Mexico 1868 Hidalgo : 01a Introduction

One of the most fascinating stamps of Mexico, is the 1868 Hidalgo issue.

The German "Michel" catalogue, roughly indicates 2 issues, one of 6 stamps and one of 5 stamps.
The stamps come with two overprints (year and districs number), and later also with a third overprint (districs name).
The second issue has on top of the 2 (and 3) overprints, an additional overprint in 1872 "anotado".

So far the basic information...

In order to be as complete as possible, I will explain in steps type by type with clear examples.
But a good base to start, is to separate the genuine stamps from the forged ones.
Therefore, a comprehensive overview of the most common forgeries of this series.

Let's start with the stamp itself:

prototype of the 1868 Hidalgo stamp

Two easy ways to find forgeries among the Hidalgo stamps, is to look at the name "MEXICO" and the outline of the head of Hidalgo.

Left is a genuine stamp, right is a forgery.
The "I" in "MEXICO" is  broad in the real stamp, thin in the forgery.
The outline of the head is there, but not pronounced in the real stamp, one clear line in the forgery.

More difficult to see is that in the real stamp, the head touches the 3rd line form the top, in the forgery, the head touches the second line.
This is often harder to see, due to cancels (intentionally) placed on the top of the stamp.

Another -easy- forgery is to look at the eyes of Hidalgo.

left orginal stamp - right a forged one

On the genuine stamp,  Hidalgo looks you straight into the face. In the forgery, you can see the crossed-eyes looking Hidalgo.

forged 50. cent

forged 100 cent

 Finally, if the stamp is smaller then it should be, you're also looking at a forgery.

forgery - smaller stamp image

Of course there are more difficult forgeries as well.

Most forgeries however, occur in the overprints, the year, the districts number, the districts name or the 'anotado' overprint.
In my contribution here, I'll stick to the most obvious forgeries, and to the different subtypes within the original stamps.

pictures source : http://stampforgeries.com/forged-stamps-of-mexico-1866-1872/