Forged Stamps of Hamburg

1859, 1864 & 1867. Coat of Arms. Ein und Ein Viertel Schilling

Genuine vs. Forgeries

The colours of of these stamps differ a lot. From green and blue to brown and purple.

According to Vicenz, there were 3 printings and 2 plates – 2^nd and 3^rd printing with same plates and different inks. The 1st printing was largely imperforate, the 2nd was largely perforated, though both perf and imperf stamps exist for both printings.

Note: There are no official reprints. The common reprints of the 2nd printing are forgeries. There are 16 settings, each with its own clear characteristics, so it is possible to plate these similarly to the originals.

Genuine Michel #8b

Common characteristics

Seen on genuine stamps

Hamburg area

– Arms and base of the two crosses have triangles within them with the long apexes toward the center. These are often broken to the point of unrecognizability.
– There is a circle at the center of each cross – either of which may be partial or missing.
– The base of the left cross is tilted up at the right.
– The base of the right cross is tilted up at the left.
– There is a shading line through the middle of the “A”, “B”, and “U” of “Hamburg”.
– The top-strokes and foot-strokes of the “H” are usually joined.
– The “A” has a top-stroke.
– The left leg of the “A” is very thin and is bent.
– The left foot-stroke of the “A” is very large, begins at the cross-bar, and spans 4 shading lines.
– The “M” in “HAMBURG” is broader than the other letters.
– The left cross-stroke of the “M” of “HAMBURG” is much thicker than the right one.
– The right middle stroke of the “M” ends about 2/3 up the right leg.
– The cross-strokes of the “M” connect at about 2/3 the distance from the top of the legs.
– There is a thick shading line on the top of the right footstroke of the right leg of “M” of “HAMBURG”.
– The top-stroke of the left leg of the “M” is only on the left and is long.
– The left leg of the “M” is much thinner than the right leg. *
– The foot-stroke of the left leg of the “M” is very large and is turned inward.
– The left cross-stroke of the “M” is as thick as the right leg of the “M”.
– The right cross-stroke of the “M” is very thin.
– The “B” has both top- and foot-strokes.
– The “U” is very thick on the left and very thin at the right; has no top-stroke at the left and a very large top-stroke at the right.
– The “R” has a top-stroke on the left side of its left leg. (09/22/17) (10/09/2017)
– The top and bottom of the “G” are thin.

Postmarke Area

– The shading line passing through the left top-stroke of the “M” of “Postmarke” is bent into the foot of the “M”.
– “POSTMARKE” is centered vertically.
– The tablet is 0.3 mm from the bottom frame line.
– The “A” has a top-stroke, as well as a cross-bar in the center.
– The “R” of “Postmarke” has a long top-stroke.
– The “K” of “POSTMARKE” has a very thick right leg joined by a thin horizontal line to the trunk of the “K”.
– The right leg of the “K” of “POSTMARKE” has no inside foot-stroke.
– The “K” and “E” of “POSTMARKE” are joined at their foot-strokes.
– There is a period embedded in the shading line after the “E” of “POSTMARKE”.
– The rightmost shading line following “POSTMARKE” starts at the top and curves into the frame line about midway down.

Left Area

– The white space under the words “EIN u. EIN VIERTEL” is about half as wide as the fraction-line of the “1/4”.

Schilling Area

– The shading line in front of the second “i” in “Schilling” connects the top-stroke and foot-stroke.
– The “g” of “Schilling” has a smaller head than base.

Inside Area

– The bottom of the cross is not very narrow.
– Inside the left star, the six fine shading lines converge near the center. {Note: Inside the star, a curved line between the 2^nd and 4^th points. Straight lines from the top (1^st) point, 3^rd, and the 6^th points join the curved line at different places. The short dash in the 5^th point tends toward the end of the 6^th line.}
– The star on the left has six points.
– The star on the right has five points.
– The two stars are very nearly the same size.
– The battlements at the top of the right-hand tower have eight points.
– The battlements at the top of the central tower have eight points.
– The right-hand half of the door of the castle is shaded with ten oblique lines and are not well drawn. Sometimes, there is an eleventh line at the lower right corner ending on the 1^st stone of the archway.
– The line between the two halves of the door is white.
– There are seven courses of brick work under the nose of the “4” to the right of the right-hand door representing the vertical portion of the archway. * (wording change 10/09/2017)
– The groundwork behind the castle is composed of vertical lines, crossed by oblique lines running down from left to right. * (wording change 10/09/2017)
– The first line of castle brickwork is higher at the right above the top of the “POSTMARKE” frame than it is on the left side.

Not so common characteristics

Seen on genuine stamps

Hamburg Area

– There is a right-facing hook (inverted “7”) in the LL arm of the right cross.
– There is a dot between the last two shading lines on the right side of the “Hamburg” arch.
– The letters of “HAMBURG” do not touch each other. *
– There is a clear break in the left leg of the “H” just below the top.
– There is a dot between the “H” and “A”.
– The “M” of “HAMBURG” has long top-stokes on both legs with the longer part of the strokes toward the left. (FS)
– The “M” of “HAMBURG” has long foot-stokes on both legs with the longer part of the strokes toward the outside. (FS)
– The right cross-stroke of the “M” of “HAMBURG” joins the right leg at its top. (FS), (BV)
– The short bar of the “B” of “Hamburg” is parallel to the head. (BI)
– There is a blot attached to the top-right-side of the “B”.
– The shading line that passes through the center of the “U” of “HAMBURG” is thicker than the others. (S)
– The “U” and “R” are connected at their top-strokes. * (R)
– The short bar of the “R” of “Hamburg” is parallel to the head. (BI)
– The “R” has a foot-stroke on the left side of its left leg. (10/09/2017)
– There is a wedge-shaped dash joining the right-side top of the “R” to the frame.
– There is a dash joining the right-side leg of the “U” to the frame.
– There is a blotch attached beneath the lower-inside serif of the “G”.

Postmarke Area

– The outline of the label, between “POSTMARKE” and the base of the castle, is formed of one single line. (E)
– A dot joins the middle of the two shading lines preceding the “P” and level with the mid-stroke of the “P”.
– There is a long (sometimes faint) dash over the top of the “P”.
– There is a significant white dot/blob beginning roughly level with the end of the lower loop of the “P” of “POSTMARKE” and extending downward.
– At the inside top of the left leg of the “M”, there is a short diagonal dash in the shape of a comma. (BV)
– The “A” of “POSTMARKE” has a wide top stroke, especially to the left. (B)
– The “A” of “POSTMARKE” has a wide top stroke, especially to the right. (BV)
– The right foot of the “A” has a right foot-stroke. (Moved 01/09/2017)
– The shading line under the right serif of the “T” ends in a blotch or dot.
– The “TM” has a white scratch through it.
– There is a large blot in the 2nd row of stones over the “R”.
– There are 11 shading lines above and below the “KE” of “POSTMARKE” while only 7 are visible within the “KE”. (FS)
– The period after “POSTMARKE” is not round but ends in a point towards the right. (S)

Schilling Area

– The shading line in front of the second “i” is heavier than the others. (S) (BV)
– The lower serif of the “S” is missing in the right panel.
– There is a white dot in the letter just below center of the “S”.
– There is a small dot between the “S” and “c” level with the top serif of the “S”.
– There is a small dot at the top of the shading line that touches the left side of the “c”.
– There is a break in the right panel frame-line between and below the “c” and “h”.
– The shading line between the “in” ends in a blotch.
– The shading line beneath the right end of the 2nd “l” ends in a blotch.
– The top of the “n” is partially missing.

Left Area

– There is a shading line bisecting the “n” of “Ein”.
– There are white dots on the shading line at the front of the “E” of “Ein”;
– There is a rough blob/notch in the inside frame line under the “el”.

Inside Area

– The battlements at the top of the left-hand tower, when they can be seen — which is only in very clear specimens —, have only seven. (E) Note: All but 3 battlements are behind the top of the “1” and cannot be seen!
– There is a significant wedge missing from near the top right-side of the vertical base of the “4”.
– There is a dot in the center of the fraction divider just below the top of the right castle.
– There is a round notch on the right-side of the fraction line just about level with the first row of blocks beneath the right castle top.
– There is a small dot right of center in the large “1” level with the nose of the small “1”.

Inner Frame Line (IFL)

– There is a portion of the inner frame-line in the right panel over the “c” that is missing.

Outer Frame Line

– There is:
– a dash outside the LL corner;
– a small, nearly vertical slash attached to the UR outside frame-line above the right side of the cross.
– a broken outer frame-line about even with the left of the foot of the “H” of “HAMBURG”.
– a spiked addition to the inside of the outer frame just below the left foot of the “K” of “POSTMARKE”.
– a small bulge in the outer frame-line opposite the top of the top-left cross.
– a dot outside the outer frame line above the “u” in the left panel.
– a white triangular indentation in the base of the outer beneath the left leg of the “K” of “POSTMARKE”.
– a white triangular indentation/dot in the base of the outer frame-line beneath the left leg of the “K” of “POSTMARKE”.
– two bulges on the inside of the outer frame-line above the “MB” of “HAMBURG”.
– a small nearly vertical slash on top of the upper right outside frame-line above the right side of the cross.
– a small dot outside the outer frame-line at the LL corner, slightly above level with the mid-stroke of the “P”.
– a large dot outside the outer frame-line at the UL corner above the left-most part of the cross;
– a small dot outside the LL outer frame corner.
– a dash joining the outer and inner frame lines level with the top of the “P” of “POSTMARKE”.
– a small dot outside the outer frame-line between the “MB” of “HAMBURG”.
– a dash joining the bottom inner and outer frame-lines below the right side of the right leg of the “M”.
– a joining/near-joining of the bottom inner and outer frame-lines below the center of the foot of the left leg of the “A” of “POSTMARKE”;
– a joining of the inner and outer frame-lines above the left side of the “l” in the left panel;