THE MODERN FAKE SAINT VINCENT GRENADINES 1983 BRITISH MONARCHS INVERTED FRAME STAMP ISSUES

Saint Vincent Grenadines 1983 Leaders of the World British Monarchs Inverted Frame Forgery Set
Scott# 279-284 Stanley Gibbons# 255-266

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 October of 2015.
The imperforate set imaged above is completely fake!

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 Grenadines Leaders of the World 1983 British Monarchs issues with inverted frames. All are/have been offered online right now as I write this on October 23, 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 "errors" such as these and varieties 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 have been 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 sales of the Saint Vincent Grenadines 1983 British Monarchs issue as inverted frame errors being sold on eBay from a dealer based in the UK. This dealer was selling these inverts and many others but has since closed down the lots due to the first article posted in the British Philatelic Exporter this month! This dealer I alerted to the fact months ago but he persisted in selling these fakes until just recently. The article verifies that all the inverts are fakes.

I suspected that they are forgeries because other forgeries I have purchased from this same dealer. I recently purchased the lot and sure enough they are exactly the same as all the other forgeries I have written about. I got them for $29.10 fixed price. This shows us how easily these are being spread across the world. This dealer on eBay and others have sold numerous sets of inverts to numerous buyers. The honorable thing to do would be to contact the buyers and offer refunds. But they have not. I know because I am a major buyer buying them for these pages. If you bought a set, you should demand a refund. They are fakes that were never made by the Format International Security Printers.

This dealer played dumb and persisted 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.
So far I have alerted the APS, American Philatelic Magazine editors, Scott catalog editors about these forgeries. At this point they all are tending to ignore it. Because of their lack of interest now many collectors own forgeries that in the end they will never get a decent return on. Are you going to ignore it also?

I am fairly certain fakes of the normal perforated issue and probably imperforates are also out there.

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 a Fake Butterfly Stamp with Original
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 imperforates did not appear on the market until 2014, it proves these to be modern forgeries of the stamps.


Screen and Color Comparison of the Fake Stamp with Original Stamp
I will use the 60c James I value for comparisons using an original specimen overprinted pair which is proof of the original printing.

Note the extreme difference in color on the fake stamp. The inferior screen pattern that lacks much of the details.


Now let's look at the fonts.


You can see that the fonts on the forgery are bolder. Noting the obvious difference in paper used.

Now let's look at the top of the column.


You can see that the screens used are completely different. But do you see what I see? Yes the green band in the column is completely missing on the fake stamp! Thus a very easy way to tell the forgeries from the originals! Except....this only occurs on the greenish columns. On the three stamp pairs with orange-red columns this does not occur.

Now I will show reduced images of the original specimen overprinted stamp pairs 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 60c Henry VIII Coat of Arms Stamps with the Original Stamps


Now that you know what to look for it helps yes?
Still you can see that most people will not even notice it which is what the forger wants!

Comparison of the Fake 60c James I Coat of Arms Stamps with the Original Stamps


Comparison of the Fake 75c Henry VIII Hampton Court Stamps with the Original Stamps


Comparison of the Fake 75c James I Edinburgh Castle Stamps with the Original Stamps


Comparison of the Fake $2.50 Henry VIII Mary Rose Stamps with the Original Stamps


Comparison of the Fake $2.50 James I Gunpowder Plot Stamps with the Original Stamps


You can see that there is a lot of differences between the two printings.

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 some Saint Vincent Grenadines 1983 British Monarchs stamp panes from the original printing.


Now here is an image of a corner block set of the fake Bequia 1985 Dogs inverted frame error stamps with color Guides.


Now look at the image of the pane and the image of the fake stamp blocks with selvage shown above. Can you see the difference?
The perforations run through the selvage on the original pane on all sides. There are no perforations on the selvage of the fake corner blocks at all!
Indeed several values do not have the perforations running through the selvage where the color guide is, but several like the pane imaged do!

I have not purchased any normal stamps of this issue that are forged but they are on the market!

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 Grenadines British Monarchs stamps easily (inverted or not) 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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