Brighton forgeries of Jammu and Kashmir by Harold Treherne

Harold Treherne (c. 1884 – after 1908) of Brighton, England, was a

stamp forger In general, philatelic fakes and forgeries are labels that look like postage stamps but have been produced to deceive or defraud. Learning to identify these can be a challenging branch of philately. To a large extent the definitions below are ...

notable for his forgeries of the stamps of India and Australia who was known as ''The Brighton forger'' and his works as ''Brighton forgeries''.Tyler, Varro E. ''Philatelic Forgers: Their Lives and Works.'' Revised edition. Sidney, Ohio: Linn's Stamp News, 1991, pp.140-141.

First forgeries

Treherne appears to have entered the forgery business about 1902 or slightly earlier when he was working as a clerk in Brighton. He would have been aged about 18 in 1902. Treherne at first produced only fake overprints and surcharges, or imperforate whole stamps as he lacked perforating or rouletting equipment and the overprints and surcharges only required simple printing in black ink. Later he moved on to more sophisticated forgeries. The ''Excelsior Traders' Supply Company'' in London supplied Treherne with a large number of zinc cliches and printing plates including overprints, surcharges and complete stamps. Treherne also had a contact in India, a Mr Thomas Hill in Bombay, who supplied him with genuine used Indian stamps to which fake overprints were applied and which were returned in lots of 1000 of a kind for sale in India.

Later forgeries

Some of Treherene's best work is thought to be forgeries of the stamps of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

which he produced in whole sheets showing all of the varieties of type on the originals.

Aliases

Treherne used the aliases ''G. Arnold'', ''H. Curtis'', ''H. Hordern'', ''M. Melville'', ''J. or T. Morton'', ''R. Newman'', ''A. West'' and possibly others."Harold Treherne's Photo-engraved Forgeries of Western Australia" by Derek Pocock and Brian Pope in ''

The London Philatelist ''The London Philatelist'' was first published in January 1892
by

A.B. Kay wrote about forged stamps of Kashmir in Stanley Gibbons' Monthly Journal and in 1904

Charles Nissen Charles Nissen (c.1880Profile at Who Was Who in British Philately.

wrote more generally in ''The Stamp Collectors' Annual'' about the wide variety of forgeries for sale in Brighton. In 1907 a member of the ''Stamp Trade Protection Association'' became concerned about the volume of orders for common stamps received from Treherne that could be easily manipulated by the application of fake surcharges or overprints. After a member received an order for a large number of Great Britain penny reds, the association set a trap for Treherne by marking some with a pin prick. When the stamps were eventually sold, they had acquired a CYPRUS overprint not present originally, thus greatly increasing their value. Treherne was arrested on 2 August 1907 and was found to have 447 dies or plates in his possession. He pleaded guilty at his trial and sentence was deferred. In the meantime, the ''Commissioners of Inland Revenue'' brought additional charges against Treherne of being in possession of dies, plates and instruments for making fictitious stamps and he was found guilty of these charges and fined £15 and costs. In January 1908 the earlier case on which sentence had been deferred was reopened and he was sentenced to four months hard labour plus an additional month for failure to pay the earlier fine.

References

External links

Brighton Forgeries at kashmirstamps.ca
{{DEFAULTSORT:Treherne, Harold Stamp forgers 1880s births Year of death unknown British stamp dealers

First forgeries

Later forgeries

Aliases

See also

References

External links