Quote:
Originally Posted by SetBuilder
Stanley Gibbons (the people behind the British version on the Scott stamp catalog) purchased the printing plates for several early Argentina stamps (the 1862-65 issues I believe) and ran off a bunch of forgeries that continue to confuse stamp collectors to this day.
That's about as scandalous as Jefferson Burdick printing thousands of card fakes and still being held in high regard.
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Stanley Gibbons is their own company.
And when they were newish both Scotts and Gibbons did some iffy things, some more iffy than others. Many of the early dealers who sold in large volume did.
One of the salesmen (Or other official) for one of the banknote companies was regularly an early visitor to any new government in South America. Want instant legitimacy? You NEED stamps! Thousands of them, in as many different denominations as you can afford. Nevermind that the ousted government left behind a few hundred thousand I sold them 2 years ago, you need your own stamps as soon as possible!
Then his friends would buy the remainders at a few cents on the Dollar. And sometimes he doubled the order and kept half. The purchased stamps were sold to a few very large dealers in Europe who made packets for sale to new collectors. Quite a racket.