Page 12 Universal Ship Cancellation Society Log January 2009 Naval Cover Fakes, Forgeries and Frauds, Part XII

• Main Authors: Bob Rawlins (l, Mike R. Vining
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Wilkins; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.693.8747; http://www.uscs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/jan09_fff12.pdf

Although this series was intended to document fakers of U.S. naval covers, the forgeries done by A.C. Roessler in the 1931 time-frame surely were “nautical covers ” and deserve mention. The Roessler faked covers can be found in dealers’ boxes and are often seen in eBay auctions. Quite often a seller does not know what he has and thus advertises the faked covers incorrectly. In point of fact, the Roessler fakes are scarcer than the genuine Wilkins covers and, on that basis, could theoretically command a somewhat higher price than the real thing. Sir George Hubert Wilkins, MC, well known as an Antarctic explorer, logged many firsts in several expeditions to the Antarctic between 1920 and 1929. About 1926, he also turned his attention northward and, in 1930, in a striking tour de force secured use from the U.S. Navy of the soon to be