THE MODERN FAKE TUVALU NANUMEA 1985 CATS STAMP ISSUES

Tuvalu Nanumea 1985 Leaders of the World Cats Forgery Set
Scott# 29-32



I have documented proof that 10,000 sets of perforated stamps and 2,000 imperforate progressive color proof forgery sets were released onto the market in April 2015.
They were sold in Gaertner's 30th auction in lot number 21438A.
I have documented proof that 500 more imperforate progressive color proof forgery sets were attempted to be moved onto the market in October 2014.
The attempt was made in H.R. Harmer auction 3006 in lot number 2237. They were unsold at that time.

I have recently discovered that modern forgeries of the stamps of this issue are being flooded onto the market. I can tell you that real dangerous forgeries are being flooded on the market as I write this page in October of 2015.
The sets imaged above are all forgeries!

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 perforated forgeries of the Tuvalu Nanumea Leaders of the World 1985 Cats issues and imperforate progressive color proof forgeries including the final proof forgeries have contaminated the market. All are being offered online right now as I write this on October 25, 2015.

I can also tell you that I have discovered that many more "modern" issues for Tuvalu 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.

As of September 2017 I have updated sections of this page and added the ultra-violet detection section.

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!

I noticed sales of the Tuvalu Nanumea 1985 Cats issue being sold on eBay by user armi777 based in Latvia. This seller is a large volume dealer and was offering these fakes in bulk lots of 5, 10 and 15 pairs all still attached in partial pane sets. The starting bid at 99c! Buyers constantly bid them up to $3.00 to $12.00 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 the first lots the seller posted. I won all three lots of 10 sets and sure enough they are exactly the same as all the other forgeries I have written about. I got them for around $8.00 winning bid each. This shows us how easily these are being spread across the world.

The sellers are playing dumb and are persisting in selling these and many other forgeries. Connected hand and foot with users asrm10 and raimissss and balticamber2011. The users real names are Antanas Miskinis and Raimonds Miskinis according to return addresses....business names are Argi-stamps and/or SIA stamps.

I now have everything together to present to you how to detect them and not get ripped off!!

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 normal perforated version of this issue that I have acquired, the forgeries glow brightly as this image shows. I use a genuine set of pairs for the comparison.
The imperforate color proof forgeries will glow the same I am sure even though I did not acquire any? Perhaps you have the answer to that question.....

Here are gum comparisons.

Gum Comparison of a Fake 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 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.


Screen and Color Comparison of the Fake Stamp with Original Stamp
I will use the 5c values for comparisons using an original I purchased years ago which is basically proof of the original printing.

Note the extreme difference in color on the fake stamps. The difference in the paper. The inferior screen pattern that lacks much of the details. As you can see the forgeries are completely different. The Format printers would never downgrade the quality like this!




Now let's look at the fonts.


You can see that the fonts on the forgery are bolder and deeper black. I also note here that the blue frame lines are much thicker on the forgeries. The coarse screen quite prominent. Also note the extreme difference in colors.

Now let's look at the perforations.
Perforation Comparison of Fake Stamps with Originals
The forgeries have much cleaner cut holes than the originals. Aside from the forgeries being perforated with a different machine this is most likely due to the originals being produced on much more fibrous, heavier and thicker paper and gum.


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 Tuvalu Nanumea Cats 5c Stamp Forgery Pair with a Genuine Stamp Pair


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!

Notes on Differences:
The country name color bar is shades of lavender on genuine stamps. It is shades of purple on the forgeries.
The bars above and below the country name color bars are twice as thick on the forgeries. They are gray on genuine stamps. They are blue on the forgeries.
The lines on both cats fur is well pronounced on genuine stamps. They are blurred with very little definition on the forgeries.
The Turkish Angora cat is shades of brown on the genuine stamps. It is shades of black on the forgeries.
The dot between the "Leaders of the World" logo at the top can hardly be seen on genuine stamps. it is large and bold on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Tuvalu Nanumea Cats 30c Stamp Forgery Pair with a Genuine Stamp Pair


Notes on Differences:
The country name color bar is shades of orange-red on genuine stamps. It is shades of red only on the forgeries.
The bars above and below the country name color bars are twice as thick on the forgeries.
The color of the left border on the Korat Cat stamp is extremely light brown. On the forgeries it is darker light brown.
The color of the right border on the American Maine Coon Cat stamp is light green. On the forgeries it is light blue.
The lines on both cats fur is well pronounced on genuine stamps. They are blurred with very little definition on the forgeries.
The "0" in the 30c denominations has a straight edge on the outer left and right sides on genuine stamps. It is "curved" on the forgeries.
The dot between the "Leaders of the World" logo at the top can hardly be seen on genuine stamps. it is large and bold on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Tuvalu Nanumea Cats 50c Stamp Forgery Pair with a Genuine Stamp Pair


Notes on Differences:
The country name color bar is shades of light green on genuine stamps. It is shades of light blue-green on the forgeries.
The bars above and below the country name color bars are twice as thick on the forgeries.
The color of the right border on the Shaded Cameo Cat stamp is light orange-red. On the forgeries it is light red only.
The lines on both cats fur is well pronounced on genuine stamps. They are blurred with very little definition on the forgeries.
The Himalayan cats face is shades of brown on the genuine stamps. It is shades of black on the forgeries.
The "0" in the 50c denominations has a straight edge on the outer left and right sides on genuine stamps. It is "curved" on the forgeries.
The dot between the "Leaders of the World" logo at the top can hardly be seen on genuine stamps. it is large and bold on the forgeries.

Comparison of the Tuvalu Nanumea Cats $1 Stamp Forgery Pair with a Genuine Stamp Pair


Notes on Differences:
The country name color bar is shades of light purple on genuine stamps. It is shades of blue only on the forgeries.
The bars above and below the country name color bars are twice as thick on the forgeries. They are light green on genuine stamps. They are dark green on the forgeries.
The color of the left border on the Long-haired ginger Kitten stamp is light yellow-green. On the forgeries it is darker green only.
The color of the right border on the Siamese Seal Point Cat stamp is very light lavender. On the forgeries it is light purple.
The lines on both cats fur is well pronounced on genuine stamps. They are blurred with very little definition on the forgeries.
The Siamese Seal Point cats face is shades of brown on the genuine stamps. It is shades of black on the forgeries.
The "P" in the word "Point" almost touches the "o" on genuine stamps. It has a definite space between the two letters on the forgeries.
The dot between the "Leaders of the World" logo at the top can hardly be seen on genuine stamps. it is large and bold on the forgeries.

The color proofs are also easily defined. The first clue...there are only five stages. The original printings were always seven stages.
They will all have the same inferior paper, gum and screens. As of 2017 I have not seen them offered again. The victims of the forger may have either destroyed them or are holding them still. Imperforates other than the ones sold by George Alvizos are from the unauthorized reprinting done by Clive Feigenbaum in the mid 1990's.

You can see that there is a lot of differences between the two printings. The color changes on the border colors, the frame lines...everything differs.
You can also see how easily these can and will fool many collectors and dealers.

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 are a couple images of the Tuvalu Nanumea 1985 Cats with selvage from the original printing.
I note that I could not find any images of any originals in full panes for the Nanumea set. This shows us that original full panes are scarce!




Now here is an image of a upper and lower blocks from the forged stamp strips I purchased.


Now look at the image of the original Nanumea stamps with selvage. Then look at the selvage on the fake stamp pane. Can you see the difference?
The perforations run through the selvage on the original selvage on all sides. There are no perforations on the selvage of the fake pane!

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 Tuvalu Nanumea 1985 Cats 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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