Portuguese colonies imperial crown issue

The imperial crown issue was used by Portuguese colonies as early as 1870 with some colonie sissuing them later in the decade.

There were often several printings of each that can be distinguished by various characteristics. There are also plate varieties. See your friendly stamp catalog for details. 



Reprints

 * on thin off-white paper with shiny white gum and very clean-cut perf 13½.
 * on chalky paper with no gum and rough perf 13½

Forgeries
Several kinds of forgeries exist. Every issuing country has had their crown stamps forged. Ones seen appear to be from photographic reproduction and are quite close to the genuine stamps.  File:Cape V Fourneir forgery.jpg|Fournier forgery 
 * Fournier forgeries are rather common. Keys are that there is no dot in cross atop the crown. The triangular flourishes between the circle and the frame are clear of the frame lines the frame lines in the genuine. In Fournier forgeries, they touch the frame lines on the right side.
 * An unidentfied type has a notably sharper impression overall vs. the genuine. The cross atop the crown is tilted.

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