February 1918 – George Grinnell, a Los Angeles teacher and stamp collector, is referred to Charles Shattuck as a source for old stamps. June 1918 – Grinnell acquires 81 early issues of Hawaii from Shattuck. November 1919 – L.A. dealer Bertram Poole wires John Klemann about a “virgin find” of Hawaiian Missionaries. Klemann goes to L.A. December 1919 – Klemann buys 43 Grinnell stamps and sells 16 to wellknown collector Alfred Caspary for $75,000. Caspary compares them with his own Missionaries and says they're forgeries. Klemann takes his stamps back to L.A., where the Secret Service seizes them. Klemann sues George Grinnell. May/June 1922 – Trial is held. Judge declares Grinnells forgeries produced by the photo-engraving process. August 1942 – Three Grinnells are examined by Y. Souren at Philatelic Research Laboratories of New York City. He certifies them genuine. November 1951 – Several Grinnells are submitted to the Royal Philatelic Society (as reported by George Linn in Linn’s Stamp News 2/25/52). RPSL certifies them forgeries, giving no reason. December 1952 – George Linn states in print that Grinnells are genuine. December 1954 – George Linn writes to Klemann that Grinnells are forgeries. October 1962 – George Linn writes in Linn’s “…there is as yet no conclusive proof that the stamps are phony.” July 2001 – Micro Raman Spectroscopic analysis of the Grinnells and the certified Tapling Missionaries is performed by experts at Ingold University College of London courtesy of the British Library. Paper of both contain ultramarine blue particles. Inks found to be chemically very similar and appropriate for the same period. March 2002 – The bulk of the Grinnell Missionaries held by descendants of Grinnell and Shattuck are submitted to Royal Philatelic Society, London for expertization, along with documentation yielded by 80 years of research. May 2004 – The RPSL renders its opinion that the Grinnells are forgeries. July 2005 – Over a year after its opinion, RPSL reveals to owners that nondestructive paper testing had uncovered evidence of wood sulfate in the Grinnells. October-November 2005 – Debora Mayer of Conservation Studio of Portsmouth, N.H., reports no wood fibers found in her destructive analyses on two Grinnell samples and a piece on which one is affixed. November 2005 – Walter Rantanen of Integrated Paper Services, Inc., of Appleton, Wisconsin, independently performs destructive analysis on Grinnell sample and fragment of piece to which five Grinnells are affixed. Results confirm earlier study – no wood sulfate fiber in either sample. Stamp paper readily available in the 1850s. Cover: 13-cent Grinnell Missionary. This stamp and all Grinnells pp. 33-48 © Vincent and Carol Arrigo Copyright © 2006 by Mystic Stamp Company
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