Forged Stamps of Guatemala

“The Spud Papers”

by Atlee, Pemberton & Earée

1871. Coat of Arms

1, 5, 10 & 20 Centavos

Guatemala_1871

Genuine

Taile-dousé. Sun, represented with eyes, nose, and mouth. Thirty-six bright rays round the sun. The “gridiron” in the upper part of shield has six bars, and the beginning of a seventh. All the values from slightly varying types. Postmark of thick parallel bars, with figure in center.

Forged

Lithographed. Sun, with three dots only, representing eyes and mouth. Forty-one bright rays round the sun. The “gridiron” in shield has seven perfect bars. All the values printed from the type of the 1 centavo. Perf. 13. Printed in sheets of 25; and postmarked with a large rectangle of dots, slightly larger than the stamps.

1878. Native Indian

2 Reales. Carmine

Genuine

Engraved in épargne (?), machine perforated 13, very clear. There are six white bars across the wing of each of the birds in the top comers, two of the bars being rather fainter than the rest. The words, DOS REALES, are nearer the top than the bottom of ‘ the containing label. In the head-dress of the female, the two feathers on each side of the central one come outside of the shaded oval, right across the white boundary line, and just touch the colored line outside it. The outer tail-feathers of the birds, hanging down nearly to the bottom of the stamp, are stumpy at the ends, the left one especially. The tail of the 2 in the right-hand corner comes very near the right-hand outline of the little scroll which contains it. It will be noticed that I have put a note of interrogation after the description of the mode of printing; but the fact is, that, having only a very poor genuine specimen to describe from, it is difficult to say whether it is an engraving, or a lithograph.

Forged

Lithographed, in very good style, on paper which has been pink-faced to imitate the tinge of the genuine. It is pin-pricked 13; but, though the same number as the genuine, it is, of course, not
nearly so cleanly cut. There are only four bars of white on the wings of the birds; and all four are equally prominent. The words DOS REALES are nearer to the bottom than to the top of the containing label. In the female’s head-dress, the two feathers on each side of the central one, come only just beyond the shaded oval, and do not project into the outline of the name-scroll at all. The long tail-feathers of the birds, end in very sharp points, which almost touch the label containing
the 2 on each side; indeed, in some copies, the left one does touch the label. The tail of the right-hand 2 is not long enough; and is not anywhere near the right boundary of the containing label, The postmark is a circle, containing GUATEMALA 27 MAYO, 1878.

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Guatemala

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