South African Collectors’ Society

How to Detect Forged Cape Triangles from their Fake Postmarks

The relative beauty, rarity, value and demand for Cape classic triangles made their forgery a viable business. At least twenty forgers of COGH (Cape of Good Hope) triangles have been recorded.

The most common forgeries of COGH classic stamps were not intended to deceive but were sold as inexpensive ‘space-fillers’ to collectors who could not afford the genuine stamps. Today, as old albums are broken up and the stamps sold off, these forged mint and used space-fillers are often offered on the internet at prices as high as a genuine equivalent triangle by ignorant and or unscrupulous sellers.

Fortunately, there is an easy way to detect these forgeries – at a glance! Most forgeries of Cape Triangles have been made to appear to be “postally used”. They invariably bear fanciful postmarks NEVER used by the Cape Post Office! If you develop a basic knowledge of the genuine postmarks found on Cape Triangles you will quickly be able to identify and eliminate forged “used” Cape triangles by the faker’s “wrong” postmark.

Only 17 genuine postmark types are known used on COGH adhesives during the ‘Cape Classic Period’, (defined by the author as 1853 – 1879). This display starts by listing the 17 genuine Cape Post Office postmarks that are recorded on Cape triangles. While I can extend this article with many more examples, for the sake of brevity I will not show all the forged mint and used triangles that I have, nor all the examples of the fake postmarks which were employed to cancel them. Recognising the real postmarks which were used at the Cape and discarding everything else is the quickest and best way to proceed.

Most forgeries were produced in the late 19th and early 20th Century. In the mid-20th Century forgeries bearing genuine Cape Post Office postmarks began to appear. Today, a new breed of opportunist, computer literate forgers using technology to scan and print facsimiles with genuine cancellations, are selling their work on the internet. To detect these and early mint forgeries a knowledge of the design detail within a genuine Cape classic triangle is vital. I have included a ‘Common Key Features of Genuine COGH Triangles’ at the end to assist the reader with the identification of mint Cape Triangles.

Note: The sheet above only shows 15 cancellers. The Triangular Obliterator (TO) is found in a Small (STO) and Large (LTO) format. The latter is recorded used but not shown here. There is also a mysterious third Triangular Obliterator which I have seen cancelling two Cape Triangles, a most uncommon device that comprises criss-crossed lines. I attach one example of it below taken from D. Alan Stevenson’s ‘Triangular Stamps of the Cape’ (1950) in which he lists 15 different postmarks on Cape Triangles. The STO and LTO are the most common defacer of Cape Triangles by a factor of almost 4 to 1.

Now, let’s take a look at some fake postmarks on forged Cape Triangles.

With the exception of the Fournier ‘triangle’ with missing CGH, you can see that these postmarks bear only a little or no resemblance to the genuine postmarks shown previously.

And finally, (I have more sheets like this), here are Spiro’s attempts at mimicking the Grahamtown roller canceller of which there are at least three varieties. If you look at the sheet containing genuine examples of Cape postmarks on COGH Triangles you will see that Spiro’s Grahamstown roller cancellers are shorter, containing just six bars. The real roller canceller can and usually does run all the way across the width of a Cape triangle.

The 1/- green triangle above is the one on the Home page. Of note is its postmark which is the one shown directly above it. This is a common fake postmark. While it looks nothing like a Triangular Obliterator when struck alone, it does create the confusing effect of looking a bit like one on the stamp. If anything it is too neat and sharp, as many fakes are due to their having been pre-cancelled by bulk printing rather than the rough and tumble of individual stamping in the Post Office. See the neat postmarks on the large blocks.

Finally, what if you have a mint stamp. How do you tell if that is a forgery? The following sheet, while not a comprehensive guide, points out the more obvious things to look for.

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