There are quite a lot of forgeries of Estonian stamps on the market. (Read more about the background here!) Most of the forgeries are of cheaper stamps and have not received much interest in philatelic litterature. The quality of the forgeries is sometimes rather poor, but many of them are still difficult to detect without knowing which criteria to look for. Often, one can quite easily identify a forgery from known criteria, but it can be a bigger problem to decide which stamps are truly genuine. This is especially true with many of the early Estonian issues, since the originals from this period sometimes have an even poorer printing quality than the forgeries.

In this gallery I have listed all Estonian issues before 1945, both those with know forgeries and those WITHOUT. Based on my own collection of forgeries, I will explain how to identify these.

At present, this gallery mostly shows forgeries made by the notorious Jaan Lubi of Viljandi, while most of the air mail forgeries are the works of the Simson-Kull organization. Due to their frequent appearance in internet auctions, I have also added a brief gallery of the primitive fake air mail covers made by Victor Salemann of Reval.

	1918/19 Mi #1-4 Forgeries known of all denominations: 5K, 15K, 35K, 70K, also in sheets - All 4 different plate types of Jaan Lubi forgery of 35K Proofs exist
	1919 Mi #5 Forgeries known Essays and proofs exist
	1919 Mi #6-8 Forgeries known of all denominations Essays and proofs exist
	1919 Mi #9-11 Forgeries known of all denominations Essays and proofs exist
	1919/22 Mi #12-13, 23-24 A number of forgeries from different sources are known (Simson-Kull, Lubi) Proofs are known
	1920 Mi #14 Several forgeries are known Essays and negative enlarged copies are also known Air mail covers
	1920/24 Mi #15-17, 27-28, 31, 53 Forgeries known of all denominations and issues - 4 different plate types of Jaan Lubi forgeries of #15 shown! Essays and negative enlarged copies are also known
	1920 Mi #18-20 Forgeries are known
	1920 Mi #21-22 Forgeries known Proofs exist
	1920 Mi #25-26 Forgeries are known
	1921 Mi #29-30 Forgeries exist No proofs known
	1922/28 Mi #32-39, 57-59, 73 Forgeries are known Limited no. of proofs exist - #32-25 (1/2 - 2 1/2 Mk) printed in Latvia - #36 imperf. (3 Mk) was printed with genuine, stolen plates - 9 Mk Weaver proofs are forgeries
	1923/24 Mi #40, 54 Forgeries are NOT known Essays and proofs exist
	1923 Mi #41-45 Many different forgeries exist, both forged overprints on genuine stamps and complete forgeries of stamp + overprint - The different Simson-Kull plate types - Air mail covers - Complete sheet of forgeries
	1923 Mi #46-47 Many different forgeries exist
	1924 Mi #48-52 Forgeries are known
	1924 Mi #55-56, 62 Forgeries are NOT known Proofs and colour trials are known
	1926 Mi #60-61 Neither forgeries nor proofs are known
	1927 Mi #63-67 Forgeries are NOT known Various types of proofs exist
	1928 Mi #68-72 Forgeries are known of 10 s imperf, 15 s and 10 s black overprint Proofs exist including proof of overprint on yellowish paper
	1928/40 Mi #74-86, 106-107, 164 Forgeries are NOT known, but regular stamps with perforation cut off exist Imperf. issues are proofs
	1930 Mi #87-89 Neither forgeries nor proofs are known
	1931 Mi #90-93 Forgeries are NOT known Proofs exist
	1932 Mi #94-97 Forgeries are NOT known Proofs exist
	1933/40 Mi #98, 159, 108, 137 Proofs of 1 Kr (#98/159) and 2 Kr (#137) on coloured paper are forgeries printed with stolen genuine plates Essays and proofs exist
	1933 Mi #99-101 Forgeries are NOT known Proofs exist
	1933 Mi #102-105 Forgeries are NOT known Proofs exist
	1936 Mi #109-112 Forgeries are NOT known Proofs and essays are known
	1936/40 Mi #113-119, 124-126, 135-136, 146-147, 156-158 Forgeries are NOT known,but false proofs were made after the war with stolen genuine plates Regular proofs also exist
	1936 Mi #120-123 Forgeries are NOT known Proofs exist
	1937 Mi #127-130 Forgeries are NOT known Proofs and essays are known
	1938 Mi #131-134 Forgeries are NOT known Proofs and essays are known
	1938 Mi #138-141 Forgeries are NOT known Proofs exist, also false proofs made after the war
	1939 Mi #142-145 Forgeries are NOT known Proofs and essays are known
	1939 Mi #148-151 Forgeries are NOT known Proofs exist, also false proofs made after the war
	1940 Mi #152-155 Forgeries are NOT known Proofs and essays are known
	1940 Mi #160-163 Forgeries are NOT known Proofs exist, also false proofs made after the war

Source: V. Hurt, E. Ojaste: Estonia - Philately - Postal History Handbook - Catalogue, 1986