Below are two examples of plate 175 and 177 stamps used to produce faked examples of plate 75 and plate 77 stamps and EDXRF (energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence) images which show the elements present in the inks that have been used to print and to fake the stamps.

In the faking process, the forger has been diligent enough to leave the dot standing, i.e. paint out the figure '1' top and bottom leaving a central dot which is a feature of the master die.

It is fortuitous that a simple comparison of the position of the corner letters with stamps from plates 175 or 177 will invariably confirm that these fakes do come from these plates. Had this not been so then it would be very difficult indeed, in some case, to be certain whether the figure '1' was actually painted out with an identical colour ink. In this case the faking process simply requires the painting out of a white area on the stamp, nothing else.

Scientific analysis of the inks however does make the process of detection very easy indeed, in that a faking ink would undoubtedly contain differing elements to those that printed these stamps making it easy to come up with a certain conclusion. Either Raman spectroscopy or EDXRF can be used in order to analyse the elemental constituents of the printing ink.

One must not forget that a forger would not be aware of the exact constituents of the printing ink of that time and so the chances of formulating an exact ink match both qualitatively and quantitatively would be practically non existent.

The ink used to print the 1859-78 issue was made up of lead oxide (red lead) and mercury sulphide (vermilion) both highly insoluble compounds.

For the purpose of this investigation EDXRF has been used to analyse the constituents of both the original and the offending inks.

Below is an image of the plate number from a faked plate 175 stamp in which the number '1' has been painted out in order to produce an example of a plate 75 stamp, which is not known to exist. The forger has skillfully painted out the right hand figure '1' and has left the mandatory dot in the diamond.

To the naked eye the faking does undoubtedly look good, however under EDXRF the elements forming the both the printing and the faking inks are analysed and exposed- The findings are startling! 

It is clearly obvious from the images above that the ink printing the stamps contained Lead and sulphur, however the ink used in the faking contained aluminium, silicon, potassium and iron. A complete difference in composition between the two. The painted '1' with its central gap can be clearly seen in the lower group of images.

Below is an image of the plate number from a faked plate 177 stamp in which the number '1' has been painted out in order to produce an example of the very rare plate 77 stamp, of which only a few examples are not known to exist. The forger has skillfully painted out the right hand figure '1' and has left the mandatory dot in the diamond.

To the naked eye the faking does undoubtedly look good, however under EDXRF the elements forming the both the printing and the faking inks are analysed and exposed- The findings are startling!

It is clearly obvious from the images above that the ink printing the stamps contained Mercury Lead, sulphur and Calcium, however the ink used in the faking contained aluminium, silicon, potassium and iron. A complete difference in composition between the two. The painted '1' with its central gap can be clearly seen in the lower group of images.