World Children's Day 2011
Date of issue: 01 October 2011
1st South Asian Beach Games - Hambanthota, Sri Lanka
Date of Issue : 11 October 2011
World Post Day 2011
Date of Issue : 09 October 2011
World Tourism Day 2011 -10 Stamps
Date of Issue: 28 September 2011
Stamp Forgery
Forgery – Be alert
Here is an article on forgery . The article was published in PPS (Portuguese Philatelic Society) Bulletin no.195/October 2011 . I am reproducing the article to make people alert about the forgery. We will have to stop these forgers in interest of genuine philately !!
Forged 'SPECIMEN' on stamp of King Carlos I (Mouchon design) of year 1903
New Bechuanaland Forgeries
By Dave Davies
I am very sorry to have to report to the membership that the very situation that I feared and tried to avoid when writing the report on the Bechuanaland U.P.U. "Specimen" forgeries in Bulletin No 183 (pp. 19 -23) has occurred.
Because I only had a suspicion of who was the peddler of these dangerous forgeries and did not have proof positive I was unable to name him. I had hoped that when he knew that someone was on his trail he may have reformed. I am sorry to tell you that greed seems to have got the better of him and the forgeries are still being offered at auction, the last time at an auction house in Germany as recently as February 2010.
All that I have done is to alert the forger or the distributor of the forgery to the faults in his effort. The hole, that he applied to the centenario types (only used in 1913). is now missing and he is trying Colonies other than India, the last being Angola offered in a German auction in 2010. He dare not attempt India again as he probably thinks that I will spot it. Little does he know that as a member of the Royal Dutch Philatelic Society Expert Committee, for the stamps of Portugal and Colonies I am obliged to pursue any and all suspicious items and these modem forgeries are taken very seriously. The suspect, Shaun Lobo of India. was told by me some years ago. (2006) that his material was forged, and an article about them appeared in the P.P.S. Bulletin in 2008 when he was a member, but he continues to defraud collectors of Portugal and Colonies.
We believe that the forgery was not made by Lobo but that he probably engaged an innocent or naive local printer to prepare his wares. He was a member of the P.P.S. and obviously has inside information from the bulletins, as indicated by the modifications to the forgery but preparation or distribution is equally wicked as it destroys the value of our collections, reduces the confidence of buyers at auction and gradually undermines and ridicules the hobby. Soon it will be said that Portuguese philately consists of nothing but forgeries and rubbish. Unless he is stopped he is likely to continue making forgeries that will be hard to keep up with as I have noticed that some of his material is now being offered for the second time by earlier buyers!
Below at bottom left I show some scans of the examples that appeared in Bulletin N0.183 of October 2008 and below that a scan of the new 2010 forgeries taken from the German 2010 auction catalogue.
Fig. 9: from a scan of an auction catalogue: Recent forgeries of the SPECIMEN overprint applied to Conenurio Angola on Macao with Republican overprint (Af. nos. 126 - 133). These stamps were offered at auction in February 2010.
The scan, illustrated on the previous page, was taken from an auction catalogue page of illustrations of an unknown reduction and have been presented in order to show the shapes of the forgeries, do not rely on the linear Size shown .
Fig 70: Dimensions of the genuine and forged SPECIMEN overprints. This illustration first appeared in the article published in October 2008 (No. 183). The recent forgeries are being applied without the addition of fake punched holes.
Members may be interested in the background to these forgeries and how Lobo was identified as the probable forger: evidence for which is presented below.
A few years ago I wrote a paper for the P.P.S. Bulletin entitled "The Protective marks on the stamps of Portugal" in it I showed among others, the BEG 2 "Specimen" mark from the Bechuanaland Post Office archive used to protect their received specimens sent to them from the U.P.U. in Berne.
A little later a young acquaintance and fellow P.P.S. member from Delhi, Mr Shaun Lobo sent me some Bechuanaland "Specimens" in part payment for a philatelic debt. The problem was that that he sent were duplicates of unique stamps that were already in my collection! My examples had come directly from Robson Lowe International who had handled the sale and were undoubtedly genuine. I returned the items to Mr Lobo telling him that I thought that he had been sold forgeries and asked where he had got them. He replied that they were from a dealer in Bombay, where he worked, but would not give a name. I merely thought that as he was young and inexperienced he had been caught by a dodgy dealer.
All was quiet for some time but then I noticed that "Leiloes P. Dias Lda" in Lisbon was offering a large number of Bechuanaland "Specimens" all similar to those that Shaun Lobo had offered to me. Paulo Dias confirmed that Mr Lobo was the vendor. I undertook an investigation and in 2008 assisted by John Dahl I wrote a paper for the P.P.S. bulletin alerting fellow members to the fact that there were "Specimen" forgeries on offer, many being quite wrong as they had both a hole and the word "Specimen".
Up to 2008, apart from the fact that Mr Lobo had offered the forgeries to me and was told that they were forgeries and also the fact that he was offering them in Lisbon, provided no proof positive that he was the forger or the distributor of forgeries. The Lisbon sales were, I think, before the article in the P.P.S. Bulletin appeared and he may honestly have believed that I was wrong when I said that they were forged and that he was simply getting rid of good stamps in Lisbon. After the paper appeared in the 2008 Bulletin they were no longer offered In Lisbon as Paulo. being a member of the P.P.S. had been alerted to the problem.
With someone touching his collar Lobo must have decided to move on as they have now reappeared in Germany ! I wonder where he will try next. He may try some where else in Germany if he is not spotted. There is always e-bay or perhaps the USA ? He may have already done so! The situation is so serious for our Indian members that recently an American auction house told me that they no longer accept any submissions of stamps to sell from India.
Now their existence is common knowledge within the P. P. S. and as he was a member and received the Bulletin with the details the fact that they have reappeared in a German auction in 2010 means that Lobo has been fully aware since 2006 that what he is selling are forgeries. He nevertheless continues to otter them in auctions and is simply moving his nefarious trade around to avoid notice.
I can assure the P. P. S. that a report will go to the Royal Dutch Philatelic Society Expert Committee for action. To summarise:-
1. Lobo offered the forgeries to me, they were returned and he was told they were forgeries in about 2006.
2. Lobo offered the same forgeries in Lisbon from 2007 until they were exposed by a 2008 P.P.S. bulletin article.
3. Mr Shaun Lobo has offered these forgeries in Germany up to 2010 in the almost certain knowledge that they are forgeries unless he failed to read the 2008 article in the bulletin.
4. There is the remote possibility that he does not know that he is selling forgeries so perhaps someone will enlighten him and he will return their money?
I am sure that the genuine originals of the above were offered in various P.P.S. auctions some years ago when I was auctioneer. If any member still owns the originals I would be pleased to speak to them or to exchange scans in order to compare the shape of the overprint, in ease the forger has changed any elements. I should also be willing to issue a certificate of authenticity for the originals in Case the present owners ever wish to offer them for sale. I am sure that you probably realize that any Bechuanaland "Specimen" is now virtually worthless or at least suspect and is unlikely to sell at the correct price.
There must be lots of duplicated "unique" examples in collections as a after 1910 they were supplied singly ! Will that be the future joke of the P.P.S ? "When is a unique Portuguese stamp not unique"? Answer -"when it is from the Bechuanaland archive!" What must be avoided at all costs is for the forger to think that forgery is pretty simple and to try his hand at something else. Soon Portuguese philately will be known as "that area that cannot be trusted as it is full of forgeries".
As a foot note to this sad little business I can tell you that in one sale in Lisbon in 2007 Lobo made 870 euros from the sale or his forgeries. He has offered a large number of these forgeries over the last four years probably making between 5.000 to 10,000 euros in that time. It was only by chance that I was in contact with the German auction house he used in 2010 that he has been brought to book. The Lord knows what other overprint and surcharge forgeries are about to hit us ! He has in the last few years probably moved on and sold through other establishments. As a member of the Expert Committee for Portugal & Colonies I will ensure that steps are taken to curtail his activities.
In closing I should mention to members that if they have any doubts about any of their Bechuanaland Specimens they should con-tact me as I have discovered a very simple test for the forgery but I am reluctant to publish the information as the forger will no doubt use it to improve his work.
The article New Bechuanaland Forgeries written by Mr. Dave Davies was published in PPS (Portuguese Philatelic Society) Bulletin no.195/October 2011
The writer Mr. Dave Davies is a veteran philatelist, specializing in Portugal & colonies, especially in India.His book 'Forgeries of Portugal & Colonies' is famous among philatelists.it can be seen on PPS website. www.pps-uk.net
: Umesh Kakkeri
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