In this special webinar All About Stamps and Stamp Collector magazine editor, Matt Hill, chats to Devlan Kruck and Marcus Orsi from the Museum of Philately about stamp forger Jean de Sperati and the Rowland Hill Medal.
Sperati got busted in Australia, he was taking the common 1913 1 Penny Red Kangaroo stamp and converting them to the very valuable 1913 2 Pounds Rose and Black. The Paper checked out, the Watermark and Perforations checked out. He was busted because he left the 1 Penny stamp cancellation on his 2 Pounds forgery. Impossible to explain how a Two Pounds stamp received a Machine Cancel, parcels don't fit in the Machine, only Letters did. This caused the Investigation in the first place. He was a master forger, but still made mistakes. He faded back designs and reprinted them.
