DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS:

-in the forgery the central arm in the crown has only four pearls (five in the original). In all denominations the "R" in "REIS" starts near the center of the stamp while in the genuine it starts left of the center in all but three digit denominations. The letters "RR" in "CORREIO" have the wrong shape.

The crown is much rounder in the forgery.

CARACTERISTICAS DISTINTIVAS:

-na falsificação Spiro o braço central da coroa tem quatro pérolas (cinco no original). O "R" de "REIS" começa perto do eixo do selo (no original começa à esquerda excepto nos selos de 100 Reis e superiores). As letras "RR" de "CORREIO" têm uma geometria diferente da original.

A coroa é arredondada.

VALUES: 10, 20, 25, 50 and 100 Reis. The 50 Reis stamp, above, differs from the others in that the name of the colony is wrongly stated as "S.Thome é Principe" instead of "S.Thomé e Principe" There is also a black 5 Reis stamp that could be by the same hand but very different in design, and much more interesting as a failed forgery, as well.

ORIGIN: The lithographic firm of Gebruder Spiro (Spiro brothers), in Hamburg, were already producing stamp reproductions by 1864 and so must have been one of the first to issue the Crown stamps as fac-simile. They produced fac-simile of several hundred worldwide stamps until around 1880 and for a time even issued a philatelic magazine to advertise them.

The Spiro fac-simile often bear a characteristic cancellation that was also used by them for many other countries.

A firma Gebruder Spiro editava catálogos e até uma revista filatélica onde anunciava as suas reproduções. No entanto a procura caíu e a produção foi encerrada à volta de 1880.

As reproduções Spiro estão muitas vezes carimbadas com um carimbo característico.

Bibliography:

Tyler, Varro E. "Philatelic Forgers- their lives and works";

Davies, D.J. "Forgeries of Portugal and Colonies".