Counterfeit U.S. 2013 Flag coil stamps found online

By Charles Snee

Counterfeit examples of the United States 2013 nondenominated (46¢) Flag coil stamps printed by Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd. (Scott 4770-4773) have recently been discovered online.

Modern U.S. counterfeit specialist Robert Thompson of Texas told Linn’s Stamp News June 26 that he had found an intact roll of 100 of the fake 2013 Flag coil stamps on eBay.

Illustrated nearby are strips of four of the bogus stamps, top, and their genuine counterparts, bottom.

When viewed under shortwave ultraviolet light, the fake Flag coils exhibit a bright white glow, whereas the real stamps show the signature yellow green color of the tagging found on U.S. stamps with a denomination of 10¢ or greater.

(Tagging is a type of phosphor material on stamps used to activate automatic mail-processing equipment. Tagging may be lines, bars, blocks, letters, part of the design area or the entire stamp surface.)

A Linn’s editor examined the fake stamps and found that their vertical serpentine die cuts are gauge 9½, the same as the genuine stamps. In addition, the shape of the die cuts on the bogus stamps is very similar to the genuine stamps.

Under moderate magnification, the microprinted “USPS” on the counterfeit stamps is much less distinct than the microprinting on the genuine stamps.

Overall, these counterfeit 2013 Flag coil stamps closely mimic the real stamps.

The fake 2013 Flag coil stamps are scheduled to be listed in the next edition of the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Counterfeits, which is scheduled for publication this fall.

The 2013 Flag coil stamps printed by Sennett Security Products (Scott 4774-4777) already have counterfeit examples listed in the Scott U.S. Counterfeits catalog.

Thus far, no bogus examples of the 2013 Flag coil stamps printed by Avery Dennison (Scott 4766-4769) have been reported to Linn’s.

During the past few years, the number of U.S. stamps being counterfeited has exploded. Almost without exception, the quality of these fake stamps is remarkably close to the real thing.

The counterfeiters have solved the challenges associated with printing stamps: paper, ink and printing quality; die-cutting; and, most recently, tagging.

Collectors can still spot the bogus issues, but the typical purchaser of stamps cannot.

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