Forgeries Collection : 5 – Double Overprint on Faisal stamps

Written by ahmed zaki

The 3fils is forged in my opinion, both optd are NOT real, a similar work used to be done in Basra by a man well known to Iraqi collectors.anyway, here is why i think it is forged:
 
1. I have not seen this stamp with double print before, this is normal because the stamp ovpt was printed in the UK not in Iraq, therefore such error do not exist.
 
2. you can see how shallow is the overprint, it gives you the feeling that it was done by a rubber stamp not by a metalic plate as the original was done in the UK. Please check the back of stamp and compare to a normal one, do you feel the same embossing on the reverse of the stamp ? you know metalic stamping would leave a lot on the back of stamp, this one I do not believe has done the same.
 
3. the overprint itself is VERY clear to be forged, I needed 10 seconds to notice the differences. the "fat-ha" above the "S" in arabic is shorter (I measured it it is about 13% shorter, a lot!), the "S" itself is different, the "R" is different, even the English "ON STATE SERVICE" is very different from the original, I think if you put your stamp beside an original you will see what I mean, you can also see the image i attach.
 
4. the "M" in Arabic, check all your stamps of this same plate optd. , do you find any arabic "M" (Meem) without a small hole ? by hole I mean a very small, sometimes tiny, area in the "M" without the black ink, this sometime get very small, but never filled with ink in my opinion.
 
5. The color of the ink itself is not as the original, a shade of black
 

here are some more similar fake errors