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Preview of Stamps Catalogue: VOLUME 2

BUENOS AIRES 1860 issue and miscellaneous

Return To Catalogue - Buenos Aires 1858 issue - Argentine

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A city in the west of Argentine

ATTENTION, MOST OF THE STAMPS OF BUENOS AIRES ARE FORGERIES OR REPRINTS!

Click here for the Buenos Aires 1858 issue

1860 Head of Freedom (or 'Cabecitas'), imperforate

  4 Reales green
  1 Peso blue
  1 Peso red on yellow (1862)
  2 Pesos red on yellow
  2 Pesos blue (1862)

Two distinct printings of these stamps exist, clear ('impresion nitida') and blur ('impresion borrosa').

(Blur printings)

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

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

The stamps were printed in sheets of 50 stamps (5 rows of 10 stamps).

Cancels

I have seen several mute dot cancels, but also a two ring date cancel with 'BUENOS AIRES'.

(Stamp on letter)

A larger variety of cancels seem to have been used on this issue than on the previous issue.

Reprints

Unofficial reprints were made with stolen plates in 1912 by the stamp collector E.Latour (he also made reprints of the 'Barquitos' first stamp set of Buenos Aires). He made several types and even bogus color reprints. The American philatelist Alfred.F. Lichtenstein obtained the plates later and made further reprints.

I've been told that this is a Lichtenstein die proof.

A sheetlet with Latour reprints.

Forgeries

Examples:

Most likely a forgery.

Forgery, reduced size

4 reales blue, wrong colour. Are these 'Arata reprints'?

Note the strange slanting 'C' in 'FRANCO' in the above forgeries; these are the first forgery type described in Album Weeds. I believe this might be the forgery type described in the book 'How to detect forged stamps' by Thomas Dalston (1865). The following text can be found there: "The letters of Peso gradually diminish in size the P being the largest and the O the smallest. The top curl of the hair is not shaded. The letters arc in most cases badly formed and irregular in size."

Some forgeries made by the same forger

Forgery with inscription '2 PESO' and a 1 P stamp made by the same forger, note the big chin of the woman

(The head is too small in the above forgeries)

Other forgeries (Spiro?,also sold by Fournier):

I've seen these forgeries with a dots cancel, but also with an additional "BUENOS A OCT 9....." and other cancels. I've seen whole sheets of these forgeries (in sheetlets of 5x5 stamps; typically for Spiro products):

Forgery in black on lilac with purple cancel.

Another forgery with different lettering and a strange 'O' cancel.

Forgery with "FRANCO" too big and "BUENOS AIRES" written too thinly.

The next forgeries are very dangerous it seems, they are cancelled with a blue grille. This item can only be recognized by the paper, yellowish instead of white. The types are exactly similar to the ones from the genuine plate.

Sperati forgeries

Sperati made two types of forgeries of the 4 r (reproduction 'A' and 'B') and one with the worn plate(?) of the 4 r. Also one forgery of the 1 p and 2 p.

(Sperati forgeries)

Sperati 'reproduction A' of the 4 r stamp.

Sperati forgery of the 4 r green stamp: 'reproduction B'.

Sperati 'proof', reduced size; in all the 1 p Sperati forgeries I have seen, there is a white spot just above the space in between the 'EO' of 'CORREOS' and a smaller white dot in front of the 'C' of this word.

Sperati forged cancels.

And forged mute cancels from Sperati.

Other forgeries with a very large chin:

Forgeries with a large chin; I've also seen the value 2 P blue.

The hat on this stamp is completely different from the genuine stamps. I've also seen this forgery with a black circular cancel and a black boxed "FRANCO" cancel.

1 P forgery

Miscellaneous

1856 Unissued stamps of Buenos Aires, so-called 'Horseman' or 'Gauchitos', no country name indicated, inscription 'CORREOS'

Four values exist of these unissued stamps: 4 r yellow, 6 r green, 8 r violet and 10 r blue. They were printed in sheets of 48 stamps (6 rows of 8 stamps). In total 25 sheets (thus 1200 stamps) were printed.

Forgeries exists of these 'essays'. In fact, the grand majority of 'Gauchitos' found today are forgeries. See http://www.klassische-philatelie.ch/arg/arg_buenosaires_gauchitos.html (in German) for more information. I'm not sure if the above stamps are genuine (they are different from the stamps shown in the above mentioned website).

Another set, differing from the above shown stamps, most likely forgeries as well; note the backwards slanting 'S' of 'CORREOS'.

Forgery in the wrong color 6 r black on red.

Fiscal stamps?

I have seen a 1 P blue, 2 P orange, 3 P red, 4 P red, 5 P green, 6 P green, 7 P brown, 8 P blue, in the sea with mercury design (small size). In the larger mercury with sea design I have seen: 9 P blue, 10 P brown, 20 P light brown, 30 P green, 50 P green, 70 P olive and 80 P blue.

(Revenue stamp of 1869, inscription 'LEY DE SELLOS')

Telegraph stamps

1888 Inscription 'TELEGRAF DE LA PROVINCIAS BUENOS AIRES'

  1 c blue
  2 c red
  10 c brown
  40 c orange

These telegraph stamps are perforated 11 1/2.

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

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

Copyright by Evert Klaseboer