1896
Mi 44 / Sc 41
Small lion
Forgery
Original
Mi 44 / Sc 41
Small lion
Forgery
Original
As far as I know, forgeries of the "Small lion" issues have not been previously published in international litterature, neither in catalogs like Michel or Scott, nor in Billig's Handbook of forgeries. Thanks to Henning Pedersen, Denmark, we can thus present a real novelty!!!
The differences in design betweeen originals and forgeries are so small that the first sign of this forgery is the color deviation. The forgery has a more dull color, and a closer inspection reveals a more even, un-hatched surface.
The forgery measures 16.5x22.5 mm, and is comb perforated 12 3/4. The original is perforated 12 3/4 - 13 1/2.
The enlargements below clearly show the deviations in printing quality, although there are no easy identifiable design errors. It looks as if the forgery pictures to the left are less clear than the originals, but both stamps are scanned with the same resolution. The forgery is actually unclear due to the printing process itself.
The easiest ways to identify the forgery design deviations are by the ornaments in the corners of the stamp, by the lion head and mane and by the ornament to the left of "LEVA".
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