I suppose that a math formula, or what they call an algorithm, could be constructed that spits out the odds for something just found lying about in an old album being genuine vs counterfeit.
.
I bet that there is an inverse relationship between value paid and the possibility something is bogus. Probably the number of years since someone last actually examined the stamps also. Just because a stamp has been lying fallow in grampa's old album for many years does not increase the chances it is genuine.
these two stamps are in an approval book (hope that is how you call them) from the stamp club, with an asking price of about 15 euros each. I read in some catalogue that these stamps were frequently forged, both overprints as well as cancels and that there were only about 6,000 made of each.
I think that the chance of them being genuine is very small...
Jan-Simon-
Scott Classic notes that excellent forgeries exist. If the rest of the surrounding material you were looking at was strong, then these could be legitimate. (Its not like you ran across a second one-penny magenta.) If I was a purchaser, I would assume they are not legitimate, until it could be shown otherwise.
Based on catalogue value alone, the three lower values catalogue quite a bit below the two higher values, which leads one to conclude that they might be somewhat more common? Every once in a while I run across these here in the middle U.S., and they don't typically come with certificates. Too bad.
You have to wonder how many of those sales that make up the calculation of catalogue value were sales of forgeries.
Hope they turn into something.
C.
[edit: Jan-Simon, I didn't see your followup post about where you ran across these before posting my reply...I would be skeptical in that setting.]
(Message edited by cjd on February 28, 2011)
The odds that the stamps are real are 100,000,000,000,000,000 oops ran out of 0's to 1.
good luck,
.
Richaard
Wait a Minute, now, I just realized,they could be genuine forgeries.
They probably are. I will just leave them in the books I found them in. They will not be added to my collection.
My stamp club, the British Columbia Philatelic Society, has had two speakers in recent years who specialize in forgeries. We've learned that some forgeries have significant value. Even more important is their value as references to help identify legitimate stamps.
Stamporama once had a member who claimed that he burned every forgery he came across. That's like cutting off your nose to spite your face: Forgeries cannot take away the value of legitimate stamps, but destroying forgeries can make it more difficult to identify legitimate stamps.
Besides that, forgeries are often interesting in their own right. Identifying a forgery, especially a well-done forgery, can be every bit as satisfying as identifying a long-sought legitimate variety.
Bob
I came across two stamps from Cape of Good Hope with the overprint Mafeking Besieged and a circular cancel of Mafeking, dates 28 March 1900 and 15 (or 10, second number is hard to read) April 1900.
I have read that genuine Mafeking stamps are very rare. What is the chance of the stamps I found being the real deal?
Jan-Simon
re: Cape of Good Hope - Mafeking Besieged
I suppose that a math formula, or what they call an algorithm, could be constructed that spits out the odds for something just found lying about in an old album being genuine vs counterfeit.
.
I bet that there is an inverse relationship between value paid and the possibility something is bogus. Probably the number of years since someone last actually examined the stamps also. Just because a stamp has been lying fallow in grampa's old album for many years does not increase the chances it is genuine.
re: Cape of Good Hope - Mafeking Besieged
these two stamps are in an approval book (hope that is how you call them) from the stamp club, with an asking price of about 15 euros each. I read in some catalogue that these stamps were frequently forged, both overprints as well as cancels and that there were only about 6,000 made of each.
I think that the chance of them being genuine is very small...
re: Cape of Good Hope - Mafeking Besieged
Jan-Simon-
Scott Classic notes that excellent forgeries exist. If the rest of the surrounding material you were looking at was strong, then these could be legitimate. (Its not like you ran across a second one-penny magenta.) If I was a purchaser, I would assume they are not legitimate, until it could be shown otherwise.
Based on catalogue value alone, the three lower values catalogue quite a bit below the two higher values, which leads one to conclude that they might be somewhat more common? Every once in a while I run across these here in the middle U.S., and they don't typically come with certificates. Too bad.
You have to wonder how many of those sales that make up the calculation of catalogue value were sales of forgeries.
Hope they turn into something.
C.
[edit: Jan-Simon, I didn't see your followup post about where you ran across these before posting my reply...I would be skeptical in that setting.]
(Message edited by cjd on February 28, 2011)
re: Cape of Good Hope - Mafeking Besieged
The odds that the stamps are real are 100,000,000,000,000,000 oops ran out of 0's to 1.
good luck,
.
Richaard
re: Cape of Good Hope - Mafeking Besieged
Wait a Minute, now, I just realized,they could be genuine forgeries.
re: Cape of Good Hope - Mafeking Besieged
They probably are. I will just leave them in the books I found them in. They will not be added to my collection.
re: Cape of Good Hope - Mafeking Besieged
My stamp club, the British Columbia Philatelic Society, has had two speakers in recent years who specialize in forgeries. We've learned that some forgeries have significant value. Even more important is their value as references to help identify legitimate stamps.
Stamporama once had a member who claimed that he burned every forgery he came across. That's like cutting off your nose to spite your face: Forgeries cannot take away the value of legitimate stamps, but destroying forgeries can make it more difficult to identify legitimate stamps.
Besides that, forgeries are often interesting in their own right. Identifying a forgery, especially a well-done forgery, can be every bit as satisfying as identifying a long-sought legitimate variety.
Bob