Pre-eminent philatelic fake and forgery expert Ken Pugh is moving on to the world of espionage—at least that’s what he’s covering with his latest of about 50 books, most of which focus on British North American and Canadian philately.
This latest book, however, has “has been the toughest to get the entire story on,” Pugh, a founding member of the Brandon Stamp Club and a former Brandon Sun stamp columnist, told the Manitoba-based newspaper this May. He’s been researching the book, which explores counterfeit stamps and currency used by both German and Allied forces throughout the Second World War, for about four decades.
Both sides distributed parody stamps as propaganda, and various resistance movements used marked stamps to differentiate between authentic letters, with important information, and German fakes. Counterfeit currency was also injected into both economies by the opposing sides as part of their respective war efforts.
Now a resident of Chilliwack, B.C., Pugh is aiming to self-publish his book by the end of this year. In addition to his roughly 40-book series on the fakes and forgeries of British North America and Canada, his other books cover Buenos Aires, Uruguay, Serbia and the Belgian Congo.
Throughout four decades as a teacher, he also won several awards, including the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee Medal and Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence.