Fake and Questionable Items (Covers)

The items illustrated on this page are fakes or forgeries or of a questionable nature. A fake item is something completely invented to represent something that does not exist. A forgery is a copy of a genuine item that exists and is generally made to make people think it is a genuine item. The term counterfeit means the same thing.

Forged “trial” copies of the Jessore printed overprint. This overprint was used on many fake covers. Most of the overprints on the Pakistani stamps were done with rubber stamps and were applied by hand, but Jessore had printed overprints. It is said the the Indian dealer Mr. Mondal, who lived in Calcutta, India near the border close to Jessore, approaced the postmaster and offered to print an overprint for him to be used in the post office. The postmaster agreed and Mr. Monday printed the overprints in India and delivered them to Jessore, where they were used. It is believed that he paid for everything, including the cost of the stamps. The situation is that these were somewhat genuine, but not totally. Evidently Mr. Mondal made many covers using these stamps. He was very involved in the early history of the country creating covers that were fantasies. Later his son was in Bangladesh selling fake FDCs of the country. The envelopes were slightly larger than the original covers and had no gum on the flaps.

Genuine or not? This is the type of cover that divides opinions among collectors. The cover has the Jessore overprints, but is obviously a Philatelic cover as it has all different varieties of the stamps with the overprint. How many times does one go to the post office to mail a letter and one applies many of the stamps of a definitive set to it. Very seldom.

COVERS

This is a beautiful cover, and very impressive to view with all of the markings. The cover was made to look as if it was sent during the war, including a burned area. It was purchased from a well known U.S. auction house back in the 1970s. Unfortunately it is a total fake and was created to sell to an unsuspecting collector. The auction house thought it was genuine, or they would not have offered it. Note that there is a Jessore printed overprint on the green stamp.

The following eight covers were purchased by the author back in the mid 1970s from a well known Indian dealer, who it turns out is known for dealing in questionable items, as well as genuine material. They are all fakes. Note that the same postage stamps are used on all the covers. During the war the same overprinted Pakistani stamps were not available at all the post offices, and each post office had created it’s own rubber stamp overprint. The stamps on these covers were created for the Jessore Post Office (See above for more information). Many varieties were overprinted and whatever was available at that location would be used. Additionaly, some of the markings on the covers are made with the same rubber stamp (Mail Carried by Bangla Desh Mukti Fouze). The covers are also neatly opened on the edges and are in pristine condition. Similar covers are still offered on the internet at this time. The Indian dealers know they are fakes, but those from Europe and other countries often think they are genuine. These covers and others claimed to have been carried by the Boy Scouts have been heavily faked as there is a good market for them, especially the Boy Scout covers. Genuine covers are very expenseive and scarce. Remember that a high price does not necessarily mean it is genuine.Only purchase from a reputable dealer and always get a second opinion from an expert before buying such items.

he cover was allegedly posted at the Mujibnagar Army Post Office and has a back marking as having been received at the Darsana Field Post Office. Note that the stamp have the Jessore overprint, as do many other fakes illustrated here.

This cover was allegedly posted at the Jhinkargacha Field Post Office and received at the Benapole Field Post Office.

This cover is stamped with the Darsana Field Post Office marking and said to have been received on 30 May 1971 at the Kaliguni-Khulna Field Post Office. Note the three lines on the back, bottom left, in Bangla.

This cover was allegedly posted at the Chuadanga Field Post Office and evidently received at the Kaliguni-Khulna Field Post Office on 20 May 1971.

This cover was allegedly posted at the Meherpur Field Post Office with a marking on the front, as well, for the Benapole Field Post Office. The only marking on the reverse states it was carried by the Meherpur guerrilla squad. Very impressive, but false.

Posted from the Basantapur-Khulna Field Post Office on 28 July 1971 and carries a marking on the back for the Kaliguni – Khulna Field Post Office, and is dated 29 Jun 1971.

This cover has a posting from Benapole Field Post Office, with a back cancellation of the Bangladesh Liberation Forces Central Base P.O. and dated 12 Jul 1971.

This cover was allegedly posted at the Field Post Office – Darsana and the back has a seal of the Rajshahi Field Post Office.

The above cover is much more inventive and interesting. Not only does it have a rubber stamp (purple) stating “Mail Carried by Mukti Fauze”, but and additional rubber stamp impression (red) stating, “11 December 1971/Indian Parachute Brigade/Para Dropped in Tangail Area”. What is confusing is that the stamps are cancelled with a stamp that says Tangail. Why are the stamps cancelled at the site where it was dropped by the Indian Parachute Brigade? This is also a fake cover.

Additional Fake Covers

This cover bears a stamp of the Chittagong Field Post Office. Note that the stamp is the same as used on many of the covers on the previous page.

This cover looks genuine because it is torn open. The cancellation reads Bangladesh P O No 13 and is dated 8 August 1971.

This cover has the fake Jessore printed overprints on them and a cancellation of Jhinkagacha. Many of the fake covers have the date of 1 December 1971 on them, suggesting they were made by the same person/people.

This cancellation is totally in Bengali. Note that the overprinted stamp is the same one used on many other fake covers.

At the top of the Cancellation is “Bangladesh Mukti Bahinini”. It also has one of the commonly used stamps on fakes.

The above cover has many different imprints. It has a Censor marking, and there is a misspelling in Mukti Fouj[sic]. The cancellation is in Bengali. On the back is a mark similar to the cover above stating,”Bangladesh Mukti Bahini”. The stamp has no rubberstamp overprint.

Boy Scout Covers

It is an exciting and heroic idea to think that the Boy Scouts of then East Pakistan (Fighting for a country they then called Bangladesh) would have contributed to the war effort by carrying mail for the liberation and guerrila forces, etc. While it makes a nice story it is largely mythological. Knowing that there is a large market for Boy Scout items, some of the Indian dealers went overboard in their enthusiasm to make money. Hundreds of fake covers were created, claiming to be carried by the Boy Scouts.

One must be realistic about the situation. First of all, the people of the then emerging country spoke Bengali and their language had been surpressed by the Pakistani Government for years. Why would covers be created celebrating this alleged endeavor bear the markings of such in English, and not the language they spoke – Bengali? The answer is very simple. Most collectors of Scout philatelic material are familiar with, or can speak English, and could readily identify with it. Many items were stamped with the name Bangladesh in Bengali and English, stamps, documents, currency, etc., either legally, or illegally, to triumph their liberation and pride in their language.

The post offices in the liberated areas were told to add the name Bangladesh in Bengali and English on the large quantities of Pakistani stamps in the post offices under their control. Each post office was permitted to come up with their own design as there was no way the new government could collect all the stamps from the post offices and overprint them. There was a hodge podge of various issues in the hundreds of post offices. If you look at the fake covers illustrated on these pages, you will notice many have the same stamps, with the same overprint. It would have been physically impossible for the liberation forces to have the same overprinted stamps all over the country. Many Bangladesh collectors, Bangladeshis and foreigners, stay clear of the overprinted stamps as the overprints too were heavily faked by Indian dealers living along the border. They would create their own varieties of overprints and send packets of envelops with the stamps on them to Bangladesh, and have them cancelled at a post office. Later, such was offered as proof that they were genuine and cancelled at a real post office. Plus the dealers then had many varieties to sell.

While it may be true that one or two times a group of Scouts carred some mail, it was not to to the extent that many people would like to believe. By far, the majority of the fake covers were sold to dealers outside of Asia who knew nothing about them, other than what they were told. Some major Indian dealers bought them, knowing they were fakes, but insisted they were genuine. The author of this catalog purchased Mukti Fouz covers from a major Indian dealer back in the 1970s, along with sets of mint overprinted stamps. Both the covers and the overprints on the stamps turned out to be fake and the dealer is still selling them today, insisting they are genuine.

This cover is not said to be carried by the Boy Scouts, but it bears a Boy Scout overprinted stamp from Pakistan, with a Bangladesh overprint printed over it. Very few of the oveprints were printed as the post offices did not have the facilities to do any printing. They were largely done with rubber stamps and applied by hand to the stamps. It is doubtful that this printed overprint of the Bangladesh overprint is genuine. The Pakistani stamp was for an event that took place in 1959 and the War of Liberation was in 1971, that is 12 years later. It is doubtful that this stamp would have been in a post office at that late date. New varieties of overprinted stamps are constantly appearing. Topicals are very common.

The cover has fake cancellations and is allegedy from Chuadanga and was addressed to Mujibnagar by someone who was not very good at writing in English.

The upper red imprint reads, “Mail Carried by Bangladesh Boys[sic] Scouts/From…To…Batch…/Time…Date…Unit…”. The purple impring reads, 10 Dec.1971/Mongla River Port/Liberated by Mukti Fouze”. The cancellation reads, “Liberation Forces/Naval Sector Head Quarters” The center of the cancellation states, “River Camp (?)/11.1.?? (?)/No – 8”. The back has a date of 13 December 1971. Great appeal to the collector, but a fake.

The imprint referring to the Boy Scouts is different. The point of origin of the cover is allegedly Basantapur-Khulna on July 28, 1971. The alleged receiving date is 31 July 1971. The overprint is the printed Jessore overprint.

This cover was allegedly sent from Kaligunj-Khulna on 19 May 1971, to Darsana.

This cover was allegedly from the Chittagong Hill Tracts and was received at Mymensingh. In the two cancellations are the words “Mukti Bahini”.

The stamps are cancelled with a Chittagong Hills Tracts cancellation and a received cancellation of Dacca, the capital. Later the spelling was changed to Dhakka. The stamps do not have any overprint.

The purple impression reads, “7 Dec. 1971/Maulavi Baear Chhatak/Fenchugang Sunamgang/Sylhet Town/Liberated by Mukti Fouze”. The cover allegedly was posted at Sylhet and was received at Barisal. The stamps on the back have no overprint. Whoever made this cover did not think the situation completely through. It bears an impression about the Boy Scouts and the Mukti Fouze, but the stamps are not overprinted. The population was anxious to erase the name Pakistan from everthing in the new country and the stamps would have certainly been overprinted. Again one must ask why would all these messages be in English, with these towns being liberated, they had the time to make the rubber stamp to stamp on the envelope, but they didn’t think it was important to overprint the stamps?

1972

6 February – Another Scout item made by an Indian dealer. These were made as collecting of Scout material is very popular and they were created to sell to such collectors.

1981

5 January – This is an item made by an Indian dealer. If you look closely, the stamps have cancellations, that are genuine, but are unreadable and faint. The fake Scout marking has been added to the cover. From past examples of similar items, the marking is generally applied to a part of a stamp, making it look like a cancellation. When I questioned about a different, but somewhat similar item, I was told it was a cachet and there was no room on the cover, without it touching some of the stamps. Never-the-less they claim they are genuine, but they are not and they are privately made, not made by the government.

9 October 1995 - Flowers of Bangladesh (2nd series)

The top image is of the genuine set of Flowers of Bangladesh stamps. Below it are covers using stickers made of the stamps. No one knows who made them, but they are imperforate images of the stamps. In some instances, the total image is not present as the image was cut off at one of the edges. Someone created these covers and they did go through the mail.

This cover bears two fake Upa-Zilla overprinted stamps. One overprint is in the normal position and the other has a second one that is inverted. It was created as a ‘Philatelic Cover”. The canceller was illegally purchased after Bangla became the language to be used in all cancellers in the late 1980s, and applied to this cover in 1993. The cover never went through the mails and must be considered a fake.

Not exactly what they are represented to be. These covers appear to be sent on government business, using the SERVICE overprinted stamps, that were to be used only by government offices. While the stamps are genuine, the intent of the covers is not. They were created by a stamp collector who is a medical doctor who worked at the facility. Note all the different stamps on the top cover (one of each variety, including ones with the SERVICE overprint in different positions on the stamps). Many other markings were applied to the covers to make them attractive. To make it even worse, the cancellations are in English, that was discontinued in the late 1980s. The cancellers were illegally purchased from a post office after Bangla became the language that had to be used for all cancellers, and used on these covers in 1995. The covers are fakes in every respect and never passed through the mails.

Another fake cover using an old canceller after English was discontinued as the language used in them.

Another fake, even though it is dated years earlier. The canceller was illegally purchased after English was no longer used in the cancellers. Since the dates could be changed, it was back dated.

The only value of this cover is that it is a quick reference to the three shades of the 1994 Dr. Mohammad Ibrahim stamp. The cover was never sent through the mails and was not sent Registered. The canceller was illegally purchased years previously and applied at this late date. The Post Office changed all cancellations from English to Bangla in the late 1980s and one will not find English cancellations on genuine covers after that date. This was made in 1995 and is a total fake.

This cover is a total fantasy and was most likely made for a well-known Bangladesh individual known for his less than honest dealings. This was purchased from an Indian dealer who insisted it was genuine and told me who he had purchased his copies from – Dr. Redwan, who is known for dealing in questionable items. There isn’t even a city mentioned in the cancellations. While it looks like a cover that would be made by the Post Office Department, there are no markings on the back. Covers like this are virtually always sold to dealers outside of Bangladesh as the seller knows that it would be recognized as a fake immediately in Bangladesh. They are largely sold to dealers in India and are then offered on the internet auctions. Above the cover is a variety of the cancelation, with a butterfly in it.

The above cover is attractive because of the tie-in of the cachet, stamp and cancellation – all tigers. However, the cover serves no real purpose, other than to use a cacheted envelope that was prepared for a different event, but had not been used. The envelope was originally prepared for the stamp exhibition in Washington, D.C. from 27 May – 3 June 2006. It has these dates and the logo for the show on the cover, but it was used to obtain the tiger cancellation from the China World Stamp Exhibition, 2009, which was used on 11 April 2009. Such covers have little, or no value as the cancellation is common. It would be better to have it on a plain envelope, rather than a wrong one. The back of the cover has information on the cover that is important and interesting. The layout is somewhat like that on government FDCs and Special Covers. The designer is Dr. Redwan al-Karin Bhuiyan, also known as Dr. Heart. He put his logo of a heart with “HSC”, which stands for Heart Stamp Center. It also has the number 12, indicating that twelve envelopes were printed.

Although this is an attractive cover it is the type that is only made to make money for the producer. It serves no purpose. The envelope has the logo of the 27 May – 3 June 2006 stamp show in Washington, D.C., the butterfly issue of 3 December 1990 and the FDC cancellation from the butterfly issue of 2012. Covers like this have no value and add little to the hobby, except confusion. This is also make by Dr. Redwan al-Karim Bhuiyan, who has a reputation for dealing in fake and questionable items.

The purpose for the creation of the above two fake postal cards is a mystery, unless they were made to sell to Post Card collectors. The top card shows Madhabkunda Waterfall in the picture and the fake stamp image. The name on the stamp image is Verneland, with a value of 1t. The second card show the Jamuna Bridge in the picture and the stamp image. The name on the stamp image is Chartonia, with a value of 25m. Of course no such countries exist as stated on the stamp images.

The above cancellation for 2013 is a fake, based on the cancellation illustrated above it, which is genuine, and was used for First Day Covers of the ICC Cricket World Cup on 19 April 2007. The copy of the fake was difficult to copy as it was stamped on a black background, making it difficult to see.

The above two covers and cancellation are not genuine. The cancellation is a fake made by a Bangladeshi named Mr. Kamrul, who is not a stamp collector and makes fake items of interest to Indian collectors of Gandhi, Tagore, Cricket, Coin and Flower themes. He basically sells his items to Indian dealers who most likely do not realize they are fakes. This was purchased from an Indian dealer, who got it from another dealer who supplies him with items. Each cover also has a label on it next to the genuine Bangladesh stamp.

2014

27 April – The top illustration is of an attractive cover for the “Tokyo Stamp Show 2014” Note that is is quite similar in design to the cover illustrated under (5 February 2010, COMMEMORATIVE POSTMARKS 1995 – Present.) that cover has a genuine cancellation provided by the Post Office. The above cover and two illustrations under it do not have genuine postmarks made by the Bangladesh Post Office. The Bangladesh Postal Department did not participate in this show. The bottom line in the cancellation is in Japanese. Not illustrated is the cancellation for the 26th. These were privately created and are sold outside of Bangladesh where people do not realize they are not genuine covers.