Home Catalogue index Volume 1 index Volume 2 index
Preview of Stamps Catalogue: VOLUME 2

SPAIN QUEEN ISABELLA, 1853 issue Forgeries

Return To Catalogue - Queen Isabella, 1852-1853 - Spain overview

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.


1853 Queen Isabella II, inscription '1853'

Genuine stamps:

Genuine Image reproduced with permission from: http://www.sandafayre.com
(Genuine stamps)

Forgeries, examples (all Segui forgeries? Usually uncancelled):

Segui forgery! Segui forgery!
(Segui forgeries)

The following stamp are probably Spiro forgeries (note the strange cancel), there are parts of pearls at the bottom of the oval:

Forgery!

Furthermore the pearls are very irregular. This forgery is also described in Album Weeds. A similar forgery seems to exist for the values 6 Cs, 5 Rs and 6 Rs (Spiro forgeries?).

Another forgery with this very peculiar cancel (also note the strange '3'):

Image obtained from Bill Claghorn's forgery site
(Left image obtained from Bill Claghorn's forgery site)


Three uncancelled forgeries, apparently made by the same forger

In the next forgeries, the pearls and letters of the inscription are very irregular:

Image obtained from Bill Claghorn's forgery site 6 c wrong colour

Some other forgeries:


A vertical pair of 2 Rs forgeries


The top of the "3" in this forgery is too long.

The next stamps are Sperati forgeries, Sperati sometimes used genuine cancels (by erasing the value of a cheaper stamp), but more often, the cancels are also forged in the Sperati forgeries. Sperati forgeries are quite rare and valuable.


The bottom right hand corner is badly executed in this Sperati forgery of the 12 cs value.

Image obtained from a Sotheby auction
Sperati forgeries of the 2 rs value; The frame has an extension towards the left in the upper left corner. The bottom of the 'T' of 'CERT' is defective. The top of the '2' is sometimes defective.


Sperati forgeries of the 5 rs and 6 rs values. There is a break just above the 'O' of 'DO' (not always present). The Sperati forgeries of the 5 rs and 6 rs value are similar (Sperati only changed the numeral and the color). The lower right hand side of the '3' of '1853' has a white dot. The lower frameline is weak below the value.

The forger Peter Winter also made forgeries (somewhere in the 1980's on modern white paper) of the variety 'no dot below 'Rs' in the values 2 r, 5 r and 6 r:


Peter Winter forgeries


Forgery of the 6 Cs stamp with a totally differently shaped head of the Queen.


Another very primitive 2 Rs forgery.


Fournier forgeries, taken from a Fournier Album. These forgeries are rather deceptive, but the shading of the hair is slightly different from the genuine stamps according to the Serrane Guide


Copyright by Evert Klaseboer