THE MODERN FAKE SAINT VINCENT GRENADINES 1988 AMERICA'S CUP SAILING YACHTS STAMP ISSUES

Saint Vincent Grenadines 1988 America's Cup Sailing Yachts Forgery Set
Scott# 579-585 Stanley Gibbons# 547-552, MS553

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 August of 2017.
The 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 America's Cup 1988 Sailing Yachts issues. All are/have been offered online right now as I write this on August 25, 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 "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 purchased the above imaged set from a dealer in Canada who did not even realize that they were forgeries. I purchased them recently along with many other sets which have all proven to be the same type of forgeries I have documented over the passed two years. The genuine imperforate color proofs were sold on eBay in bulk lots in 2012 by City Collectibles who obtained the entire stock of them. I have not seen forgeries of imperforates of this issue....yet. Possibly the forger decided not to create imperforate forgeries of this issue because of the sales by City Collectibles.

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 America's Cup Stamp with Original
Unlike the gum on most of the forgeries that are flooding the market right now the gum is more yellowish in color on these. It is opaque though in comparison with the original gum. This type of gum has appeared on several other issues I have detected as forgeries like the St. Vincent Century of Motoring issue and several 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.



Screen and Color Comparison of the Fake Stamp with Original Stamp
I will use the 50c Australia IV value for comparisons using an original from a set I purchased many years ago before any of this happened 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 genuine stamp is bolder. The "l" gives this away as it is very thin on the forgery.
Not the case though with all of them. For instance on the $4.00 value it is the opposite and the letters are larger and more spaced apart on the genuine stamps.



This whole set is fairly easy to detect just by the colors. The sky colors are shades of blue on genuine stamps. They are shades of green-blue on all the forgeries.
The water on all the genuine stamps is shades of dark-blues and dark green-blues. On the forgeries it is shades of dark-purples and dark-grays making the water look murky.
Some of the forgeries are heavily off center.

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

Comparison of the 50c Australia IV Sailing Racing Yacht Stamp Forgery with a Genuine Stamp


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!

Noticeable Differences:
Water is shades of dark purples and grays on the forgery. Water is shades of dark blues and greens on genuine stamps.
Sky is shades of light blues on genuine stamps. Sky is shades of light greens on the forgeries.

Comparison of the 65c Crusader II Sailing Racing Yacht Stamp Forgery with a Genuine Stamp


Noticeable Differences:
Water is shades of dark gray-browns on the forgery. Water is shades of dark blues on genuine stamps.
Sky is shades of light blues on genuine stamps. Sky is shades of light greens on the forgeries.

Comparison of the 75c New Zealand K27 Sailing Racing Yacht Stamp Forgery with a Genuine Stamp


Noticeable Differences:
Water is shades of dark gray-purples on the forgery. Water is shades of dark blues and greens on genuine stamps.
Sky is shades of light blues on genuine stamps. Sky is shades of light greens on the forgeries.

Comparison of the $2 Italia Sailing Racing Yacht Stamp Forgery with a Genuine Stamp


Noticeable Differences:
Water is shades of dark gray-purples on the forgery. Water is shades of dark blues and greens on genuine stamps.
Sky is light bright-blue on genuine stamps. Sky is light dull-green on the forgeries.

Comparison of the $4 White Crusader Sailing Racing Yacht Stamp Forgery with a Genuine Stamp


Noticeable Differences:
Water is shades of dark and dull gray-greens on the forgery. Water is shades of dark greens on genuine stamps and the white cap waves are very white.
Sky is shades of light blues on genuine stamps. Sky is shades of light greens on the forgeries.

Comparison of the $5 Stars and Stripes Sailing Racing Yacht Stamp Forgery with a Genuine Stamp


Noticeable Differences:
Water is shades of dark gray-purples on the forgery. Water is shades of dark blues and greens on genuine stamps.
Sky is light bright-blue on genuine stamps. Sky is light dull-green on the forgeries.

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 is discovering them because of my research on the printer.
Indeed several issues that I have researched and obtained the original varieties of are effected. This set does not effect me at all. I only own what is imaged. 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 1988 America's Cup Sailing Racing Yachts 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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