THE SAINT VINCENT BEQUIA 1986 RAILROAD ENGINEERS AND LOCOMOTIVES STAMP FORGERIES

Scott Catalog# 237-240


I have found documented proof dated April 2015 that at least 10,000 perforated and 10,000 imperforate forgery sets have been moved onto the market!
They were sold in Gaertner's 30th auction in lot number 21438A.

UPDATE October 2017

Adding users who sell these forgeries along with new ultra-violet light detection section.

END OF UPDATE

I have recently discovered that modern fake stamps of this issue are being sold 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 November of 2015.

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 fake imperforates and perforated sets of the Saint Vincent Grenadines Bequia 1986 Railroad Engineers issue. All are being offered online right now as I write this on November 1, 2015.

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 some 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 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 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.

The main movers of this junk now since 2014 and still to this day in 2017 are eBay sellers: armi777 based in Latvia.
asrm10 based in Latvia.
balticamber2011 based in Latvia.
kamalmedicine based in India.
kamalthematic based in India.
alphaomegaphilately based in India.
stampbank_of_london based in the United Kingdom.

I note that apparently some as you can see are the same seller using different user names.

These sellers are spamming and have been spamming eBay lots for several years now. They offer this junk at 99c start bids. Or they offer fake color proofs and fake inverts and fake imperforates for amounts that would not relate to true value of the genuine stamps. Namely because for most the genuine material was either destroyed or only found on archival press sheets of which very few were saved in the archive. Therefore, this junk offered by these sellers (which you can see nobody appears to care in the philatelic community) should be avoided because all you are doing if you buy it is to:

1.) Enable the producer of these fake reproductions to continue to rip you off!
2.) Enable sellers like these to continue to rip you off!
3.) Enable the flooding of the stamp market with these fake reproductions to the point that now over 50% and in some cases much more are now being sold to unknowing collectors and thus you are ripping off other collectors!

Recently I noticed sales of the Saint Vincent Grenadines Bequia 1986 Railroad Engineers and Locomotives issue being sold as imperforates and perforated stamps on eBay from user armi777 in Latvia at the 99c starting bid! Selling them in lots of 5 and 10 sets. All still attached from the sides of the panes. I had already discovered the seller is selling other fake sets and so I purchased a set of the imperforates to find they are indeed forgeries! Here is an image of what I received. The colors, screens, fonts and gum completely differ.


I got this for $9.72 winning bid. There were six bids against me. I have since bought the perforated version and they are on the way as I write this. They are imaged further down this page. I am 100% positive they too are fakes and will show you why when you get to that part of the page.

Update!

Lot was received and they too are 100% forgeries of the originals.

In scanning eBay and Delcampe today (October 8, 2017) I found many sellers on eBay offering a set of these. The worst user is kamalmedicine and kamalthematic. Told about the forgeries but he persists to scam eBay with this junk.
Because this seller persists in trying to rip you off knowing he is selling forgeries my advise is to avoid this seller!

alexunitrad has obvious perforated forgeries for sale. unidav and sova have the same exact image even though one is located in the U.S. and one is located in Romania. Very suspicious activity there! Both have a lousy blurry image. A good sign they are hiding something. Avoid!
artcraft_sarkar.books image is blurry and appears to be fakes. Avoid until the seller proves them not.
kleo53 using small image appears that this user may have a mix of genuine and forgery. Let's see a good image of them!
cumbrianlaika sorry...looks like you got duped!

As you can see the problem caused by one person and proliferated by others is effecting everyone.

I now have everything needed to show you the differences.

To show the differences I will use an original set I just had shipped from a reputable dealer, beddaustamps in the UK, who specializes in these issues.

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 perforated and imperforate versions of this issue that I have acquired, the forgeries glow brightly as this images show.


First clue that the stamps are forgeries is NO IMPERFORATE VERSIONS OF THIS ISSUE WERE EVER OFFERED UNTIL 2015!
The only imperforate versions of this issue exist in color proof presentation folders or on Format Presentation Cards. So anyone offering gummed imperforate versions of this issue are offering you forgeries.

Here are gum comparisons.

Gum Comparison of a Fake Stamp with Original 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 2014 and no such stamps with this gum type have ever been on the market nor recorded, it proves these to be modern forgeries of the stamps.


I will use the $1 value for 1200dpi image comparisons.

Screen and Color Comparison of the Fake $1 Stamp with Original $1 Stamp
Note the difference in color on the fake stamp. The inferior screen pattern. So much detail is not there!


Screen and Font Comparison of the Fake $1 Stamp with Original $1 Stamp
Again noting the difference in color on the fake stamp. You can see the fonts on the fake stamp are only slightly bolder than on the original. The inferior screen pattern is prominent in this image.


Comparison of the Fake $1 Sir Daniel Gooch and the 1840 Fire Fly Class Locomotive Stamp with the Original Stamp
A stunning replica yes?
Please note the difference in colors on the fake stamp. You can see that the forgery has deeper colors yet still can easily slip by undetected.
The forgery stamps are kind of like a photocopy of the originals but use a lower quality screen and have a shiny surface over the face.


Comparison of the Fake $2.50 Sir Nigel Gresley and the 1938 Class A4 Locomotive Stamp with the Original Stamp
Again a difference in colors on the fake stamp. You can see that Sir Gresley's face is much deeper in color on the fake.
The black fonts are much heavier than on the original.


Comparison of the Fake $3 Sir William Stanier and the 1937 Coronation Class Locomotive Stamp with the Original Stamp
Here note the difference in color on Sir Stanier's face. You can see that his face appears much brighter and with more color to it compared to the fake! Yet the locomotive is a deeper blue on the fake than on the original! The wheel structure is blacker on the fake also.


Comparison of the Fake $4 Oliver V. S. Bulleid and the Battle of Britain Class Locomotive Stamp with the Original Stamp
Here I note the difference in color of the sky on the fake stamp. You can see that the color is a deeper blue color on the original. This time Mr. Bulleid's face is deeper in color on the original than on the fake. The black fonts on the fake are bolder.


I have created a table with links at the bottom of this page to full size images at 1200dpi for you to use to compare. Therefore please, use my pages to authenticate them before putting money down on them and getting ripped off!

One buyer of these fakes purchased a large lot from one of the biggest and most reputable stamp sellers on eBay. He bought what he thought was the complete print run of one "newly discovered" error in full panes in packets of 200 panes which were unopened.
I am sorry to say that there are several ways proving these were never produced by the Format Printers.
Firstly the packaging is wrong. Here is the image he sent me.


The plastic wrapping is a flexible plastic used today. Format packaged all stamp panes in very brittle hard plastic that tears easily when opened. The separation paper is brown. Format always used pink/red paper to separate and protect the panes and souvenir sheets.

The perforations on the panes are wrong

Here is an image of the Saint Vincent Bequia 1986 Railroad Engineers $1 stamp pane from the original printing.


Now here is an image of the perforated fake part stamp pane set I mentioned earlier.


Now look at the image of the original pane and the image of the fake part stamp pane set shown above. Can you see the difference?
The perforations run through the selvage on the original panes on all sides. There are no perforations on the selvage of the fake panes on any side!
That is just one way how I knew they are fakes before I even got them!

You can now define the Saint Vincent Grenadines Bequia 1986 Railroad Engineers and Locomotives stamp forgeries easily and can now possibly avoid being ripped off!
Sadly many have already been fooled....

Here are links to images of each individual stamp. 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. Please be patient with downloading them because each file is around 5 megs.

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

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