4d Courier Question

[Jerry Weirich]

The 4d Courier pair shown below sold on ebay last year (not to me). It has a non-Tasmanian (maybe fake) cancellation. Can anyone tell me if the item is genuine? I understand Jeffrey forgeries are well done but I don't know how to distinguish them. Thanks.

4d pair not Tas cancels - Copy.jpg (54.3 KiB) Viewed 3367 times

[Andy]

Hi Jerry

Here’s an image of a Jeffreys Courier, a quick comparison clarifies they’re certainly not his forgeries (also, Tinsley states Jeffreys Couriers only appear as singles, never as joined pairs):

Jeffreys Forgery (57).png (89.75 KiB) Viewed 3336 times

Still, matching this pair, size for size, with authentic Couriers reveals an unexpected difference in spacing. In the following image, the top pair (genuine) appear just a little further apart than the pair in question, which are seen underneath:

Courier Pairs.png (476.05 KiB) Viewed 3336 times

Due to this spacing, you would question their authenticity, especially given your thoughts regarding the cancellations.

(NB. Spacings are of course the same for both Plates I & II)

[Jerry Weirich]

Andy -- Thanks for the information and the scans. In addition to the stamps, the fake barred numeral cancel 57 is also very interesting. May I have your permission to download the scan of the Jeffrey's forgery for my further study. Thanks, Jerry

[songenaz]

Hi Jerry,
are you able to say what is distance between the two stamps you mentionned ?

Thanks
Laurent

[Andy]

Hi Jerry

The Jeffrey Courier image came from Grosvenor Auctions historic sales website, so I would think there should be no problem in using the image under ‘fair terms of use’, although the image perhaps needs to be referenced, I include the link here:

http://www.grosvenorauctions.com/auctio ... :+Tasmania

Scroll down to sale number 21: Item 1174 (the item is incorrectly described)


There are also 2 images of cancelled Jeffrey Couriers here on the bb from a post back in 2009 by Roger Kinns, for ease of access, use the following link:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=146&p=541&hilit=dum ... 53+57#p541

In addition to the fake cancellation numbers mentioned in the above thread, I’ve also seen images of Jeffrey 4d.Couriers with forged cancellations of 32 and 65.

[Jerry Weirich]

Andy -- Thanks for the reference information. Interesting about the additional BN cancels on the forgeries. Definitely worth more study.

Laurent -- I don't own the pair and don't know the distance between the stamps. Sorry.