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Reference Manual of BNA Fakes, Forgeries & Counterfeits, Series II - Release 3,
"A Detailed Study of the Western Canada Postal History Proof Book Cancel Fakes"
by Kenneth W. Pugh.
Prices: $40 CDN, $30 USD without binder.
$45 CDN, $35 USD with binder.
(postage additional on all prices)
Available from the publisher: Ken Pugh - kpugh@shaw.ca or www.kenpugh.ca
When Joe Smith recently deleted an increasing number of spurious Western postmarks on
stamps being sold on eBay, he got in touch with Ken Pugh, who has written extensively in
the past on Canadian philatelic fakes and forgeries. The result is this timely book.
At the outset, we can observe that it is most unfortunate that such a volume ever became
necessary, but given the number of faked items that have come to light, we can certainly
agree with Pugh that :"Knowledge is Power." This work equips the reader with all the
knowledge necessary to detect the "weeds" that are out there.
The book's introduction gives the reader the necessary background to the subject, and is
summarized elsewhere in this issue of the Journal in the short article by Pugh. It is
followed by sample pages from the published proof impressions, and from the author's notes
on examples of the forgeries he examined. The core of the book consists of a list of
44 criteria established by the author as being indicative in varying degrees of a faked
postmark, running from "Too Perfect Centering" to "Proof Book Grid-Line fragment."
(One quibble here: the plural form "criteria" is used consistently in the book where
the singular form "criterion" is intended).
The pages which follow, comprising the longest section of the book, show in detail examples
of various faked markings which fail one or more of these criteria, with very clear
illustrations, often of both the faked and a genuine postmark. The ways in which a
given fake fails the criterion under discussion are described in some detail, along
with the differences between the fake and a genuine postmark, where this is applicable.
This is the information, very clearly explained, that shows the collector the details of
separating the good from the bad.
The forger tried his hand at broken circle postmarks of Alberta, Assiniboia, British Columbia,
and (mainly) Saskatchewan, circular datestamps from all of these except Assiniboia, and one
lone Saskatchewan duplex (Mosseyvale). All the fakes known to the author are listed in tables,
along with the dates on them. The book concludes with a bibliography, acknowledgements, and a
short biography of the author.
At first thought it seemed that pagination might have been desirable, but since this really
is a work in progress, with possible new information to be interspersed with what is currently
available, that would have presented more problems than it solved. The Table of Contents
indicates quite adequately where all the relevant information is located in the book.
The author has carefully documented all of the spurious material that has come to his attention
(820 "strikes" in all) in an excellent manner. The book will enable collectors of Western
Canadian postmarks to separate out any "baddies" that may have crept into their collections,
and provide them with a clearing house to where any new information can be shared with others.
Robert C. Smith
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