Topical Stamp Collecting
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Fakes & Forgeries

Postal forgeries are stamps produced to use as postage and, thus, deceive the issuing country. They normally are lower valued stamps in regular use.

Philatelic forgeries are imitations or reproductions of genuine postage stamps or other philatelic items, general for purposes of deceiving the stamp-collecting public. Such items normally are higher-valued items not normally found in the average stamp collection.

Philatelic fakes consist of genuine items that have been altered to make them appear as something else … such as

• Removal or adding perforations
• Adding an overprint or surcharge
• Chemically changing the color of an item

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