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Scott 156 and O91 surcharge variability

ManfredManfred
in Stamps and Postal History


Comparing my genuine stamps (left column) with the fakes in my collection (right column) I noticed that the two mint copies I have of both stamps each belong to one of two slightly different varieties. The differences aren't big enough to call them setting varieties, but anyway. Compared with the stamps at pos. 1 and 3, the two copies at 5 and 7 have the "c" shifted to the right, and the "t" is also different, with a characteristic flaw (dent) in the hook. It almost looks like the forger of no. 6 tried to copy that flaw. This is probably easier to see in the image below with the masked overprints.
Incidentally, my three used copies are all of the first type. Does anyone have multiples of #156 or #O91?


Comments

  • TravisTravis
    Manfred,

    Here is a scan of the copies I have. They all appear to be genuine.

  • ManfredManfred
    Travis,

    your copies confirm my observations: stamps can be assigned to one of two types. Top left is second type, the other two first type. So far, I have no reason to believe that the second type isn't genuine - but I still would like to see a used example.
    BTW, my forgeries are all ex Varaschini. His notes on the forgeries got me interested in possible variations of the original overprints.
  • mikwizzymikwizzy
    Here are my copies of the 156 - hopefully genuine!


  • ManfredManfred
    Interesting. The left one has the spacing of the second type, but a normal, flawless "t". The right one has the spacing of the first type. Both look genuine.
  • BryantBryant
    Here are a few examples:





    I think blocks of 4 are the largest blocks still around.



    The cover is dated 3-VII-20 on the Bongo, and uses both Official and Ordinary.
  • seredagseredag
    A few observations. First of all, thanks to Manfred for his excellent scans of the genuine and fake surcharges. Regarding the differences between the two, the "t" is the most obvious, with the fake having a very short turn-up at the bottom, and also the cross bar on the fake "t" is much shorter than the genuine, particularly on the right hand side.

    With respect to the "2", the upturn at bottom right of the fake is generally more rounded, both on top and within the inside of the joint.

    In addition, the fakes all appear to be a brighter scarlet color, as can be seen in Manfred's scans, much like the color of the third printing of the multiple surcharge sheets. The color difference can also be seen on the attached cover, which has a pair of genuine regular and OS surcharges, as well as two of a strip of third setting multiple surcharges. Varaschini's notes also confirm the shorter cross bar on the "t" and the scarlet color.

    Last comment. Sorry Bryant, but Henry currently has a block of ten up for grabs on eBay.

  • ManfredManfred
    Thanks Greg,
    I have grabbed the scan of Henry's block of 10 for reference. Unfortunately, I can't afford the actual thing.

  • AlanAlan
    edited September 2018
    From my collection:




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