Counterfeit Forever Stamps

Can anyone help me identify if these stamps are genuine or counterfeit?

Without microprinting they look very suspicious. See the current Scott catalog for info


Peter

The Scott US Specialized catalogue has a detailed section on Postal Forgeries with many tips for identification. Step one should be to check under UV. If your stamp is not tagged, there is an extremely high chance it is a postal forgery. It is also possible to have been printed without the tagging. Step two is to go to the catalogue.

The Scott Catalogue will tell you where to look for the microprinting and what it should look like.

Thank you! They do have microprinting but one of the things that makes them stand out against other stamps is the fact that they are very high quality. Almost too high quality. How can I get my hands on a scott catalog? I'm really hoping for secondary verification. This is the lamp I have been using. -Nick

Check the library for a copy.

Your local library, or bookstore, or second-hand bookstore, or Amazon, or eBay, or local stamp/coin shop, or any one of hundreds of websites that sell copies of it including the publisher's.

I can ascertain that your first & third stamps are not 5344(CF1). According to my 2021 Scott catalogue, the microprint is essentially a blob and hence not readable. In addition, this counterfeit is not tagged. Of course, by now there could be other counterfeits.
Added: Just realized that your 3rd stamp is a coil. My catalogue only shows a booklet counterfeit for the 2019 flags.

Apparently this corner of the hobby is really heating up -- Mystic is now selling these (for triple face!), and Donald Sundman's daily email today (not sure if those are on the web somewhere) was titled "Are these law-breaking stamps missing from your collection?" with explanation that USPS allows collectors to possess them as long as they don't use to the defraud the postal system.

Description includes words like "scandalous" (if you thought Noble Spirit was bad)

Example: https://mysticstamp.com/Products/Un...61(CF1)/USA/

Alas only selling unused copies. I wonder if they are sourced from ebay. Not a bad business model, 500% markup selling confirmed fakes. I wonder if they are guaranteed to be fake and if you can get your money back if you bust out the UV light and prove it is from the post office.

Didn't realize Scott cataloged them, as CF1. (I don't have a USA Specialized) Of the approx 6,000 USA major Scott numbers, how many have CF1 entries?

JL - new counterfeits are popping up regularly.

tsmatx - It is CF (just like they use E for special delivery). 5344(CF1) would be the first known counterfeit of 5344, 5344(CF2) would be the second etc. most counterfeits do not have tagging, but a few do.

IMO it was a bad decision on Scott's behalf to promote collecting these counterfeits by monetizing them and making them more mainstream with their inclusion in the catalog. What of all the legions of other counterfeits from all eras and issuing entities? Why do they not merit the same treatment? I don't suppose that lobbying was involved in the decision. No, that's not possible. Or is it. Most, if not all, of these modern counterfeits are being mass produced in China utilizing modern printing techniques and equipment. These are not being engraved on a small scale by some Spiro-like quasi-artist slaving away with engraving tools in order to satiate the philatelic trade. They are being produced to defraud the USPS and consumers that purchase them as real. That is unless the consumer is aware that they are counterfeits and is a part of the chain defrauding the USPS and in turn all of the honest customers of the Postal Service that end up absorbing the cost of the fraud in rate hikes.

Thanks for the information! Great so even the counterfeits are starting to have tagging? Now one of these stamps are genuine. One glows a faint yellow/green and the other does not. Both are the BCA coil. Let's take a vote on which one it is. Can anyone spot the differences?

I would guess that the bottom one is the genuine article. From what I've seen, I think the perf peaks tend to be slightly higher on the counterfeits.

rog - you are mixing counterfeits (meant to defraud the postal service) and forgeries (meant to defraud collectors).

But you are right - they are adding an air of legitamacy/value by listing the counterfeits and every current one that is bought feeds the counterfeiters and encourages them to produce more.

The coil stamp is a forgery. The microprinting is too big. The gap between the "2019" and the image is too small, and the perfs are slightly different. Better scans would help with the others.

I've suspected the one on the top. I only have my phone to take photos. I have many many other photos of in person variations of counterfeits. People are being fooled. Some know what they are buying and become irate when confronted. I need to prove the top in a counterfeit but it's so hard to tell the difference. I'm presuming the top one has been done using a high quality ink jet type. They are always used in conjunction with these penguins. Which is kind of odd that it's always just two flags and sometimes up to 5 penguins. They don't have tagging. The rabbit additional ounces do.