THE MODERN FAKE 1986 CENTENARY OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY STAMP ISSUES

I have recently discovered that modern fake souvenir sheets from every issue as imperforates are being flooded onto the market. I can tell you that real dangerous fakes or some call forgeries are being flooded on the market as I write this page in January of 2016.
I recently purchased numerous lots on eBay from a Latvian based seller and can now confirm that the Statue of Liberty souvenir sheets from the following list of countries have been forged.

Montserrat Scott 636-8 SG MS709
Nevis Scott 517-20 SG MS453
Saint Vincent Scott 981-3 SG MS1044
Saint Vincent Grenadines Scott 550-8 SG MS494

The probability of the other countries involved in this series being forged is real. The individual stamp issues are most likely effected also.

My research into the printer has enabled me to discover modern fake stamps have been created in 2014!! The gum type is different in it being yellowish in color and smooth. This gum type was not used until much later years, long after Format went bankrupt. This gum is inferior and is already having severe gum curling. If you were to leave the fakes out long enough they will curl completely into a "tube"! Because the imperforates exist it is certain that the normal issue has also been forged. All fakes have a very shiny surface on the face unlike originals. All are being offered online right now as I write this on January 29, 2016.

I can also tell you that I have discovered that many more "modern" issues for these countries are being forged. Mainly varieties and "errors" of the issues which bring in higher profits although normal issues are also being faked in now many cases. All are being produced by the same source which is unknown at present. All are dangerous forgeries because the perf sizes are correct. Images shown on auction sites cannot be trusted because they cannot be defined by counting perforations and unless you have a comparable image of the originals they cannot be recognized by the images given by sellers. This includes the Audubon Birds issues including inverted frames, Dogs inverts, Flowers inverts, Michael Jackson inverts, imperforates and many more.

ANY INFORMATION TO TRACE THE SOURCE OF THESE FORGERIES WILL BE POSTED TO THE PROPER RESOURCES

At present sellers on eBay, Delcampe, Bonanza, and Amazon are offering them. I am sure other sources are now selling them also. A list of these sellers is being compiled and at some point the source may be revealed. At this time unless the sellers stop selling them (which is doubtful) it is up to you as a buyer to refuse to buy them without proper identification. In other words, make the seller send you 1200dpi images of the front and back of the stamps and then compare them with my images. I have been posting many more pages on the issues I have discovered to be forged and have included an index page listing them with links.

New information is welcome and you may contact me through this website anytime.

This is a bit different than other issues I have written about. I am bulking together these countries because I do not have time to make individual pages for the countries and the problem is so huge now because of the ignoring of it by your "respected leaders" of the stamp community to the point that the market is now saturated with these fakes. On December 19, 2015 I purchased from a different large volume Latvian seller on eBay user name armi777 numerous lots of the imperforate 1986 Centenary of the Statue of Liberty issues in individual lots of the souvenir sheet sets. I got them for around $2.00 each lot except the Grenadines set went for $6.00. Just bought them along with other Format related issues that I suspected as forgeries. Many are now verified as fakes.
Here is an image of what I got.


This seller is playing dumb and has and is persisting in selling these and many other forgeries. He is associated with user asrm10 and balticamber2011. They all have and are to this day selling these forgeries unhindered. They are now being offered by many smaller dealers from $2-10.00 each!

To show you differences I have scanned an image of the imperforate forgeries and perforated genuine souvenir sheets to compare. You see, once you know what to look for it is quite simple to define the fakes just by images. This is not to say that some shady sellers will try to enhance, modify or give you a bad image so as to cover the fact they are selling you fakes. It is up to the buyer to beware of these sellers.
Ask for clear scans of the souvenir sheet. Look for the obvious differences when you receive it.

DO NOT BUY IMPERFORATE CENTENARY OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY SOUVENIR SHEETS!

The first and basically the only reason the imperforate souvenir sheets of the Statue of Liberty issues as imaged are fakes is because until now they did not EXIST!!!. They never were on the market until this last year. Only archival examples from some countries have ever been offered on the market. Those being from press sheets or in presentation folders by the printer. All of a sudden 30 years later these appear! So you don't smell a rat?

Here are comparison images with notes. You can use these images to compare perforated souvenir sheets as well. The genuine perforated souvenir sheets I purchased from two different sellers on eBay.

ULTRA-VIOLET LIGHT DETECTION

I have discovered another way to detect many of the forgeries. Black light detection sections added September 2017. Use an ultra-violet light on them!
In many cases with all the forgeries I have posted the now many pages for, I have found that many sets glow brightly like the fluorescent papers used on many, for example, Canadian stamps in the past. A word of caution on this though. Many forgeries I have found, which all have the yellowish gum, do not glow or have lower grades of brightness or have numerous fibers in the paper that glow. In quite a few cases I have found the sets to have mixed papers, as in , several values glow and several are either less bright or do not glow at all!
There are only two answers to this oddity that are possible. It is either the forger is so lazy that he just grabs whatever paper is handy or....there are numerous different printings of the forgeries and this has been going on much longer than my discovery of the early 2014 massive movement of the forgeries onto the market.

The basic rule to follow with all stamps produced by the Format Printers is,
THE IMAGE SIDE OF GENUINE STAMPS DO NOT GLOW AT ALL.
The Format Printers used basically all the same type of paper on all the stamps they produced in the 1980's as did they use the same gum type except for a couple sets they produced in 1989 when newer types of gum were becoming popular in the stamp printing business.

For the imperforate versions of the Montserrat forgeries that I have acquired some of the forgeries glow and the middle one does not as shown in the image.
You can see that the far left souvenir sheet forgery does not glow as brightly as the far right one. Yet they all have the same inferior images and gum! This shows us that numerous printings of these imperforate forgeries has probably been happening. Do the other values exist without the glow and vise versa? Not sure forgeries of the perforated souvenir sheets exist as I do not have them in my possession nor have I seen them offered by these cons. Maybe you have the answers....

Comparison of the Gum on Fake Montserrat 1986 Centenary of the Statue of Liberty Imperforate Souvenir Sheet with an Original Souvenir Sheet


Because of the cheaper thinner paper on the fakes the image shows through the gum much more than on originals. I note that the some fake souvenir sheets are cut slightly smaller.

Comparison of the Screens and Color on Fake Montserrat 1986 Centenary of the Statue of Liberty Imperforate Souvenir Sheet with an Original Souvenir Sheet


As shown on the many forgeries I have written about you can see that the screens are much more coarse on the forgeries making a blurred image. Much of the detail is lost. Note the difference in colors. It is this way with all the fakes.

Comparison of the Fake Montserrat 1986 Centenary of the Statue of Liberty Imperforate Souvenir Sheets with an Original Souvenir Sheets

Obvious difference:
You can see the Statue is almost green on the forgeries versus blue-green on originals. The fonts are bolder on originals.


Obvious difference:
Background color of the sky on the stamp is lavender on the fakes versus deep purple on originals.


Obvious difference:
All the colors are deeper on the originals. The oddity is the statue which is very dark (almost black) on the forgeries versus dark gray on originals. Again the fonts on the originals are much bolder than on the fakes.

ULTRA-VIOLET LIGHT DETECTION

For the imperforate versions of the Nevis forgeries that I have acquired three of the forgeries glow and one does not as shown in the image.
You can see that the far left two souvenir sheet forgeries glow brightly while the far right one is less bright. It is not angle of the light. The right one glows less bright no matter what angle you place the black light. Yet they all have the same inferior images and gum! This shows us that numerous printings of these imperforate forgeries has probably been happening. Do the other values exist without the glow and vise versa? Again, I am not sure forgeries of the perforated souvenir sheets exist as I do not have them in my possession nor have I seen them offered by these cons. Maybe you have the answers....

Comparison of the Fake Nevis 1986 Centenary of the Statue of Liberty Imperforate Souvenir Sheets with an Original Souvenir Sheets

Obvious difference:
Again just like the Montserrat $3 value you can see the Statue is almost green on the forgeries versus blue-green on originals. The fonts are bolder on originals. The statue on the stamp looks almost black on the forgery versus dark blue-green on the original.


Obvious difference:
Look at the water. Brown on fakes, Dark blue-green on originals.


Obvious difference:
Look at the flags. Dark Lavender on fakes, Dark blue on originals.


Obvious difference:
Look at the sky. Aqua on fakes, blue on originals.

ULTRA-VIOLET LIGHT DETECTION

For the imperforate versions of the Saint Vincent forgeries that I have acquired only the middle forgery glows as shown in the image.
Yet again, they all have the same inferior images and gum! This shows us that numerous printings of these imperforate forgeries has probably been happening. Do the other values exist with the glow and vise versa? Again, I am not sure forgeries of the perforated souvenir sheets exist as I do not have them in my possession nor have I seen them offered by these cons. Maybe you have the answers....

Comparison of the Fake Saint Vincent 1986 Centenary of the Statue of Liberty Imperforate Souvenir Sheets with an Original Souvenir Sheets

Again you can see the Statue is almost green on the forgeries versus blue-green on originals. The fonts are bolder on originals. What is the most obvious difference on all the St. Vincent souvenir sheets is the color of the borders. Originals have light blue borders. Forgeries have dark blue borders.


Obvious difference:
Look at the water. Brown on fakes, Dark blue-green on originals.


Obvious difference:
Look at the sky. Aqua on fakes, blue on originals. The sky on the stamp is lavender on the fakes versus dark blue on the originals. The Statue has a reddish tint on the fakes. Basically these are completely different, but when offered alone these fakes will fool many.

ULTRA-VIOLET LIGHT DETECTION

For the imperforate versions of the Saint Vincent Grenadines forgeries that I have acquired four of the nine forgeries glow as shown in the image.
Yet again, they all have the same inferior images and gum! This shows us that numerous printings of these imperforate forgeries has probably been happening. Do the other values exist with the glow and vise versa? Again, I am not sure forgeries of the perforated souvenir sheets exist as I do not have them in my possession nor have I seen them offered by these cons. Maybe you have the answers....

Comparison of the Fake Saint Vincent Grenadines 1986 Centenary of the Statue of Liberty Imperforate Souvenir Sheets with an Original Souvenir Sheets


You can see the green on the forgeries versus blue-green on originals. The fonts are bolder on originals. What is the most obvious difference on all the St. Vincent Grenadines souvenir sheets is the color of the borders. Originals have reddish brown borders. Forgeries have yellow brown borders.



Obvious difference:
Look at the sky. Lavender on fakes, blue on originals. Completely different!



Obvious difference:
Look at the grass lawns. Brown on fakes, green on originals.



Obvious difference:
Look at the water. Light green on fakes, Dark blue-green on originals.



Obvious difference:
Again with the sky. Lavender on fakes, deep blue on originals.



Obvious difference:
Again it is the grass lawns. Brown on fakes, green on originals.



Obvious difference:
Look at the water. Light green on fakes, Dark blue-green on originals.



Obvious difference:
Again with the sky. Lavender on fakes, deep blue on originals.



Obvious difference:
Again it is the grass lawns. Brown on fakes, green on originals.

Because of the fact that a major portion of leaders in the stamp community wish to turn a blind eye on these forgeries. Because of dealers and buyers who are afraid to "step up to the plate" because of fear of being ridiculed by self proclaimed "experts" or because they don't want to get involved, the forgers will continue to forge more and more sets. They have already effected other issues that have nothing to do with Leaders of the World issues such as Nauru 1982 Scouts, Barbuda 1983 Manned Flight and others showing us the wide range of stamps they are capable of forging and possibly have already forged. Soon you will be the victim when you buy that fake high valued Orchid stamp or that high priced definitive set you have dreamed of getting or what you thought to be a genuine error or variety which in the end only turns out to be fabricated by these forgers and nobody wants it when you go to sell it or your children go to sell it.

You have a choice.

Continue to ignore this problem that the majority of stamp leaders and editors seem to be trying to do just like they have with unauthorized reprints and "illegal" stamps in the past. Or spread the word and complain to your contacts and leaders that these problems need to be exposed and described in magazines, newspapers and catalogs before every stamp issue made in modern times from the 1970's onward falls victim to being a suspected forgery and in turn you or your friends or associates will fall victim to it when trying to buy or sell them. These forgers are professionals and have been here for decades unseen. They will continue to harm us unless people like you stand up and take notice!

This problem effects everyone because now instead of the value being based on a set quantity of the issued stamp, we now have double, triple or even more in quantity placed on the market. It will therefore depreciate the stated value of them in the catalogs simply because they will not research them and "assume" there are tons available when in reality for many sets the originals are and have become difficult to find.

I am simply the one who discovered them because of my research on the printer.
Indeed several issues that I have researched and obtained the original varieties of are effected. These issues do not effect me at all. I am a professional tradesman and have never depended on stamps to live on. There are many that do depend on stamp sales though and it is for them also that I have created this section of the website.

You can now define the 1986 Centenary of the Statue of Liberty souvenir sheet forgeries easily and can now possibly avoid being ripped off! Sorry to say this, a lot of you already have been fooled and more of you will be until the right people get serious about it!

Your friend and fellow collector and researcher,
JLowe RETURN TO TOP

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