Armenia once again tried to issue their own stamps, this
time in larger formats in two colors each. These have been called the Erivan
Pictorials. Like their predecessors, they went unissued as printed. It is remarkable
that not only were there four unissued definitive sets for Armenia, but that
each was forged at least once. Were there evil printers with too much time on
their hands?
At least one of the forgery types (of which there are
several) are sometimes called reprints since they match up with the original
designs in size and form. But this can be accomplished by camera reproduction
of the originals. These are indeed forgeries. The two lowest value forgeries
are most often seen and seem to far outnumber the genuine stamps. Forgeries for
the other values are less common but still are plentiful. Forged covers
with forged stamps and forged cancels are also known.
We only show part of one forgery type here for comparison.
Therefore, you should use the method used by hunters of wild mushrooms to
keep from picking a similar-looking but poisonous species. And that is to match
the characteristics of the genuine exactly. If it doesn’t, reject it as a
forgery.
While genuine stamps can be found often enough, you will
probably need to complete the set on your own. That is not a difficult task.
Then the question that also comes to mind is: why don’t we see forgeries in
complete sets?
There are also supposed color trials that are single color
only. I don’t know what to make of these since they do have most of the
original characteristics but are slightly different overall.
The 50r and 300r values have been covered earlier:
http://bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2017/06/stamps-of-1919-22-armenia-what.html
so we continue here with the rest of the set.
I suggest that, for the time being, to disregard gum
appearance, paper and colors for forgery detection. Over time, gum and paper
can age seriously so are not always reliable indicators. Both genuine and
forgeries can come in color shades and can have clean-cut or rough perfs,
though not necessarily for every value.
1922 Scott 302 400r blue & pink
"Soviet Symbols"
The 400 rubles shows a hammer and sickle and star.
Genuine / Forgery
Green arrows point to dots, and lack of shading
In the genuine stamp (left), the (pink) dotted decoration along
either side fit the space they are given. In the forgeries, they do not. Registration
(the proper alignment of the color plates) can be wildly variable in both
genuine and forged so the dots may prove hard to use. But in the genuine, also
note how the rings and leaves have heavy shading where they overlap.
1922 Scott 303 500r violet & pale lilac
"Crane"
Note shading lines in upper corners are long and fine
The 500 ruble value depicts a stork with a stone tablet at
its foot.
Genuine / Forgery
Note rays of stars
The rays of the star on the genuine stamp (left) are
broken/dotted. The shading lines in the upper corners are longer and finer than
on the forgeries.
1922 Scott 304 1000r dull blue & pale blue
"Man poling a boat"
Note the outline of the star just intersects the second "0" of "1000"
The 1000 ruble stamp shows a man poling a boat. There are
intriguing catlike heads on the columns at either side.
Genuine / Forgery
Ripples in the water
The genuine stamp (left) has ripples in the water that are
often dotted or broken, and the lines do look like little waves. The forgeries have
solid lines, sometimes curving but hardly wavelike. HOWEVER, you can be fooled
by a forgery on a type of paper with rough spots that cause the printed lines
to break up. The genuine have finer lines and many more breaks in the ripples.
The extra dot in the inscription in the forgery was mentioned in the earlier post, but that only applies to one of the forgery
types. There is also a forgery type where the background color appears to be
buff or yellow, particularly when scanned (!) A second check is that on genuine
stamps, the curved outline of the second zero of “1000” intersects the outline
of the star. The forgeries I’ve found all have the outline of the star (partially) covering
the zero.
1922 Scott 305 2000r black & gray
"Harpy"
The 2000 ruble appears to show a harpy. Or it may be just some
similar creature from Armenian mythology. How many definitive sets do you know
that show mythical animals?
Note the flaws along the bottom border. These may or may not
be constant. A lot of minor varieties like this can be found on most if not all
values. Of course, they also exist on some forgeries, too.
Genuine / Forgery
On the genuine (left), the lines behind the head are broken
and dotted, where the forgery essentially has continuous/solid lines. The
genuine also has several ends of the rays from the star ending in fine dots and
short lines.
1922 Scott 307 4000r black & light brown
"Soviet Symbols and Mythical Creature"
Yet another mythical creature. Again, what is it? It is not
an aralez, which is doglike.
Note that the flaw at lower right is not damage but is
missed inking. I’m guessing that it was not constant, but caused by a tiny
scrap of paper that was present during printing and then fell off.
This value only exists on thicker toned paper.
Genuine / Forgery
On the genuine (left), the beast is more thoroughly shaded,
evident on the rear leg and rump. Perhaps the key is the very short ray from
the bottom of the star, missing on the 2 very different type forgeries I’ve
found.
1922 Scott 308 5000r black & dull red
"Forging"
The stamp shows a farmer with a scythe, and a blacksmith.
Note that the good Communist artist managed to work a hammer and sickle into
the design here.
This value only exists on thicker toned paper.
Genuine / Forgery
Star Rays are the clue
Once again, in the genuine (left), the star has some
broken/dotted rays where the forgery has solid lines only. The lower part of
the left figure’s robe is similarly shaded, with some dots/breaks in the
genuine stamp.
1922 Scott 309 10,000r black & pale rose
Plowing"
The design is of a farmer plowing with oxen.
Genuine / Forgery
Dotted lines vs Solid lines
In the genuine (left), the bottom line of shading in the sky
is a short line dotted at the end. In the forgeries, the line is solid and runs
nearly to the right frame. The genuine also has many dotted/broken lines in the
plowed fields, and the sky has many broken lines. The forgeries have
continuous/solid lines.
The Inflation issues
We can see that the values in rubles are already quite high
due to the inflation of the Russian ruble. By the time the pictorials were
ready for release, inflation had surged tremendously and made most values
obsolete. The pictorials were still issued (or perhaps even reprinted by their
appearance), now surcharged with new values using both rubber or steel
handstamps. These actually saw use. Scott only separates surcharges by color,
but the two methods are clearly distinct with the rubberstamp types having a
large first numeral.
Of course there are surcharge forgeries. Any surcharge on a
forged basic stamp is going to be a forgery. Though uncertified, the below
examples compare well with ones shown at https://stampsofarmenia.com/?page_id=1816 ,
Stefan Berger’s excellent online reference for early Armenia . The standard
print references by Tchilingarian, et al are now hard to find.
1922 Scott 328 200,000 on 4000r (V)
Rubberstamp
The 200,000r on 4000r with rubberstamp surcharge in purple.
The partial blue diamond is a control overprint that does not appear on every
surcharged stamp.
1922 Scott 312 10,000 on 50r
Steel Handstamp
1922 Scott 320 30,000 on 500r
Steel Handstamp
Surcharges (above) done with steel handstamps.
Note the interesting heavy shift in the second color on the
30,000r on 500r. The lilac color block at top is from the stamp design above.
This may not be particularly uncommon, since for many countries needing to
surcharge “leftovers”, the postal authorities used what was on hand without
regard to centering and other niceties.
Alan (hy-brasil)
Harpy - Good (Genuine) & Bad (Forgery)
Out of the BlueJim's Comment: Wow, did I learn a lot! Thanks Alan for the clear demonstrations of Genuine / Forgery differences. Now, I need to go back and check my own stock. !!
Links
Comments appreciated!
