THE MODERN FAKE NEVIS 1985 AUDUBON BIRDS STAMP ISSUES

Nevis 1985 Leaders of the World Audubon Birds 1st Issue Forgery Set
Scott# 408,410,411,413 Stanley Gibbons# 269-276

Nevis 1985 Leaders of the World Audubon Birds 2nd Issue Forgery Set
Scott# 407,409,412,414 Stanley Gibbons# 285-292


Nevis 1985 Audubon Birds Invert Error Forgeries


I have found documented proof dated April 2015 that at least 10,000 perforated forgery sets of each issue have been moved onto the market!
They were sold in Gaertner's 30th auction in lot number 21438A.

UPDATE 2018 WARNING!!!!

It has come to my attention that the Michel Catalog editors were fooled into adding notes in the latest edition of their catalogs that inverts exist of this issue and others. It started with the forger or one of his associates fooling Christian Calves into issuing False Expertising certificates on fake inverts. Here are two for these issues.
1st Issue

2nd Issue

I contacted the expert directly and this is his reply.

In english it reads.

Dear Sir,
I am interested in the e-mail you sent us on May 25 about the stamps printed by Format International Security Printers.
I have browsed your site carefully and have been very favorably impressed by the breadth of your research that demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the subject.
They allowed me to read information that I did not have in my possession. Rest assured that I will take them into account, when I will have to appraise stamps printed by this company.
With thanks,
Best regards,
Christian Calves

With this you can see we now have a very huge problem with stamp expertising services. The forger and his cronies will go to great lengths to try to get their fake junk authenticated as if genuine to fool you into buying them.

THEY THEN TOOK IT FARTHER!

I was notified by other experts that the most recently published Michel Catalogs have new notes added that inverts exist of these issues! I immediately contacted the editors of Michel catalog. Here is the response.

If you cannot read the image, this is what it says.

Dear Mr. Lowe,
I am answering only today because your mail reached me after workend of the day before the German day of reunification, our national holiday.
Thank you very much for your information, which was not totally new to us, as we got another warning some months ago. At that time I deleted the footnotes concerning the inverts from our database. Yours sincerely
ppa Oskar Klan

So if there is any doubt remaining that the expertising certificates and/or the notes in Michel Catalog are false in all regards then contact them yourself to get the answer. Sadly these false certificates and newly published catalogs are now on the market causing havoc to dealers and collectors worldwide. Thanks to one person....

The forger who is a wholesale stamp dealer and his cronies are professional cons that will go to the most extreme lengths to get fake material like this to appear genuine. They are a network of dealers around the world and are very powerful entities in the philatelic community. You can see this just by what has happened here.

YOU MUST BE ALERT AND DO EXTENSIVE RESEARCH BEFORE BUYING ANYTHING LIKE THIS!!

END UPDATE 2018 WARNING

I have recently discovered that modern fake stamps of this issue 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 September of 2015.
Both sets imaged above are fakes!
Supposed Inverts of these have also recently surfaced. No inverts of any Leaders of the World Audubon birds issues were ever printed by the Format Printers! Any and all (perforated or imperforate) are fakes produced by a stamp dealer bent on ripping you off!

The main sellers on eBay who have offered or are offering these forgeries right now.

alphaomegaphilately
armi777
asrm10
balticamber2011
hobbytrade
kamalmedicine
kamalthematic
stamp2deal (new account 2017 aka was izabelastamp2deal)
stampbank_of_london
veiksme

UPDATE MAY 2018

Well, as I thought perforated 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. These are the same but because the forgeries I original posted this page on have perforations running through certain sides as explained below and these new invert forgeries do not, it shows there has been yet another printing of the forgeries!

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 1985 Audubon Birds issues. All are being offered online right now as I write this on September 5, 2015.

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 noticed sales of the Nevis 1985 Audubon Birds issues (both series) being sold on eBay from users armi777 and asrm10 based in Latvia. The users are large volume sellers and were and are offering these fakes in bulk lots of 5, 10 pairs all still attached and even offering full pane sets. The starting bid is 99c! Buyers constantly bid them up to $3.00 to $12.00 ranges. They all have been selling thus they are now everywhere in the world! Thousands have been moved!

I suspected that they are forgeries because other forgeries I have purchased from these same sellers. I recently purchased one series and sure enough they are exactly the same as all the other forgeries I have written about. I then purchased the other series and they too are forgeries. The second purchase was full panes! I got them for $6.72 winning bid. This shows us how easily these are being spread across the world.

So far the fake inverts seem to be only offered by a large volume stamp seller user name alphaomegaphilately based in India of all things. This seller was notified that other forgeries (mainly of fake color proofs of Tuvalu 1985 Dogs) were forgeries. Instead of looking into it, he persists in offering them and now is trying to rip collectors off with these fake inverts imaged above. He even shows the gum side which is obviously entirely different than the gum used by Format! Here is a comparison (using this sellers own images) of the back of one of the fake inverts and another stamp pair he is selling that is genuine. As with many others, these big "dealers" sell genuine material along with forgeries and illegal stamps. It is really sad what greed and not wanting to admit that they were conned does to these people. To the point of, rather than destroying or reporting these to the proper philatelic channels, they will try to rip off collectors to get their money back.
Here is the image.


These sellers play dumb and are persistent in selling these and many other forgeries. Avoid them.

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.

I note that these images are taken with an iphone. Conditions make the brightness differ with each picture taken so the genuine set "looks" different as far as brightness. the images are to give you a basic idea of what to look for.

I have found that the perforated and imperforate forgeries all have the white gum so all of them glow brightly making this an easy way to detect them.
I am imaging only the perforated versions but the imperforates and fake inverts will all do the same thing. Here is the comparison of the 1st issue.
I am using genuine imperforate blocks from the color proof sets that of all things have and are being sold by these same sellers! When they were told to use them to compare with the forgeries they just continue to this day (September 2017) to sell the forgeries. This shows complete untrustworthy sellers who do not even care that they are selling forgeries to thousands of collectors around the world. In my book, they should be shunned and banned from selling anything and kicked off auction sites like eBay forever!

This next image is a black light comparison of the forgeries of the 2nd issue forgeries with specimen overprinted genuine stamps. Noting I got the forgeries in complete panes!

Here are more gum comparisons.

Gum Comparison of a Fake Stamp with Original
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 2014 and no such stamps like these have ever been on the market nor recorded, it proves these to be modern forgeries of the stamps.


Gum Comparison of the Original and Forgery of the 1985 Audubon Birds Stamps
Again there is an obvious difference in color and texture.


Screen and Color Comparison of the Fake Stamp with Original Stamp
I will use the 5c value for comparisons using original Specimen overprinted which is proof of the original printing.

Note the extreme difference in color on the fake stamp. The difference in the border color. The inferior screen pattern that lacks much of the details.


Comparison of the Fake 1st Issue 5c Stamps with the Original Stamps


A stunning difference yes?
Please note the difference in color of the background and the plaque on the fake stamp. It is difficult to discern if not next to originals.
The fake stamps are kind of like a photocopy of the originals but use a lower quality screen and have a shiny surface over the face.
Obvious differences:
The Bluebirds wings are almost black on the forgeries, blue on genuine stamps.
The Cardinal is orange on forgeries, red on genuine stamps.
The "c" of the 5c denomination is very thick on genuine stamps. It is thin on the forgeries.
The parentheses "( )" around the words "Blue-bird" are straighter with less curve and have more space between the parentheses and the letter on genuine stamps.
The "-" between the words "Blue-bird" is longer on genuine stamps.
The parentheses "( )" around the words "Blue-bird" are straighter with less curve on genuine stamps. On the forgeries they extend down below the letters whereas on genuine stamps the bottom of the parentheses is "in line" with the bottom of the letters.
The parentheses "( )" around the words "Cardinal Grosbeak" are straighter with less curve and are more "centered" on genuine stamps. On forgeries they are more "offset" to the right making a slightly wider space between the last letter "k" and the parentheses and slightly narrower between the parentheses and the letter "C".
Again, the parentheses "( )" around the words "Cardinal Grosbeak" on the forgeries extend down below the letters whereas on genuine stamps the bottom of the parentheses is "in line" with the bottom of the letters.

Comparison of the Fake 1st Issue 55c Stamps with the Original Stamps


Obvious differences:
The Kingfisher is gray-blue on the forgeries, Aqua-blue on genuine stamps.
The Cuckoo is bright orange on forgeries, dull orange on genuine stamps.
The color bar with country name is deep olive green on forgeries, light green on genuine stamps.
The "c" of the 55c denomination is very thick on genuine stamps. It is thin on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Fake 1st Issue 60c Stamps with the Original Stamps


Obvious differences:
The Yellow Warbler is dull orange on the forgeries, dull yellow on genuine stamps.
The Cerulean Warbler has almost black wings and tail on forgeries, dark blue on genuine stamps.
The parentheses "( )" around the words "Rathbone Warbler" are straighter with less curve on genuine stamps. On the forgeries they extend down below the letters whereas on genuine stamps the bottom of the parentheses is "in line" with the bottom of the letters.
The "c" of the 60c denomination is very thick on genuine stamps. It is thin on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Fake 1st Issue $2 Stamps with the Original Stamps


Obvious differences:
The Burrowing Owl is yellow-brown on the forgeries, red-brown on genuine stamps.
The Long-eared Owl has also yellow-brown wings on forgeries, red-brown on genuine stamps.
The dash "-" between "Long-eared" is shorter on the forgeries.
The easiest way to detect the forgeries is the "$" sign. On genuine stamps the vertical line does not run through the dollar symbol. On the forgeries it does!


You can see that the border colors are pretty close on most of the 1st issue stamps making it a bit difficult to detect in that way.

Now let us compare the second issue pairs! Again, I will use an original Specimen overprinted stamp pairs. This time from one of the extremely rare press sheets found in the Format Printers archive.

Comparison of the Fake 2nd Issue 1c Stamps with the Original Stamps
Note the extreme difference in color on the birds. Yet the border colors are close making them extremely dangerous forgeries.


Obvious differences:
The Painted Bunting and fruit are shades of yellow-green on the forgeries, shades of green on genuine stamps.
The Golden-crowned Kinglet has red-brown wings on forgeries, brown on genuine stamps.
The most obvious way to detect the forgery is the "-" in the words Golden-crowned. On genuine stamps the dash is centered like this, "Golden-crowned". On the forgeries it is spaced to the right like this, "Golden -crowned".
The parentheses "( )" around the words "Golden-crested Wren" are straighter with less curve on genuine stamps. On the forgeries they extend down below the letters whereas on genuine stamps the bottom of the parentheses is "in line" with the bottom of the letters.
The dash "-" is smaller and spaced to the left between the words "Golden-crested".
The "c" of the 1c denomination is very thick on genuine stamps. It is thin on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Fake 2nd Issue 40c Stamps with the Original Stamps


Obvious differences:
The Common Flickers wings are shades of yellow-brown on the forgeries, shades of brown on genuine stamps.
The Western Tanagers head is bright orange-red on forgeries, dull brick-red on genuine stamps.
The color bar with country name is brown-green on forgeries, olive-green on genuine stamps.
The most obvious way to detect the forgery is the "-" in the words Golden-winged. On genuine stamps the dash is centered like this, "Golden-winged". On the forgeries it is spaced to the left like this, "Golden- winged".
The parentheses "( )" around the words "Golden-winged Woodpecker" are straighter with less curve on genuine stamps. On the forgeries they extend down below the letters whereas on genuine stamps the bottom of the parentheses is "in line" with the bottom of the letters.
The parentheses "( )" around the words "Louisiana Tanager" are straighter with less curve on genuine stamps. On the forgeries they extend down below the letters whereas on genuine stamps the bottom of the parentheses is "in line" with the bottom of the letters.
The "c" of the 40c denomination is very thick on genuine stamps. It is thin on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Fake 2nd Issue 60c Stamps with the Original Stamps


Obvious differences:
The Sage Thrashers wings are shades of yellow-brown on the forgeries, shades of yellow-green on genuine stamps.
The Evening Grosbeak is burnt orange on forgeries, mustard yellow on genuine stamps.
The color bar with country name is light gray on forgeries, gray-blue on genuine stamps.
The parentheses "( )" around the words "Mountain Mocking Bird" are straighter with less curve on genuine stamps. On the forgeries they extend down below the letters whereas on genuine stamps the bottom of the parentheses is "in line" with the bottom of the letters.
An easy way to detect the Mountain Mocking Bird forgery is that on genuine stamps it is spelled "Mountain Mocking Bird". On the forgeries it is spelled "Mountain mocking Bird" with no capital "M" in "mocking! another stupid typo by this obvious "don't care" forger.
The "c" of the 60c denomination is very thick on genuine stamps. It is thin on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Fake 2nd Issue $2.50 Stamps with the Original Stamps


Obvious differences:
The Blackburnian Warbler wings are shades of dark black on the forgeries, shades of dull black on genuine stamps.
The Northern Oriole head is dark black on forgeries, dark brown on genuine stamps.
The color bar with country name is lavender on forgeries, deep pink on genuine stamps.
The parentheses "( )" around the words "Baltimore Oriole" are straighter with less curve on genuine stamps. On the forgeries they extend down below the letters whereas on genuine stamps the bottom of the parentheses is "in line" with the bottom of the letters.

These color differences and anomalies are obvious on imperforates and the fake inverts as well. Most of these color differences cannot be changed by changing scanner settings or enhancing the images by changing contrast or brightness, so give up rip off dealers!

As for the forger, your lousy attempts to match colors will never succeed. Simply because it is like a Van Gogh painting. He made the colors himself and the formula used went with him to the grave. Unless you spend tons of time and money to get them, you will never be able to match colors used by Format and we all know you are too lazy and cheap to do it. Besides that, it would not make producing these forgeries profitable on your end worm....

Perforation Comparison of Fake Stamps with Originals
The forgeries have much cleaner cut holes than the originals. Aside from the forgeries being perforated with a different machine this is most likely due to the originals being produced on much more fibrous, heavier and thicker paper and gum.
Note the black frame lines are a bit thicker and look at that inferior screen pattern!


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

One buyer of these fakes purchased a large lot from one of the biggest and most reputable stamp sellers on eBay. He bought what he thought was the complete print run of one "newly discovered" error in full panes in packets of 200 panes which were unopened.
I am sorry to say that there are several ways proving these were never produced by the Format Printers.
Firstly the packaging is wrong. Here is the image he sent me.


The plastic wrapping is a flexible plastic used today. Format packaged all stamp panes in very brittle hard plastic that tears easily when opened. The separation paper is brown. Format always used pink/red paper to separate and protect the panes and souvenir sheets.

The perforations on the panes are wrong

Here is an image of the Nevis 1985 Audubon Birds $2 stamp pair from the lower left corner of a pane from the original printing.
I note this is the only image of an original I could find proving difference. This seller sold this set long ago on Delcampe. It shows that original full panes are scarce!


Now here is an image of a lower left corner pair from a forged stamp pane.


Now look at the image of the original corner pair and look at the left selvage. Then look at the left selvage of the fake stamp block. Can you see the difference?
The perforations run through the selvage on the original panes on all sides. There are no perforations on the left selvage of the fake panes!
The forgers did almost get it right though. The perforations run through the selvage on the other three sides of the panes and the sheet numbers are correct. Looks like their perforating machine isn't big enough to do the job correctly. You can see on the forgeries that there are two perforation holes on the very left edge of the selvage. I note it is off center a little. Can't even cut the panes straight. Shoddy job....

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 1985 Audubon Birds 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!

Here are links to images of each stamp with an original next to a forgery. All are scanned at 1200dpi so the files are large. All were scanned at the same time with the same settings and nothing is enhanced. Using Scott Catalog numbers. Please be patient with downloading them because each file is around 7 to 8 megs.

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

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