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Preview of Stamps Catalogue: VOLUME 1

BRITISH COLUMBIA AND VANCOUVER ISLAND

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Currency: 12 Pence = 1 Shilling; from 1865 onwards 100 Cents = 1 Dollar

BRITISH COLUMBIA

1860 Queen Victoria

  2 1/2 p red

These stamps are perforated 14. An imperforate stamp in the same design in the colour red-brown was non-issued.

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Cancels:

"DIETZ & NELSON EXPRESS", black and red numeral "1" cancel, a "NEW WESTMINSTER" cancel and a "WELLS FARGO" cancel.

I've seen a stamp with a Dietz & Nelson Express cancel.
I've seen black and red numeral "1" cancels.

Forgeries:

Rather blur forgery with wrong perforation (11 1/2 instead of 14). It even exists in the color blue (with printed perforation). The design is similr to one given in "The illustrated catalogue of postage stamps" by J.E.Gray (1870, page 105). A similar image appears in the catalogue of Placido Ramon de Torres "Album Illustrado para Sellos de Correo" of 1879 (information passed to me thanks to Gerhard Lang, 2016) on page 183.

Forgeries made by the same forger (Oneglia?)

1863 Crown with "V"

  3 p blue

Surcharged
  'TWO CENTS' on 3 p brown
  '5.CENTS.5' on 3 p red
  '10.CENTS.10' (blue) on 3 p lilac
  '25.CENTS.25' (violet) on 3 p yellow
  '50.CENTS.50' (red) on 3 p violet
  '1.DOLLAR.1' (green) on 3 p green

For the specialist: these stamps have watermark 'CC Crown' and are perforated 14 or 12 1/2.

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Typical cancel:

Forgeries:

Examples:

The overprinted value is wrong in the above forgeries: it reads "2 CENTS" instead of "TWO CENTS", "10 CENTS", "25 CENTS", "50 CENTS" and "1 DOLLAR", instead of "10.CENTS.10", "25.CENTS.25", "50.CENTS.50" and "1.DOLLAR.1" respectively. Also, the text in the ellipse is touching its containing oval. In the genuine stamps, it never touches the oval. This is the fourth forgery described in the book Album Weeds. The top of the "T" of "THREE" is disconnected and the central part of the "H" is more like a dot. One of the 50 c even appears to have a Hong Kong B62 numeral cancel?

A Spiro forgery, the pearls on the crown are much larger than in the genuine stamp (and there are only 5 pearls at each side of the crown instead of 6):

Also note that in this Spiro forgery, the flower between the two legs of the "V" is quite different from a genuine stamp. I've also seen this forgery cancelled with a pattern of lozenges. It is usually perforated. Note the wrong "TEN CENTS" overprint and wrong "ONE DOLLER" overprint. I've also seen a yellow stamp with a wrong black "TWENTY FIVE CENTS" overprint.

Some Senf forgeries, with overprint "FALSCH" (=forged in German):

(Senf forgeries)

I've been told that these are Panelli forgeries, note the very clear '35' numeral cancel; In the 2 c value, the surcharged 'TWO CENTS.' is too broad when compared to a genuine stamp.

(Other Panelli forgeries)

These forgeries were probably already made by Oneglia, here a 2 c forgery with a typical 'Oneglia' cancel.

A Frodel forgery;

Andre Frodel forgery. If my observations are correct, there is always a damaged upper frame (above the "BIA" of "COLUMBIA") in these Frodel forgeries. Next to it a 3 p Frodel forgery.

Another, more sophisticated forgery:

Imperforated forgery, maybe also a Frodel forgery?

Forgeries of the 3 p, according to Ken Pugh these are not made by Frodel

Forgery with "10 CENTS" instead of "10.CENTS.10" and "10 CENTS" very narrow.

There are other forgeries made from a so-called Bartlett letterhead.

Bartlett used this letterhead to promote his remainders of Canadian provinces that he had acquired in 1896. The 'Bartlett' forgeries were cut out from the above letterhead and perforated by other forgers. The perforation was originally indicated with a thin black line, which can in most cases still be seen in the forgeries.

British Columbia Airways Limited Airmail Victoria-Vancouver 5 c blue label(?)

Fiscal stamps, inscription "BRITISH COLUMBIA LAW STAMP":

Examples

VANCOUVER ISLAND

1865 Queen Victoria, imperforate or perforated

  5 c red
  10 c blue

For the specialist: these stamps have watermark 'CC Crown'.

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Cancels:

Numeral cancel "35" and a "WELLS FARGO & Co" cancel. Also a 10 c with a San Francisco and another 10 c with a San Francisco cogwheel cancel.

I know that the numeral cancels "35" (Victoria) and "36" (Nanaimo) were used in Vancouver Island. I've also seen a "Wells Fargo & Co" cancel on a 5 c perforated stamp.

Forgeries, examples:

Note that the lower left corner ornament is different from the genuine stamp in the above forgeries. This might be a product made by Spiro (but I'm not quite sure). Note, that one of the forgeries appears to have a "ZEITUNGS" cancel, which can be found on many other forgeries from other countries.

Primitive forgery of the 5 c value:

The cancel on these forgeries is (always?) a part of a numeral "408" cancel (also "403"?).

The forger Sperati made a forgery of the 5 c and 10 c imperforate stamps.

Sperati forgeries; the cancel "35" was also forged. According to the BPA handbook this cancel is usually in blue color (Sperati used black color).

Sperati forgery of the 5 c stamp, the oval cancel "POST OFFI... PAID VICTORIA VANCOUVER" is also forged. This genuine cancel is also usually in blue color according to the BPA handbook.

Black 'proof' of the 10 c Sperati forgery

Kenneth W. Pugh provided me with the following information concerning these forgeries: Sperati used a genuine Natal 5 Sh stamp with watermark 'CC Crown', cut it to shape and bleached out the original design. He then printed the forgery on this paper. The paper is different and can be distinghuished using ultraviolet light: the forgeries are greyish and stained, often with a mauve or tose tinge. The printing process of the genuine stamps and the forgeries was also different, Sperati used a photo-lithographic process for his forgeries. All the details are therefore the same as in the genuine stamps, but all lines are slightly thicker due to this process: the forgeries appear more heavily printed and rougher than the genuine stamps. The colour of the 5 c is deeper and more rose than its genuine counterpart. The 10 c also posesses a deeper shade of blue than the genuine stamps. There are also a number of so-called 'constant flaws' in his forgeries, they are microscopically small as with all his reproductions. Unfortunately I don't posess any information about these flaws. An image of a 5 c Sperati forgery with a 'PAID' in an oval cancel can be found at: http://www.seymourfamily.com/rfrajola/Sperati/BRC01_300.jpg.

Besides the above shown forged Sperati cancels, Sperati also forged an oval "PAID" cancel and a "NEW WEST.. POST... BRITISH..." cancel.

Sperati forgeries (blackprints) and forged cancels.

In 1866 Vancouver Island and British Columbia were united.

Copyright by Evert Klaseboer