Forgery

Original

During his studies, Erik Sjoegren discovered that all the Jaan Lubi forgeries were made of 4 different types with clearly distinct characteristics [1]. The first issues (Flower design) were printed simply in blocks of 4, while the later issues were printed in bigger sheets of 4x4, 4x5 and 4x6 issues, probably due to increased demand. In all these printings the 4 distinct types are found in different combinations within each sheet. These types are designated A, B, C and D in the following.

The Lubi forgeries of the 1920 25 Penni issue (Mi #15) (Tallinn skyline) were printed in sheets of 4x5 stamps in the following layout (note that the bottom row is made from a split block of 4):

The four different types are here shown together in one single block with fake "OTEPAA" cancel (Note: The vertical line to the right is due to the stock card used for scanning!):

The following shows the main characteristics of these four types [1], with my own observations added:

	Type A: Line below shell ornament does not touch ornament Left "N" in "PENNI" is connected to background lines There are 9 distinct shading lines between "2" and "5"

	Type B: Thick lines and deformed ornament in upper left corner Second "N" in "PENNI" connected with background lines above (partly hidden by the cancel on this sample) The chain line below the skyline in almost totally filled with colour /li>

	Type C: Two main lines of the upper left corner ornament are thicker and partly joined Two lines in upper right part of shell ornament are distinctly joined Thin and broken lines especially in the left part of the cloud "E" in "PENNI" is connected to background lines both above and below

	Type D: "2" is distinctly joined with the background line below Large inclined colour field in the central part of the water Colour dot below "P", and the "E" is connected THREE times to the background lines

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