THE NEVIS 1984 BRITISH MONARCHS STAMP FORGERIES
FORGERIES OF THE KINGS AND QUEENS STAMPS

Nevis 1984 Leaders of the World British Monarchs Stamp Forgery Sets
Scott# 258-266, Stanley Gibbons# 148-159, 231-236

1st Series

2nd Series

Nevis 1984 Leaders of the World British Monarchs Imperforate Stamp Forgery Set Sold on eBay
This fake set of imperforate pairs has and is being offered by eBay user russianstampsandworld.

Nevis 1984 Leaders of the World British Monarchs Imperforate Stamp Forgery Strip Set Sold on eBay
This fake set of imperforate pairs in strips of five has and is being offered by eBay user balticamber2011.

Nevis 1984 Leaders of the World British Monarchs Perforated Stamp Forgery Strip Set Sold on eBay
This fake set of perforated pairs in strips of five has and is being offered by eBay user asrm10.

The images above except for the single stamp images were taken directly from the users lots on eBay. Snapshots of the lot offers have been placed on file so the users cannot deny the fact that they are sellers of forgeries. Despite repeated attempts to tell them, despite negative feedbacks, despite naming them on these pages, despite numerous reports to eBay, these sellers ignore and persist in selling you forgeries! Think it is time eBay cleaned house!

I recently purchased more of the forgeries I have been warning about for almost three years now. Still no end of the movement of them onto the market.

All the stamps imaged above are fakes!

UPDATE MAY 2018

Well, as I thought inverts are on the market! Recently many inverts have appeared including as I predicted fake Leaders of the World Trains and cars inverts for Nevis. Some are even appearing with Calves Expertising Certificates! BOGUS! Two appeared in the recent Gaertner auctions and now a seller on Delcampe posted the imaged set and around twenty more different fake inverts. Have shut all of them down. Sadly now, one of the biggest dealers in France just got victimized showing us that everyone no matter how big or small is being effected by this. It shows us that the consignor that was shut down at Gaertner's in 2015 and had these forgeries sent back to him has just released them to more victims this year! The seller on Delcampe wants anywhere from 400EURO to 1000EURO for a set! I wonder how much he got ripped off for. Don't be fooled by the certificate. They are worth nothing! Again, very obvious they are forgeries. Look at the selvage. As I explain on many of the other detection pages for most of the forgeries and below, there are no perforation holes running through the selvage on the forgeries like on genuine panes of these stamps.

END MAY 2018 UPDATE

My research into the printer has enabled me to discover modern fake stamps have been created in 2014!! They are being spread across the world through online auction sites like eBay and Delcampe. Everything about them is fake except for one dangerous fact, they have the correct perf size. The gum type is different in it being white or slightly yellowish in color, flat in texture and very shiny. This gum type was not used until much later years, long after Format went bankrupt thus proving they were not produced by the Format International Security Printers. Obvious differences will be shown below. So far I have discovered complete sets of forgeries of the Nevis Leaders of the World 1984 British Monarchs stamp issues in perforated and imperforate forms. Some call them "Kings and Queens" issues. All are being offered online right now as I write this on September 2, 2017.

I can also tell you that I have discovered that many more "modern" issues for Nevis and other 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 posted 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.

The perforated set of forgeries I purchased from a U.S. Dealer who sells on eBay. User is unidav (Universal Philatelic Service). Another example of how these fake reproductions are now being circulated all over the world.

I was in the process of receiving an imperforate set which I purchased from user russianstampsandworld on eBay. I already knew they are forgeries because up until this last couple years, imperforates of this issue did not exist. After I received both sets of forgeries I hunted for genuine stamps. I then purchased a set of genuine stamps from a seller in the UK who was offering the sets on older album pages. I also bought the sets of specimen overprinted stamps from two other sellers. What a difference!
I will use them for the comparisons.

I now have everything together to present to you how to detect the forgeries and not get ripped off!!

ULTRA-VIOLET LIGHT DETECTION

I have discovered another way to detect many of the forgeries. 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 normal perforated version and the imperforate versions of this issue that I have acquired the forgeries glow brightly as this image shows.
Note the bottom stamp forgery of the perforated set though! It does not glow! This is more evidence of multiple printings by the forger.

Here are gum comparisons.

Unlike the gum on most of the forgeries that are flooding the market right now the gum is more yellowish in color on the perforated forgeries. It is opaque though in comparison with the original gum. This type of gum has appeared on many other issues I have detected as forgeries like the St. Vincent Century of Motoring issue and several Locomotives sets. It is having a tendency to curl worse than original gum. I do not know if these were produced earlier by the forger and held until now, but they did not appear here on the market until recently. Everything else about the forgeries is the same as all the other forgeries I have described as you will see. This yellowish gum does make them harder to detect though at first glance without originals to compare with.

The imperforates have the very white gum I have described on many pages.

On this page I am changing up the image on the gum types. I will show gum types of all four types I have to show mainly the point that specimen overprinted or not, the genuine stamps all have the same gum type which was a special formulae that only Format used. You can see that the forgery with yellowish gum is quite deceptive. When you look at this type of forgery from the side under bright light next to genuine examples, that is when you see a huge difference in texture and shine.

Gum Comparison of a genuine stamps and Forgeries of the 1984 Nevis British Monarchs Stamps


Another little change on this page. Let us put the same stamps I used for the gum comparison and put them face up. I am using the 5c Queen Victoria stamp pairs for the comparisons.


This shows you there is almost no difference between the specimen stamp and the genuine stamp. Note the huge difference in the forgeries! Yet the perforated and imperforate forgeries are the same colors even though they have completely different gum.

Let's go into detail!

Screen, Font and Color Comparison of a Fake Stamp with an Original Stamp
One thing I noticed right away about the forgeries is that they all have a yellowish hue that stands out prominently when side by side with a genuine stamp.
These first comparisons show you how inferior the screens are. I compare the face of Queen Victoria in the portrait.


You can see that the screens used are much coarser. Much of the details are lost on the forgery. The forgeries still are very dangerous because when imaged for sale by sellers they look almost the same as the originals. Buyers will think it is just the sellers scanner making them look "different". To compensate the forger uses a shinier surface on the face of the stamps.
Noting the heavy yellow tint on the forgery.

Now let's look at the fonts.


You can see that the "Queen Victoria and the Boer War" fonts are finer on the genuine stamp issues. Noting the spacing between the words is slightly wider on the genuine stamps.

Now let's look at a section of the action image.


You can see that the detail is horrendously gone or indistinct on the forgery!
Note the extreme color differences in all the above images! The heavy yellowish hue.
I ask you....which would you rather have in your collection?

Now I will show reduced images of the original stamps with the forgeries.

First Series

Comparison of the 5c Queen Victoria and the Boer War Stamp Forgery with the Genuine Stamps


Now that you know what to look for it helps yes?
Notice the difference in overall color now? The heavy yellow hue?
Noting other differences:
The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of reddish-brown versus shades of yellow-brown on the fake reproductions.
The bars around the "Kings and Queens" logo band are light brown on genuine stamps versus it being light gold on the forgeries.
The colors throughout are much deeper on genuine stamps. The sky is blue on genuine stamps. It is green on the forgeries.
Note the background of the portrait. It is bright red on genuine stamps. On the forgeries it is dull red.

Comparison of the 50c Queen Victoria and Osborne House Stamp Forgery with the Genuine Stamps


Again the heavy yellow hue is prominent on the forgery.
Noting other differences:
The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of reddish-brown versus shades of yellow-brown on the fake reproductions.
The bars around the "Kings and Queens" logo band are light brown on genuine stamps versus it being light gold on the forgeries.
The colors throughout are much deeper on genuine stamps. The sky is blue on genuine stamps. It is green on the forgeries.
The queen's dress is shades of dark blue to light blue with sections of lavender on genuine stamps. It is shades of dark green-blue to light green with sections of very dull lavender on the forgery.
The tree in front of the house is dark green with lighter shades of green on genuine stamps. It is with shades of yellow-green on the forgery.

Comparison of the 60c King George II and the Battle of Dettington Stamp Forgery with the Genuine Stamps


Again the heavy yellow hue is prominent on the forgery.
Noting other differences:
The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of dull purple versus shades of lavender on the fake reproductions.
The bars around the "Kings and Queens" logo band are dull purple on genuine stamps versus it being lavender on the forgeries.
The colors throughout are much deeper on genuine stamps. The sky is light blue on genuine stamps. It is light green on the forgeries.
Note the background of the portrait. It is shades of purple on genuine stamps. On the forgeries it is shades of gray.
The two letters "T" in "Dettington" touch on the forgery. They are well spaced apart on genuine stamps.

Comparison of the 75c King George II and the Bank of England Stamp Forgery with the Genuine Stamps


Again the heavy yellow hue is prominent on the forgery.
Noting other differences:
The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of dull purple versus shades of lavender on the fake reproductions.
The bars around the "Kings and Queens" logo band are dull purple on genuine stamps versus it being lavender on the forgeries.
The colors throughout are much deeper on genuine stamps. The sky is light blue on genuine stamps. It is light green on the forgeries.

Comparison of the $1.00 King George II and his Coat of Arms Stamp Forgery with the Genuine Stamps


Again the heavy yellow hue is prominent on the forgery.
Noting other differences:
The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of dull purple versus shades of lavender on the fake reproductions.
The bars around the "Kings and Queens" logo band are dull purple on genuine stamps versus it being lavender on the forgeries.
The colors throughout are much deeper on genuine stamps. The sky is light blue on genuine stamps. It is light green on the forgeries.
The king's hair is shades of gunmetal blue and black on genuine stamps. It is shades of gray and black on the forgery.

Comparison of the $3.00 Queen Victoria and her Coat of Arms Stamp Forgery with the Genuine Stamps


Again the heavy yellow hue is prominent on the forgery.
Noting other differences:
The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of reddish-brown versus shades of yellow-brown on the fake reproductions.
The bars around the "Kings and Queens" logo band are light brown on genuine stamps versus it being light gold on the forgeries.
The colors throughout are much deeper on genuine stamps. The sky is shades of purple on genuine stamps. It is shades of gray on the forgeries.
The queen's dress is shades of lavender and light blue on the sash on genuine stamps. It is shades of gray and light green on the sash on the forgery.
The dots between "DIEU" and "ET" are very large on the forgery versus small and very fine on the genuine stamp. The same for the dot between "MON" and "DROIT".

Second Series

Comparison of the 5c King John and the Magna Carta Stamp Forgery with the Genuine Stamps


Again the heavy yellow hue is prominent on the forgery.
Noting other differences:
The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of light brown-gray versus shades of darker
black-gray on the fake reproductions.
The bars around the "Kings and Queens" logo band are light lavender-purple on genuine stamps versus it being gray on the forgeries.
On the forgeries all of the bars around the "Kings and Queens" logo are the same color whereas on genuine stamps the top and bottom bars are gray.
The colors throughout are much deeper on genuine stamps. The sky is shades of blue on genuine stamps. It is shades of green on the forgeries.
The Drapes around the king's throne are bright red on genuine stamps. They are dull red on the forgeries.

Comparison of the 55c King John and Newark Castle in Nottinghampshire Stamp Forgery with the Genuine Stamps


Again the heavy yellow hue is prominent on the forgery.
Noting other differences:
The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of light brown-gray versus shades of darker
black-gray on the fake reproductions.
The bars around the "Kings and Queens" logo band are light purple on genuine stamps versus it being gray on the forgeries.
On the forgeries all of the bars around the "Kings and Queens" logo are the same color whereas on genuine stamps the top and bottom bars are gray.
The colors throughout are much deeper on genuine stamps. The sky is shades of blue on genuine stamps. It is shades of green on the forgeries.
The king's cape is bright red on genuine stamps. It is dull red on the forgeries.

Comparison of the $2.00 King John and his Coat of Arms Stamp Forgery with the Genuine Stamps


Again the heavy yellow hue is prominent on the forgery.
Noting other differences:
The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of light brown-gray versus shades of darker
black-gray on the fake reproductions.
The bars around the "Kings and Queens" logo band are light blue-purple on genuine stamps versus it being gray on the forgeries.
On the forgeries all of the bars around the "Kings and Queens" logo are the same color whereas on genuine stamps the top and bottom bars are gray.
The colors throughout are much deeper on genuine stamps. The sky is shades of blue on genuine stamps. It is shades of green on the forgeries.
The coat of arms is bright red on genuine stamps. It is burnt orange on the forgeries.

You can see that there is a lot of differences between the two printings.

Recently (December 12, 2017) I came across a seller on eBay selling full sets of this issue in full panes! Problem is they are all the forgeries!
In viewing the image I can see a huge difference from the perforated forgeries described here. As I described the perforated forgeries have the yellowish gum. You can look at the image I provided above of the strips offered on eBay and see that the perforations run through the selvage at the top and bottom of the strips. This newly discovered sale in panes shows that they are being reproduced again! Here is the image from the sellers lot. You can see that there are no perforations running through the selvage at all! This goes right with all the forgeries I have described that have white gum. I am certain these newest forgeries have the white gum as well.

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. I only own the sets imaged but do own some of the unissued varieties of this issue. 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 forgeries of the Nevis 1984 British Monarchs Kings and Queens stamps 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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