Watermark Check: You will need to check the watermark on this stamp.
Number | Watermark | May be faked by trimming this stamp |
Often faked by adding perforations to this stamp |
352 | Double-line | 331 | 343 |
387 | Single-line | 374 | 383 |
Caution
The 1¢ Franklin flat plate horizontal coils are often faked. Particularly suspect are well-centered stamps. Although many fakes are made by trimming a fully perforated or a large margined straight edge copy of the 1¢ Franklin sheet stamps, most of these fakes are easily recognized since they often measure less than the proper height of at least 25 mm, and the look and feel of the straight edge is just not right.
The more dangerous fakes are made from the imperforate stamps, in this case Number 343 and Number 383, respectively. The perforations must be examined closely to guarantee authenticity.
see also Number 348 and 385