The British North America Philatelic Society (BNAPS) Re-entries and Constant Varieties Study Group has issued a special newsletter, its first since October 2016.
Entitled Dots and Scratches and edited by Michael D. Smith, who reactivated the study group in 2014, the newsletter details a recent eBay purchase. Smith bid on a set of five proofs, four of which he identified as re-entires “and the fifth a possible re-entry,” he writes in the newsletter.
A day before the lot was supposed to arrive in the mail, however, he noticed another listing with three of those proofs offered by a different dealer or possibly the same dealer using a different account.
“Just a quick look at the ‘proofs’ was all I needed to realize they were fakes. I got out my few genuine proofs to compare them and there was absolutely no question that these were not actual proofs at all.”
He goes on to highlight the differences he found between the fakes and his genuine copies.
Smith, who’s famous for finding the third-known example of the two-cent large queen on laid paper, expanded the group’s scope in 2014 from re-entries to all constant plate varieties on engraved stamps. He also named the newsletter Dots and Scratches to reflect the expanded scope.
The newsletter’s first series ran from 1981, when the study group was established, and 2004. It was edited by former study group chair Ralph Trimble from 1981-96; Bill MacDonald from 1997-98; and Hal Kellett 1999-2004.
For more information, visit bnaps.org/hhl/n-ree.htm.