The following is based on the frequency of offers seen in the current marketplace and includes offers seen at major stamp bourses, seen in dealers' stocks, and contained in lot descriptions in auction and sale catalogues of some of the largest international houses. See Is It Genuine? for more complete information on the range of bad material passing as genuine in the marketplace.

The current top six: (Click on the number for more information)

# 1. The 1993 60r flower definitive with inverted center offered as "rare" or "scarce."
# 2. Imitations of the 1882-87 "sun in arch" issues offered as genuine.
# 3. Errors of the 1915 coronation issue offered as genuine.
# 4. Overprints on the 1909 arms issue offered as genuine.
# 5. 1319 Provisoire overprints on the 1902 typeset issue ofered as genuine.
# 6. 1919, 1924, and 1924 provisional issues offered as genuine.

1. The 1993 60r flower definitive with inverted center offered as "rare" or "scarce."

These are actually quite common and readily available unused, used, and on cover. Auction lots have been seen describing these as rare with estimates of several hundred dollars. Unused copies are readily available in the Tehran bazaar at about $5 each and can be obtained in full sheets complete with margin selvage. One widely advertised price in the US is $5 for mint NH singles with blocks of 4 pro rata and blocks of 10 for $40. Other advertised prices in the US are $10 or less for mint NH singles. This means that mint blocks of four with selvage containing sheet numbers can be obtained for as little as about $20 in Tehran rather than some of the several hundred-dollar auction estimates seen in the US market. Covers are fairly common and start at about $10-20 retail and less than $5 wholesale. These stamps are still valid and covers can still be made up today and passed through the post without difficulty. Beware of offers of covers described as the "discovery cover" with very high estimates. The use of these stamps has been so common and the early reports of use so widespread, that any such claim must carry very strong support.

Inverted center Scott 2558 (variety not yet assigned) SG (number?) Normal center Scott 2558 SG (number?)

2. Imitations of the 1882-87 "sun in arch" issues offered as genuine.

95-99% of this material in the philatelic market place are forgeries. One of the longest running and most enduring scams in the international philatelic marketplace is to offer these six basic stamp issues as genuine (Scott 50-53a, 66-66a, and 70-70a; SG 59-62b, 66-67b, 76-77b, and 81-82b), especially the 25c unused (Scott 52; SG 61), a very difficult stamp to find when genuine. The great majority of all unused material offered is bad as well as the OFFICIEL overprints both used and unused. A significant amount of the 1882 5c and 10c used is also bad. The imitations are so easy to spot that they can usually be distinguised easily even in small blury auction catalogue photos. Scott carries a large boxed warning after Scott 52 discribing the standard test. Nevertheless, at least 18 dealers at Pacific 97 offered imitations of Scott 52 as genuine; only one dealer was found to correctly describe an imitation Scott 52 as such.

Basic issue Scott 50 SG 59 Scott 51 SG 60 Scott 52 SG 61 Re-engraved Scott 53 SG 66-67 OFFICIEL surcharge Scott 66 SG 76-77 Scott 70 SG 81-82 ! Authentication required. Information on how to distinguish the genuine.

3. Errors of the 1915 coronation issue offered as genuine.

A portion of this printing was done in horizontal sheetlets of five with large selvege margins and a very small number may have slipped through with centers or overprints inverted or printed on the reverse. Later, a large number were reprinted in sheetlet form with many error varieties. A somewhat ambiguous note contained in the Stanley Gibons Catalogue (after SG O 476) explaining the distinguishing characteristics of the genuine varieties has given strong cover for sellers to offer the reprint varieties in full sheetlets as "spectacular" genuine errors. The IPSC hopes that the SG note can be corrected in a future edition but, in the meantime, the reprint errors continue to be offered as genuine in many auctions every year.

Basic issue Scott 560-68, 570 SG 426-34 Scott 569, 571-73 SG 435-38 Scott 574-77 SG 439-42 COLIS POSTAUX Overprint Scott Q19-35 SG P443-59 SERVICE overprint Scott O41-57 SG O460-76 ! Authentication required. Information on how to distinguish the genuine.

4. Overprints on the 1909 arms issue offered as genuine.

These 39 varieties, when genuine, are rather elusive, especially unused. They are, however, extremely common as reprints with forged overprints and surcharges. These forgeries are very common unused but can also be found with CTO obliterations. The basic samps were overprinted or surcharged over the course of many years. Later, the basic stamps were reprinted extensively and genuine (and perhaps forged) handstamp overprints and surcharges fraudulently applied. All of these stamps must be considered highly suspicous. The range of these stamps:

1911 Service overprints (8 values) Scott O31-40 SG O353-60 1915 surcharges (2 values) Scott 541-42 SG 417-18 1915 "1333" overprints (7 values) Scott 543-49 SG 419-25 1915 "1334" overprints (4 values) Scott 582-85 SG 477-80 1917 "1335" overprint (1 value) Scott 588 SG 483 1917 "1335" surcharges (7 values) Scott 589-94 and 597 SG 484-89 1918 "1336" overprint (1 value) Scott 601 SG 507 1918 "1336" surcharges (2 values) Scott 602-03 SG 508-09 1918 "1337" overprint (7 values) Scott 603A-06 SG 520-26 ! Authentication required. Information on how to distinguish the genuine.

5. 1319 and "1321" Provisoire overprints on the 1902 typeset issues ofered as genuine.

These two sets are very scarce when genuine (both unused or used) but extremely common as forgeries.

1902 1319 Provisoire overprints (5 values) Scott 235-39 SG 211-15a 1903 "1321" PROVISOIRE 1903 overprints (6 values) Scott 321 and 336-340 SG 239-44 ! Authentication required. Information on how to distinguish the genuine.

6. 1919, 1924, and 1924 provisional issues offered as genuine.

Despite the notes clearly describing the forgeries in both the Scott and Stanley Gibbons catalogues, these forgeries are routinely found in dealers' stocks offered as genuine, especially as unused copies. The forgeries have two short horizontal lines over the P of POSTES instead of one line.

1919 overprinted Provisoire 1919 (5 values) Scott 617-621 SG 527-31 1924 overprinted P.=re 1924 (4 values) Scott 681-84a SG 591-94b 1925 overprinted P.=re 1925 (7 values) Scott 686-95 SG 595-601 ! Authentication required. Information on how to distinguish the genuine.