Ričardas Vainora (Kaunas) writes: There are many more reprints often referred as “proofs” than those shown above in this forum. There are also “proofs” of the knight (lith. Vytis) Mi 465-467, 473, etc. These reprints were printed by a laser printer simply to deceive unsuspected buyers. These reprints were fabricated much later than 1991 as evident from the fact that such laser printers at that time were not yet available in Lithuania. I know for sure that artist and designer A. Šakalys from Vilnius was behind these reprints. I don’t know whether V. Skabeikienė who designed the original stamps was involved or not. I have personally inspected several available sheets and noticed that these were not originally signed by V. Skabeikienė – her original signature was also reprinted. A. Šakalys was selling these reprints for $20 if I am not mistaken, while their actual value was less than 2 Litas (ca. $0.5). These reprints are undoubtedly forgeries. By the way, what is the “souvenir stamp”?
Original stamps were printed in Germany by the metallographic printing process, therefore any stamp proofs, if any exist at all, should be also printed by the same printing method. One needs to remember that many of these stamps were also printed in Lithuania on postal stationary by the offset printing. Many so-called “proofs” could have been easily obtained from the printer's waste. I have in my collection several stamp samples with the Freedom Monument which clearly were not cut out from the existing envelopes. Perhaps such samples were indeed required and used in the envelope printing process. Or perhaps these are just the printer’s waste – I really don’t know. One thing is clear – these stamp with the Freedom Monument were printed in 1991 at the Spindulys printing establishment.
I remember that many collectors in 1991 were making contacts with employees at the Spindulys. Who knows what we would find in their collections
http://lithuanianphilately.com - always looking for early covers from Lithuania
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