VI. Special Printings These stamps consist principally of unissued stamps, and other stamps such as the Ministerial Perforations, specimens, reprints, and forgeries. Unissued Stamps These are stamps that, although produced, were never released for various reasons (inopportune providence, production changes, and so on). We may include among these stamps those that either were never executed or were left in an unfinished condition. Unfinished stamps are those for which some required work was never actually done (those without the required perforations or overprints, for instance); that is, any for which the full production process was never completed. These often came from print shop waste or from stamps that escaped proper print shop supervision. The 25h First Design stamp in ultramarine belongs to this class of stamps, as production in that color was halted and the entire issue of 10,000 stamps sold off to the Czech Philatelic Club of Prague at a price of 4 Kč each. The 10 and 20h stamps in the Fifth Design, as well as the 30h in design Va were not meant to be released imperforate, but they were carelessly released in small amounts to only a few localities (fig. 248). Along with those were the versions of them with the standard overprint VZOREC that was used to notify the Universal Postal Union; the 10 and 20h stamps prepared with this overprint were made available for collectors by Mr. Šuly, but those in the 30h denomination were not typically overprinted. Individual stamps and blocks of the imperforate 5h Fifth Design in green and dark green were obtained from print shop waste, as was the 15h in brick red and carmine, both colors from Plates V and VI (Type I spirals, right dove s tail ), and all were released imperforate. We may count among unissued stamps the imperforate and perforated versions of the 40h olive-yellow and 60h green that are found without the Red Cross 1920 overprint for which they were actually printed. We must include among the unissued varieties of stamps those specifically provided to the postal ministry archives in Ministerial perforations, sometimes with the overprints VZOREC and SO 1920; most interesting among these are stamps that were exceptions to the normal such as the retouch of the 3h Plate II position 90 broken branch error, a spiral type of the 500h, and a violet color variation of the 1000h. Fig. 248. Unissued imperforate 20h V. Fig. 249. Ministerial perforation. 239
Table 38. Ministerial Perforations by date of production. Date Perforation Type and Gauge Denomination 25 December 1918 Line 11 ½ 3 May 1919 Line 10 ½ 3, 10, 20, 25 I Line 11 ½ 1, 30 I, 40, 50 V, 60, 80, 100, 200, 300, 400 Line Line 11 ½ x Line x 10 ½ 3, 5, 10, 25, 30 I, 40, 50 III, 80, 100, 300, 400 10 I 10 I Comb x 13 ½ 3, 30 I, 40, 400 Comb 11 3/4 30 I June 1919 Line 60 July 1919 Line 10 ½ 5, 15, 25 V Line 11 ½ 1000 August 1919 Line 10 ½ 500 Line 120, 1000 Line 11 ½ x Comb 13 2/4 x 13 ½ 5 V 5 V September 1919 Line 11 ½ 50 V, 75, 500 Line 50 V, 75 Comb x 13 ½ 50 V November 1919 Line 500 December 1919 Comb x 13 ½ 1 January 1920 Line 200 February 1920 Line 11 ½ 10, 20 V Line 11 ½ x Line x 11 ½ 20 V 10, 20 V 240
Fig. 250. a) Line 11 ½. b) Line 11 ½ x. c) Line x 11 1/2. Fig. 251. Retouch of the 3h broken Branch flaw. Fig. 252. Drafts of the VZOREC (Specimen) overprint. Specimens are those stamps overprinted with the word VZOREC to provide examples for the Universal Postal Union in Bern. Usually these stamps were provided in four sheets, but sometimes five (one sheet for the office itself, and three or four for the member states of the Universal Postal Union), until January 22, 1920, when further overprints were discontinued. Later stamps were dispatched to the Union without overprints. (This is why the 30h Va had no such overprint.) The overprints were applied using a hand-made printing plate. It was ordered into production on December 18, 1918, and a maximum of two different type sizes were proposed for the final copy (fig. 252). All of the printing of the overprint was done on an American press called the Victoria. The initial test printing (fig. 253) was done on gumless paper on December 19, 1918 for the 3h, on December 20, 1918 for the 5 and 10h, December 23, 1918 for the 20h, and on January 15, 1919 for the 30h. The actual printing was done on December 20, 1918 for the 3h and continued December 21, 1918 with the 5 and 10h stamps, December 23 1918 for the 20 and 25h stamps, January 15, 1919 for the 30, 100, and 200h values, and January 19, 1919 for the 40h stamp. Subsequent stamps were always overprinted about two days after their initial printing. 241
That is the majority of those that were printed. One may find inverted overprints (fig. 254), offset overprints (fig. 255), and overprint flaws (fig. 256, Table 39). Subsequently, in February 1920, a large number of overprints were produced for collectors; these may be distinguished from the originals with their gray-black luster and saturated color. For these favors, many denominations were done with Ministerial perforations. Well-preserved in the Postal Museum is a complete set of sheets (from Plate I of the overprint) in line perforation. Fig. 253. Test Fig. 254. Inverted Fig. 255. Offset Fig. 256. Flaws. 1 Short bars on the E (28/I). 2 Short leg on the R (48/I). 3 Depressed EC (60/II). 4 Open O (89/III). Table 39. Specimens overprint flaws. 1 Overprint Plate Position Overprint Flaw Plate I 7 Pinched V 12 Short upper bar on the Z 28 Short bars on the E 48 Short leg on the R 54 No upper bar on the E Plate II 9 VZ connected 48 E resembles an F 60 Low EC Plate III 33 High EC 48 Damaged C 89 Attenuated or open O 1 The illustrations for Plates II and III have been reversed from the original. However, from the text it is impossible to know if the flaws are actually now correct or if the Plate numbers are now wrong. At least the descriptions are paired with the correct image. tr. 242
Forgeries are imitations of postage stamps manufactured by unauthorized means. We distinguish between forgeries meant to defraud the post (those for which the point was to evade the delivery cost set by the postal authority) and forgeries meant to defraud collectors (those for which the point was to take advantage of collectors demand). While there are reasons that justify collecting the former, from the point of view of the collector the latter are quite useless. Often forgeries consist of the falsification of some characteristics of what were originally genuine stamps (a change in color, trimming perforations, altering perforations, adding overprints, and so on). Forgeries to defraud the post in the denominations of 25, 100, 200, and 300h were manufactured at the end of 1919 in Germany (fig. 257). The inept forgery of the 25h was never used. The remaining three high denominations were used to a rather large extent in Vejprty, all on waybill wrappings (fig. 258). The forgery of the 25h denomination, by error these forgeries were created using the Second Design, and the forgery of the 300h stamp, both rendered useless on yellowish paper with yellowish gum, were described by Mr. Jaroslav Šula in issue no. 6 of the magazine Český filatelista on June 15, 1920. They were found in Dusseldorf (Germany), where it is believed they were manufactured using two plates. The forgery was 25.8 x 22 mm in size (the original was 26.5 x 22.5 mm), and the spacing between the stamps was from 10.25 to 10.5 mm instead of the original 4.5 mm. In the value tablet of the lefthand instance of the 25h denomination, a bit of the removed zeros remained from the initial forgery of a higher denomination, obviously the 100 or 200h (fig. 257 2 ). The use of the 100 and 200h forgeries was first discovered in 1934 by Mr. Luzar of Brno, who had been examining a great number of papers left over from 1923. When E. Hirsch found out about and published a reference to this discovery of the 1920 forgeries, within two months worth of frantic work, collectors made the further discovery of the use of forged 300h stamps. All of these forgeries were postmarked in one of the three Vejprty postoffices (Vejprty 1, 2, and 3). The single exception was a forgery postmarked Schonfeld (Petschau). Most often, forgeries of the 200h are found, there are fewer forgeries of the 300h, and perhaps 200 or 300 examples of the 100h. All four Fig. 257. The Dusseldorf forgeries of the 300 and 25h stamps. 2 The original says Fig. 278, the first of several misdirections. We may suspect that the illustrations were renumbered, but for whatever reason, the editor never altered some of the numbering in this chapter tr. 243
Genuine Forged Fig. 258. The distinguishing marks for the Vejprty forgeries. forgeries, when compared, were seen to have come from the same operation and were produced sometime after April 22, 1919 from a copy of the 300h, for the turret on the cupola of St. Nicholas Cathedral was first found on this denomination. It was observed and published that the 100 and 200h forgeries came to be missing rays because they had been drawn in by hand and the color had fallen off. While it is likely that the post passed these forgeries between November 18, 1919 and February 2, 1921, one might also suppose that they were in use until the withdrawal of the Hradčany issue. There exist forgeries whose intent was not to defraud the post. There are many forgeries meant to deceive collectors. Among complete forgeries, the most common is that of the imperforate 10 and 20h V and the 30h Va (fig. 259). They may be distinguished from the genuine through coarse fabrication, the kind of paper, or as the case may be, also by the gum. The first forgeries of these denominations were printed without gum in groups of two or four. In 1938, forged blocks of four of the 20h and single copies of the 30h were printed with a forged Gilbert expert sign on the obverse. They were manufactured and gummed in the town of Kralpech nad Vltava. Forgeries of the 200, 500, and 1000h stamps, the so-called Nachod Forgeries, printed in blocks of eight on gummed paper (fig. 263), were discovered for the first time in 1935 and were circulated widely in Prague. There were also forged airmail overprints. The forgeries of the 200 and 1000h denominations are fairly dangerous, although every one of them has pronounced characteristics in the drawing; forged 500h stamps are conspicuous because of their olive-brown shade. The gum on these forgeries is very lustrous and hygroscopic. These are found perforated line 14. 244
Fig. 259. Švandov Forgery. Fig. 260. 1938 Forgery. Fig. 261. Forged Stamps. Fig. 262. Forged gutter. Fig. 263. Nachod Forgery. Identifying indications for the Nachod Forgeries are Forged 200h stamp: splotch in the left dove (position 1), chimney in the sun (position 2), left branch broken (position 3), spot under the zero (position 4), blotched NS (position 5), the roof left of the branch (position 6), horizontal mark in the cupola (position 7), scratch in the 2 and 0 (position 8). Forged 1000h stamp: No head on the dove (position 1), splotch on the E in ČE (position 2), bent S in SKO (position 3), sharp E in ČE (position 4), dot in front of the A (position 5), sharp S in SLO (position 6), projection on L (position 7), low tower, concave O in SLO (position 8). In 1967, a great many forged imperforate 10h V stamps were discovered that had been printed from a two-stamp plate on gumless soft brownish paper. There are many well done forgeries brought across the borders. 245
The 10h unidirectional gutter with the control number 6. has also been forged (fig. 262). The forgery may be recognized by the rough and quite muddied execution of the drawing, with brownish paper and gum. As for partial forgeries, they are particularly focused upon the design, often the upper left spirals, chemical falsification of the colors, or trimming perforations to fabricate imperforate 10, 20, and 30h V stamps. One also finds both imperforate and commonly perforated stamps are used to produce scarce or double perforation variations (fig. 261). Single imperforate stamps are used to produce line perforations 11 ½, x 11 ½, 11 ½ x, and. Forged perforations are cut smooth, while the genuine are always indicate tearing. J. Lešetický found forged 11 ½ x line perforations in 1926. Finally, one may find perforations for one direction have been forged. Reprints are stamps printed from the original plates but during the period when the stamps were no longer postally valid. A reprint of the Hradčany was done in 1948 to celebrate the 30 th anniversary of their issue as a memorial without postal value using Plate I of the 5h in its light green color on particularly white gumless paper (fig. 275 3 ). Unissued: Survey of Special Printings Withdrawn 25h I ultramarine Imperforate & line 11 ½ Unfinished 5h V green and dark green from Plate V & VI, Type I spiral, Accidentally imperforate Without overprint 10, 20h V, 30h Va 40h yellow-olive, 60h green Manufactured but not put into use the so-called Ministerial perforations Line 10 ½ 3, 10, 20, 25h I; 5, 15, 25, 500 V 11 ½ All denominations Comb 11 ½ x x 11 ½ x 13 ½ 10h I; 5, 20h V 10h I, 10, 20h V 1h; 3, 5, 10, 30 40h I; 50h V; 120, 400h Specimens: Trial prints on yellowish paper without gum Trial prints without gum yellowish paper cardstock brownish paper brown paper 20h (with overprint shifted downward) 25h I; 100h 3, 5, 10, 20, 25, 30h I 3, 20, 25, 30h I 3 Recall that on page 243 one of the illustrations was misnumbered in the 270's; in this instance, the illustration is not present at all, likely due to late editing problems. 246
Further printings Original dull gray overprint Later lustrous black overprint imperforate all issued values and the 10, 20h V all issued values and the 10 & 20h V thin paper 5h I; 5, 50, 75 V thick paper cardstock 25h V 25h V perforated line 10 ½ 25h I; 25h V, 75, 1000h card stock thick paper line 11 ½ line line 11 ½ x 10 3/4 comb x 13 ½ 5, 10, 20, 40h I; 5, 15h V; 50, 400h all values except 30 Va 5h I; 5, 25 V 1, 60, 80, 300, 1000h Inverted overprint imperforate 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50 V; 60, 75, 80, 120, 300, 500, 1000h perforated, line 11 ½ 50h III; 400h Forgeries: To defraud the post (made in Vejprty) 25h I blue, but in Second Design To defraud collectors entirely forged partially forged 100, 200, 300 coarse drawing, lithographed together, first two denominations used. 10, 20h V & 30h Va imperforate, come from several sources, variously made, rosy paper with gum, forged Gilbert signature, 200, 500, 1000h on yellowish and grayish paper, glossy gum, printed in blocks of eight, characteristic markings, 500h olive brown, 10h unidirectional gutter pair with control number 6., coarse drawing, yellowish paper without gum drawings, colors, glued together, imperforate and perforated. Reprints: 5h I light green on yellowish paper without gum. 247