Articles

During the last several months there has been considerable churning among philatelists in the Czech Republic over the fact that counterfeits have been identified which had been signed by experts. It began with an article by the expert J. Stupka in the 4/2002 issue of Filatelie in which he argued that the owner of a cover with 3 20h Imperf. Hradčany had bid up in a Brno auction to the limit of a mail bid. In addition, the cover which had a Pittermann certificate turned out to be a fake. This led to a dispute, which in turn cause the Union of Czech Philatelists (SČF) to appoint a special commission to investigate the charges.

Starting in the November 2003 issue of Filatelie, František Beneš published a series of articles concerning counterfeits which had appeared in a recent Feldman Auction. A number of the counterfeit items were signed by experts Pavel Pittermann and/or Ján Karásek. Some also had certificates. The articles are very detailed and fairly convincing. The well know Czech collector Ludvik Pytličcek seems to be at the center of this philatelic scandal. Mr. Pyliček sent a letter to a large number of collectors and philatelic functionaries which was also published in Filatelie 1/2004.

The report of the SČF Commission was published in last November's issue of Filatelie. In the 1/2004 issue of Filatelie the SČF Executive Committee published its decision, based on these various articles, charges and their hearings, to suspend the activities of its Expert Committee. (See below)

From time to time we will present translations of some of the articles as well as other information on this growing scandel.