Preview of Stamps Catalogue: VOLUME 1

TOBAGO

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.

1879 Queen Victoria, inscription 'TOBAGO' only (no 'POSTAGE')

6 p orange Cancel could be forged Image reproduced with permission from: http://www.sandafayre.com

  1 p red
  3 p blue
  6 p orange
  1 Sh green
  5 Sh grey
  1 £ lilac

Surcharged and bisected

Could be a forgery

  '1d' on half of 6 p orange

For the specialist: these stamps are perforated 14 and have watermark 'Crown and CC' (the same stamps with watermark 'Crown and CA' are fiscal stamps):

These stamps were used as fiscal stamps aswell (see second picture). Other fiscal stamps in the same design exist (1 p lilac, 3 p lilac and black, 4 p lilac and red, 6 p lilac and blue). Examples:

(Fiscal stamp; 1 p lilac and 3 p lilac and black)

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 p	***	***
3 p	***	***
6 p	***	***
1 Sh	RR	R
5 Sh	RR	RR
1 Pound	RRR	RRR
Surcharged and bisected
1 p on 6 p	RRR	RR

Forged cancels: fiscally used stamps can be found with removed pen-cancellation and a forged postal cancel applied instead. Examples of such forged cancels:

Images kindly set at my disposal by David Oates and Edward Barrow

More forgeries, see below.

1880 Queen Victoria, inscription 'TOBAGO POSTAGE'

6 p brown 1 Sh yellow

1 p brown

  1/2 p lilac
  1/2 p green
  1 p brown
  1 p red
  2 1/2 p blue
  4 p green
  4 p grey
  6 p brown (2 shades of brown)
  1 Sh yellow

Surcharged

'1/2 PENNY' on 6 p brown '2 1/2 PENCE' on 4 p grey

  '1/2 PENNY' on 2 1/2 p blue
  '1/2 PENNY' on 4 p grey
  '1/2 PENNY' on 6 p brown (2 shades of brown)
  '1 PENNY' on 2 1/2 p blue
  '2 1/2 PENCE' on 4 p grey
  '2 1/2 PENCE' on 6 p brown

For the specialist: these stamps are perforated 14 and exists with watermark 'Crown and CC' and 'Crown and CA':

(Watermark 'CA Crown'

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
Watermark 'CC Crown'
1/2 p lilac	***	***
1 p brown	***	***
4 p green	***	***
6 p	RR	RR
1 Sh	***	***
Watermark 'CA Crown'
1/2 p lilac	*	*
1/2 p green	c	c
1 p brown	**	**
1 p red	c	c
2 1/2 p	*	*
4 p green	RR	R
4 p grey	*	*
6 p	*	*
1 Sh	*	*	Misprint 1 Sh brown: *
Surcharged
1/2 p on 2 1/2 p	**	***	Watermark 'CA Crown'
1/2 p on 4 p	***	***	"
1/2 p on 6 p	**	***	Watermark 'CA Crown', two shades of brown (see pictures above)
1 p on 2 1/2 p	***	***	Watermark 'CA Crown'
2 1/2 p on 4 p	***	***	"
2 1/2 p on 6 p	***	***	Watermark 'CC Crown'

Forgeries, see below.

1896 Fiscal stamp surcharged '1/2 d POSTAGE'

  '1/2 d POSTAGE' on 4 p lilac and red

This stamp has watermark 'CA Crown' .

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
1/2 p on 4 p	***	***

From 1898 onwards the stamps of Trinidad were used in Tobago.

Cancellations

Typical Cancellation 'A14', examples:

6 p brown, A14 cancel 3 p blue

A fiscally used stamp:

Postal stationary

I have seen a postcard in a rectangular design with Queen Victoria in an octagonal (only the value 1 1/2 p brown is known to me).

Forgeries

Forgery (Panelli) of the 3 p stamp:

"THREE PENCE" written too wide, also the Queen's face has a coloured outline. The ear of the Queen is very white. These forgeries usually have a clear watermark (impressed or oil-watermark).

Panelli forgeries of the 1/2 p lilac, 3 p, 4 p green, 6 p orange and 1 Pound stamps:

Panelli forgeries, as above the face of the Queen has an outline and the ear is very white. The ornaments in the corner are not as well done as in the genuine stamps. The pearls on the crown are too white. Since they have a watermark, they are often offered as genuine stamps. I've also seen the 1 Pound value without cancel. Note that the "A14" cancel is also not the same as the genuine cancel (see for example the top of the "1"). I presume these forgeries are the same that are offered by Oneglia in his 1906 pricelist.

Modified stamp, value partly erased and replaced by 'ONE POUND'

1/2 p lilac, value erased and replaced by 'ONE POUND' The 'P' and 'N' are still original.

Forged Fournier cancel

In the Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries the following two cancels ('A14' and a mute cancel) can be found that were apparently used by the forger Fournier on his forgeries. They were possibly used to apply forged 'postal cancels' to genuine stamps from which the fiscal pencancels were removed.

Forged cancels of Sperati

Three forged "A14" cancels as they have probably been used by Sperati, they have 'SPERATI REPRODUCTION' printed on the backside. These prints were probably made by the British Philatelic Association in 1953:

Three forged 'A14' Sperati cancels

And a forged Sperati cancel "TOBAGO O SP 3 86" from the same source:

Forged Sperati 'TOBAGO O SP 3 86' cancel

Bogus Stamp

In L'Ami des Timbres of 20 July 1878 (one year before the first 'real' stamps) a stamp is announced in the crown design of the Portuguese Colonies: