Confederate Gallery of Curious Things - Counterfeits, Fakes, Fantasies, Facsimiles, Reprints
Also, see the "Trouble Spots" section within the "Confederate Primer Online." Detailed descriptions of forgeries of the "T-E-N" and "Frame Line" issues are shown with tips how to detect them, as well as other addressed difficulties. A brief discussion of fake perforated issues may be found at the end of the Trouble Spots treatise on how to tell Type I (CSA 11) and Type II (CSA 12).
Provenance and Owner Markings - tracing the "philatelic chain of custody" of Confederate stamps and covers. Another helpful Kaufmann original.
eBay Rogues Gallery - Caveat Emptor! Buyer Beware! An area that drives most serious students absolutely crazy.
The linked pages below are scans of the Confederate fake collection of David Kent that was sold at auction in April 2008. The pages, scanned in high resolution, are reproduced here with the permission of the new owner. They are a ready-made explanation of the most commonly encountered gallery of "curious things." Use the zoom feature of your web browser to enlarge / see detail.
Title Page Introduction
Alabama - Selma, Sparta, Livingston, Mobile, Greenville
Altered Plates - never put into use - a long history on these, details forthcoming in "Trouble Spots"
Birmingham counterfeits
Blockade Postage fantasy
Bucks Richmond Express fantasy
Cancellations - 2-cent to 20-cent - a gallery of baddies
Cancellations - from bad to worse - general issues to provisionals
Charleston - Fort Sumter
Columbus, Ohio Farley issue
Crude forgeries of the Davis lithographs
CSA Flag
Florida - Madison, Tampa, Express (also see Georgia page below)
Georgia - Athens, Savannah, Macon - the second row on this page is actually the untitled Madison, Florida counterfeit
Hell-box - a wide assortment of curious things
Livingston, Alabama forgeries
Louisiana - Baton Rouge and New Orleans
Memphis, Tennessee
New York Counterfeit - one of the most commonly seen - often on eBay and in virtually every dealer bourse by non-specialist dealers as genuine CSA 6. This is also addressed in the "Trouble Spots" section.
New York Counterfeit - 1948 August Dietz detailed description from one of his publications
North Carolina - Lenoir, Weldon, Statesville
Richmond fantasies - Duckpins and Battle flag
Scott Catalogue 1894 illustrations - one of the greatest source of early counterfeits
South Carolina - Charleston and Columbia (multiple types)
Sperati 10-cent rose forgery - dangerous
Sperati "T-E-N" forgery - dangerous. Addressed in more detail in "Trouble Spots" on this site plus the article in the next link.
SPERATI CONFEDERATE FORGERIES - by Patricia A. Kaufmann, as printed in The Philatelic Book of (even more) Secrets, Volume 2, 2015 by Professional Stamp Experts
Springfield facsimiles - some of the most commonly seen baddies - often on eBay. If you are reading these pages because you know nothing about stamps and want to find out what you have, please flip the stamp over and look at the back. Often the word "FACSIMILE" or "REPRODUCTION":is found on the back in various ink colors.
Tennessee - Memphis and Nashville - multiple types
Tennessee - 2 - Memphis, Rheatown, Knoxville - multiple types
Virginia - Marion, Danville, Pittsylvania Court House, Petersburg - multiple types
Virginia-2 - Pleasant Shade, Lynchburg, Fredericksburg - multiple types
