THE MODERN FAKE SAINT VINCENT 1985 CRICKET PLAYERS STAMP ISSUES

Saint Vincent 1985 Leaders of the World Cricket Players Stamp Forgery Set
Scott# 795-798 Stanley Gibbons# 842-849

After I was recently notified that fake reproductions of the Nevis Cricket Players series of stamps have been placed on the market, I searched for more Cricket Player issues. I was not surprised to find that the Saint Vincent set has been reproduced as well.

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, 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 Saint Vincent Leaders of the World 1985 Cricket Players stamp issues in perforated forms. All are being offered online right now as I write this on July 29, 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 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 the normal perforated version of this issue that I have acquired two of the forgeries glow brightly as this image shows.
Sadly two do not so we have the problem which shows us that there are multiple printings of the forgeries for this issue. Not sure about any inverts or imperfs as I do not have them in my possession nor have I seen any. Maybe you have that answer....

Here are gum comparisons.

Gum Comparison of a Fake Stamp with Gum on a Genuine Stamp
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 Original and Forgery of the 1985 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 N.S. Taylor 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 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 the fonts for the name are very similar.

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 N.S. Taylor stamp the fonts for the county name "Yorkshire" are smaller and bold on genuine stamps versus much larger and lighter on the fakes.
Note the extreme color difference!
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 5c N.S. Taylor Stamp with the Original Stamp


Now that you know what to look for it helps yes?
Notice the difference in overall color now?
Noting other differences:
Background colors on genuine stamps are shades of salmon pink versus shades of heavy pink on the fake reproductions.
Taylor's face has reddish hue on original stamps versus yellowish hue on the forgeries.
The grass is deep green on genuine stamps whereas it is light green on the forgeries.
The county logo plaque is Dark green-blue on genuine stamps versus dark blue on the forgeries.
Fonts for "Leaders of the World" logo are much lighter on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Fake 35c T.W. Graveney Stamp with the Original Stamp


The T.W. Graveney stamps are fairly easy to detect as well.
On genuine stamps the face has heavy reddish highlights. Very little of the reddish tints on the forgeries.
Background colors a bit harder to detect. The country name bar gives it away. very light red-brown on originals. Dark yellow-brown on fakes.
The county logo plaque is Dark gray on genuine stamps versus very light gray on the forgeries.
The font differences are the same as above.

Comparison of the Fake 50c R.G.D. Willis Stamp with the Original Stamp


The obvious difference again is the color on the images. Reddish-browns on originals. Only a hint of reddish tints on the images of fake reproductions.
The county logo on genuine stamps is gray versus light gray on the fakes.
The background colors are close on these stamps. Still they are very light yellow greens on genuine stamps versus greens on the forgeries.
The fonts are the same as described above.

Comparison of the Fake $3 S.D. Fletcher Stamp with the Original Stamp


The most obvious difference is the county logo plaque is Dark green-blue on genuine stamps versus dark blue on the forgeries.
The fonts in the county logo plaque differ in that the "Yorkshire" fonts are smaller and bold on originals and much larger and lighter on the forgeries.
The color on the images again has reddish hues on originals. No hint of reddish hues on the images of fake reproductions.
The background color for the country name bar is light gray-lilac on originals versus light lavender on the forgeries.
The fonts are the same as described above.

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 Saint Vincent 1985 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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