Stamps and Postal History of the German Marshall Islands Forged 'Postagentur' Cancels by Dirk H.R. Spennemann

The loss of the colonies at the early stage of the war meant that the prices for cancelled colonial stamps increased dramatically during the war. This gave rise to a range of cancel forgeries.

Examples of this forgery are illustrated below. Common to all is the cut off top of the cancel which would have shown the locaility, as well as the date of 1/12 with a missing digit in the year slug, only shown as "3". As the year was one slug and not different ones (see illustration of a canceller) such an 'ommission' cannot occur. A damaged year slug can also be excluded. What 'clinches' the case for a forgery is the typographic error in the cancel, which reads "POST_G_ENTUR" instead of POST_AG_ENTUR." Yet, one wonders why the low denomination of the 3Pf stamp was also given a forged cancel, as the financial return would have been negligible.

Example of the Kaiserl[ich] Deutsche Postagentur Cancel from Apia (at right), which would have served as template for the forgery [Source: Friedemann 1921, p. 380]

[Source: Beste Auktion (Germany) March 2002]

[Source: Beste Auktion (Germany) March 2002]

[Home Page]    [Contents]    [Cancels] Bibliographic citation for this document Spennemann, Dirk H.R. (2002). Postage Stamps used in the German Marshall Islands. Cancels--Forged 'Postagentur' Cancels URL: http:/marshall.csu.edu.au/Marshalls/html/Stamps/CancelPix/Forged2.html CONTACT: Dirk H.R. Spennemann, Institute of Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University, P.O.Box 789, Albury NSW 2640, Australia. e-mail: dspennemann@csu.edu.au

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Digital Micronesia-An Electronic Library & Archive is provided free of charge as an advertising-free information service for the world community. It is being maintained by Dirk HR Spennemann, Associate Professor in Cultural Heritage Management,Institute of Land, Water and Society and School of Environmental & Information Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Albury, Australia. The server space and technical support are provided by Charles Sturt University as part of its commitment to regional engagement. Environmental SciencesInformation Sciences © Dirk Spennemann 1999– 2005

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