FORGED OFFICIAL PERFINS BEING OFFERED FOR SALE on eBAY etc.

[Ross Ewington]

The following eBay seller

unistamps.jpg (70.12 KiB) Viewed 70148 times

has been offering Tasmanian stamps with OS perfins which are, in my opinion, forgeries.
Namely,
260935444857

1d pictorial forged OS perfins.jpg (60.84 KiB) Viewed 70148 times

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2½d pictorial forged OS perfin.jpg (39.36 KiB) Viewed 70148 times

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4d pictorials forged OS perfins.jpg (64.37 KiB) Viewed 70148 times

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5d pictorial forged OS perfins.jpg (45.98 KiB) Viewed 70148 times

and this stamp, if genuine would be the first recorded example!
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2d Pictorial forged inverted OS perfin.jpg (34.36 KiB) Viewed 70148 times

Check the postmark dates and you will see the reason for my concerns. The 2½d has never
been seen perf OS ..... it was too late to ask the vendor what the postmarked
date is but it's most likely to be "too early" as well

A few weeks earlier the same vendor offered this T perfin for sale on eBay as genuine...
250961769284

2d anzac forged t perfin.jpg (26.05 KiB) Viewed 70148 times

This stamp has never been recorded with a T perfin used let alone mint! You can also
see evidence that it is indeed a forged perfin but I won't go into the details here as I
don't wish to give forgers some expert advice!
I sent a query to the vendor regarding the dubious status of this perfin but his response was
"how would you know that this is a forgery when you haven't seen a T perfin on this stamp" (or words to that effect)
I got the correct message I think.

A little later the vendor offered and sold on the second attempt a 2/6d St George & Dragon with a poorly cleaned
fiscal cancel and a forged barred obliterator cancel.

cleaned St George.jpg (39.46 KiB) Viewed 70148 times

260925723421

CAVEAT EMPTOR everyone!

[Revenuer]

Not a perfin BUT More duds.

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[David Coath]

Dear Ross

Nice work

This seller has spread his wings it seems and he is now dealing in a wide variety of forged items. I note Daves comments about the cleaned revenue stamp and Ross you had shared the fake postmark with me before.

Initially he was home to OS patterns on KGV and Roos and the usual sprinkling of 1928-1930 commems, but he has spread to OSNSW perfins of the small (type B) which he produces on a range of early issues that they are not found on and the larger type C found on KGV issues. He also has a die of the NSW Government OS

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5d-4-1-2d-Purpl ... 35b8a3dfb6

This item is a most unlikely one but they turn up from time to time. To my mind all the FIVE PENCE are fakes although I have heard that there is an official cover that has been sited that carries a TWO PENCE overprint. Call me a cynic but I would expect to see 100 of a perfin loose before I found one on a cover and if the only one I can find is on a cover or is mint , then alarm bells begin to ring.

You can also find from this seller a good range of OS overprints and all very cheap. I wonder if anyone will ever learn enough about these to be able to expertise them.

There is a very obvious tell with his larger (Melbourne) OS strikes on the pictorials which I feel safe to mention here. His strikes are in perfect relation in the horizontal but this only shows that he does not know the structure of the Melbourne OS device which has dies in a vertical array and not a horizontal array as the OS, OSNSW etc ..It produces strikes with consistent relationships between vertical strikes and inconsistent relationships between horizontal strikes.

This guy has been at it for more than 18 months by my memory and he is making a comfortable income from defrauding ebay buyers and polluting the collector base. What is more ebay seem most reluctant to act against him and when they do he just pops up again with a new id and we are back to square one.

To mask his activities and isolate the buying community from each other he conducts private auctions. This is his greatest tell and I have warned our members many times to not buy from private auctions located from Sydney. Of late he has moved the "shop window" to appear that he is located in Queensland.

The bottom line is that we have to continue to pester ebay to shut this seller down, continue to warn all and sundry and be vigilant for his return.

David

[Ross Ewington]

Thanks Dave and David

Do you think this is the same seller as the OS on Pictorials as per my previous post?
[attachment=0]nsb13579.jpg[/attachment]
Genuine T perfins have never been recorded on either of these QV Sideface values (nor are they likely to be)
.....it's hard enough to find clean MUH examples of these stamps without any "additions".

If only it were possible to contact the buyers after they leave feedback but that's why the seller uses the "private sale" facility.

[Revenuer]

Ross
Well the same seller is selling this GV which does not exist!!!! up to $40 and not closed yet.

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[Hobbit123]

Gentlemen

May I congratulate you on your solid detective work. If you cannot get EBay to do anything, perhaps it is worth trying to get Glen Stephens to 'Name and Shame' the seller. He has form for doing this, and you are closer than I am...

Patrick

[David McNamee]

The perfin "T" on the ad and 4d Sideface stamps remind me of some dodgy postal stationery uncovered a couple of years back out of Sydney that had the same distinctive bump in the vertical perforation.

[Malcolm Groom]

A recently acquired 6d electrotyped perforated OS (mint) from the same eBay vendor who was offering the 5d and 4d pairs reported above has arrived in the mail (posted from Sydney with Mackay Queensland address on back of envelope), and is shown for comparison with two used examples. The mint example is from the correct printing (500 sheets are known to have been perforated OS and lasted until at least 1914) but have a look at the alignment of the holes to right of the top "O" of the 'OS'. In the used examples they are almost vertically aligned, in the mint example they are not. The 'redeeming' feature for the mint example is that it shows a very advanced state of the plate flaw above TASMANIA.

Note how neat and rounded the holes in the mint example are as well as the strange oval shape of the hole at upper left, a characteristic of the recent forged OS on Kangaroos. The space between the top hole of O and next to right is 4mm greater than both the used examples.

[Ross Ewington]

Now this is interesting! I just noticed this being offered on eBay today, Feb 1st 2012)

1d QV T perfin stamps_fishing.jpg (47.74 KiB) Viewed 70068 times

Compare this stamp with the 1d QV perf T offered for sale by eBay seller nsb13579 (ended 1/1/2012 - reported to be sold for AU$18.18)

nsb13579.jpg (54.2 KiB) Viewed 70068 times

It's the very same stamp! The buyer couldn't be possibly on-selling the 1d because he already has a MNH example and was just after the faked T perfin on the 4d could he?

Any idea as to what's going on here?

[Jeffharris]

The pair of 1d. Red recess printed stamps [punctured 'OS'] at the beginning of this subject appear to have been cancelled at Old Beach [on March 6th 1901]. Would Old Beach have had a Commonwealth Department located there in those days? Of course, the letter may have emanated from a Govt. Dept. located in Hobart and for some reason the item was posted at Old Beach, but this is unlikely.

Then there is the problem with the date of cancellation being too early. I have checked my rather modest collection of Pictorials that have been punctured 'OS' and the earliest date I have found is Jan. 13 1905 [on a 1d. Red Electro with V/Cr. Wmk]. Most of the cancels are from the period 1911-1913.

I am not familiar with the history of Government punctures in Tasmania, but have researched what happened in SA. The SA Government wrote to the Commonwealth requesting permission to keep using the 'Wide OS' overprint. This request was denied, as the Federal Government wanted to use stamps punctured 'OS' and consequently, South Australia decided to use the 'SA' puncture for its own stamps. According to the minute book of The P.S of S.A., the stamps punctured 'SA' were issued on 30th. Sept. 1903.

Interestingly, it was not until 1905 that stamps punctured 'OS' appeared in SA. Both the State and Commonwealth Departments were permitted to use these stamps. From this time no more stamps punctured 'SA' were produced. Is there any information available which confirms when the stamps punctured 'OS' were first issued in Tasmania?

[admin]

Perf OS is found on Pictorials from some quite remote POs in Tas so one cancelled with an Old Beach cds is not unusual as far as I know. I have wondered about why this might be but do not have an answer. I have such perfins from POs in the Central highlands and other more remote country offices. My hypothesis is officials from Departments such as Agriculture, Public Works and similar agencies had a supply of official stamps for use on field trips, but its only a guess. Certainly there were telegraph and telephone linesmen and inspectors in these areas as well( one of my ancestors worked on the Hobart-Queenstown telephone line installation and would have passe some very remote Post Offices .
Does anyone have anything definite about this ?

Pete

[Ross Ewington]

when the stamps punctured 'OS' were first issued in Tasmania?

"Late 1904" I believe but I don't have any references that can provide confirmed early dates.

Perhaps a new topic could be started in this category such as "OS Pefins - A Survey of Earliest Recorded Dates"

Here's your chance to open a new topic!!

[Jeffharris]

Our forger is back!
Ebay item #2307 5279 8907 is a 2d. Pictorial London printing punctured "OS". He is now trading as "Stamps Fishing" - no address of course, and yes, it is a private listing to protect your interests [and his].

[Ross Ewington]

Well-spotted Jeff .... this guy wasn't gone for long and is almost certainly the same seller as 'unistamps' and 'nsb13579'
..see my report earlier in this post http://tps.org.au/bb/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=782#p3257

[Ross Ewington]

Why not ask the seller a question I thought??!! ...... Q & A below.... ('click' on the image once to open completely on your screen)

[attachment=0]something fishy 1.jpg[/attachment]

I don't know about you, but I've never had trouble discerning "which watermark?" on any Tassie Pictorial!

I have asked for a large scan of the back of the stamp - I'll report back if I get one.

[Jeffharris]

I sent an email to this vendor advising him I was concerned about this item. I suggested that the stamp was a London printing but did not mention anything about the watermark as this may have aroused some suspicion on his part. I mentioned that this stamp had not been previously recorded punctured "OS" and suggested he may consider withdrawing it from sale. His response is a follows [verbatim]:-

"You want me to withdraw the stamp because you think it's not right ......very interesting, I thank you for your interest but I paid for the listing".

Well I would like to respond - but perhaps another member could ask him if this item has a certificate of authenticity [or similar]. Could be an interesting response.

[Ross Ewington]

Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the water, stamps_fishing has posted
this bogus OS perfin on a ½d orange QV sideface for sale - listed as eBay item 230807064308

bogus os on ½d qv sideface.jpg (37.82 KiB) Viewed 68823 times

It is fortunate that this serial faker of impossible stamps with OS or T perfins is so ignorant
about Tasmanian official perfins!

[Ross Ewington]

UPDATE:
I sent an e-mail to stamps_fishing requesting that he remove the item and he did so, almost immediately.
I am not confident that he will desist in producing further impossible Tasmanian perfins. I shall remain vigilant.

[Jeffharris]

The forger of punctured stamps is at it again! The latest offering is a London printed 6d. Pictorial with a dubious looking 'OS' puncture. It is Ebay item #330757444336. There is already one bid on it.

[admin]

Last time this happened I reported the guy for forgery to eBay as well as emailing him.
You get no feedback from eBay but if a number of us do so it may make some difference.
The guy can be very unpleasant in his replies but at least he knows people are on to him.
I think the only hope is to keep reporting forgeries to eBay. Are you certain its a fake Jeff ?
I am not certain but am happy to accept the advice of others who may know a bit more about perfins than I. Then I am happy to report the item and hopefully others will do so as well.
He obviously takes no real notice of anyone so an eBay approach looks like the only way to deal with the problem.
Pete

[Ross Ewington]

here is "the fake OS" in question .... I'm fairly certain that he has offered this one before!

6d pictorial with fake OS.jpg (71.79 KiB) Viewed 68660 times

I'm not going to mention here how you can tell it's a fake as I don't wish to assist the forger
by providing technical information but if you would like to know, please contact me via the
TPS BB personal messaging facility.

[admin]

Good enough for me Ross. Thanks.
I'll be lodging a "Report this Item" with eBay and I hope others do so as well. Theres no way the alleged forger will know about such individual reports as far as I know.
Its very useful to have these forgeries reported here and even better if we can get the guy removed form eBay.
These sorts of forgeries de-value genuine items and tend to make collectors wary of perfins in general so its bad news for our hobby.
He's been given a lot of attention on StampBoards and he responds by selling a mocked up 'Roo" stamp on eBay with a portrait of Glenn Stevens and the words "Two Bob Idiot" . Obviously blowing his cover on a bulletin board has little effect on his repeated offerings of forgeries.

[Ross Ewington]

Unfortunately, UNISTAMPS then NSB13579 then STAMPS_FISHING now TRARALGON_STAMPS is offering more dodgy T perfins on eBay again.

In addition to this unlikely 6d Kingsford Smith.....

fake T perfin.jpg (124.76 KiB) Viewed 68552 times

....he is also has a used 3d Macarthur commem listed (with a Glendevie postmark) which looks 'plausible' but I have serious doubts about it
due to his previous appalling form.

[Ross Ewington]

.....unfortunately, there's some more.

more T perfin forgeries.jpg (137.61 KiB) Viewed 68513 times

There is no record of either of these stamp having the T perfin applied. More importantly, as contemporary research in regard to T perfins was pursued quite enthusiastically,
it is more than just unlikely that either of these stamps will ever be found with a genuine T perfin.

Interesting to note that the same vendor has two other lots of the Cable duo for sale at the same time as the above forgeries.

more T perfin forgeries 2.jpg (131.07 KiB) Viewed 68513 times

and

more T perfin forgeries 3.jpg (94.79 KiB) Viewed 68513 times

Note the number of Tassie cds postmarks in the first of the two lots above.
No prizes for guessing from where "traralgon_stamps" chose his stamps to perforate!

[Ross Ewington]

Unfortunately, forged T perfins are once again being offered for sale on eBay...this time on a MNH FIVE PENCE on 4½d KGV definitive
by seller 'RALBIKO'

T perfin on 5d surcharge.jpg (107.68 KiB) Viewed 67953 times

If you are unsure as to how to identify this dangerous item please contact me via the internal mail and I'll let you know.

Footnote: the seller has also listed many perfins/overprints from other Australian States, a number of which are definitely forgeries
as images of the stamps affected have been previously sold on eBay without a perfin or overprint!!