SPIRO - a look back

THE SPIRO FORGERIES OF JAPANESE STAMPS

By Harold E. M. Bradshaw and Varro E. Tyler, Jr.

Philatelic forgery, the production of counterfeit postage stamps for sale to collectors, is almost as old as 

philately itself. The origin of this nefarious practice virtually coincided with the beginning of serious stamp collecting in the latter part of the 1850's and early 1860's. Some idea of the scope of these early operations may be gained from the observation that the first published work on the subject,

De la falsification des timbresposte, by J. B. Moens, Brussels, 1862, 34 pp., lists forgeries of some 45 different countries.

The first volume originally written in English describing forgeries, 

Forged Stamps: How to Detect Them, by Thornton Lewes and Edward Pemberton, was published in Edinburgh in 1863. In its introduction the authors mention the existence of forgers in Zurich, Brussels, Brunswick and Leipzig, but cautiously refrain from specific identifications. In spite of the continued efforts of the philatelic press,  the sale of forgeries either as such or as genuine items proved to be a lucrative business.

1864 the prominent lithographing firm, Spiro Brothers, of Hamburg, Germany, entered the field. Their forgeries were advertised and sold as "imitated postage stamps for collections," and proved to be very popular and apparently profitable merchandise. It has been asserted that Philip Spiro, who personally directed this phase of the company's business, considered it as a perfectly legitimate enterprise and one which supplemented nicely the firm's production of more prosaic lithographic merchandise which ranged from beer bottle labels to Sunday school cards; principal thesis, argued at some length, was that the imitation of stamps is "of the most inestimable benefit, as much to the dealers as to the collectors."

During 1864 Philip Spiro continued to advertise as a dealer in genuine postage stamps at Adolphsplatz 10, Hamborg, in the Magazin für Briefmarkensammler. His last advertisement in that journal appeared in the November 1865 issue, and it has been assumed chat when his status as a producer of facsimiles became known, his patronage was no longer acceptable. In spite of this rather mild ostracism, the Spiros continued to produce their forgeries with such perseverance that a contemporary writer feit obligated to comment that their motto must have been Dum spiro spero.

Fred J. Melville, who in his paper "The Lives of the Forgers" writes as follows:

The Spiros specious defence of imitations is that of a long line of successors in the forgery and facsimile line. The brothers were humndrum, commercial rogues, with no redeeming or saving graces. We could well forget them, but for those all-to-white paper scraps which still a bound but which even in the sixties were an insult to the intelligence of the rational collector."

During the 15 years that production continued, the Spiros printed millions of forgeries of approximately 500 different stamps. They were supplied in ungummed sheets of 25 (5 x 5), usually obliterated with one or more varieties of cancellations according to the choice of the purchasers. The imitations sold for prices ranging from one to four cents per copy when purchased singly, but considerable discounts were allowed on items purchased in lots of a dozen or a hundred copies. 

though the lithographed Spiro facsimiles were in most cases extremely poor imitations of the genuine stamps, they were produced in such enormous quantities that many of them have survived down to the present time.

According to Dr. Lowell Ragatz, renowned authority on forgeries, the Spiro forgeries of all countries are contained by the dozens in virtually every old collection. The Spiros turned their attention to Japanese postage stamps some time prior to October, 1875, because on that date the first "Spud Paper" covering a forgery of Japan made its appearance in the Philatelist.

Written by Messrs W. Dudley Atlee, Edward L. Pemberton and Robert B. Earee, the "Spud Papers" were a pioneer study of philatelic forgeries which appeared originally in three successive English stamp periodicals between the years 1871 and 1881.

The fact that the originals were illustrated with actual copies of the Spiro forgeries makes them highly desirable items, much sought after by collectors of reference material and practically unobtainable at the present time. Fortunately for collectors the entire series has been reprinted in book form, The Spud Papers, together with an introductory essay and comprehensive index by Dr. Ragatz. The first comprehensive philatelic descriptions of Spiro Japanese forgeries appeared in this series.