... Estonian forgeries ...

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