British War forgery for the third Reich of the Germania issue
These stamps are war forgeries produced by the British to do damage to the Third Reich, but they were never used.
| Genuine: | |||
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State / region: | Third Reich | |
| Mi.-No.: | 86 | ||
| Value: | 10 Pf. | ||
| Print: | Mezzotinto | ||
| Perforation: | K 14:14½ | ||
| Watermark: | lozenges | ||
| War forgery: | |||
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|
State / region: | War forgery (1st world war) | |
| Mi.-No.: | 4 | ||
| Value: | 10 Pf. | ||
| Print: | typography (Bdr.) | ||
| Perforation: | K 15:14¼, K 14¾:14 or imperforated | ||
| Watermark: | lozenges a little bit smaller and sharper-edged | ||
| Remarks: | Miscellaneous descrepancies to the genuine drawing of the stamp | ||
| Genuine: | |||
|
|
State / region: | Third Reich | |
| Mi.-No.: | 101 | ||
| Value: | 15 Pf. | ||
| Print: | Mezzotinto | ||
| Perforation: | K 14:14½ | ||
| Watermark: | lozenges | ||
| War forgery: | |||
|
|
State / region: | War forgery (1st world war) | |
| Mi.-No.: | 5 | ||
| Value: | 15 Pf. | ||
| Print: | typography (Bdr.) | ||
| Perforation: | K 15:14¼, K 14¾:14 or imperforated | ||
| Watermark: | lozenges a little bit smaller and sharper-edged | ||
| Remarks: | Miscellaneous descrepancies to the genuine drawing of the stamp | ||
Identification of war forgeries:
The genuine stamp looks more detailed. The forgery looks more fuzzy, which can be seen well in the hair of the "Germania" and at the letters of "Deutsches Reich".
Background:
The war forgeries ought to be unobtrusive, therefore most other countries tried to imitate the permanent series of stamps. which were used in large numbers. The chance was greater that the false stamps were not identified. This was probably the reason to use the "Germania stamp" with the values 10 Pf. (issued at the end of Oct. 1905) and 15 Pf. (issued in May 1917). During the time from 01.08.1916 till 30.09.1919 the mail charges for a letter till 20 gr. was 15 Pf. and a letter till 250 gr. 25 Pf. (10 Pf. + 15 Pf. Germania)
The war forgery was definitely produced by the company Waterlow Brothers & Layton, which was located in Watford, a suburb of London.
