I find a lot of these fakes in the box lots I buy. These are Scott 319s that
have been trimmed, poorly I might add, to look like Scott #320. The #320 is not
a particularly rare stamp but it proves that you should only buy stamps from
reputable dealers or in most cases you should buy imperforate stamps in pairs or
blocks of four or more. With these stamps it may be a case of someone who did
not like perforations - don't laugh, I've heard horror stories of people who
trimmed off the perforations of 19th century classics. The only other
explanation I have heard is people trimming the perforations from an inexpensive
stamp to resemble a more expensive imperforate variety in order to fill a space
in their collection.
These three examples would fool no one only because of the obvious perforation
pits left on the edges, but if a stamp with jumbo margins was carefully trimmed
it might convince a collector who takes a quick look at it without examining the
edges.
Reference material used: How to Detect Damaged, Altered and Repaired Stamps. By Paul Schmid
|