Richnoddystamps

07.03.2013

Persia 1881 Dual currency recess printed Paris Forgeries. These are extremely common forgeries, and virtually every example for sale on ebay, Delcampe and Bidstart are forgeries. Despite this, they are extremely easy to distinguish genuine from forged.

Shah Nasser-ed-din had long been impressed with the western lifestyle, and instructed the  Austrian Government Printing Office to create a set of dual currency stamps, denominated in French centimes and Persian Shahis. Original printings were in lithography, and were replaced by recess printed stamps later the same year. The forgeries were produced for a Paris stamp dealer, and are distinguished in several ways.

The easiest tell-tale involves the inner frameline where the suns rays touch the right hand column. On the originals, the frame is virtually absent, but on the forgery it is strong and clear. Additionally, the hatched ground under the figure of value is a different shade from the number in the original, but is the same colour in the forgery. Incidentally, genuine postmarks on this,and other issues tend to leave a greasy mark, usually clearly visible on the reverse. Forgeries of the Litho issues also exist, made for the same Paris dealer, but he decided not to proceed with a print run after he had seen the samples.