British Columbia sheet forgeries
attributed to Spiro

There is no question that the Spiro Bros. of Hamburg Germany forged the 1860-65 issues of British Columbia, but probably not the forgery illustrated below that has commonly been attributed to them. They are printed in sheets of 25. The question - Where these forgeries made by Spiro? The evidence so far points to another source, yet to be determined. The reasons:

1. All of the Spiro forgeries recorded are lithographs. These B.C. forgeries are typographed.
2. None of the common Spiro cancels appear on these forgeries.
3. Other forgeries from other countries with the same characteristics have not been attributed to Spiro.
4. Although Earee described this forgery in Album Weeds (his fourth forgery) the Spiro forgeries are previously described as his first and second forgeries.

One suggestion was Samuel Allen Taylor of the U.S. who had typograph forgeries made for him, but he did not print in sheets of 25.