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As published in April 2003 issue of "Stamping Around", the newsletter of the Mid-Cities Stamp Club, Arlington/Irving, TX

Scott 115 or 130 and its "Hialeah" forgery

For those that are in tune with the on-line auction world (meaning “eBay”), you might have heard the term “Hialeah Forgery” before. What is a “Hialeah Forgery”?

For the past year or two, an eBay seller known as “atdinvest” (real name is “Juan Canoura”), based in Hialeah Gardens, Florida, has been selling forgeries of practically every major classic (before 1940) stamp ever issued by any major nation or colony. This includes St. Vincent, and thus it peaked my interest when I saw one offered on eBay (since I also collect and study the fakes & forgeries of St. Vincent stamps, overprints and postmarks).

These forgeries generally carry an opening bid of $3.99 (plus postage). Most of the time there is just one bidder. Several thousand of these have been sold (based on atdinvest’s eBay feedback rating).

The lots that atdinvest is selling are always described in a similar fashion, for example, the lot description might read like this: “ST. VINCENT 1921 SCOTT#115 MNH GUM SH FORGERY”. The body of the lot listing generally always says:
“ALWAYS SOMETHING DIFFERENT.THE GREATEST FORGERIES THAT HAS EVER BEEN OFFERED. Extraordinary forgery sheet to be used as reference material. THE FINAL SOURCE FOR TRUE FORGERIES. ALWAYS A MASTERPIECE ART-FORGERY FOR THE KNOWLEDGEABLE COLLECTOR. PRINTED IN EUROPEAN A4 PAPER.”

The above description is from an actual lot that was listed at the time that this article was being written. “Greatest Forgeries … ever offered”; that is not quite true; I’ve seen much better forgeries. “To be used as reference material”; of what? Certainly not the real thing! “Final Source for True Forgeries”; that’s pretty scary, and I certainly hope not. It just sounds like another way to make some money. The cost to produce these can’t be more than $1.00 in materials, and selling them for $4.00 (or more) each is a nice profit.

Since these lots are offered as forgeries, one certainly cannot accuse the seller of being fraudulent or deceptive in their listings; the lots are properly described as forgeries.

When I e-mailed atdinvest about the background of these forgeries, I was told that these sheets were printed in Europe (hence the “A4” paper) and that they were produced 20 or 30 years ago. I doubt that this explanation is correct.

First of all, the paper is described as “A4” size. A real A4 sheet measures 210 mm wide x 300 mm tall. The Hialeah forgery sheet measures 214 mm wide x 299 mm tall. A4 paper is standardized; just as the US 8.5” x 11” paper size is always exactly the same size, so the forgery sheet is 4 mm wider than a standard A4 sheet.

These forgeries have 54 stamps per sheet (6 stamps per row x 9 rows). Real St. Vincent stamps of the period generally had 30, 60 or 120 stamps per pane or sheet. The real stamps have dimensions (from edge to edge of the design frame) of 18.2 mm wide x 22.0 mm tall, while the forgery is 18.0 mm wide x 22.0 mm tall.

The Hialeah sheets are un-watermarked and imperforate, and are gummed; with what appears to be a “PVA” type of gum (it has a semi-gloss appearance).

The printing quality appears to be that of a color laser printer or color photocopier (which didn’t exist 20 - 30 years ago). It is not ink jet printing, nor does it appear to have been printed on a printing press. An image of the one of the forgeries along with a genuine copy of the 5 shilling stamp is shown nearby.

The design of the forgery certainly mimics the real stamp, however, the glaring difference is that the real stamp shows the face value as “5/-“ (5 shillings), while the forgery shows it as “5s”.

Other major design differences are that in the real stamp, the red printing of the center vignette is very close to the border, while on the forgery, there is quite a bit of “white space”.

On the real stamp, the red center shading is made up of thin horizontal lines, while on the forgery, it is a solid color. Another obvious difference is that on the forgery, between the red center printing and the border, there are various colored dots (yellow, blue, etc) that are visible; most likely the result of scanning or photographing the original design which may not have been on a perfectly white background.

The way that these “forgeries” are sold is certainly not going to fool anyone. Should they ever be “perforated”, a novice collector might be duped (but hopefully not for long). Given modern computer technology, anyone with a copy of the real stamp, a good scanner and a color laser printer can produce these.

These Hialeah forgeries are definitely a novelty, and they will have their place in my St. Vincent forgery collection, but I still prefer the “classic” forgeries, such as those produced by Panelli (in 1927) or the Spiro Brothers of Hamburg (in the 1880’s), or a handful of other forgeries that are not attributed to any particular forger.

As with most things: “Caveat Emptor”.