Of late there has been a great increase all over the world in the picturesque type of stamp, and these have provided a fairly large crop of pictorial "inexactitudes." As an example, two adhesives of the well-known United States Columbian issue may be mentioned, seeing that they have evoked many a smile among philatelists. The stamps in question are the one and the two cents values. The former portrays Columbus sighting land, whilst the latter reveals the famous traveller in the act of landing. As is well known, an interval of but twenty-four hours separated the two events, yet in the first picture Columbus appears clean-shaven, whilst in the latter he possesses a beard of ample and stately proportions!
Another interesting picture stamp of the United States is the one dollar value of the Omaha issue. The stamp bears the title of "Western Cattle in Storm," but those of us who know the canvasses of MacWhirter will recognize it as a reproduction of his painting, "The Vanguard." Mr. F. J. Melville, a noted philatelist, says in "Chats on Postage Stamps" that the United States Post Office "literally cribbed" MacWhirter's picture, apparently without permission or any sort of payment.
Many stamps possess particular interest owing to some speciality in manner of production. Just now a semi-perforated adhesive is becoming popular. Its upright sides are imperforated, but top and bottom the usual perforation marks are present. Such specimens are manufactured in rolls—not in sheets—for special use in automatic machines. They come largely from the United States and the Union of South Africa, and are, of course, only available in the penny and halfpenny, or equivalent, values. These semi-perforated stamps are of undoubted interest to-day, though the time may not be far distant when they will completely oust the usual perforated type.
CHAPTER VIII
FORGED STAMPS
Stamps are forged for two purposes, first to cheat philatelists, and second to cheat the postal authorities. The former kind of trade is fairly lucrative, but in England, at any rate, the production of fictitious stamps for postal uses seldom enjoys more than a short-lived success.
The forger hardly ever takes up his abode in the Home Country, for the pains and penalties awaiting him, when apprehended, are severe. He far prefers a Continental existence, where he can work his printing-press in obscurity. His unsavoury wares, however, are made to circulate in England just as much as abroad, and the novice must be ever on his guard in consequence.
Some forgers possess elaborate and costly plant, and have the means of turning out labels printed quite as well as the originals. But most people in this dishonest trade are handicapped for capital, and have to rely on the cheaper processes—usually lithography—in the production of their forgeries. It is here that a knowledge of the various means of printing stamps proves so valuable to the collector. A specimen, say, of a line-engraved stamp produced by lithography immediately excites suspicion, and a close examination shows it to be an undoubted counterfeit.