Preview of Stamps Catalogue: VOLUME 1

OLDENBURG 1852 issue

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One of the German States. A Grand Duchy in the north of Germany. It issued stamps from 1852 to 31 December 1867, it used the stamps of the North German Confederation afterwards.

1852 Value, imperforate

1/30 Th black on blue

  1/3 Silb.Gr. black on green
  1/30 Thaler black on blue
  1/15 Thaler black on red
  1/10 Thaler black on yellow

The 1/3 Silb. Gr. has a different frame (the "OLDENBURG" label is straight). The three Thaler values were issued 5th January 1852. Stamps were supposed to be placed in the upper left corner of a letter. Currency: 12 Schwaren = 1 Silbergroschen.

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
1/3 Sgr	RRR	RRR	Issued February 1855 for parcels of printed matter. Printed in sheets of 100 (10 rows of 10)
1/30 Th	RR	***
1/15 Th	RRR	R
1/10 Th	RRR	R

Cancels:

Usually these stamps are cancelled with
1) a cancel consisting of a townname (with no surrounding frame)
2) a townname cancel in a rectangle
3) a two ring circular datestamp

(Rare cancel, so-called Delmenhorster Hauschen)

Abbehausen "2 2/5" cancel.

Forgeries:

More forgeries can be found at http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/Oldenburg/Oldn00.htm

1/3 Silb.Gr

The genuine stamp has a label with inscription "OLDENBURG" that is straight (contrarily to the other values). The shield should cut into this label exactly above the "N" of "OLDENBURG". The cross at the top of the crown has partly disappeared under the frame lines. There is no "." behind "OLDENBURG".

Sperati has made forgeries of the 1/3 sgr. His so-called reproduction 'A' can be recognized with:
1) A defect in the outer frame line at the top, just left of the crown
2) A dot is joining the inner to the outer frame line just rigth of cross on crown
3) A dot behind the "G" of "Gr"
4) The "B" of "BURG" is broken horizontally

Sperati forgeries, Reproduction A. Uncancelled and with forged cancels "ELSFLETH 11/2".

A 'proof' printed in black on white with very large margins, printed 'REPRODUCTION INTERDITE' and the signature of Jean de Sperati.

I have seen this Sperati forgery cancelled, for an example see: http://www.seymourfamily.com/rfrajola/Sperati/speratiindex.htm. A Reproduction 'B' of the 1/3 Sgr value also exists. It is identical to Reproduction A, but with the dots behind the 'G' of 'Gr' deleted.

There also exist modern high quality photocopies of the original, however, the paper is much too bright (they were made by Peter Winter in the 1980's).

In this Winter forgery there is a break in the outer frameline below the "D" of "OLDENBURG". I posess this forgery cancelled with "LDENB" in very large letters (in blue). On the backside the word 'replik' is printed.

Here pasted on a small piece of paper with "ZETEL 11 12" cancel.

(Winter forgery on forged letter)

Other forgeries:

(Forgery, obtained from Bill Claghorn's forgery site)

Forgeries with curved label "OLDENBURG"

Another forgery with curved "OLDENBURG"

The letters in the side inscription are not slanting in the same way as in the genuine stamps.

The above forgery has a curved label with the inscription "OLDENBURG" (it should be straight in the 1/3 sgr stamp and not curved as in the other values of this serie!).

Probably a forgery, the dot behind "Gr" is placed too far to the left, the "3" is very far from the "b" of "Silb" and the "4" on the right hand lable is badly done.

Album Weeds describes three forgeries of this serie (non of the above).

1/30 Thaler:

In the genuine 1/30 Thaler stamps the shield should enter the label with "OLDENBURG". There exist three types of the 1/30 Th stamp. In type I, the indentation above the "L" of "OLDENBURG" touches the "H" of "THALER". In type II, it does not touch it, but stays 0.2 mm away from it. In type III, the indentation is almost flat. In types I and II, the bottom point of the shield cuts just in the label with "OLDENBURG", in type II it cuts deeply in this label.

(Genuine, type I and III)

The shield does not enter "OLDENBURG" in the next forgery:

Shield does not enter the label with 'OLDENBURG'
(Reduced size)

This forgery has a "." behind "OLDENBURG", the 1/30 Thaler never has a dot behind this word. Also the shield is ending above the label with "OLDENBURG" and is not entering this label. It is often found with a rectangular box cancel with "OLDENBURG IM GROSSHERZOGTHUM"

Is this the forgery described in Album Weeds with the shield not touching the label with "OLDENBURG"?

In Album Weeds another forgery is described, with the label with "OLDENBURG" very close to the bottom of the stamp.

Other forgery of the 1/30 Th value. Next to it a forgery of the 1/15 Th value made by the same forger.

1/30 Th forgery with the wrong background color.

I have also seen modern forgeries of this value, they were made by Peter Winter in the 1980's.

Winter forgery

A block of four 'Winter repliks' with cancel

This Winter forgery looks very good, it is on modern paper. The design is copied very carefully, the only things I can see are the small 'bumbs' in the upper right and lower right corner. I posess this forgery cancelled. On the backside the word 'replik' is printed.

1/15 Thaler

There are two types of this stamp. In the genuine stamps the shield must end just above the label with "OLDENBURG". The label with "OLDENBURG" is curved. There are short lines attached to the upper parts of both the "1" in "1/15". The "5" looks like a "3".

Album Weeds describes two forgeries of these stamps, I will give descriptions of both of them:

(First forgery obtained from Bill Claghorn's forgery site)

This forgery is the first forgery described in Album Weeds: There is a dot behind "OLDENBURG". The top "1" of "1/15" is at a larger distance from the mantle above it. The letters "GR" at the left hand side are very close to each other. The "L" of "THALER" has no top serifs. The background colour is very fade. I've also seen it with a box cancel.

(Forgery with straight "OLDENBURG" label)

The above forgery is the second forgery of the 1/15 Th described in Album Weeds. It has the label with "OLDENBURG" straight (as in the genuine 1/3 Silb. gr). The impression is very bad.

Other forgery of the 1/15 Th value. Next to it a forgery of the 1/30 Th value made by the same forger.

Rather primitive forgery of the 1/15 Th value. I've only seen it with a blue "FRANCO" cancel.

There also exists a modern forgery on bright paper (made by Peter Winter in the 1980's).

(Peter Winter forgery, image obtained from Bill Claghorn's forgery site)

A block of four Winter forgeries with blue cancel "OLDENBURG 10/3" in a box

The above Winter forgery always seems to have the same break in the inner outline (to the left of the crown). I posess this forgery with a blue rectangular cancel, however, I'm unable to read the text of this cancel. On the backside the word 'replik' is printed.

1/10 Thaler

There are two types of the genuine 1/10 Th (actually type II is a retouched type I); in type I the "1" in "1/5" touches the fraction line. In type II it doesn't touch.

(Forgery, the value label is straight)

In the genuine stamps the shield must end just above the label with "OLDENBURG". The label "OLDENBURG" is curved. There must be a dot behind "OLDENBURG". I've also seen it with a cancel "BRAKE" in a box. This forgery is probably made by the same forger as the 1/15 Th forgery described above.

I think the above stamp must be the first forgery described in Album Weeds. There are many differences with the genuine stamps. For example, most of the letters of "THALER" touch each other at the bottom. The "3" is different, etc.

Forgery with wrong value inscriptions at the sides "2 2/3 Gr." and "1 Sgr" and no dot behind "OLDENBURG".

A very primitive forgery with no dot behind "OLDENBURG"

(Other forgeries)

Modern forgeries of this value were made by Peter Winter in the 1980's:

Winter forgery

This Winter forgery always has the same breaks and spots in the outer outline, for example besides the '1' in the left hand side and between the "3" and "S" at the right hand side. I posess this forgery cancelled with "TERST" in very large blue letters. On the backside the word 'replik' is printed.

Three Winter forgeries on a forged letter with cancel blue rectnagular cancel "ABBEHAUSEN"

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