THE MODERN FAKE NEVIS 1984 CRICKET PLAYERS SERIES STAMP ISSUES

Nevis 1984 Leaders of the World Cricket Players Stamp Forgery Set
Scott# 383-390 Stanley Gibbons# 211-218 and 237-244

Nevis 1984 Leaders of the World Cricket Players Imperforate Stamp Forgery Set

I was recently notified that fake reproductions of the Nevis Cricket Players series of stamps have been placed on the market.
Larry Dodson in the United States is the first to discover that fake reproductions of the Nevis 1984 Cricket series have been produced. He was kind enough to send me the imperforate strips he purchased on eBay for analysis and it is verified they are newly made fake reproductions.

The most obvious way to tell the sets are fake is to look at the C.P. Mead stamp pair. If the value is $2.50 then it is a forgery. The value for the C.P. Mead stamp is 5c! Apparently the forger was going to attempt to deceive collectors into thinking this wrong value stamp is some kind of rarity. It is not....

All the stamps imaged above are fakes!

UPDATE September 2017

I have noticed recently that the Latvian based sellers on eBay have stopped selling the Nevis 1st series set which includes the C.P. Mead stamp. They are still pushing the fake 2nd series set. It shows you how fraudulent these eBay sellers are. At present balticamber2011 who is completely associated with armi777 and asrm10 is pushing fake imperforates and perforated versions of the 2nd series. Hit them where it hurts! Avoid buying anything from these fraudulent sellers!

END OF September UPDATE

UPDATE October 2017

Well, I was wrong on the September update. balticamber2011 just offered the imperforate 1st issue with the $2.50 C.P. Mead and I got the whole set in strips of five for 99c! These cons are bold! Even after being told numerous times they are forgeries these two cons, Raimonds Miskinis and Antanas Miskinis, continue to offer and sell this junk. Nobody even bid on them. Maybe collectors and dealers are waking up to what these two crooks are and have been doing for almost 3 years now! The evidence against these cons is so strong now that eBay really needs to shut them down permanently. I have left appropriate negative feedback, added a new ultra-violet image from them and here is an image of what I got.

END OF October UPDATE

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, 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 in color 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 Cricket Players Series issues in perforated and imperforate forms. All are being offered online right now as I write this on July 23, 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.

I stated above that Larry Dodson sent me the imperforate strips to analyze. I went online to see who was selling them. A seller by the user name russianstampsandworld is offering imperforate pairs of them. Again, easy to tell because it includes the $2.50 wrong value forgery. I then went farther in seeing if perforated versions of the fake reproductions are being offered and yes they are! They are being offered by a Canadian seller. So you can see the cat is out of the bag, so to speak, and these fake reproductions are now being circulated all over the world as well.

Here is an image of the imperforate strips Mr. Dodson sent to me to analyze.


I purchased some time ago the Leaders of the World Cricket Players stamp album which contains examples of every Cricket Players stamp that was produced by the Format International Security Printers. Therefore genuine in all regards. I will use them for comparisons.
I now have everything together to present to you how to detect them 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 forgeries with the white gum like the imperforates of this issue the forgeries glow brightly. For the normal perforated forgeries of this issue that I have acquired they paint a disappointing picture for Cricket Player collectors.
You can see by this image that there are several types of forgeries. No it is not "shadows". Some glow brightly while some do not. All the forgeries in the image have the same type of yellowish gum and the print colors and fonts and everything else about them is the same therefore showing again that there have been multiple printings of the forgeries of these issues. Do the values that do not glow exist with a glow and vise versa? Maybe you have that answer....

The imperforate versions of these forgeries all glow. The set of first issue imperforate stamp forgeries I purchased from balticamber2011 shows this to be true. Here is the image.

Sadly, until the source of all these forgeries is exposed to the public (which savvy philatelists should already be able to figure out) these forgeries will continue to be produced and sold to unknowing collectors and dealers worldwide. Many of you have already been fooled. How many more will it take?

Here are gum comparisons.

Updating to the problem I have found the perforated versions of these forgeries have the yellowish gum. I believe the perforated forgeries this balticamber 2011 is selling in strips recently have the white gum like the imperforates sent to me by Larry. If that is the case then this shows a continuation of printings of these forgeries.
I am updating the gum comparison section as of September 2017 to include the yellowish gum versions.

Gum Comparison of a Fake Imperforate Stamp with Gum on a Genuine Stamp
This gum appears to still be PVA but without the greenish tint. It has been noted that other British issues like some of the Machin issues have this type of gum. The problem is it was not used until the late 90's. The gum is very shiny though which conflicts with the description of the gum known as PVAI (Layflat) used on the Machins. Yet the stamps lay perfectly flat on a surface whereas originals have a light bending from aging.
This is evidence showing even a later creation and since these did not appear on the market until recently and no such imperforate stamps like these have ever been on the market nor recorded, it proves these to be modern forgeries of the stamps.


Unlike the gum on many of the forgeries that are flooding the market right now the gum on the perforated stamp forgery is more yellowish in color. It is opaque though in comparison with the original gum. This type of gum has appeared on quite a few other issues I have detected as forgeries like the St. Vincent Century of Motoring issue and now many 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.
Gum Comparison of the Genuine stamp with Imperforate and Perforated Forgeries of the 1984 Cricket Player Stamps
Again there is an obvious difference in color and texture.


Screen, Font and Color Comparison of a Fake Stamp with an Original Stamp
I will use the 5c C.P. Mead stamp pairs and the 5c J.D. Love for high resolution comparisons. I use 1200dpi scans for viewing.
These first comparisons show you how inferior the screens are. I compare the area around the eyes.




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.

Now let's look at the fonts.




You can see that the "Leaders of the World" fonts are much bolder on the genuine stamp issues. Noting on the J.D. Love stamp that the name "Love" is placed much lower on the forgery.

Now let's look at the Team Country Logo.




You can see that much of the detail is gone or indistinct on the forgery.
On the J.P. Mead stamp the fonts for the teams country name are larger, bolder and much more clear on the genuine stamps versus being smaller and blurry on the fakes.
On the J.D. Love stamp the fonts for the county name "Yorkshire" are smaller and bold on genuine stamps versus much larger and lighter on the fakes.
I ask you....which would you rather have?

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

Comparison of the Fake $2.50 C.P. Mead Stamp with the Original Stamp


Now that you know what to look for it helps yes?
Notice the difference in overall color now? The key to this forgery is obviously the wrong value being $2.50.
Noting other differences:
Background colors on genuine stamps are much lighter, The country name bar is light purple on genuine stamps versus dark purple on the fake reproductions.
Mead's hat is much darker on original stamps both on the portrait and the action image.
Fonts for country name, value and name are much bolder on the forgeries.
Fonts for "Leaders of the World" logo are much lighter on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Fake 25c J.B. Statham Stamp with the Original Stamp


The J.B. Statham stamps are fairly easy to detect as well.
Genuine stamps have reddish brown highlights and background on the images. No sign of the reddish tints on the forgeries.
Background colors a bit harder to detect. The country name bar gives it away. Olive-brown on originals. Light brown on fakes.
The font differences are the same as above.

Comparison of the Fake 55c Sir Learie Constantine Stamp with the Original Stamp


The obvious difference again is the color on the images. Reddish-browns on originals. No hint of reddish tints on the images of fake reproductions.
The county logo on genuine stamps is deep-green versus olive-green on the fakes.
The fonts in the logo "West Indies" are bold and clear on genuine stamps. They are blurry, unclear and have smaller fonts on forgeries.
The background colors are close on these stamps. The fonts are the same as described above.

Comparison of the Fake $2.50 Sir Leonard Hutton Stamp with the Original Stamp


The obvious difference again is the color on the images. Reddish-browns on originals. No hint of reddish tints on the images of fake reproductions.
The background color for the country name bar is light reddish-brown on originals versus light brown on the forgeries.
The fonts are the same as described above.

Now for the second series.

Comparison of the Fake 5c J.D. Love Stamp with the Original Stamp


The color image set is a bit more difficult to detect but there are still significant differences.
Much redder hue on the genuine J.D. Love portrait stamp than on the forgery.
The country name bar is extremely light brown on the originals versus deep yellow-brown on the fakes.
The downward placement of the "J.D. Love" name
The county logo on genuine stamps is deep blue versus purple-blue on the fakes.
As shown in the high resolution image above, the fonts for the county name "Yorkshire" are smaller and bold on genuine stamps versus much larger and lighter on the fakes.

Comparison of the Fake 15c S.J. Dennis Stamp with the Original Stamp


Again as with the J.D. Love stamp a much redder hue on the genuine S.J. Dennis portrait stamp than on the forgery.
The country name bar is light red-lavender on the originals versus deeper blue-lavender on the fakes.
The downward placement of the "S.J. Dennis" name
Again the fonts for the county name "Yorkshire" are smaller and bold on genuine stamps versus much larger and lighter on the fakes.

Comparison of the Fake 55c B.W. Luckhurst Stamp with the Original Stamp


The 55c B.W. Luckhurst stamp pair is easy to detect by the background colors. The forgery has heavy deep shades of pink versus the originals with lighter shades of salmon-pink.
All of the fonts on the county name plaque are heavy and bold on genuine stamps versus much lighter on the fakes.

Comparison of the Fake $2.50 B.L. D'Oliveira Stamp with the Original Stamp


The $2.50 B.L. D'Oliveira stamp pair is the most dangerous in the set. You can see the colors are close!
The forgeries have the downward placement of the "B.L. D'Oliveira" name.
Redder hue on the portrait image on genuine stamps.
The hair is black and gray on the genuine stamps versus brown and gray on the forgeries.

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

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. Mainly these fake imperforates. 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 fake Nevis 1984 1st and 2nd series Cricket Players 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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