Forgeries Postal history of Żarki

1 forgeries

1.1 identification

1.1.1 perforation
1.1.2 paper
1.1.3 clouds
1.1.4 group of three
1.1.5 rows of white bricks
1.1.6 crescent
1.1.7 trees
1.1.8 wagon
1.1.9 cancellation
1.1.10 alignment marks
1.1.11 3h variations

forgeries

after closure of local post on october 28, 1918 , genuine stock exhausted, abramsohn sought fulfill philatelic demand original stamps printing forgeries @ adolph panski lithography printing works in piotrków (now piotrków trybunalski) in 1928. forgeries spread through polish , german stamp trade estimated stamps in general collections found forgeries.

identification

there exists number of known ways identify forgeries. forgeries abramsohn printed used same design, forgeries of 9 original issued values share following properties:

perforation

genuine stamps issued 11½ perforation. forged stamps may have or other perforation , appear imperforate.

paper

genuine stamps printed on paper fluoresces under blacklight. generally, forgeries not fluoresce.

clouds

genuine stamps have light or no border around top-center clouds. forged stamps have hard dark edge visible around clouds.

group of three

on genuine stamps, group of 3 people standing near center of stamp equal height , visible. on forged stamps, left-most person shorter other 2 , possibly touching person right.

rows of white bricks

on genuine stamps, church has 3 rows of white bricks visible in center of stamp. on forged stamps, 2 white rows visible.

crescent

on genuine stamps, crescent formed shadow in circle on center of church aligned 8 o clock. on forged stamps, crescent found directly left closer 9 o clock.

trees

on genuine stamps, tree tops fade sky. on forged stamps, trees have bold outline solid leaves.

wagon

on genuine stamps, horse-drawn wagon on left of stamp has white roof shaded on bottom 10 short fine lines. on forgeries, wagon shaded 8 heavy lines extend top.

cancellation

genuine Żarki cancellations 36mm in diameter, while forged cancellations 34mm in diameter. additionally, spacing between inner , outer circle 5.2mm in diameter in genuine cancellation , 4.5mm in forged cancellations.

alignment marks

forged sheets contain alignment marks not present on genuine sheets. alignment marks visible before 21st position , after 30th position above 6th position , under 46th position.

3h variations

forged 3h (blue) values known 2 contain 2 variations depending on plate position. odd numbered positions in forged sheets contain small blot northwest of letter p , dot below rk.

even numbered positions contain dot on left side of center of right numeral 3, dots below e, , above s.