freid001
**Member** 
Posts: 7 
What I collect: Great Britain and Commonwealth
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Post by freid001 on May 6, 2022 17:09:35 GMT
Hi, I recently came across this VR Official stamp on ebay. It's listed as a penny black VR official. However, I don't think it is legitimate. Was wondering what others' thought from this picture.  |
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stainlessb
Member 
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,642
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
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Post by stainlessb on May 6, 2022 18:02:05 GMT
SG specialized catalogue Queen Victoria discusses these, but of the 3,323 sheets printed it was never issued, all but 21 sheets were destroyed- 13 were used for distribution to test obliterations and then attempts made to remove. It does state that a few specimens passed through the post and if this is authentic it has a high CV. It should have a small crown watermark.
The fact that it has 4 almost perfect margins makes me immediately suspect it to be a reproduction
I looked on e-bay, but could find no listing
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stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,642
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
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Post by stainlessb on May 6, 2022 22:54:21 GMT
looking at this more closely, the nose, chin and neck looks a bit "off" and looking agt some reprints on E-Bay, I'd be suspect.
I now see someone offering several "Forgery-Reproductions", though different lower letters, They too have 4 nice margins. They are clearly marked FACSIMILE on the back
caveat emptor
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khj
Member
Posts: 1,458
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Post by khj on May 6, 2022 23:26:17 GMT
For comparison, here is a genuine VR stamp, same position S-H, believed to have been part of Hill's postmark removal trials.  |
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freid001
**Member**
Posts: 7
What I collect: Great Britain and Commonwealth
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Post by freid001 on May 6, 2022 23:26:38 GMT
looking at this more closely, the nose, chin and neck looks a bit "off" and looking agt some reprints on E-Bay, I'd be suspect. I now see someone offering several "Forgery-Reproductions", though different lower letters, They too have 4 nice margins. They are clearly marked FACSIMILE on the back caveat emptor Yeah, I thought the same too. The nose in particular looks very off to me and like you say only a few specimens were actually passed through the post. I think it must be reproduction or forgery. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks it looks suspicious, I'm going to avoid. It makes me so annoyed that people try and pass these stamps off as legit. I lost the original link to the listing but there is another here listed for £5k which looks similarly wrong to me, absolutely ridiculous. |
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khj
Member
Posts: 1,458
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Post by khj on May 6, 2022 23:31:31 GMT
In the eBay pic supplied by OP, it seems a lot of the fine details are either washed out, combined, or completely missing. The eBay pic also looks to me like much higher contrast version of the original -- i.e., the dark vertical patch going from the tiara down to her ear looks super-dark in the eBay pic, and her face has these white patches near the front where there should be some greyscale details. Just my observations.
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