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| Counterfeits - Cuba 1864 2Rs and 1866 5 cent. | ||
| reprinted from Eastern Philatelist, March 1896 | ||
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CUBA. 1864, 2 Rs. Plata F., vermilion on flesh paper I have here a cancelled counterfeit of good general appearance, but incorrect in numerous details. (2) It is a lithograph, and the impression is a very good one. There are very few broken lines; one, however, the first below the value, is broken in two places and very thin in a third. (3) The vermilion of the design is first rate ; it is almost the exact shade of the original I have; but the paper is way off color. Instead of the bright flesh color of the original we have a light bluish rose that is scarcely more than a tint. (4) In quality, the paper is thin and hard, similar to that used by the Continental Bank Note Company in 1873 ; it rattles between the fingers like a new greenback ; in fact, I should say it resembles very much the "bond" paper of the stationer both in texture and in delicacy of color. The original paper is much inferior in quality to that just described. It is thicker, but soft, porous and rough - much like the best paper in pencil tablets. (5) The following points will apply also to the counterfeits of the 1866 and 1867 issues (of the same general type). First notice the frame or border at the two sides of the stamp. This is composed on each side of three parts - a double line inside, another outside, and between these two a zigzag line, also double, running from one side of the border to the other and touching first one of the side lines and then the other. This zigzag line forms thirteen angles, seven of them opening towards the head and six in the opposite direction. From each of these angles extends a short colored line with a small ball or knob at its extremity. In these portions of the border are the principal defects of this and other counterfeits of this type. In the original the two colored lines composing the zigzag lines above described are farther apart at the angles than half-way between these. In the counterfeits the two lines are equidistant at all points, the greatest distance of the original. The knobs in the angles of the original are about half the size of the counterfeit ones and do not touch the side lines by ¼ in. In the counterfeit about half the knobs touch the side lines, and all of the others but one come within a hair's breadth of it. The third from the bottom at the extreme left is of the normal size and in its proper place. There are similar knobs in the corner circles, distinguished from those of the original in the same way-by being too large, by interfering with the shading, and by touching the circles in most cases. In the second place, look at the neck of the Queen. This is shaded with horizontal lines, one of which (about half-way down) extends entirely across it. Below this there are seven shorter lines in the original and only six in the counterfeit. This is a final test. In the third place, look at the lower part of the crown. This is set with jewels as follows: At the front we see half a diamond; then there are two short, thin dashes, and back of these a pearl; then there are two more dashes, and back of these a diamond ; and so on. In all the counterfeits of the type I am now describing this jeweling is replaced by a series of alternating white and colored blotches, the white ones oval in form with a colored dot in the centre, the colored ones filling up the spaces between these irregular ovals. There are several other minor differences, as in the little white triangles at the right, adjoining the two corner circles, and especially in the arrangement of the Queen's hair; but the tests I have given are the plainest, and I think they will be found to be quite sufficient for the detection of any counterfeit of the stamps of this type. CUBA. 1866, 5 centesimos, lilac. For this stamp apply the tests given in (5) above, together with the following: (4) The paper, which is white in this case, is also thicker and more porous than that previously described ; it is nearly as thick as the original paper, but is still much too smooth and hard. (2) There are also a few broken lines in this specimen. The line below the value is broken in two places, as before, while from the line above the value at least 3mm. are missing. CUBA. 1867, 5 centesimos, lilac. This is exactly the same as the above, except in regard to separation and color. (1) An attempt at perforation has been made here but the holes are much too small and look like pin perforation. They were useless to tear by, there being only 12% of these small holes in the 20mm., and so the scissors were resorted to, sometimes following the perforations and sometimes not. (3 The color is too deep and solid, the original being a rather pale shade. CUBA. 1867, 40 centesimos, rose. To this counterfeit may be applied in order the remarks under (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5), as they have most immediately preceded this point. You will observe that these four counterfeits are all of the same general type ; this has been applied to all the values of these three issues, but I have described only those I have in my possession at the present time. (6) I have seen only two different cancellations on the counterfeits, both of this type and that which I shall de-scribe next month. In fact, these bogus cancellations have been very extensively employed on imitations of the stamps of several other countries as well, until I have come to regard with suspicion, even before a careful examination, any stamp bearing either the one or the other of these styles of obliteration. The second is much commoner than the first, being found to my knowledge on counterfeit stamps of at least half a dozen different countries (including all the Cubans described above, with the exception of the first), as well as on several series of fiscal stamps, to make them postally used, (2) It consists of ten slightly curved bars, about 7 mm. in length, five curving in one direction and the other facing these. They are about 2½ mm. apart, and on each side of the row that they form, about 1½ mm. from their extremities on either side, are four longer bars, from 12 to 22mm. in length, with the shortest outside. Replace some of the curved bars by letter and number and thicken the two outside straight bars until they resemble segments of a circle, and we have the common cancellation used for so long by the British Colonies. As it stands, however, it is almost a sure sign that there is "something the matter" with the stamp that bears it. The Orange Free State described in the first of these articles and the first Cuban described above bear a barred ellipse, which is quite as good a counterfeit sign as the other. S. B. HOPKINS | ||
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