THE MODERN FAKE SAINT VINCENT UNION ISLAND 1986 5TH SERIES LOCOMOTIVE STAMP ISSUES

Saint Vincent Union Island 1986 Leaders of the World Locomotives 5th Series Perforated Forgery Set
Scott# 18,29,37,41

I have recently discovered that modern fake stamps of the four low values 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 November of 2015.
All the stamps imaged above are fakes!

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 the four lower values of perforated forgeries of the Union Island Leaders of the World 1986 Locomotives 5th Series issues. All are being offered online right now as I write this on November 20, 2015.

I have found documented proof that at least 2,500 forgery sets of this issue as the four lower values have been moved onto the market in April 2015!

I have also made several other discoveries on this issue!

In the sets I received of these is another variety of gum type. It is yellowish in color and so dangerously close to the originals gum type that without close scrutiny it is very hard to detect! I will go into more details below.
I have also discovered that this issue was forged using the same screen sizes as the originals! This makes them exceptionally dangerous forgeries.
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 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 sales of some of the Saint Vincent Union Island Leaders of the World Trains issues being sold on eBay from a dealer based in Latvia. This dealer is a large volume dealer and was and is offering them in bulk lots of 5, 10 pairs all still attached and even offering part pane sets. Also in lots with other issues. 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 other forgeries I have purchased from this same dealer. I recently purchased a lot containing the four lower values and 8 other sets of the Leaders of the World Train sets from various countries as normal issues for some and imperforates for some. In looking at all the sets I have found that they are all forgeries. At first I thought that some were authentic because I was looking only for stamps with white gum. Then I noticed that several had an "error" of which I have no documentation on in my specialized pages on the issues. I then dug deeper scanning them at 1200dpi to get a look at the screens used and that is when I discovered that even the ones with yellowish gum are fakes! They are indeed the same as all the other forgeries I have written about. I got them for $6.00 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.
Because I bought the stamps for this issue in the imaged lot above I decided to try buying one of the pane set lots. Here is an image of it.

I got it and in checking found that indeed the gum was the same yellowish type. I suspect them to have been printed at an earlier time and "held" until now.
In viewing them at 1200dpi I discovered that this set is different than many of the others. The screens used are the fine screens used on the originals! Details will be shown below.

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.
so far 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 2014 and no such stamps like these have ever been on the market nor recorded, it proves these to be modern forgeries of the stamps.

The yellowish gum I suspect to be older. It appears with this latest discovery that the forgers were working on this some time ago. The gum I am finding is bending very badly on this issue unlike original issues which only have slight bending. It is different than original gum. A flat appearance compared to original gum. Still this makes some of the forgeries exceptionally dangerous because collectors and dealers who are scanning their collections and stock looking only at the gum looking for white versus yellow appearance will have these slip right by. As stated they do appear slightly different next to the originals but if you do not have originals right there to compare, you will have to resort to magnified detection of the face of the stamp to detect the forgeries.

Here is resized image of the perforated and imperforate fake gum with an original.


Screen, Font and Color Comparison of a Fake Stamp with an Original Stamp
I have another very interesting note on this issue. You will notice that only the four low values are here. The full set is eight values. A couple years ago another seller sold the Saint Vincent side of the police evidence stock that was held by the British Metropolitan Police until 2008. The stock was part of the evidence used in the Tuvalu trials against the owners of the printing company. The seller who sold it on eBay had purchased it in auction soon after the release. It was the color proofs for many Leaders of the World Trains and Car sets for Saint Vincent and the dependencies, and for Nevis. All are from the original printings of the series.
What is interesting is that for the Union Islands 5th series Trains the seller only had the four low values of the set also!!
My question is...why do both the original color proof sets and these forgeries only have the four low values?? What happened to the high values? A mystery indeed!

So for the following comparisons I will use the final color proofs from the original stock to compare with these forgeries.
Let us use the 75c Aberdeen Railway stamp for high resolution comparisons. I use 1200dpi scans for viewing.
This first comparison shows you just how close the screens are. I compare the front of the engine.


You can see that the screens have the same coarseness in a sense. The forgery actually seems to be better than the original! The forgeries for this issue 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".

Now let's look at the fonts.


You can see that the fonts are dangerously close. Note the difference in color backgrounds.
You can see the similarity of the screens is extraordinary.
Now let's look at the side of the Coal Car on the detail drawing.


Again you can see that much of the detail is the same on the forgery. This one shows you the color difference though. The original is light purple where the forgery is blue.

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 15c 1900 Castle Class Stamp with the Original Stamp


Now that you know what to look for it helps yes?
The key point on this set is the colors. Deeper and more greenish on the first three values. The 15c stamp is a bit more subtle though making it the most dangerous of the four values.
You can see the difference in overall color now though yes?
Still you can see that most people will not even notice it which is what the forger wants!

Comparison of the Fake 45c 1929 Class Z Stamp with the Original Stamp


There is an obvious difference with the 45c value. Locomotive on original is gray and the locomotive on the fake is greenish.
The overall colors differ as well.

Comparison of the Fake 60c 1934 7200 Class Stamp with the Original Stamp


Here again the engine is grayish on the originals and greenish on the forgeries. The border bars much deeper green on the fakes.

Comparison of the Fake 75c 1850 Aberdeed Railway No. 26 Stamp with the Original Stamp


As I explained in the closeup views on this stamp the originals are light purple where the forgeries are blue.

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. That type of plastic is not produced any more. 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 Union Island 1986 5th series 75c stamp pane from the original printing.


Now here is an image of the fake stamp pane.


Now look at the image of the original pane and the image of the fake pane shown above. Can you see the difference?
The perforations do not run through the selvage on the original pane on the left side. There are no perforations on the bottom selvage of the fake pane!
The perforations running through the selvage are set by their position on the press sheets at the time of printing. There has never been "a change" to this positioning during the original printing or the authorized reprinting of this series.
I note the black "square" at the left bottom corner of the fake pane also.
That is just one way how I knew they are fakes before I even got them!

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 Union Island 1986 5th series Locomotives 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 7 to 8 megs.

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

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