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Return To Catalogue - Lubeck forgeries of the 1859 issue, part 2 - Lubeck - Lubeck, postal stationery, locals and railway stamps - Other German States - Germany
Note: on my website many of the
pictures can not be seen! They are of course present in the catalogue;
contact me if you want to purchase it.
Rare official reprints on unwatermarked paper exist (1872). They were made on the order of a certain Mr. Kirchner for a war charity (Kriegsinvaliden). Only 250 of such reprints were made for each value and an additional 250 of the 1 Sh on thicker paper. I've been told that the next stamp is such a reprint, it has the word 'NEUDRUCK' printed in green on the backside.
Reprint of the 2 Sch value and 'NEUDRUCK' printed on the
backside.
I have seen several modern reprints of these stamps.
1) First of all a reprint made in 1959; a horizontal strip of all five values in pasted on a miniature sheet with inscription '100 JAHRE LUBECKER BRIEFMARKEN 1859 1959 ZU GUNSTEN DES WIEDERAUFBAUES DER LUBECKER TURME WERT 10 DM' (100 years of Lubeck stamps 1859 1959, profit goes to the rebuilding of the Lubeck towers, value 10 DM). These reprints have '1959' printed on the back. The part with the text can be opened to expose the stamps, which are printed on a much more greyish paper.
Zoom-in of the 2 1/2 and 4 Sch reprints.
2) Secondly a reprint made in 1961 exists, all five values on a commemorative miniature sheet with inscription 'NEUDRUCK DER ERSTEN LUBECKER BRIEFMARKEN VON DEM ORIGINAL - URSTEIN IM OFFSETVERFAHREN 1961 MIT GENEHMIGUNG DES SENATS DER HANSESTADT LUBECK ZU GUNSTEN DES WIEDERAUFBAUES DER LUBECKER TURME' (reprint of the first stamps of Lubeck from the original plates in offset 1961, with permission of the senate of the city of Lubeck, to rebuilt the Lubeck towers'. On the backside of this sheet '1961' is repeated many times in tiny letters at the places where the stamps are printed.
1961 reprint sheet, reduced size.
Backside of the 1961 reprint.
3) Some mini sheet containing four stamps were issued in 1978. I have seen all values. They are printed by the firm of Gehringer in Kaiserslautern (Germany). They have the inscription 'Neudruck 1978' at the bottom of the sheet. Examples:
4) Another set of reprints of the 1859 was also made by Gehringer for the Salon der Philatelie in Hamburg (1984). It is a strip of 5 stamps, one of each value, all in the color of the 1/2 Sch (lilac). The inscription at the bottom reads 'Dieser Zusammendruck entstand nach einen direkten Reproduktion vom Ur-Lithostein, der zu diesem Zweck von Stadt. Museum Lubeck zur Verfugung gestellt wurde. Gehringer'. Sorry, no image available yet.
Forged cancels, example:
The above stamps are genuine, however, the cancels are forged. Especially the 1/2 s lilac, 1 s yellow, 2 s brown, 2 1/2 s red and 4 s green are worth many times more with cancel than without. Therefore be aware of forged cancels on these stamps!
Besides forged cancels, many forgeries of the stamps themselves exist from the first issue of Lubeck, I'll try to give some information here about how to recognize them (found in Album Weeds and Bill Claghorn's forgeries site: http://members.tripod.com/claghorn1p/). Each value of the genuine stamps is made from a seperate die (so all stamps show small differences).
I've seen some very primitive forgeries printed in black on coloured paper (even two different kinds) with barcancels. No black stamps were ever issued in Lubeck.
In the genuine stamp there is a small dot just above the line between the lower ornaments (first secret mark) at the bottom of the stamp. Secondly there is a small dot in the ribbon at the left (second secret mark). There is only one dot between the eagles heads and not many as in some forgeries. There is no dot after "SCHILLING". The eagle's right beak does not touch the wing. The eagle doesn't touch the label anywhere. There are seven lines in the shield.
(Genuine, I presume)
Forgery with the wings of the eagle touching the ribbon with
"EIN HALBER" at the left side. The secret marks are
missing. An 'improvement' of this forgery apparently exists, in
which there is a dot placed above the line in the bottom. The
cancel "LUBECK 28 11 8 10 1/2 M" and "LUBECK 6 10
8-9A" in a double circle can be found in 'The Fournier Album
of Philatelic Forgeries'.
Rather blur forgery with the tail of the eagle quite different
from a genuine stamp.
Other primitive forgery, with the '1/2's different and with three
dots below the line in the bottom (which is curved itself). Note
the typical tail of the eagle in this forgery. Next to it a
'second type' of this forgery with different '1/2's in the
corners.
Forgery with an extremely pointed tail of the eagle.
Two forgeries apparently made by the same forger in two different
shades of color.
Other primitive forgery, probably made in Italy (Oneglia, Panelli?)
A photographic reproduction exists of the 1/2 Sch issued in 1959. It is printed in a minisheet together with the 1/2 Sch Hamburg stamp. The inscription reads 'ZWEI HUNDERJAHRIGE 1. Januar 1859 1. Januar 1959'. Sorry, no image available yet. Sometimes these stamps are cut out and offered as genuine.
Forged line cancel, the stamp appears to be genuine.
As in the 1/2 Sch there is a secret mark at the ornament at the bottom, there is a small dot just BELOW this ornament. The first dot in the upper row has an extra dot just above it (second engraver's or 'secret' mark). There is only one dot between the heads of the eagle. There is a large dot behind "SCHILLING" and another one behind "POSTMARKE". The right dot of the 'Ü' of 'LÜBECK' touches the line of the ornament above it.
Examples of forgeries:
Fohl forgery with a very pointed tail of
the eagle, which touches the label with "POSTMARKE"
below it.
These forgeries were most likely sold by the forger Francois Fournier, it is identical to
the above Fohl forgery. The cancel "LUBECK BAHNHOF" and
"LUBECK 28 11 8 10 1/2 M" can be found in 'The Fournier
Album of Philatelic Forgeries'. The cancel "L" in three
concentric circles was also applied to forgeries of Luxembourg by
Fournier.
Forgery with the position of the dots in the background
different. The tail of the eagle is again different from a
genuine stamp.
Two forgeries made by the same forger? The '1's are different.
The tail of the eagle is again very typical for this forgery.
Forgery with the claws at the left hand side too close to the
label with "POSTMARKE". The tail of the eagle is too
pointed.
Primitive forgery with the '1's too thin.
This forgery has a cancel "LUBECR BAHNHOP" instead of
"LUBECK BAHNHOF". There is no dot behind
"SCHILLING". It looks like a Fohl forgery.
(Genuine)
The secret marks are now: two small dots below the line at the bottom of the stamp and 1 small dot above the second dot of the first row of dots just below the word 'LUBECK'. The lower right '2' slants slightly towards the left in the genuine stamps.
First forgery of Album Weeds.
Album Weeds describes already 4 forgeries of the 2 s (early 19th century). The above forgery is the first one described in Album Weeds. There are many differences with the genuine stamps, the most noticeable are: The dots above the 'U' of 'LUBECK' are not symmetrically placed, the dots in the background pattern are different (for example in the genuine stamp, a dot is placed in the outline of the forked end of the 'SCHILLING' label), the knees of the eagle are higher than the bottom point of the shield (they should be on the same level), the feathers of the wings of the eagle are touching the knees, the left lower '2' is different, there are three dots below the horizontal line as secret marks, etc. etc.
Forgeries with very large inscription 'POSTMARKE'. Note the
typical shape of the tail of the eagle.
No dots behind 'SCHILLING' and 'POSTMARKE'
Probably a Engelhardt Fohl forgery which
was also sold by Fournier. The
feathers at the left hand side touch the label besides them. The
tail of the eagle touches the label below it.
Forgery with '2's too large.
Possibly a Spiro forgery
(Other forgeries)
Very primitive forgery in black on blue and black on white. The
cancel appears to have been printed at the same time.
Forgery of the 'ZWEI EIN HALB' misprint.
Another forgery of the misprint.
In the genuine 2 1/2 Sch stamps, as in the 2 Sch brown, there are two dots below the line in the bottom of the stamp, but there is one additional dot just above this small line. There is also an extra dot just above the middle of the second and third dot just below the word 'LUBECK'. There are no stop behind any of the words.
Forgery with dots behind 'POSTMARKE' and 'SCHILLING'
Forgery with the tail too thin when compared to a genuine stamp.
(A forgery with dot behind 'SCHILLING' and 'POSTMARKE')
Fohl forgery with 'Falsch' overprint.
Next to it a 2 1/2 Sch forgery, probably made by the same forger,
in the wrong colour brown.
(Other forgeries, all Fournier
forgeries?)
In this Fournier forgery of the 2 1/2 s (also described as the 4th forgery of the 2 1/2 s in Album Weeds), the tail of the eagle touches the top of the label with 'POSTMARKE'. The inscription 'POSTMARKE' is too broad. A very faded dot can be found behind this word. There are more large feathers (9) than in the genuine stamps on both sides. The dots in the top rows are very irregularly placed. The Fourneir and Fohl forgeries are probably the same.
(4 dots below small line; large dot before 'L' and small dot
below line below 'B')
There are now four dots just below the small line between the ornaments in the bottom of the stamp. An additional dot exists just below the line below the 'B' of 'LUBECK'. There are two dots between the two heads of the eagle. A large stop can be found just in front of the 'L' of 'LUBECK'. The right wing of the eagle should have 9 large feathers. Examples of forgeries:
(Forgery, I think this is a Engelhardt Fohl
forgery, a picture of this forgery can also be seen in
'Philatelic forgers, their lives and works' by Varro E. Tyler)
The same(?) forgery, with "LUEBECK 10/9" in a double
circle; this forged cancel can be found in the Fournier Album.
Forgery with 'POSTMARKE' very large. I've only seen with a single
circle '* LUBECK *' postmark with no date.
(Other forgery)
(Forgeries, images obtained from
http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/Lubeck/lub05x.htm)
The first forgery of the two pictures above has the 'P' of 'POSTMARKE' too far to the right (this forgery has also been described in 'The Spud Papers'). In the second image, the word 'POSTMARKE' is written too big.
Forgery made in Italy (Oneglia, Panelli?) with impressed watermark. The
genuine watermark is never so clearly visible. The cancel is
"LUBECR BAHNHOP" instead of "LUBECK BAHNHOF"!
(Other forgeries)
Very primitive forgery in the wrong color.
Click here for Lubeck forgeries of the 1859 issue, part 2
