THE SAINT VINCENT 1984 2ND SERIES AUTOMOBILE STAMP FORGERIES

Saint Vincent 1984 Leaders of the World Automobiles 2nd Series Forgery Set
Scott# 773-777 Stanley Gibbons# 820-829

I have not found documented proof of quantities of these forgeries that have been moved onto the market but can state it will be a large quantity!

I discovered that this set along with other Saint Vincent Cars and Trains stamp sets were forged and being put on the market in 2015. I am putting this page together now because I finally acquired the Saint Vincent 2nd series Automobiles set as forgeries just recently from a Canadian stamp dealer who is selling this set and many other different forgery sets which he has stated he received from Morville Trading located in San Clemente, California. They are exactly like all the other forgeries I have created pages for and have been flooded onto the market for over two years now.
This page I am writing in October of 2017. The set of stamps shown above are fake reproductions, in other words forgeries of the original set!

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 perforated Saint Vincent Leaders of the World 1984 Automobiles 2nd Series issues. They are being offered online right now as I write this on October 22, 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.

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 the normal perforated version of this issue that I have acquired, the forgeries glow brightly as this image shows. I use the genuine specimen overprinted set for the comparison.

Here are gum comparisons.

For all comparisons I am using a Specimen overprinted set to compare with which is proof of original printing.

Gum Comparison of Fake Stamps with Original
The white 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.



Here is a resized image of the gum side of a genuine stamp and a forgery.


Screen, Font and Color Comparison of a Fake Stamp with an Original Stamp
Let us use the 55c 1964 Pontiac GTO automobile stamp for high resolution comparisons. I use 1200dpi scans for viewing.
Noting it is an interest stamp because when it was printed originally, the printer made an error in putting "1967" on the stamp. It was reprinted with the correct year "1964" but quite a few got out before it was noticed. This specimen stamp shows the error.

This first comparison shows you how inferior the screens are. I compare the front of the engine.


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 exactly 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 fonts are dangerously close on this stamp.

Now let's look at the Front of the car on the detail drawing.


Again you can see that much of the detail is gone or indistinct on the forgery.
I ask you....which one would you rather have?
Note even the "GTO" letters on the front grill cannot be read on the stamp forgery!
Here you can also see the distinct difference in the screens that are used.

Now I will show reduced images of the genuine stamps with the forgeries. At the bottom table are links to the same images at full size. To big to fit the page of course as I scanned them all at 1200dpi.

Comparison of the 5c 1958 Austin-Healey Sprite Automobile Stamp Forgery with a Genuine Stamp

Now that you know what to look for it helps yes?
Notice the extreme difference in overall color now?
Still you can see that most people will not even notice it which is what the forger wants!

Noted Differences:
The car is red on genuine stamps. It is mauve on the forgeries.
The background colors are light tan on genuine stamps. It is gray-tan on the forgeries.
The "I" and "T" in BRITAIN almost touch on the forgeries whereas they are well away from each other on genuine stamps.

Comparison of the 20c 1971 Maserati Ghibli coupe Automobile Stamp Forgery with a Genuine Stamp

Noted Differences:
The car is bluish-gray on genuine stamps. It is gray on the forgeries.
The background colors are salmon pink on genuine stamps. It is pink on the forgeries.
The "I" and "T" and the "A" and the "L" in ITALY touch on the forgeries whereas they are well away from each other on genuine stamps.

Comparison of the 55c 1964 Pontiac GTO Automobile Stamp Forgery with a Genuine Stamp

Noted Differences:
The car is shade of blue on genuine stamps. It is shades of lavender on the forgeries.
The "Leaders of the World" bar colors are yellow-brown on genuine stamps. It is deep brick-red on the forgeries.

Comparison of the $1.50 1957 Jaguar D Type Automobile Stamp Forgery with a Genuine Stamp

Noted Differences:
The car is much lighter shades of bluish-gray on genuine stamps. It is much darker with shades of black-gray on the forgeries.
The shaded area on the road in front of the car is greenish on genuine stamps. No hint of green on the forgery.
The background colors are very light yellow-green on genuine stamps. It is very light blue-green on the forgeries.
The "I" and "T" in BRITAIN almost touch on the forgeries whereas they are well away from each other on genuine stamps.

Comparison of the $2.50 1970 Ferrari 365 GTB4 Daytona Automobile Stamp Forgery with a Genuine Stamp

Noted Differences:
The background colors are very light yellow-green on genuine stamps. It is very light blue-green on the forgeries.
The "Leaders of the World" bar colors are light purple on genuine stamps. It is dark mauve on the forgeries.
The "I" and "T" in ITALY touch on the forgeries whereas they are well away from each other on genuine stamps.

So now you can see that there is a lot of differences between the two printings.

I have not seen this set as imperforate versions of the forgeries on the market....yet. It is possible they are out there or it is very possible they will be appearing soon!

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 do not effect me at all because I only own what is shown. 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 Saint Vincent 1984 2nd series Automobiles forgery 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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