Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
In 1932 the Post Office was alerted to the suspected forgery of the then current 2d Sydney Harbour Bridge stamp. The story of the forgeries was featured in the April 1979 edition of the Australian Stamp Bulletin.
The Post Office became aware of the forgeries in April 1932 when the Deputy Postmaster-General of Sydney received a letter from a South Australian philatelist, Dr. E. Couper Black. Dr. Black explained that he had been sent an envelope bearing two 3d stamps, which he believed were forgeries.
Not only was the overall appearance of the forged stamps different from the normal stamps but the perforations were dissimilar and the suspect stamps were produced on unwatermarked paper.
Dr. Black’s envelope originated in Sydney and had the address of T. Maher, 336 Elizabeth Street, Sydney stamped on it. The envelope had contained a circular relating to an Irish sweepstake.
Post Office investigators working with the police discovered that ‘T. Maher’ was one of a number of fictitious names used by an agent for the Irish Free State, Charles Jackson of Kensington. Jackson, who had previous convictions for illegal betting and breaking and entering, was put under police surveillance.
Following investigations, Jackson was arrested at the Sydney GPO while posting a handful of letters franked with the forgeries of the 2d Sydney Harbour Bridge stamps. The police also discovered that Jackson produced the stamps with the help of a process engraver, Harry Stewart Elderfield, who was a partner in a city firm.
A search of his offices uncovered a photographic negative of the plate already found at Jackson’s home as well as engravings of the 2d Bridge stamps and a printing machine.
As far as the perforating of the stamps was concerned, Elderfield stated that he carried out the work in the printing works of a close friend who was unaware of his purpose. The work had been performed at night when the owner of the machine was absent.
Jackson and Elderfield along with an accomplice, Ernest William Hemsley, who had worked for the Post Office until 1923, were remanded in custody at the Central Police Court.
Both Jackson and Elderfield pleaded guilty to being in possession of counterfeit stamps and a plate. They were sentenced to 12 months hard labour. Hemsley was charged with offences under the NSW Gaming and Betting Act but the State Attorney-General did not file an indictment because of lack of evidence.
The original stamps were printed in panes of 20 (4 across x 5 down), the forged 2d stamps were also printed in the same format. 1,200 were printed totaling 24,000 stamps (2d x 24,000 = £480). All the sheets were destroyed with the exception of one pane of 20 stamps which were retained for inclusion in the official Post Office collection, fifteen were defaced with an overprint of an "X". Five somehow were released to the public untouched shortly before the remainder of the sheet was defaced.
The position on the pane is row 2/4. This stamp is in mint condition and very rare, even though being a forgery it is regarded as the “holy grail” of the Harbour Bridge series.
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Hi Robert
That was lovely reading and great piece of history
Trust a Paddy to be in the thick of it lol
Regards
John
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Hi John
Thanks, great stamps need a provenance, and stamps like these are a part of Australian history. Yes, there is an Irishman involved, and they nearly got away with it. The value of this stamp is worth twice the value of a perfectly centred mint unhinged 5/- Bridge.
Did you know that collectors made postal forgeries of the 2d postal forgery and glued them onto envelopes, as these stamps on cover would be the ultimate prize, unfortunately, only one existed and it was handed to the Postmaster-General and it was eventually destroyed along with 1,200 panes of the forgeries (24,000 stamps).
These forgeries of the forgeries were made after the arrest of the culprits on a modern printer, they were easily detected.
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Hi Rob
I think that you sent a message how to determine the 2d Forgery, but I cant seem to remember where?
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Hi, Rob.
Generally I have noticed that counterfeit/forgerie stamps have linear perforation.
This is a big mistake in the Scott catalogue which does not mention the type of perforation :combined or linear.
I found in Scott the 2 issues:
Scott130 -without watermark,engraved and perf.11 (as your third stamp shows is perforation in line-20 teeth horizontally)
Scott 133- with watermark 228, typo ??(letter-press I think is indirect typo) and perf 10 1/2 (as your second stamp looks it is combined perf 10 1/2-19 teeth horizontal)
The first stamp in the row has perf.11 in line (20 teeth horizontal and as Scott 130 I suspect it is not on watermarked paper)
The only difference is the printing method.
Definitely not engraving.
What kind of printing does it have?
George
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Hi George
The Scott Catalogue is useless when it comes to Australian stamps as it’s principle purpose is aimed at US stamps. The catalogue specialised for Australian stamps is the ACSC (Australian Commonwealth Specialists’ Catalogue).
The 1932 2d Harbour Bridge postal forgery were intended to for use on letters containing forged sweepstakes tickets. It is believed that the racket was discovered prior to the 2d Bridge forgeries ever being used.
The 2d forgery were issued as a letterpress issue, the only thing the counterfeiters couldn’t reproduce was the watermark as the original Letterpress (the middle stamp) is the only Harbour Bridge stamp with a watermark.
All 2d issues of the Harbour Bridge series, with the exception of the Letterpress, have no watermark and a perforation of 11 (single-line). The Letterpress has a watermark (Multiple Crown with C of A) and a perforation of 10½ (comb), the forgery was printed as a Letterpress but with a perforation of 11 (single-line) and no watermark.
Both the authentic 2d Recess and Letterpress stamps were printed from steel plates whereas the forgery was printed from a copper plate.
How did the counterfeiters execute such a feat? One of the counterfeiters engraved the Harbour Bridge onto copper and not on steel, copper is more pliable to work with, though it will not produce the sharpness as that of a steel plate.
The stamps were reproduced photographically from the original proof print of the counterfeit from the copper plate, and the incorrect perforation added to the forgeries, as well as using unwatermarked paper as the authentic paper has a watermark and impossible to obtain.
So to answer your response:
The forgery has a perforation of 11 (single-line)
The forgery has no watermark
It was engraved by hand
Here is my collection of Harbour Bridges, all are MUH.
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Hi Rob,
Thank you very much.
It's a very bad print (not even the lines in the bridge towers are continuous)
I would have thought it was a litho print.
I collect German stamps (since I have Michel specialized) but I have a very hard time with the language.
Australian and Canadian stamps I like a lot but without having a specialized catalog I don't even try.
Vertical/horizontal mesh are easily distinguishable? (enough at high magnification or with strong backlight or has textile or woody elements of a different colour whose orientation is easily distinguishable)
George
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Forgery plates found in Sydney GPO
In 1932 the Post Office was alerted to the suspected forgery of the then current 2d Sydney Harbour Bridge stamp. The story of the forgeries was featured in the April 1979 edition of the Australian Stamp Bulletin.
The Post Office became aware of the forgeries in April 1932 when the Deputy Postmaster-General of Sydney received a letter from a South Australian philatelist, Dr. E. Couper Black. Dr. Black explained that he had been sent an envelope bearing two 3d stamps, which he believed were forgeries.
Not only was the overall appearance of the forged stamps different from the normal stamps but the perforations were dissimilar and the suspect stamps were produced on unwatermarked paper.
Dr. Black’s envelope originated in Sydney and had the address of T. Maher, 336 Elizabeth Street, Sydney stamped on it. The envelope had contained a circular relating to an Irish sweepstake.
Post Office investigators working with the police discovered that ‘T. Maher’ was one of a number of fictitious names used by an agent for the Irish Free State, Charles Jackson of Kensington. Jackson, who had previous convictions for illegal betting and breaking and entering, was put under police surveillance.
Following investigations, Jackson was arrested at the Sydney GPO while posting a handful of letters franked with the forgeries of the 2d Sydney Harbour Bridge stamps. The police also discovered that Jackson produced the stamps with the help of a process engraver, Harry Stewart Elderfield, who was a partner in a city firm.
A search of his offices uncovered a photographic negative of the plate already found at Jackson’s home as well as engravings of the 2d Bridge stamps and a printing machine.
As far as the perforating of the stamps was concerned, Elderfield stated that he carried out the work in the printing works of a close friend who was unaware of his purpose. The work had been performed at night when the owner of the machine was absent.
Jackson and Elderfield along with an accomplice, Ernest William Hemsley, who had worked for the Post Office until 1923, were remanded in custody at the Central Police Court.
Both Jackson and Elderfield pleaded guilty to being in possession of counterfeit stamps and a plate. They were sentenced to 12 months hard labour. Hemsley was charged with offences under the NSW Gaming and Betting Act but the State Attorney-General did not file an indictment because of lack of evidence.
The original stamps were printed in panes of 20 (4 across x 5 down), the forged 2d stamps were also printed in the same format. 1,200 were printed totaling 24,000 stamps (2d x 24,000 = £480). All the sheets were destroyed with the exception of one pane of 20 stamps which were retained for inclusion in the official Post Office collection, fifteen were defaced with an overprint of an "X". Five somehow were released to the public untouched shortly before the remainder of the sheet was defaced.
The position on the pane is row 2/4. This stamp is in mint condition and very rare, even though being a forgery it is regarded as the “holy grail” of the Harbour Bridge series.
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re: Counterfeit 2d Harbour Bridge Stamp
Hi Robert
That was lovely reading and great piece of history
Trust a Paddy to be in the thick of it lol
Regards
John
Login to Like
this post
re: Counterfeit 2d Harbour Bridge Stamp
Hi John
Thanks, great stamps need a provenance, and stamps like these are a part of Australian history. Yes, there is an Irishman involved, and they nearly got away with it. The value of this stamp is worth twice the value of a perfectly centred mint unhinged 5/- Bridge.
Did you know that collectors made postal forgeries of the 2d postal forgery and glued them onto envelopes, as these stamps on cover would be the ultimate prize, unfortunately, only one existed and it was handed to the Postmaster-General and it was eventually destroyed along with 1,200 panes of the forgeries (24,000 stamps).
These forgeries of the forgeries were made after the arrest of the culprits on a modern printer, they were easily detected.
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re: Counterfeit 2d Harbour Bridge Stamp
Hi Rob
I think that you sent a message how to determine the 2d Forgery, but I cant seem to remember where?
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06:05:36am
re: Counterfeit 2d Harbour Bridge Stamp
Hi, Rob.
Generally I have noticed that counterfeit/forgerie stamps have linear perforation.
This is a big mistake in the Scott catalogue which does not mention the type of perforation :combined or linear.
I found in Scott the 2 issues:
Scott130 -without watermark,engraved and perf.11 (as your third stamp shows is perforation in line-20 teeth horizontally)
Scott 133- with watermark 228, typo ??(letter-press I think is indirect typo) and perf 10 1/2 (as your second stamp looks it is combined perf 10 1/2-19 teeth horizontal)
The first stamp in the row has perf.11 in line (20 teeth horizontal and as Scott 130 I suspect it is not on watermarked paper)
The only difference is the printing method.
Definitely not engraving.
What kind of printing does it have?
George
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this post
re: Counterfeit 2d Harbour Bridge Stamp
Hi George
The Scott Catalogue is useless when it comes to Australian stamps as it’s principle purpose is aimed at US stamps. The catalogue specialised for Australian stamps is the ACSC (Australian Commonwealth Specialists’ Catalogue).
The 1932 2d Harbour Bridge postal forgery were intended to for use on letters containing forged sweepstakes tickets. It is believed that the racket was discovered prior to the 2d Bridge forgeries ever being used.
The 2d forgery were issued as a letterpress issue, the only thing the counterfeiters couldn’t reproduce was the watermark as the original Letterpress (the middle stamp) is the only Harbour Bridge stamp with a watermark.
All 2d issues of the Harbour Bridge series, with the exception of the Letterpress, have no watermark and a perforation of 11 (single-line). The Letterpress has a watermark (Multiple Crown with C of A) and a perforation of 10½ (comb), the forgery was printed as a Letterpress but with a perforation of 11 (single-line) and no watermark.
Both the authentic 2d Recess and Letterpress stamps were printed from steel plates whereas the forgery was printed from a copper plate.
How did the counterfeiters execute such a feat? One of the counterfeiters engraved the Harbour Bridge onto copper and not on steel, copper is more pliable to work with, though it will not produce the sharpness as that of a steel plate.
The stamps were reproduced photographically from the original proof print of the counterfeit from the copper plate, and the incorrect perforation added to the forgeries, as well as using unwatermarked paper as the authentic paper has a watermark and impossible to obtain.
So to answer your response:
The forgery has a perforation of 11 (single-line)
The forgery has no watermark
It was engraved by hand
Here is my collection of Harbour Bridges, all are MUH.
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04:36:27pm
re: Counterfeit 2d Harbour Bridge Stamp
Hi Rob,
Thank you very much.
It's a very bad print (not even the lines in the bridge towers are continuous)
I would have thought it was a litho print.
I collect German stamps (since I have Michel specialized) but I have a very hard time with the language.
Australian and Canadian stamps I like a lot but without having a specialized catalog I don't even try.
Vertical/horizontal mesh are easily distinguishable? (enough at high magnification or with strong backlight or has textile or woody elements of a different colour whose orientation is easily distinguishable)
George
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this post