THE MODERN FAKE SAINT VINCENT BEQUIA 1985 4TH SERIES AUTOMOBILE STAMP ISSUES

Bequia 1985 Leaders of the World Automobiles 4th Series Forgery Set
Scott# 92,100,120,123 Stanley Gibbons# addendum

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 July of 2016.
All the stamps imaged above are fakes!

My research into the printer has enabled me to discover modern fake stamps have been created in 2015!! 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 perforated forgeries of the Bequia Leaders of the World 1985 Automobiles 4th Series issues. All are being offered online right now as I write this on July 24, 2016.
Are imperforate fakes of this issue out there too. Because of the patterns over the last couple years...obviously....yes.

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 more sales of some of the Saint Vincent Bequia Leaders of the World Cars and Trains issues being sold on eBay from a dealer based in Latvia this year. This dealer is a large volume dealer and was and is offering them in bulk lots of 5, 10 pairs all still attached. The starting bid is 99c! Buyers constantly bid them up to $3.00 to $10.00 ranges. They all are selling thus they are now everywhere in the world! Thousands have been moved!

I suspected that they are forgeries because of the many other forgeries I have purchased from this same dealer. I recently purchased a lot containing this set. They are indeed the same as all the other forgeries I have written about. I got them for $4.13 winning bid against three other bidders. This shows us how easily these are being spread across the world. Here is an image of what I got.


These would have been a good deal if they were not all fakes.
These sets plus many others including sets from Saint Lucia are being offered on eBay and elsewhere and were not being offered until now (2016). This shows that because nobody appears to want to go after the producer (which should be obvious by now), he will continue to reproduce issues originally created and printed by the Format International Security Printers in the 70's and 80's forever!!
This "dealer" is playing dumb and is persisting in selling these and many other forgeries so without naming names because of defamation retaliation and because eBay could retaliate I will have to leave it up to you collectors and dealers to do something about it.
I am not losing my account for the rats...

Obviously this "dealer" is connected with the forger.
I have alerted the APS, American Philatelic Magazine editors, Scott catalog editors about these forgeries. At this point they are tending to ignore it. Are you going to ignore it also?

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 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 2016 and no such stamps like these have ever been on the market nor recorded, it proves these to be modern forgeries of the stamps.



Screen, Font and Color Comparison of a Fake Stamp with an Original Stamp
Let us use the 20c Alfa Romeo stamp for high resolution comparisons. I use 1200dpi scans for viewing.
This first comparison shows you how inferior the screens are. I compare the car driver.


You can see that the screens used are much coarser. Most 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.


Very similar yes? The fonts are finer on the originals.

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


The original has bolder printing than on the forgery. Still very hard to detect!

Now I will show reduced images of the original 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 Fake 20c 1950 Alfa Romeo Type 158 Stamp with the Original Stamp


Notice the difference in overall color? The roadway is blue on originals and light-purple on the fakes.
Still you can see that most people will not even notice it which is what the forger wants!

Comparison of the Fake 45c 1907 Chadwick Great Six Stamp with the Original Stamp


The obvious differences with the 45c value. Firstly the car top on the original is black where it is brown on the forgery.
Note the "5" of the 45c denomination. It is much thicker on the forgery.

Comparison of the Fake $1.50 1970 Plymouth Superbird Nascar Stamp with the Original Stamp


The obvious difference here is the blue-gray color bars on originals versus the dark lavender color on the forgeries.
Again the "5" is thicker on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Fake $2 1933 Napier Railton Stamp with the Original Stamp


The whole background is light blue-gray on the original where it is light brown-gray on the forgery.
The "2" in $2 is much thicker on the forgeries.

You can see that there is a lot of differences between the two printings. The lack of details on the fakes is so obvious!!

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 Bequia 1985 4th series Automobiles 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 13 to 14 megs.

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

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