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    • Introduction
    • A Small Start Can Build a Grand Collection
    • Canada's prime Ministers series of 1951-1955
    • The Admiral Stamps of Canada
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    • Issues of WWII: King, Country, and Conflict
    • The 1932 Medallions are Modern Classics
    • Canadian Stamps Marked Montreal Olympics
  • Postal Historians
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    • Canada’s ½¢ Small Queen had Multiple Uses
    • Covers Commemorated the Royal Visit of 1939
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    • Crashes, Fires, and War Interrupted the Mail
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Introduction |  Formats |  Printings |  Dies |  Paper |  Straight-Edges |  Coils |  Fakes |  Forgeries |  Varieties |  Cancellations |  Rates |  Bibliography

The Admiral Stamps of Canada: Fake Coils and Imperforate Stamps.
by Randall W. Van Someren (ENA3H)

Stamp collectors always have to be on guard against stamps that have been tampered with to make them appear to be other (usually) more valuable stamps. There are several Admiral stamps that fall into this category. Consequently, stamp collectors ought to know how to tell the difference between genuine stamps and those that are not.

This page examines stamps that have had the perforations trimmed off to make fake coil or imperforate stamps. The next page will examine two overprints found on the Admirals, both of which have been forged.

2¢ Green Coil, perf. 12 Horizontally.

Only 250,000 stamps were issued as coils perforated 12 horizontally. Because of its obvious scarcity, this stamp has been faked more than any other Admiral stamp, although perhaps the imperforates are not too far behind. I have seen faked examples of this coil offered in dealers' stock books and auction catalogues. I have been looking at circuit books for more than 20 years, and when this stamp shows up in them, it is usually a fake. If this stamp is purchased through the various internet auction sites, chances are pretty good that it will not be genuine.

Fortunately it is easy to tell a genuine stamp from one that has been faked. I will show characteristics of the genuine stamp and also examine several fake coil stamps to show how they can be identified as such.

On genuine stamps you will notice the following three characteristics:

1. There is a weak spot (or "nick" - Marler's term) in the left frame line just to the left of the second leaf. See arrow in the left picture, above.
2. The line around the oval portrait is broken at the king's shoulder and several lines above. These breaks are more visible on some stamps than on others, but are always present. See arrows in the right picture above.
3. The stamp is printed using the wet (narrow) printing method.

Although the above photos are very clear, these characteristics appear even more pronounced when viewing a genuine copy of this coil stamp with just a little magnification.

Fake 2¢ coil stamps.

Pictured above are 2 fake coil stamps from a large group of 2¢ Admirals I got on eBay. In addition to the fact that neither stamp has the characteristics of genuine coils described above, there are also some other rather obvious signs that these are fake coils. Many other fake coils will probably have these signs too, so an examination of them is in order.

On the stamp labeled "Fake #1" above, you will notice the straight edge on the left side is characteristic of a straight edge coming from a post office sheet of 100. Nine stamps from every post office sheet of 100 have a straight edge either on the left side or the right side. Straight edges on these stamps are a bit rougher compared to those on booklet panes or coils. You will also notice the straight edge on the right side of "Fake #1" is very clean-cut. This "coil" was quite obviously started out as a straight edge stamp from a post office sheet of 100 that had a nice large margin on the left side.

Another sign this is a fake coil stamp is the green dot just to the left of the left numeral box, and the small spur at the right end of the bottom frame line (see arrows in above picture). These are characteristics of the re-engraved die and do not exist on genuine copies of this coil stamp.

Finally, this stamp was printed by the dry printing method and therefore it is a bit wider than a genuine coil stamp which was printed by the wet printing method. The person who made this fake coil wanted it to be as wide as possible because narrow coil stamps are suspicious right from the start. Dry-printed stamps often have wider margins than wet-printed stamps, so they are more likely to be used for faking this particular coil stamp.

The stamp labeled "Fake #2 above is printed by the wet process, as are genuine coil stamps. However, this "coil" has other obvious signs that it is a fake. On first glance, this stamp appears to be too narrow. Closer examination shows the straight edge on the right side is not straight. The straight edge on the left side still has the bottoms of the perforation holes visible (see enlarged photo above.) This "coil" stamp was obviously made by trimming the perforations off the sides of a regular completely perforated stamp.

It is amazing how such a crude fake can fool some stamp collectors. Often the fake coils and/or imperforates I see for sale have the bottoms of the perforation holes still showing!

Other Fake Coil Stamps.

From time to time, "coil" stamps perf. 12 vertically - such as the stamp shown above - show up in old collections or at stamp dealers' tables. I remember finding a set of four such coils at a dealer's table several years ago. When I pointed out to him that they were all fake coils, he told me to just put them back where I found them if I did not want to purchase them.

No coil stamps were issued perforated 12 vertically. Coil stamps that were issued with vertical perforations were perf. 8, not perf. 12. Again, perforations were trimmed off one side of a stamp with a straight edge. Whoever made this "coil" stamp ruined a stamp with a lovely SON cancellation.

Fake Imperforate Stamps.

The stamp pictured above is an imperforate stamp made from a single booklet pane stamp. Booklet pane stamps often have large margins on 2 adjacent sides. It is easy to trim the perforations off the other 2 adjacent sides to make the stamp imperforate. When you see an imperforate Admiral with 2 large adjacent margins and 2 close-cut adjacent margins, chances are pretty good that it is a fake imperforate stamp. Ironically, the 2¢ carmine denomination was not issued imperforate, and had this stamp not been tampered with, it would have been quite a bit more valuable as a "squat" booklet pane single than it is now as a fake imperforate stamp.

The 1¢ yellow, 2¢ green, and 3¢ carmine Admirals were issued imperforate in quantities of 50,000 each. They were on sale only at the Philatelic Agency, and most of them were likely sold to stamp collectors who saved them as mint stamps. Used imperforate stamps exist, but not in large numbers. From the number of fake imperforate Admirals I see in stamp circuit books and on the internet, trimming the perforations off stamps is also a time-honored method of making fake singles of these imperforate stamps.

Genuine single copies of these imperforate stamps can often be verified by using Marler's book (The Admiral Issue of Canada, 1982) to make sure the "types" are correct.

Knowing the characteristics of each type of straight edge will also help the Admiral collector avoid fake imperforate stamps. Above is a fairly large picture that shows close-up photos of the upper right corners of 3 stamps:

1. Top: A corner of a straight edge stamp from a post office pane of 100 stamps. (Keep in mind, a sheet of imperforate stamps will have two sides with edges that look like this one.)
2. Middle: A corner of a straight edge stamp from a booklet pane.
3. Bottom: A corner of the imperforate 2¢ stamp that was cut with a scissors.

Unless you know what you are doing, used imperforate singles should probably be avoided because they are just too easy to fake. Buying imperforate Admirals only in pairs, blocks, or larger multiples is the best way of getting genuine copies of these stamps.

Introduction |  Formats |  Printings |  Dies |  Paper |  Straight-Edges |  Coils |  Fakes |  Forgeries |  Varieties |  Cancellations |  Rates |  Bibliography