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Counterfeit

Although the terms are often used interchangeably, counterfeit and fake have slightly different meanings. A counterfeit stamp is designed to deceive postal authorities, i.e. A two cent stamp is counterfeited in the hope of gaining two cents worth of postage, while a two cent fake is produced in the hopes of gaining philatelic value from a collecting standpoint. The stamp at right is an "offset" counterfeit of the 2¢ rotary stamp. The perforations are a dead giveaway to most collectors, the color is a little off, and the stamp is offset and not engraved. Yet these counterfeits fooled postal authorities for some time. The perpetrators were eventually nabbed and served jail time.