Period Watercolor Forgeries

Die I   Die X   Long-tail   Old Jammu   Old Kashmir   New Rectangulars   Table

The most noteworthy of the period forgeries is known as the ‘Die I’-type (Die A in Scott). The name comes from the fact that they were once widely accepted to be the rare first issues of the State. Their dates are not known, but Séfi has deduced that they could be not much later than 1870. £50 prices are said to have been paid in the 19th century, obviously a considerable sum for a stamp at that time. Their star fell after they were deemed forgeries by David Masson [“Die I Kashmir: Is It a Forgery?”, The Philatelic Journal of India 3 69 (1899).] He was of the opinion that it was a manufacture of Paris, though his reasons are not given; others say India.

It is in reference to these forgeries that the SG catalogue appends the following note: “Forgeries exist of the ½ and 1a in types which were at one time supposed to be authentic.” The 1a should read 4a, this being an uncorrected holdover from the pre-1980s when the catalogue had the designations of the two dies reversed. Though Scott had the those designations correct decades earlier, that publication too cites the incorrect denominations on these forgeries. There is a similar forgery, also discussed by Masson, that we call Die X (for want of a standard term). For these the situation is reversed: the 1a denomination exists, but the 4a apparently does not.

4-Anna Die I Forgeries

The 4a Die I Forgeries in grey-black, indigo, deep rose, and ultramarine watercolors on native paper, the latter cut-round. Séfi & Mortimer list a blue-black, which may be the indigo, as they did for the postal indigo. They also list (pp 258-9) an orange-red and a red on buff ‘rice’ paper. The literature speaks also of a deep purple, which again might be the indigo.

½-Anna Die I Forgeries

At left, the ½a black watercolor forgery on native paper. At right, the same on buff “rice-straw” paper. Evans felt that such paper was not manufactured in India.

The ½a sap-green forgery on native paper. The item shown here does not pick-up in the familiar way of watercolors in water tests; we have some doubt as to whether it should be deemed watercolor. Why were forgeries made in green when there were no greens to forge?

Die X Forgeries

These scarce period forgeries exist in the ½a and 1a denominations, but apparently not in the 4a, a situation that reverses the Die I case, for which it is the 1a that is absent. One of the several features that distinguish the ½a from the Die I type or the original is the pronounced curvature of the first stroke in the central symbol as well as the peculiar rendering of ‘Jammu’ at the 1 o’clock postion:

The ½a and 1a grey-black and brown-black watercolor forgeries on native paper. The purple ‘cancellation’ on the left is in evident imitation of the Jammu seal, and the red cancellation (which looks suspiciously like the die used for their red forgeries) is in imitation of the Srinagar seal. Of the ½a brown-black, a version in oilcolor is listed in Séfi & Mortimer.

The ½a and 1a ultramarine watercolor forgeries on native paper. Again, a version in oilcolor for the ½a is listed in Séfi & Mortimer.

The 1a grey-blue watercolor on a distinctive stiff “rice” wove paper.

More Die Xs. The stamp paper of the specimen on the right is precisely that of the piece to which it is attached. Other shades of red are listed in the table at the bottom of the screen.

½a Long-Tail Forgery

Long-tail Forgery. The ½a? black watercolor “long-tail” on native paper. Quoting from Séfi & Mortimer, p 259: “The central numeral, instead of showing three strokes, appears as an uncolored square having a small projection... Opposite this projection, the native character resembling an “R” [i.e., the kā in sarkār] in the outer inscription has its tail much longer than that of the character in originals.” This scan is from their Plate 51.

Jammu-Plate Watercolor Forgeries

Three single-die forgeries in imitation of some ½a Jammu plate variety exist in black, blue, and red watercolors, sometimes with faked cancellations. The 1a section of the plate does not seem to find itself burdened with such forgeries.

What follows is Séfi & Mortimer’s account of these period forgeries:

“A considerable amount of confusion has arisen respecting this rather dangerous watercolour imitation. Masson wrote (Part I, p 35) that he included it with the missing dies on the authority of Major Evans. Evans subsequently wrote [Philatelic Journal of India, Vol VI, p 286 (1902)] that Masson’s statement must have arisen through some misunderstanding, inasmuch as he had never seen the forgery; and Masson’s note is the more puzzling since he believed he had seen copies genuinely used with the square black seal of Jammu, an obliteration that ceased in 1879, while the missing-die type did not come into being until 1890. We have tentatively classified this forgery as one that was postally used to defraud the revenues, in deference to Masson’s profound knowledge of the early obliterations; but we are bound to admit that, in our opinion, those which we have seen, and notably those purporting to be the first Jammu obliterations in magenta, are unquestionably forged, and that we consider this imitation to have been merely made for collectors. Masson classified the forgery as that of a ½a from the Jammu plate, having the fatal inaccuracy of possessing a complete frame-line around the impression, instead of on two sides only; while Evans held that the complete frame proved the forgery to be intended as one of the types of the Kashmir ½a. The forgery is, however, only known with Jammu obliterations (whether genuine or false) and this, no doubt, influenced Masson in the view he took. This forgery is from a single die, and is of some rarity. It may always be identified by the “sun” at the top of the outer oval having the ends of the rays truncated instead of pointed; and by the downstroke of the character immediately to the right of the sun, being straight instead of bent in the middle.”

½a Kashmir Single Die Forgeries

½a black watercolor on stout white wove. The image is Séfi & Mortimer’ illustration of this (now scarce) forgery was based in turn on a figure in a 19th-c number of Le Timbre-Poste. The design, though not accurate, was used to illustrate the authentic item in Scott for a few decades too many. The switch to digital images has corrected the error. The central tableau looks like a field of elephants, sheep, buffalo, and some nice birds and clouds in the sky. The forgery has itself been variously forged.

Kashmir Plate Period Forgeries

A 1a bright ultramarine watercolor on native (left) and on European laid paper (right). The blues on native paper are rare, the example here being ex Ferrari/Hind, ex Eames. Dating ca. 1870? They are rather good imitations of position #3 in the lower strip of the plate. A key clue is that the vertical white lines in the spandrils are missing. A version in dull ultramarine is also known, as are examples in black and orange. The laid paper variety was unknown to early commentators, and is added here to the chronicle (cf. Dawson-Smythies p 22). Versions in dull black and orange-red are also reported, the latter on both wove and laid papers.

“Flying-yeks”

The 1a blue, grey-black, and indigo watercolor on native paper, 1870? The name “flying-yek” has been used for these on account of the distinctive and excessive upward tilt of the Persian yek. The grey-black was once listed by Moëns as being a genuine stamp, and the example on Staal Plate 8 from the Spellman museum (passing for the authentic 1a blue) is also another example of this type. The Gibbons catalogue once listed several colors in numbers SG97-103, assignments long since supplanted, and these may have involved the flying-yek type. Masson discusses this forgery in his 1900 book in Chapter VII, the “Three Hoary-Headed Impostors” chapter (on-site).

The 1a red of the “flying-yek” type, tête-bêche pairing on thin, slick, almost waxy paper (damaged unfortunately). Red might seem a little curious for Kashmir half- and one-annas as there were no such reds to forge on the Kashmir side. The item on the right below has a distinctive plummy cast to it in daylight:

And finally, below, a ½a orange-red watercolor on native paper, produced from an illegitimate single-die that proves itself wrong in a number of particulars:

New Rectangular Watercolor Forgeries

Postal forgery: ½a orange watercolor on thin wove or thin laid. We link to Masson’s interesting account here: “Big-D forgery,” in which he speaks also of two different dies. By the way, the cover shown here provides an example of the DFC ~ DEC error on the Kashmir postmark.

More examples of the ½a orange watercolor, these on soft thin European laid paper, horizontally & vertically laid, respectively. Séfi & Mortimer report that the laid paper printings appeared in the seven or eight months prior to the spring of 1891. The redundant cancellation with both the legitimate L-bar and pen-strike is curious, a bit of diversionary tactic perhaps. These stamps are also known without cancellation.

A family of pane-forgeries based on the 4a+8a composite plate are reported by Séfi & Mortimer to have been done by postal officials in water-soluble pigments. These are seen marked with 3-ring cancellations (commonly the Nowan Shahr and also the Jammu, sometimes themselves faked). An item was offered in the Haverbeck auction Lot 1524 that sported three of these 8a forgeries and a genuine strip of the 4a green all tied on piece with the Jammu 3-ring cancel, for total “postage” of 36 annas.

Monstrosity in wove. A poor watercolor imitation of subjects #1, #2, #5, #6 (i.e., the left half of the 8a-pane) of the New Rectangulars composite plate. An illustration of all eight subjects can be seen in Staal p 173. The error in the Dogri inscription in subject #7 of the authentic printing had been unwittingly corrected by the forger.

To top of page