Industrial Exhibition in Madrid forgery
This stamp was issued was originally published in 1907 for Madrid Industrial Exhibition in Spain. It is an obligatory fund raiser “stamp” that had to be attached in exhibition mail in addition of regular postage stamps. A complete set contains six different face value stamps with pictures of King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria.
In addition of original printing, Michel stamp catalog mentions reprints. These differ from original on perforation and color. However, what I’m going to show here is not the usual reprint. On top row is the real thing, on the bottom row are two copies that I believe are very modern forgeries/ fakes made for collectors.
As one can see, there are multiple differences. The real thing has perforation, the fakes are cut. Also the paper, colors, cancellation and printing impression simply don’t match with the real thing. They mimic the original, but fail to impress. In fact you can feel the difference with fingertips. The fake is simply too smooth.
The catalogue value for whole set is somewhere around 30€, and I’ve seen sets sold on eBay for US$50. So this is a perfect example on how even low value stamps are made forgeries.
What’s your take on these stamps? Are they forgeries or reprints ? And have you seen similar items before?
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I had read that the original stamps were valid for postage sent from the post office inside the fair.
I have some of them and, as you; I think they are the first reprints and modern reprints also (I have some modern reprints which are perforated also.)
Hi Pablo,
you are correct. The original set was postally valid if sent / cancelled by fair post office during the fairs.
The first reprint is very easy to differentiate from the original by altered perforation. Also the colours are slightly different than the original.
About the modern fakes… One very likely source for these is a German “replica seller” who did sell selfmade reprints of hard-to-get European stamps in 1990’s. These replicas were provided with and without perforation (latter being much cheaper to buying customers).
-keijo-
HI Keijo,
I liked reading this article as I have the complete set(original) but had no information about them. I know that they are original as they were picked from an old collection of that period. I never thought they were valued for euro 30 to 50, as I only paid 30 euro cents for them.
I keep them with the cinderellas as I could not find them on Stanley Gibbons catalogue.
Sounds like an excellent find Joe. I’d be jumping in joy if I found something similar for 30 cents.
That said, I must confess that most of the items I display on the blog haven’t cost me much neither, LOL.
I have found an Industrail Exhibition in Madrid stamp and not sure if it is a fake or not. It has perforated edges and reading up on how to tell it says that the fakes are smooth and this one it quite rough, but i’m still not sure. How can I find out???
Hi Sasha,
the fact that it is perforated and paper feels rough is a positive indicator. Very likely you have find either a reprint or original – next you need to check stamps perforation. The real ones should be lineperf 11½; otherwise they are reprints.
Hi, all. Are these (Industrial Exhibition in Madrid) listed in Scott’s, or any other catalog, for that matter? I could not find them. Thanks!
@Rick… Michel lists them, so does Edifil; but both of them use special numbers for these. I’m sending you a copy of these pages by email.
My Scott Classic specialized has a cite about the set, and value for unused & used set. But no catalog numbers or images. I think Scott excluded them simply because they were not valid for postage, but instead kind of like “postal surcharge”.