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Czechoslovak Philately
last updated: March 23, 2003

BOOK REVIEW

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CZECHOSLOVAK POSTAGE STAMPS AND THEIR COUNTERFEITS 1918-1939
by Ing. Jan Karasek

If you are a collector of 1st Republic Czechoslovak stamps, then this book must be on your shelf.

Thirty five years ago (1963) a consortium of Czechoslovak philatelic experts published an illustrated book with a similar title which undertook the task of educating philatelists in order to make them able to distinguish the real from the fake or forged. Its greatest drawback was that it was completely in Czech. It sold out in a relatively short period of time and was subsequently very difficult to find on the resale market.

To alleviate the language drawback, your Society (through translators Henry Hahn and Jaroslav Verner) published a translation of the book in 1965/66 (without illustrations) as a series of articles in the SPECIALIST. However, you had to go back and forth between the book and the articles because of the lack of illustrations.

Then, in 1985 another of our members, Fred Hefer, in conjunction with the SCP put out a revised and illustrated edition. It basically took the 1966 translation and added pictures. It was plastic-rib bound, copy machine quality, and had typewriter text. Probably its greatest drawback was that it simply translated 22 year old information.

So what is so different about this latest volume compared to its predecessors?

  • It is authored by one of the original three expert authors.
  • It lists 7 new literature references over and above the 5 in the original book, thus including the very latest in forgery discoveries.
  • The entire volume's text (including picture captions) is in a very clear, distinct,and repetitive system in Czech, English, and German.
  • This very handsome 250 page hardbound book is in A4 format with heavy gloss paper and excellent print quality.
  • While the book is in black and white, at the front it contains a 6 page section which illustrates in color many of the stamp issues discussed in the volume.
  • The volume can only be described as profusely illustrated -- much, much more than previously. As an example, the POSTA 1919 overprints issue contains 58 illustrations compared to 31 in the previous.

Each issue covered (and there are four more than in the previous -- Red Cross, 1928 Jubilee, Nitra, Carpatho-Ukraine) is broken down as necessary into:

  • total counterfeit
  • partial counterfeits
  • counterfeiting overprints on genuine stamps
  • counterfeiting by changing the stamp design
  • counterfeiting perforations
  • counterfeiting by cutting off perforations
  • counterfeiting by changing the original color
  • counterfeiting by modifying the paper
  • counterfeiting the watermark
  • counterfeiting the gum
  • counterfeiting by removing a cancellation
  • counterfeiting the cancellation
  • counterfeiting by creating an entire
  • counterfeiting expert marks
  • Almost every issue has new material compared to the previous.

There are many more unusual or unique categories covered along with their illustrations, such as:

  • counterfeiting by joining two stamps
  • counterfeiting of a trial print
  • counterfeiting of types

As with any publication there are some areas where I found fault:

  • The nine block Hradcany issue sample used to indicate the required size of margins to satisfy imperforate status was not included. This is especially surprising because the whole area of counterfeiting by cutting off perforations is otherwise covered much more extensively than before.
  • The SO 1920 overprints are not covered as well as they were. There are no numbered pointers. The layouts of the entire genuine overprint plates that were used (there were several per issue) and a listing/illustration of the significant overprint variety locations on the plate were not included. There are no close-ups of the counterfeit characteristics.
  • An opportunity was missed to include the counterfeits of the provisional and Legion Stamps.

Despite these few deficiencies, this comprehensive study stands out as the most important tool to aid Czechoslovak philatelists in decades. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Ludvik Z. Svoboda

 

[Ed. Note: This book is available at a special price to our members (the normal price is $45). See the Publications Available ad inside the back cover of this issue.]