Study of Philatelic Forgeries of Iran

 

Books & Catalogues

 

Expertization & Certification

 


 
 

One of the most challenging aspect of philately in general is to distinguish and identify the forgeries. The term "Forgery" in philately purely refers to the stamps or overprints made from the fake or imitation of original clichés or handstamps. Forgery in philately was not necessarily meant to defraud the collectors alone, but as we have seen, during the World War II, both allies and axis printed forgeries as propaganda means to discredit their foes. Another purpose of forgeries, which to this date exist, is to defraud the post office. We must not forget that postage stamps are as valuable as banknote.

 In addition to forgeries we have to deal with reprints. Reprints are stamps or overprints made at a later date by the use of the original means. The reprints can be further divided into several groups:

 Reprints made by the order of the government:

  • For re-issue. (Authorized Re-issue)
  • For sale to the collectors. (Official Reprints)
Reprints made without the governmental authorization.

The Iranian philately is no exception from the foregoing subjects and in certain periods the presence of forgeries as well as authorized and unauthorized reprints have caused quite an impact on the values of some of the scarcer issues.

 As an effort to educate the public and to promote the Iranian philately, we will try to discuss and update information on the forgeries and reprints. With more knowledge, more collectors will feel at ease to join the vast number of those who have enjoyed collecting the Iranian stamps and postal history.

 Iranian stamps and postal history are among the most beautiful and definitely interesting philatelic fields in the world.

 In order to study the Iranian philately, we must first divide it into three categories.

  • Original issues
  • Reprints
  • Forgeries
Original issues and reprints will be discussed separately. Here we focus on the forgeries. Forgeries can be further separated into two categories:
  • Fake stamps.
  • Fake overprints and handstamps.
Following is the list of fake stamps:

For further information you may read Persiphila Standard Philatelic Catalogue or our new 2007 edition

Persiphila, Iran Classic Philatelic Reference - Qajar Dynasty