THE FORGED UNAUTHORIZED REPRINTS OF THE TUVALU NIUTAO 1985 LEADERS OF THE WORLD AUDUBON BIRDS STAMP ISSUES

I have discovered that there is a reprinted version of the 1985 Audubon Birds issue that is very different from the original versions. In essence the forged unauthorized reprints were made by/for a stamp dealer named Clive Feigenbaum.

According to the reprint agreement started in 1987 the artwork and all other materials including the Format Printers Company Logo were still held under the legal ownership of Clive Feigenbaum who had the reproductions done. The reprint agreement gave sole right to the owners of said materials to reprint at their discretion even under a different companies name. Even though the reprinting was done long after the Format Printers closed their doors the Company Logo found on the panes of the reprints was legally applied.
At least in the United Kingdom. Not in Montserrat, Tuvalu or any other country stamps were printed for though!
The ownership supposedly extended beyond the time of the Format Printers existence.
Is it really legal to do such a thing? Absolutely not! Not without describing them as what they are when sold. Copies of the genuine stamps with no postal validity at all!
One thing about this reprint agreement. It was signed between the last owner of Philatelists Ltd. who was and always has been in association with Clive Feigenbaum. It was signed by Clive Feigenbaum as the last owner of PDC (Philatelic Distribution Corp.) to himself, the last owner of London and New York International Stamp Company Limited. In other words it is a scam to try to legitimize criminal activity!

Another note on Feigenbaum retaining the plates or anything related to making the Tuvalu stamp issues. Because of the trials against him by Tuvalu, Tuvalu was authorized by the court to confiscate everything that made the original stamps. So, this shows us that obviously Mr. Feigenbaum stole the printing materials used to produce these forgeries as he was not authorized by the court to keep them. Apparently they are still in possession of the family to this day.

The reasons why the forged unauthorized reprinting was done at a later date is a mystery. One rumor has it that it was out of revenge for the originals being suspiciously sold outside the liquidation procedures at the time of the liquidation of the Format Security Printers. There was certain animosities between the owner, Mr. Clive Feigenbaum, and certain stamp dealers associated with Philatelists Ltd.. It is only rumor and we will leave it at that. It is interesting though as the stamps at the time really did not have a huge selling record and plenty were already available. Thus....why reprint them? Of course birds on stamps is a popular thematic and possibly they were reproduced for the purpose of future sales of thematics and inspired by greed.

They were reproduced after Format closed the doors and at present there is no evidence that the Format Printers ever reprinted the set. Therefore, very few original proofs, progressive color proof sets, etc; exist. The majority come from this forged unauthorized reprinting.

So to finish the story for this set some of the original plates were used (and I note have never been found to this day) and thus they are very difficult to define at first glance except for one thing! The perforations differ and many other factors are different as you will see.

Are they forgeries? YES, because even though the original image plates were used, the inscription plates were reproduced as you will see. Therefore they must be sold as "FORGERIES".

TO THE SELLERS

I present this page so all stamp collectors and sellers will know what to look for accordingly and will price and describe the forgeries accordingly. I do not have information on the quantities produced but do know that it is at least as large as the originals due to percentages offered on the market. Most of the errors, progressives color proofs and proofs themselves are from the reproductions. Without full comparison to the following defined descriptions, you as sellers should take the responsibility of describing these forged unauthorized reprints with accurate descriptions and stop selling them with vague and/or no description. You need to describe the issues as either the originals or the forged unauthorized reprints. If you do not, and you are selling them, it is unethical and unfair to collectors and dealers in stamps as a whole.
Members of the APS, PTS etc. could find their reputations tarnished should it be found that you are selling under suspicious behavior and breaking Codes of Ethics in the trade by not describing these forged unauthorized reprints properly simply because of your lack of knowledge or because of greed.

TO ALL AUCTION SITES

Please, police these issues and the sellers who are not describing these correctly need to be stopped. If they do not describe them accurately, they need to have their lots removed from sale until corrections are made. They are easy to define as you will see below just by the images. If the seller uses blurry or very small images they should not be trusted and should be warned. It will take time for the problem to be corrected but it can be done as long as the collecting community works together as a whole. This problem spans over almost thirty years now! Don't you think it is time to stop the problem?

TO THE BUYERS

Please be aware before purchasing this issue. If you purchase it, be sure to compare them as soon as you receive them to be sure the seller did not fool you with an image of the originals and then sends you the forged unauthorized reprints. This has happened to many collectors because some dealers are just plain out to rip you off! Request a refund and return them. If the seller continually does this then they need to be reported and exposed. I am sorry to say, but because of the immoral actions of one person, it is up to you as a buyer to make sure you don't get ripped off! Apparently most dealers, leaders of stamp societies, auction sites and so called "experts" want to ignore the problems caused by this individual and so now over 50% of this issue offered on the market are either forged unauthorized reprints or forgeries of bad quality printing in all regards.

TO THE STAMP CATALOG MAKERS

You need to define these in your notations about their existence. At present you do not even note they exist thus your catalogs do not help the collecting community to figure out what they are nor how to define the differences. Stanley Gibbons notes the forged unauthorized reprints for the St. Vincent Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley issues but does not note it for this issue and other issues I have discovered.
Scott catalog does not even note them at all! Probably because most of the forged unauthorized reprints were sold to American stamp dealers. I guess they are trying to save face or something by not noting their existence, possibly because of influence by these same dealers who wish to continue to rip off collectors like you and me.

I must state at this point, that on the quantities of these forged unauthorized reprints the standard would probably be the same as on the Leaders of the World Automobiles and Locomotives series. Basing on the Format Printers practices at the time for reprints.
1.) The reprinting would be 21,000 sets perforated.
2.) 5,000 sets of imperforate proofs.
3.) 2,000 sets perforated with specimen overprint.
4.) 1,000 sets imperforate with specimen overprint
5.) 3,000 sets of Progressive Color Proofs.
6.) A possibility of made for collector errors as in missing colors or misperfs, of which standard practices would produce 3,000 of a given value or values.

It is probable that the same standard of quantity production has been followed with the reproductions after the Format Printers closed their doors forever for this issue.

LET'S GET STARTED!

ALL THE FOLLOWING IMAGES WERE SCANNED AT 600dpi AND RESIZED IN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY WITH NO COLOR ALTERATIONS.

How to Identify the Forged Unauthorized Reprints of the Tuvalu Niutao 1985 Birds Stamps

This guide was written with the purpose of:
(i) Helping buyers to identify the forged unauthorized reprint stamps which have been on the market for over 25 years now;
(ii) Protecting the interests of genuine dealers everywhere who don't sell fakes or forgeries or reprints without defining them as such;
(iii) Protecting the integrity and interests of the Tuvalu Philatelic Bureau.

It is unknown at this time when these forged unauthorized reprint stamps first appeared. We can presume that because they have a similarity to the forgery reprinted Saint Vincent Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley stamp sets that they probably came onto the market in the same timeframe. Clive Feigenbaum had access to the original artwork transparencies and printing plates separations and for this set the original plates of the images so the forged unauthorized reprints are of fair quality. The stamps are more than capable of not being detected by most dealers, stamp collectors, and now, Birds Topical collectors. There are however, a number of distinguishing features on the forged unauthorized reprints (that are illustrated below), which make them easy to identify from the original stamps.

By the way, the stamps illustrated above are all forged unauthorized reprints!

Also these are found as imperforate proofs, progressive color proofs and in some cases as "errors" with misperfs etc;. No inverts were ever made by the Format Printers nor by Clive Feigenbaum for this issue.

These forged unauthorized reprints should not be valued by anyone! They were created by a stamp dealer intent on ripping you off!
This newly discovered reprinting will now cause the original stamp sets to become more valuable as demand for them will rise.
I would value the forged unauthorized reprints at nothing. This is true "wallpaper". At the time of this webpage creation approximately 50% of sales on the market contain the reproductions. Others may try to disagree, but as time will tell it will be according to what the market decides....not the sellers nor "experts" as obviously there are none or this would have been known long ago.
I guess you could say....I am the expert on these now.

(1) Scott 25 5c Se-Tenant Pair
Purple Finch and White-throated Sparrow

When compared side-by-side with the original stamps, the forged unauthorized reprint stamps look very good and use a richer set of colors allowing for more contrast in the photographs. However, don't let the colors fool you!


Rule Number One (and probably the only rule needed) when identifying the forged unauthorized reprints is to COUNT THE PERFORATIONS! As most of these stamps are sold in se-tenant (joined) pairs, count the number of holes along the vertical join. For the original stamps, there are 24 Holes (i.e. 25 Perforations), whereas the forged unauthorized reprints have 27 Holes (i.e. 28 perforations). The holes in the forged unauthorized reprints are thus noticeably smaller, and there is a tendency for all holes to not be completely punched out.


In addition to the perforations being different, the forged unauthorized reprint stamps have a honeycomb pattern throughout the image and the details are blurred (see above); while the originals do not have a pattern and are much more detailed.

Some other subtle differences to look out for are:
1.) Slightly Weaker / lighter Font for all inscriptions on the forged unauthorized reprints;
2.) The white background has a bluish hue on the forged unauthorized reprints versus very white on the originals;


These forged unauthorized reprints are much better quality than the Elvis and Michael forgeries as the images and everything are in proper proportions.
The colors between the bars where the country name and denomination are and on the frames is almost identical to the originals.
Because of this they are much harder to detect than other sets of forged unauthorized reprints I have discovered without looking very closely at them. If one does not have a set of originals to compare they can easily slip by.

(2) Scott 26 15c Se-Tenant Pair
Anna's Hummingbird (Columbian Humming Bird) and Smith's Longspur (Buff-breasted Finch)

Again use RULE #1 (Count the Perforations) as above. Again, the forged unauthorized reprints have 27 holes compared to the original pair's 24 holes.


Again in addition to the perforations being different, the forged unauthorized reprint stamps have a honeycomb pattern throughout the image and the details are blurred (see above); while the originals do not have a pattern and are much more detailed.

(3) Scott 27 25c Se-Tenant Pair
White-tailed Kite (Black-winged Hawk) and Harris' Hawk (Louisiana Hawk)

Again, the forged unauthorized reprint stamps are instantly recognizable by the number of perforations (27 Holes instead of 24) and demonstrate the same features of printing as the closeup shows.

(4) Scott 28 $1.00 Se-Tenant Pair
Northern Oriole (Bullock's Oriole) and Great Crested Flycatcher

Here again on the $1.00 values we have similar differences.
This sums up the demonstration on how to identify the forged unauthorized reprints of the Tuvalu Niutao 1985 Audubon Birds stamps. As you can see, you do not have to be an expert philatelist to be able to do this. You do not even have to be a collector at all! The differences between the original stamps and the reprinted ones are quite obvious.

I hope that this reference page on the Tuvalu Niutao 1985 Audubon Birds forged unauthorized reprint stamps will assist all collectors, dealers and memorabilia collectors in defining and choosing which sets they have or are buying.

Please refer this page to all of your stamp collecting friends and acquaintances to help get the word out.

Here are links to all the other LOTW issues that were discovered to have been reprinted without authorization in the early 1990's after the Format International Security Printers went Bankrupt.

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

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