the days correct in the future.

[Jerry Weirich]

Two more forgeries on eBay: the first is a 2d stereo pictorial with forged OS perfin from a member of the Australian forgery gang with seller id "masterxroshi" of Punchbowl, NSW, Australia and the second is an old-time 1/ Chalon forgery listed by "stormer19 stamps" of Camas, Washington.

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1s Chalon forgery 5.jpg (210.88 KiB) Viewed 71386 times

[Jerry Weirich]

The Australian forgery gang is trying to sell on eBay (again) their SPECIMEN forgery on a 1d platypus. This time the seller is "mightystamps-1" of NSW, Australia. Previously, the seller was "bluewonder143" of NSW, Australia another member of the forgery gang (see TPS BB post of 24 December 2023).

SPECIMEN forgery 1d platypus (3).jpg (66.75 KiB) Viewed 62347 times

[Jerry Weirich]

Collectors Beware! A new eBay seller id has been created by the NSW forgery gang in their continuing attempts to deceive collectors. The new seller id is "moonman143" with a location of NSW, Australia. The item posted on eBay is one of their typical 4d Courier forgeries. Based on the history of the forgery gang, everyone should be careful buying anything from this seller. A quick review of this seller's website showed other forgeries for sale including OS forgeries punched on Commonweath stamps.

4d Courier forgery 29.jpg (88.34 KiB) Viewed 58885 times

In addition, a new faked JBC monogram has been listed on eBay by "one-stop-stamp-shop" of Sydney, NSW, Australia (eBay item #235450811917). The 1d pictorial is genuine, but the JBC monogram does not belong with the stamp. The monogram has been attached (NOT reattached) -- these two items were never together originally. The paper is different, the watermarks do not align, the perforations do not align where it is attached (notice the right side of the reverse scan where the perforations overlap), and the width of the monogram selvedge is slightly wider than the stamp. I am actually surprised that the seller would try to scam a buyer with this item with so many items wrong! (Note: the 1d pictorial do have genuine monograms but not this one.)

Monogram JBC fake.jpg (132.04 KiB) Viewed 58885 times

Monogram JBC fake (reverse).jpg (90.66 KiB) Viewed 58885 times

[Jerry Weirich]

The forgery gang, using their new seller id "moonman143" of NSW, Australia, has listed on eBay another 1d Courier forgery. More evidence that collectors should be very careful buying anything from this seller.

1d Courier forgery 29.jpg (70.69 KiB) Viewed 52135 times

The seller "collectableswarehouse1" of Morwell, VIC, Australia has listed on eBay what they describe as a "postally used' 1/Chalon pair. It is obvious that the pair is fiscally used, and the pen marks can still be seen on both stamps. I've posted this pair to show a nice example of the forged Hobart Dumb canceler.

1s Chalon fiscal usage, fake cancel.jpg (161.66 KiB) Viewed 52135 times