This stamp was in a small lot I bought for only 3 euros recently. Of course it is not in top condition, but this particular stamp was nevertheless the main reason for taking it. Even when it turns out to be a forgery, it still is a nice addition to the collection but what I want to know (of course) is if it could be a genuine Cape triangular.
Does anybody here know how to separate the good from the bad?
Thanks for that site. My stamp does have that cross in front of the P of Postage, which all of the forgeries do not have, so I suppose that's a good sign.
Smauggie, I scanned the stamp with ridiculously high resolution, resulting in a 8000 x 5000 pixels image and compared the 17 check points listed on that site with my stamp and surprisingly, almost all were there, some very clear, others more vaguely. For instance the easy signs like the shape of the G's and the slightly larger O in HOPE were 100% certain there. I have also compared the stamp with most of the best-known forgeries and there is a clear difference. Perhaps I might have something here!
It is a pity I cannot detect the watermark, that would have been another good point.
Reverend Earee's famous book "Album Weeds" (1882) is very helpful. I really do recommend it, despite it's age, it's available for download if you search
I found that book and went through it quickly. It does give some basic information, but my first impression is that it would be very difficult to use it to determine if stamps one finds today are genuine or not. I think I will stick with the kind of websites like the one Antonio found.
Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't 12 Sep 2018 08:27:07am
re: Cape triangular - who can help?
I would add to Dave's logic...
Books like Album Weeds have been vetted over the decades but any moron can post a website. The amount of unvetted info and other 'crazy talk' online can be a bit overwhelming. You have to bit a bit careful when using online resources as to the quality of the information.