Canal Zone Early Counterfeits
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In the first
issue of Canal Zone, the three
stamps overprinted with a handstamp, "Canal Zone," Scott's Nos. 1, 2
and
3, there are many counterfeits. Some of them are very
deceptive and
one brand in particular is frequently seen cancelled and many of these
are on covers. The cancellations are the towns where the
stamps were
used, and a standard type of long horizontal bars used in the Zone at
the
time. In these I could always detect the fraudulent Canal
Zone overprint
but the cancellations had me baffled because they matched so perfectly
the known originals, -- until I discovered that the faked overprints
were
made while the stamps were in current use (about three weeks during
June
and July, 1904), and then placed on covers and sent through the
mails.
the stock of the genuine issue was limited and sales at the post
offices
were restricted to small quantities hence the incentive to
fakery.
The fakes on cover are usually postmarked at Ancon, and addressed to
"Eisemann
& Eleta," or "G. Sopardo," at Panama, and the covers
backstamped at
Panama. Quite a number of them were used during the
period.
In the case of the 2¢ rose, many of the stamps are on the wrong basic
Panama issue, the stamp having the large "Panama" where in the
originals
only the small "Panama" was used. So we have interesting
fakes, postally
used on covers.
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George B. Sloane
Sloane's Column Stamps March 27, 1948 Posted October 5, 1999 Index of 508 Notes from the Past Note: If the link isn't returned the first try, try again. Comments? Send me an e-mail |