THE SAINT VINCENT 1985 ELVIS PRESLEY STAMP AND SOUVENIR SHEET FORGERIES

Scott Catalog# 874-881 Stanley Gibbons# 919-26 MS927

A Saint Vincent 1985 Elvis Presley Imperforate Souvenir Sheet Forgery

UPDATE OCTOBER 2017

I have made a major update to this page. The single stamp forgeries are now on the market! Recently I have received purchases of both perforated and imperforate forgeries of this issue from user balticamber2011 on eBay. In the Gaertner October 2015 auction, lot#24181 containing 10,000 sets in panes of this issue and 10,000 sets containing the Michael Jackson issue was stopped from selling because they were discovered to be forgeries. The forgeries have now found other ways to be disbursed onto the stamp market.
As of this update I am adding the stamps section, names of sellers and a new ultra-violet light detection section. I will also make a couple changes to the existing write-ups.

END OF UPDATE OCTOBER 2017

UPDATE March 2018

As of March 2018 a new player has joined the ranks selling forgeries of this issue. On eBay stampsinternational2010 (aka city-collectables) has apparently acquired a large stock of the forgeries and is trying to move them on eBay. We have forced him to describe them as such but are still having problems with him placing them in the proper category. Namely the "Fakes and Reproductions" category. In my opinion all of them should be permanently marked as forgeries on the back. The fake inverts as color proof sets in full panes are now on the market!

I have acquired a set of them (at $20.00) for reference and can now verify they are exactly the same as the "normal" forgery set imaged above. Here is an image of all the panes that I received together.


Here is an image of a genuine set of color proofs of a 1985 $5 Elvis Presley stamp pair.


Here is an image of the forged $5 color proofs of a 1985 Elvis Presley stamp pairs.


Now you can see just how different the forgeries are. Not only in the colors but look at the way the signature is made! The genuine stamps have white placed where the signature will go. the forgeries...well just look.
Note that there are only five proofs in the forgery set. Nine for the genuine set. Note that the blue/red, final colors, final colors with country name and frame proofs are all missing in the forgery sets. This is because the forgery process has been "cheapened" down and the frame proof would be absolute proof that they are forgeries as it would show a complete difference from the genuine frame proofs as it would show that the signature was made with the blue and red forged proofs rather than in a separate run with an entirely different color of blue used for the signature.
Should these forgeries even be offered at all by sellers? Not without them being permanently marked as forgeries so they cannot deceive unknowing dealers and collectors.

END OF UPDATE March 2018

DECEMBER 2018 UPDATE

Well sadly I have more bad news on this issue. The seller using the user name city-collectables (aka Stampsinternational2010 or Krakow Stamps) located Poland.39-40/1 Rynek Glowny,Krakow has proven to be an unhonorable and rip-off seller. After pretending to be honorable on eBay as I showed and thought on the Saint Vincent 1985 Michael Jackson Forgery page he has either continued or has started trying to knowingly sell the Format forgery panes on Hipstamps. Here are snapshot images of his sale on Hipstamps of the fake imperforate Saint Vincent 1985 Elvis Presley Stamp Sheets.

Fake 1985 Saint vincent Elvis Presley Imperforate Stamp Sheets Being Sold by city-collectables

Close-up image from the sale by city-collectables on Hipstamps

It is sad to see that dealers like this would rather knowingly rip-off unknowing collectors rather than to have the guts to admit they were ripped off by their own lack of knowledge and take the hit and either destroy these fakes or mark them all as forgeries and sell them as such. This seller has proven to be yet another low life con that nobody should do business with. What other fake garbage is this seller pawning?
BEWARE!!

END OF DECEMBER 2018 UPDATE

Now for my original writing I wrote in 2016 on this issue.

I have 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 have and are being flooded on the market as I write this page in January of 2016.

I have documented evidence that an attempt to move 10,000 fake sets of the 1985 Elvis Presley stamp issue onto the market along with 10,000 fake sets of the 1985 Michael Jackson issue in October of 2015 was made. The source for the souvenir sheets has not been discovered yet.

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. Most of the new forgeries have gum that is 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 forgeries of the souvenir sheet as imperforates. An attempt was made to move the fake stamps on the market so it is certain they will appear soon in mass. The souvenir sheets are being offered online right now as I write this on January 31, 2016.

Noting as of 2017 the stamp forgeries have now been moved onto the market.

The stamps and souvenir sheets are very popular for Elvis Presley collectors and many other types of collectors.
Thanks to the greed of certain individuals and the ignoring by your stamp community leaders the problem grows daily until all Format produced stamps from the 1980's will possibly be forged. If you can't figure out who is behind it by now then perhaps you should read up on the history of the Format Printers.

I can also tell you that I have discovered that many more "modern" issues for many 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 many cases. All are being produced by the same source which is known but evades public exposure 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 Audubon Birds issues including inverted frames, Dogs inverts, Flowers inverts, Michael Jackson inverts, 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 many 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 purchased in October 2017 on eBay sets of perforated and imperforate single pairs of this issue from balticamber2011 in strips of 5 pairs. I won them for $1.25 each lot. Looks like collectors are waking up to what is happening. A few years ago the unauthorized reprints these sellers were selling were going for a bunch more. Here are images of what I received.

Perforated Saint Vincent 1985 Elvis Presley Stamp Forgery Strips of Five

Imperforate Saint Vincent 1985 Elvis Presley Stamp Forgery Strips of Five


This is the new single stamp pair section created in October 2017.

I now have everything together to present to you how to detect them and not get ripped off!!

The number one clue about these forgeries:
ALL INVERTS OF THIS ISSUE ARE FAKES

The Format Printers never produced any "inverts" of this issue ever! When the unauthorized reprints were produced by Clive Feigenbaum in the mid 1990's the inverted Elvis Presley stamps appeared. All inverts either from that production or if new forgeries appear are fake in all ways. All being shoddy reproductions from the genuine stamps.

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 both the perforated and imperforate forgeries which have the white gum all glow brightly. Here is the comparison.

I have found that all the souvenir sheet forgeries also glow in the same way. Since I originally wrote this page I did obtain the other souvenir sheet that was not obtained at that time.

The gum is very important to note here. You can compare the originals with tons of other original Format produced issues and find it is exactly the same no matter what country it was made for. The fakes are not. Here are the differences.

Here are gum comparisons.

Close up Gum Comparison of a Stamp Forgeries Gum with Genuine Stamp Gum
This gum appears to still be PVA but with a flat shiny appearance and very white compared to original Format gum. The forged stamps are "flat" whereas the genuine stamps have a natural "bending" from age and the type of gum Format used.
I note the way the perforation holes are cut. You can see a beveled effect on the genuine stamp. This is because the paper and gum are much thicker on genuine stamps causing a bevel in the holes. Since the forgeries are on thinner cheap paper there is no bevel.


Gum Comparison of a Genuine Saint Vincent Elvis Presley Stamp Pair with a Forgery
For this issue we can see how the gum is extremely different in images. Comparing them with an original is an easy way to tell the gum differences.
I note that the deceit made by these newest forgeries is apparent because the forger is using the correct perforation sizes. Unlike the unauthorized reprints which have a 27 hole count, the newest forgeries have the 24 hole count like the genuine issue. Still from this image you can see that the holes on the forgery are slightly larger than on genuine stamps.


Screen and Color Comparison of a Stamp Forgery with a Genuine Stamp
The following images taken at 1200dpi and not enhanced. I use the 10c values for comparisons.

One first and foremost way to tell these fakes is to look at the surface on the face. Shiny like a photo? Forgeries. Dull matt finish? Genuine.

This one compare's Elvis Presley's face on the left stamp. Note the difference in color on the forged stamp. The coarser inferior screens used making the image lose much detail.


This one compare's Elvis Presley's face on the right stamp. Note the difference in color on the forged stamp. The coarser inferior screens used making the image lose much detail.


Now here is a comparison of the signature.
Here you can see another blunder by the forger. On the originals there is white spacing on the red bar provided for the blue signature which is supposed to line up with it. There are no breaks or white areas around the blue signature at all on the forgery!
The "v" and the "i" are misplaced upward on the forgeries of the 10c stamps.
There are differences with the signature on all of the values which I will describe with the stamp comparisons below.


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

Comparison of the Saint Vincent 1985 Elvis Presley 10c Stamp Forgeries with Genuine Stamps


Now that you know what to look for it helps yes?
Notice the difference in overall color now?
Noting other differences:
On the left genuine stamp Elvis Presley's hair has a tiny gap from the edge of the image at the top. His hair is cut off at the top on the forgery.
On the right genuine stamp Elvis Presley's hair has a large gap from the edge of the image at the top. His hair is much closer at the top on the forgery.
On the left genuine stamp Elvis Presley's shirt on the right shows a large white portion on the right side from the edge of the image at the right. The right white portion is cut off at the right on the forgery.
On the right genuine stamp Elvis Presley's shirt on the right shows a large gap of blue on the right side from the edge of the image at the right. The right gap of blue is cut off at the right to where his shoulder almost touches the edge on the forgery.
All the color bars are dark red on the genuine stamps. They are bright red on the forgeries.
The prominent way to tell the forgeries is by the signature. On the 10c forged values the "v" and the "i" are placed above the red bar. They are placed on the red on genuine stamps with white gaps on the bar where they are placed.

Comparison of the Saint Vincent 1985 Elvis Presley 60c Stamp Forgeries with Genuine Stamps


Noting differences:
On the left genuine stamp Elvis Presley's hair has a tiny gap from the edge of the image at the top. His hair is cut off at the tips at the top on the forgery.
On the right genuine stamp Elvis Presley's hair has a gap from the edge of the image at the top. His hair is much closer at the top on the forgery.
On the left genuine stamp Elvis Presley's shirt on the right has a small gap on the right side from the edge of the image. It is partly cut off on the forgery.
On the right genuine stamp Elvis Presley's jacket on the right shows a larger portion on the right side from the edge of the image at the right. Note the plaid lines. It is cut off at the right on the forgery.
On the left genuine stamp the background is red-brown. On the forgeries it is dark brown.
On the right genuine stamp the background is very light gray. It is light blue on the forgeries.
All the color bars are dark green-blue on the genuine stamps. They are light blue on the forgeries.
The prominent way to tell the forgeries is by the signature. On the 60c forged values the "v" and the "i" are placed above the blue bar. They are placed on the blue bar on genuine stamps with white gaps on the bar where they are placed.

Comparison of the Saint Vincent 1985 Elvis Presley $1 Stamp Forgeries with Genuine Stamps


Noting differences:
On the left genuine stamp Elvis Presley's hair has a gap from the edge of the image at the top. His hair has a large gap at the top on the forgery.
On the right genuine stamp Elvis Presley's hair has a large gap from the edge of the image at the top. His hair is much closer at the top on the forgery.
On the left genuine stamp Elvis arm has a large triangle gap on the lower left corner (showing background color) from the edge of the image. There is no gap on the forgery! It appears whited out.
On the right genuine stamp Elvis Presley's jacket on the right shows a larger portion of the arm the right side from the edge of the image at the right. Note the black line. Much of it is cut off at the right on the forgery.
On the left genuine stamp the background is red-brown. On the forgeries it is dark brown.
On the right genuine stamp Elvis looks like he has a good tan. He looks pale on the forgeries.
All the color bars are dark green on the genuine stamps. They are light green on the forgeries.
The prominent way to tell the forgeries is by the signature. On the $1 forged values the "i" is placed above the green bar. It is placed on the green bar on genuine stamps with white gaps on the bar where they are placed. I note a difference with the forgeries of the $1 value though! The forger made the gaps on the green bar for the letters that do touch it! The letters are still badly misplaced and I note much thicker than on the genuine stamps.

Comparison of the Saint Vincent 1985 Elvis Presley $5 Stamp Forgeries with Genuine Stamps


Noting differences:
On the left genuine stamp Elvis Presley's hair has a large gap from the edge of the image at the top. His hair is cut off at the top on the forgery.
On the right genuine stamp Elvis Presley's hair has a large gap from the edge of the image at the top. His hair is much closer at the top on the forgery.
On the left genuine stamp Elvis Presley's jacket on the left has a large white reflection on the lower left corner of the image. A large part is cut off on the forgery.
On the right genuine stamp Elvis Presley's shirt on the right shows a larger portion of the white stripe on the right side from the edge of the image at the right. It is mostly cut off at the right on the forgery.
On the left genuine stamp the background is light gray. On the forgeries it is light blue.
On the right genuine stamp Elvis appears to have a tan. His face is pale on the forgeries.
All the color bars are pinkish-red on the genuine stamps. They are red on the forgeries.
The prominent way to tell the forgeries is by the signature. On the $5 forged values the "i" barely touches the red bar. They are placed on the red bar on genuine stamps with white gaps on the bar where they are placed. I note there are no white gaps at all on the forgery.

THE SAINT VINCENT 1985 ELVIS PRESLEY SOUVENIR SHEET FORGERIES

This section I am keeping the same as when I wrote it in 2016.

Months ago I noticed sales of the Saint Vincent 1985 Elvis Presley souvenir sheets being sold as imperforates on eBay from eBay seller asrm10 located in Latvia in lots of five sheets starting bidding at 99c! I was avoiding them because I thought they were probably just the unauthorized reprints made in 1990 by Clive Feigenbaum. Because I have discovered so many fakes already I took a closer look when the Elvis souvenir sheets came up again. To my surprise the positioning of the images on the stamps differed from the reprints. I suspected them to be new forgeries because up till now, no imperforates of this issue were ever offered before except from the earlier unauthorized reprints!
Recently I purchased three bulk lots of 5 of the imperforate souvenir sheets from this seller, I lost on one lot so did not get the whole set.
I won the lots of 5 imperforate souvenir sheets for $3.60 each showing how easily they are spreading. I then went in and pulled out the sets I used for producing the unauthorized reprints page and got the original souvenir sheets. I immediately compared them with the imperforate souvenir sheets I just received and sure enough they are from a completely different printing than the originals! The colors, screens, fonts and gum completely differ. They also are completely different than the 1990 unauthorized reprints!

Here are gum comparisons.

Close up Gum Comparison of a Souvenir Sheet Forgeries Gum with Genuine Souvenir Sheet Gum
This gum appears to still be PVA but with a flat shiny appearance and very white compared to original Format gum. The forged souvenir sheets are "flat" whereas the originals have a natural "bending" from age and the type of gum Format used.


Gum Comparison of a Genuine Saint Vincent Elvis Presley Souvenir Sheet with a Forgery
For this issue we can see how the gum is extremely different in images. Comparing them with an original is an easy way to tell the gum differences.
I note that the genuine souvenir sheets are very transparent and you can see the signatures almost bleed through. Not so on the forgeries.


Screen and Color Comparison of the Souvenir Sheet Forgery with Genuine Souvenir Sheet
the following images taken at 1200dpi and not enhanced. I use the $4.50 value for comparisons.

One first and foremost way to tell these fakes is to look at the surface on the face. Shiny like a photo? Forgeries. Dull matt finish? Genuine.

First let us look at the stamps on the souvenir sheets. This one compare's Elvis Presley's face. Note the difference in color on the forged stamp. There is a difference with these fakes. The screens are as fine as the screens used on genuine souvenir sheets!
The color shading is much darker on the forgeries.


Now here is a section from the side of the souvenir sheets with Elvis's arm.
Wait a minute! What's going on here? The original has a smaller stud pattern on the arm. It in fact appears completely different!
Note the blurry studs on the forgeries. It appears the fine screens were only used on the stamps!


Quite a difference yes?


Now here is a comparison of the signature.
Here you can see another blunder by the forger. On the originals there was white spacing provided for the blue signature which is supposed to line up with it. Breaks at the red frame lines and so forth. There are no breaks or white areas around the blue signature at all!
Many more differences can be seen here.


Comparison of the Fake 30c Souvenir Sheet with the Original 30c Souvenir Sheet
Now that you know what to look for you can see the difference yes? Still you can see this is a dangerous stamp forgery.
Obvious Difference:
Background is very dark brown on the forgeries. The background on the fake stamps is aqua blue versus sky blue on originals.


Which one would you want in your collection?

Comparison of the Fake 50c Souvenir Sheet with the Original 50c Souvenir Sheet
This is the one I lost on so I just took the image from the sellers lot to compare.
Obvious Difference:
Background is very dark brown on the originals versus greenish on the fakes. Elvis hair is black on originals versus brown on forgeries. Elvis hair almost touches the top of the souvenir sheet on the fakes.


Comparison of the Fake $1.50 Souvenir Sheet with the Original $1.50 Souvenir Sheet
Obvious Difference:
Background is brown on the originals, green on the forgeries. The top of Elvis's hair is cut off on the forgeries.


Comparison of the Fake $4.50 Souvenir Sheet with the Original $4.50 Souvenir Sheet
Obvious Difference:
Background is reddish on the originals, dark red-brown on the forgeries. The top of Elvis's hair almost touches the top of the souvenir sheet on the forgeries.


You can now define the Saint Vincent 1985 Elvis Presley forgeries of the stamps and souvenir sheets easily and can now possibly avoid being ripped off! Sadly, many have been ripped off already!

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

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