Gallery

More News on Forgeries from Dr. Bohne

As I mentioned in my report [at Colopex ‘92], we are getting more and more fraudulent material; in Europe, it is reducing. It seems that it is all being sent over here, because the only expertising organization that marks forgeries is the GPS. Dealers and auction houses will not permit buyers to send the material to us and, if they do, and we mark it, it is always a great hassle for our members to get a refund. I have urged our members for years not to pay for material before it can be checked. All reputable dealers and auction houses will grant extensions. If it should be absolutely necessary to pay for material, it should be charged on a credit card where the charges can be reversed.

More important, however, I try to educate our members not to buy at dealers’ auctions where marking of forgeries is not permitted, but it seems that the members feel that they might be missing out, when, in fact, they might be missing only in buying fraudulent material. (See the story in my article in the March 1989 Specialist.)

The reason for the above lengthy explanation is that this also involves Danzig material. Below is a page from the [dealer’s name] auction that is self—explanatory. Also shown are copies of the two blocks and separate copies of the surcharges.

Now, [dealer’s name] is one of the auctions that specializes in German material and should have recognized the forged overprint at once. They also know that the Richter signuin is meaningless; his son applied it to much of the forged material that Richter owned after his father’s death.

This forgery is recognizable in many ways, one of which is the very thick bar. Take a normal Michel No. 311 and you can see for yourself. What you cannot see from this copy is that the Netzunterdruck is much too green.

I also sent the blocks to Kniep. We both marked them as forgeries. I am curious to see what will happen. Perhaps this member waited too long to have the blocks expertised; usually six months after the auction is the limit.

There are some members who try to get me to refrain from marking forgeries. However, we simply return the material, unless they agree to have it marked. Werner M. Bohne
Chairman, GPS Expert Committee

 

Danzig Report  Nr. 78 - January - February - March - 1993, Page 5.