THE MODERN FAKE SAINT VINCENT 1984 BRITISH MONARCHS STAMP ISSUES

Saint Vincent 1984 Leaders of the World British Monarchs Stamp Forgery Set
Scott# 731-736 Stanley Gibbons# 776-787

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!

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 Saint Vincent Leaders of the World 1984 British Monarchs stamp issues in perforated forms. Some call them "Kings and Queens" issues. All are being offered online right now as I write this on July 30, 2017.

I can also tell you that I have discovered that many more "modern" issues for Saint Vincent 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.

This set of forgeries I purchased from a Canadian seller who sells on eBay and Hipstamps. Another example of how these fake reproductions are now being circulated all over the world.

I purchased some time ago the Leaders of the World British Monarchs sets for St. Vincent and Union Island in blocks. What is nice is they were the specimen overprinted sets. I purchased them from City Collectibles who was the buyer of the Saint Vincent side of the police evidence stock which was confiscated from the Format International Security Printers for the trials against Clive Feigenbaum and his associates in 1989. This stock was held in the police warehouse until 2008! Therefore, genuine in all regards.

Here is an image of the lot I received from CC in 2012.
I will use them for comparisons.
I now have everything together to present to you how to detect them and not get ripped off!!

Here are gum comparisons.

Gum Comparison of a Fake Perforated 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 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 1984 British Monarchs 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 1c King George V stamp pairs for high resolution comparisons. I use 1200dpi scans for viewing.
These first comparisons show you how inferior the screens are. I compare the face of King George V 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.

Now let's look at the fonts.


You can see that the "George V and World War I" fonts are much finer on the genuine stamp issues. Noting the fonts for the "Kings and Queens" logo are very similar.

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


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

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

Comparison of the Fake 1c King George V and World War I Stamps with the Original Stamps


Now that you know what to look for it helps yes?
Notice the difference in overall color now?
Noting other differences:
The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of reddish-brown versus shades of brown only on the fake reproductions.
The "Kings and Queens" logo band has a very wide area in the middle that is white on genuine stamps versus it being light brown on the forgeries.
The colors throughout are much deeper on genuine stamps. The kings hair is much more pronounced and blacker. The lower right corner of the action scene is deep green on genuine stamps versus green on the forgeries.
Note the bottom brown bar. It slightly fades from dark to light brown but on the forgeries it is almost white in the middle of the two stamps.
Fonts for "George V and World War I" are much bolder on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Fake 5c King Edward II and the Battle of Bannockburn Stamps with the Original Stamps


The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of green versus shades of yellow-green on the fake reproductions.
The "Kings and Queens" logo band has a very wide area in the middle that is white on genuine stamps versus it being light green on the forgeries.
The colors throughout are much deeper on genuine stamps. The kings hair is much more pronounced and brown versus yellow-brown on the forgeries.
Note the bottom green bar. It fades from dark to light green but on the forgeries it is almost white on the right stamp.
Fonts for "Edward II and the Battle of Bannockburn" are much bolder on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Fake 60c King George V and York Cottage Sandringham Stamps with the Original Stamps


The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of reddish-brown versus shades of brown only on the fake reproductions.
The "Kings and Queens" logo band has a very wide area in the middle that is white on genuine stamps versus it being light brown on the forgeries.
The colors throughout are much deeper on genuine stamps. The kings hair is much more pronounced and brown versus yellow-brown on the forgeries.
Note the bottom brown bar. It slightly fades from dark to light brown but on the forgeries it is almost white in the middle of the two stamps.
Fonts for "York Cottage Sandringham" are much bolder on the forgeries.

Look very closely and you can see the letters for "York Cottage" are spaced narrower on the forgery making the words not as wide as the word "Sandringham" below it. On the genuine stamps it is wider than the word "Sandringham" below it.

Comparison of the Fake 75c King Edward II and Berkeley Castle Stamps with the Original Stamps


The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of yellow-green this time versus shades of green only on the fake reproductions!
The "Kings and Queens" logo band has a very wide area in the middle that is white on genuine stamps versus it being light green on the forgeries.
The colors throughout are much deeper and brighter on genuine stamps. This time the kings hair is much more pronounced and yellow-brown versus brown on the forgeries.
As you can see the forgery looks much duller than the genuine stamp pair.
Note the bottom green bar. It fades from dark to light green but on the forgeries it is almost white on the right stamp.
Fonts for "Berkeley Castle" are much bolder on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Fake $1.00 King Edward II and his Coat of Arms Stamps with the Original Stamps


The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of green versus shades of yellow-green on the fake reproductions.
The "Kings and Queens" logo band has a very wide area in the middle that is white on genuine stamps versus it being light green on the forgeries.
The colors throughout are much deeper and brighter on genuine stamps. This time the kings hair is much more pronounced and brown versus yellow-brown on the forgeries.
As you can see the forgery looks much duller than the genuine stamp pair.
The Coat of Arms is red on genuine stamps. It is a dark orange on the forgeries.
Again note the bottom green bar. It fades from dark to light green but on the forgeries it is almost white on the right stamp.
Fonts for "Coat of Arms of Edward II" are much bolder on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Fake $4.00 King George V and his Coat of Arms Stamps with the Original Stamps


The pillars on genuine stamps are shades of reddish-brown versus shades of brown only on the fake reproductions.
The "Kings and Queens" logo band has a very wide area in the middle that is white on genuine stamps versus it being light brown on the forgeries.
The colors throughout are much deeper on genuine stamps. The kings hair is much more pronounced and browner.
Note the bottom brown bar. It slightly fades from dark to light brown but on the forgeries it is almost white in the middle of the two stamps.
The fonts on the forgeries for "DIEU ET MON DROIT" are bolder and more pronounced on the Coat of Arms than on the genuine stamps.
Fonts for "Coat of Arms of George V" are much bolder 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!
This newly discovered sale in panes shows the difference between genuine panes and the forgeries!

Here is an image of some panes of the British Monarchs issues from St. Vincent Grenadines sold by a legitimate stamp dealer (Rushstamps). All panes produced by the Format Printers are the same style with perforations running through the selvage.

Now here is the image provided by the seller on eBay selling the forgeries.

You can see that the top pane has no perforations running through the selvage at all!
All the other panes have perforations running through like the genuine panes except all have no perforations running through the right side of the panes and you can see the "extra" perforation holes on the edge on the right side which defines they are the forgeries as well.
I can make you a bet that the top pane is a newer forgery with white gum whereas the panes below it are an older version with yellowish gum. The seller of these must be either completely not savvy in stamps or he would have noticed the differences or he just wants to rip you off!!

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 Saint Vincent 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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