Phila-Trivia: S. A. Taylor and the Mormon Stamp Hoax

   By the 1860s, stamp collecting had already become a very popular hobby, and many countries issued their first stamps during this period, fueling  interest further.  John Walter Scott published his first stamp catalog in 1868, a 21-page pamphlet with the long-winded title "Descriptive Catalogue of American and Foreign Postage Stamps, Issued from 1840 to Date, Splendidly Illustrated with Colored Engravings and Containing the Current Value of each Variety." 

S.A. Taylor

      One of the more colorful individuals who gravitated toward the absurd new fad of collecting bits of colored paper, and even paying good money for them, was Samuel Allan Taylor (1838-1913). Taylor was one of the pioneers of stamp collecting in the U.S. and published the first North American stamp journal, "The Stamp Collector's Record." He was also a notorious producer of bogus stamps, known as 'the Master Grafter', and was the leader of the 'Boston Gang' of philatelic forgers.

    He was at the height of his fraudulent career between 1863 and '79, and for one of his productions, a fictitious U.S. local, used his own portrait in the design. Many of Taylor's creations were obvious fakes. He had a keen sense of humor, evident in many stamps he produced, and he was partly an artist and partly a cynical faker who thrived in his profession. Taylor once said that he was "a man of flexible conscience and  speculative disposition." He contended that his output was for use as "space-fillers," the genuine stamps being too expensive for the average collector. He circulated his stamps widely and his patrons paid little for most of them, but he could work up a a very deceptive job when in the mood.

   Among Taylor's least convincing forgeries were imitations of two stamps of the Confederacy: one of the 1862 2c Blue, picturing a simian Jefferson Davis, and another of the 1863 2c Brown Red, with a depressed Andrew Jackson. 

   In 1863, an article appeared in "The Stamp Collector's Magazine" describing a stamp issued in 1852 by Mormon leader Brigham Young for prepaying postage to and from Salt Lake City and the rest of the Utah Territory. According to the article, "This and some other attempts at independent government on the part of Brigham Young and his followers caused the Washington authorities to dispatch a military force to the Great Salt Lake for the purpose of restoring order and allegiance. It met with but ill success, however."

   The stamps were printed in several colors, and bear a crude, block-printed likeness of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints. In 1864, postal authorities confiscated covers franked with these stamps bound for England. In December of that year, Taylor published an article in his journal admitting that they were "facsimiles" and included an illustration of his creations. When Brigham Young was interviewed about the matter,  he responded that he "had never thought of issuing a postage stamp." One can only speculate as to the identity of the source of the 1863 article which attributed some legitimacy and historical significance to the stamps, as to who tried to create canceled covers bearing them, and whether, after the government intervened, Taylor was motivated by fear of being thrown in prison to admit to creating the stamps as "facsimiles." In any case, this brazen attempt to rewrite history failed.

   I've recently read that these fakes, which may be considered "Cinderellas", sell for around $10.- to $15.- each. They'd make interesting additions to a Mormon topical collection. The stamps have potential dual market appeal to collectors of Cinderellas and Religion/Mormonism topicals, as fantasy stamps related to a religion of which there are over 15 million adherents worldwide. Assuming that no more than a few hundred of each remain, they could actually be good investments.

  The Stamp Auction Bidders and Consignors Union (SABACU) is a forum for discussing stamp auctions, and represents the interests of stamp auction bidders and consignors in their dealings with stamp auctioneers. All stamp collectors and dealers are welcome to join.  


 

Phila-Trivia: Jean de Sperati -the Rubens of Philatelic Forgery

Jean de Sperati (1884-1957) was among the most noted stamp forgers of the world. Even professional stamp authenticators of his time attested to the genuineness of his stamps. A printer and engraver by profession, he was able to mimic the details of design, the pressure and the paper with such accuracy that he earned the title "the Rubens of Philately".

Sperati was born in 1884 in Pisa, Italy, though he spent a large part of his life in France. As a child in Pisa and later in France, he began to collect stamps. He was particularly interested in printing techniques, as well as photography which was in its infancy at that time. Relatives owned a postcard factory as well as a paper mill. Through this, Sperati was able to obtain copious knowledge of photographic processes, print technology and chemicals. These formed the basis for his eventual career as a stamp counterfeiter.

The first attempts to copy stamps went extraordinarily well. The first forgeries were of valuable stamps from San Marino, and stamp experts believed them to be real. Thereupon Sperati began to produce numerous further reproductions of valuable stamps from all over the world. This eventually resulted in well over 500 master-quality forgeries from more than 100 different stamp-issuing agencies.

In 1942, for the first time in his life, Sperati came into conflict with the law. A shipment marked as valuable from Sperati to a stamp dealer in Lisbon, Portugal was intercepted by French customs. It contained several falsified German stamps. They charged him with "exporting capital" without a licence and trying to avoid customs payments. He protested his innocence, and explained to the police that it contained only copies of valuable stamps, which he himself had prepared, whereupon the police called in the country's best stamp experts to clear up the facts of the case. These experts came to the judgment that the stamps in question were all originals, and very valuable ones at that. Sperati still managed to convince the police that they were fakes, and was therefore charged with fraud. His trial took place in April 1948.

Attempting to explain his actions, Sperati tried to convince the court that he had no deceitful intentions in the sale of the stamps. He considered himself to be an artist and not a counterfeiter. Furthermore, he declared to the court that he had merely forgotten to clearly mark the stamps as forgeries and he promised to be more diligent about such marking in the future. He claimed that he had offered the forgeries of rare stamps at about 1% of the normal market price in order to assist the simple collector to obtain these rarities. Nevertheless the Parisian judiciary convicted Sperati and sentenced him to a year in prison, 10,000 francs fine and an additional 300,000 francs for criminal intentions. The Parisians' judiciary did not convict him on the basis of the imitation, but rather because of Sperati's "deceitful intentions". He was convicted in April 1948.


Sperati did not have to serve his prison sentence on the grounds of his age - he was already over 64 years old. In 1954 he sold all his remaining forgeries as well as all the clichés to the "British Philatelic Association" for an enormous sum of money. He then withdrew from the forgery business and promised never again to falsify a stamp. His motive for selling the tools of his trade to the "British Philatelic Association" was to prevent them falling into the possession of someone who would imitate his work. Sperati died three years later in Aix-les-Bains at the age of 73.


The stamp forgeries of Jean de Sperati are some of the best of the world. Many of them slumber undetected in various collections. Sperati falsified only the most valuable rarities of the stamp world. He did this with an inimitable precision scarcely obtained by any other counterfeiter. A Sperati forgery is today in no way worthless. They are highly regarded and obtain high prices as special collectibles. Most other stamp forgeries, on the other hand, are worthless. Sperati paid great attention to the accuracy of the postmark when falsifying the stamps. Therefore, postmarks found on his forgeries are limited to those of larger cities. They are currently very valuable in the philatelic market, and it is believed that he might have produced over 5,000 of them.

Practical Advice: Is It Real? Avoiding the Hazards of Fakes and Forgeries

Fakes and forgeries pose a threat to the bottom line of any stampselector, and learning how to detect them, or at least when to be suspicious, is necessary if one wishes to avoid contaminating a portfolio with these "album weeds."

Fakes are generally common stamps altered so as to appear to be scarcer, more valuable ones, or stamps which have altered so as to give an "improved," false appearance as to their condition. The types of fakes most prevalent in the current philatelic market are fake overprints, reperforated stamps, stamps with perforations trimmed off so as to appear imperforate or as scarce coils, stamps with fake grills, and stamps which have been exposed to certain chemicals, so as to make them appear to be rare or missing color varieties. Common condition alterations include: bleaching cancellations off of used stamps to make them appear unused, filling thins or obscuring them with hinge remnants, the application of false postmarks (in cases where used stamps are more valuable than unused ones, or rare postmarks exist), and regumming.

Forgeries are labels created "from scratch" by the forger in order to resemble particular stamps. They come in three types: postal forgeries, created to defraud the postal service, governmental forgeries, created to deprive an enemy nation of funds from the sale of its stamps, reprints, and philatelic forgeries.

Postal and governmental forgeries need not concern us here, because they are generally not forgeries of scarce stamps. In fact, many postal and governmental forgeries are more valuable to collectors than the actual stamps that they resemble.

Reprints are produced, either governmentally or privately, with the printing plates that were used to produce the original stamps. Often, stamp catalogs note the differences between the original stamps and their reprints, when reprints exist. Many reprints were produced quite legitimately as novelty labels to be sold by packet makers, and major differences usually exist between originals and their reprints.

Philatelic forgeries range from the crudest, most obvious reproductions to some that are extremely convincing. In the 19th century, many considered it quite acceptable to fill a space in an album with a facsimile when the genuine stamp was unavailable. Some of the early forgers, such as Fournier and Sperati, were true masters of their craft, and their forgeries are valued by collectors.

Requiring expertization as a condition for purchase is probably the best way to avoid getting burned when purchasing a stamp that is suspect. In the U.S., the most prominent expertization organizations are the Philatelic Foundation of New York, the American Philatelic Expertising Service of the American Philatelic Society, and the Professional Stamp Experts. For stamps of the British Commonwealth, the most prominent expertization organizations are the Royal Philatelic Society of London and the British Philatelic Association. Additional experts may be found at the International Association of Philatelic Experts site. Ebay bidders should also consider taking a look at the Stamp Collectors Against Dodgy Sellers (S.C.A.D.S.) website.