Peter Winter was well known as an opera singer from Germany and master imitator of worldwide stamps. He not only made many a philatelist in Germany happy with his reproductions and fantasies for three decades, but he also drew attention to the vast world of fakes, the likes of which had not been seen since the days of Jean de Sperati (1884-1957).
Little is known about Winter, and one can assume that he embellished many things; a nice story that he himself could fall in love with. This narcissist, which he undoubtedly was, never missed an opportunity to tinker with his image. On the other hand, he was always careful not to let anyone see his cards, or to shuffle the cards in a way he didn’t want them to be seen.
Winter (1941-2018) did not keep records of his work in the 1970s, 1980s or later, even in his own catalog raisonné. He did not keep any invoices or receipts; he worked mostly in the background and mostly with re-sellers. It was his intention that nothing should be verifiable that would give him the appearance of a forger.
Figure 1. Peter Winter, circa. 2012.
Winter (Figure 1) defended himself throughout his life against the labelling of his products as “forgeries.” For him, they were artistic products, imitations, replicas and facsimiles of the original genuine stamps. Until the end, he vehemently denied any intentions of fraud; it was resellers who sold his imitations as “genuine” and harmed uninitiated collectors. He marked his products as “imitations”; that is what he considered them.
It is believed, but not proven, that his early productions were not marked as reproductions. Some of his later markings and signatures are easy for fraudsters to remove. One may certainly assume that Winter knew this. He knew his customers, like Volker Mathiak, Blüm Co. and others, and knowing about their intentions fostered a successful business model for him.
Figure 2. Wolfgang Maassen’s book about Peter Winter was translated into English, a small German printing and a U.S. printing having an added CD.My book, Peter Winter’s “Swan Song.” Memories of an Artist and Forger (Figure 2), describes in the first 100 pages his unusual life and the contradictions that were characteristic of his personality.
Peter Winter’s “Swan Song“ – Memories of an Artist and Forger (2021), by Wolfgang Maassen. 192 pages, full color, cloth bound, English edition, from the U.S., with CD having 75 pages of his stamps at 300 dpi. $65, plus $4 postage and handling to a U.S. mailing address. PBBooks.com, Leonard H. Hartmann, Philatelic Biblipole, PO Box 36006, Louisville, KY 40233-6006.
In discussing Winter’s products, the nomenclature can be confusing. For his 19th and 20th century items, all were listed in his catalogs as “covers.” In reality, all 19th century items we have seen are covers with printing on both sides of a single sheet of paper, known as “fronts.” Winter might have made some full covers for 19th century items. The 20th century ones we have seen are all full covers.
In my study, I share some of Winter’s legendary products, including the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta of 1856 and the Inverted Jenny, with which Winter caused a sensation at major international shows. I found that philatelic societies, such as the APHV (German Dealers Federation), the BDPh (Germany’s Collectors’ Federation), RPSL (Royal Philatelic Society), and even the American Philatelic Society were helpless to put an end to Winter’s activities.
The study was well supported by Wolfgang Jakubek and Hans-Joachim Schwanke, two former auctioneers and experts, who knew Winter well. Examples of his work were contributed by Jan Billion, of Deutsche Briefmarken-Revue, as well as Leonard H. Hartmann, which includes important correspondence and contributions by the late Carl Walske and Dr. Werner Bohne. Based on these archives it was possible to draw a picture of a life that is exciting and informative.
Winter’s replicas are often found on various internet sites and can easily be mistaken for authentic stamps. On eBay and Delcampe, a number are labelled as forgeries, but only rarely with the name of the artist. Other sellers’ offerings are completely without any reference to their status and buyers could easily assume the material is genuine.
Knowing the origin of a fake stamp is important to both the collector and dealer. Usually the forgery is worth much less. However, there are cases where a scarce to rare forgery can go for a higher value than the authentic. Sperati forgeries have been sold for more than their authentic stamp counterparts, and authentic stamps have been mistakenly sold as Sperati’s.
I document Winter’s products in the book for comparison’s sake, so readers can find it somewhat easier to identify the origin of their items.
Stamp specialists and experts consider the Winter replicas easily recognizable, usually by the paper or printing quality. For the vast majority of the material this is true, excepting the fantasy stamps that Winter produced for political or socially relevant occasions such as: the death of Franz-Joseph Strauss, Europa or the German Democratic Republic’s 1990 Volkskammer elections, as well as the Gorleben nuclear power protest, etc. Many of Winter’s modern stamps are simply produced and easy to recognize. The situation is different with imitations of classic stamps.
Winter made a real effort with some issues, for example the “Post Office” Mauritius stamp of 1847, as he experimented and produced better and better replicas from year to year. The author has identified four different reproductions.
He seldom made comparable efforts with more modern stamps, but he did make an effort, for example, with the 1934 Vaduz block of Liechtenstein (Figure 3).
Figure 3. An original Peter Winter hand-drawing, left, which would become one of his better reproductions, the 1934 Liechtenstein Vaduz souvenir sheet, right.
Winter’s products are noted to differ over the years, and there are two reasons why this is so. The first and most important one for Winter himself was that he only delivered the quality that was required and appropriately paid for. Those who paid more received better quality replications. Those who skimped got the poorer products. Winter was quite good at assessing value.
Winter was known to become angry and annoyed.
Figure 4. Winter’s revenge on rival Volker Mathiak led to stamps with changed inscriptions
One such case is the 1933 emergency aid (“Nothilfe”) souvenir sheet, whose inscriptions Winter changed because Volker Mathiak believed in 1982 that he could cheat him out of his money (Figure 4). Then, instead of “Die Durstigen tränken” (“Giving drink to the thirsty”), Winter replaced the inscription on the 10-pfennig stamp with “Die Schulden nicht zahlen” (“Not paying debts”); and instead of “Die Kranken pflegen” (“Nursing the sick”), he replaced the inscription on the 50-pfennig stamp with “Die Verträge brechen” (“Breaking contracts”).
The major weak point of Winter’s work was the paper. To emulate the original, especially in the case of classic stamps, was a challenge that he was not up to. Unlike Jean de Sperati, he had no contemporary sources who were able to supply 19th-century paper. Sperati was able to obtain stocks from a paper mill that resembled those of the original stamps.
In one case, Winter succeeded in acquiring an old collection of documents (without franking) from a 19th-century notary correspondence. These documents were old, but the paper was not suitable for printing imitations. Winter, nevertheless, used it from time to time for covers and pieces on which he added his printed manuscript to make them look more genuine.
Winter often, if not usually, used modern paper for his “covers,” meaning the fronts for material showing his 19th century imitations. To make the 19th-century items look more realistic he would print words in manuscript on the front and back to create an older appearance. Many covers can be found with identical back and front printing, and identical stamps and handstamps. There are only a few Winter covers that are more sophisticated than most in his catalog.
Another stamp issue worth special attention is the Sachsen-Dreier of 1850 (3 Saxony pfennig), of which several printings are known.
Figure 5. Winter’s 1985 catalog shows on the inside back cover this strip of five of the Sachsen Dreier.
Winter’s 1985 catalog shows on the back cover a strip of five of the Sachsen-Dreier, canceled with a double-ring postmark of Leipzig (Figure 5). Also in this catalog, an unused “original sheet” of 20 stamps was offered for 330 Deutsche marks (about $1,000 U.S.).
Figure 6. Peter Winter offered the facsimile Sachsen Dreler, the first stamp of Saxony issued in 1850, as an unused sheet of 20.
Figure 7. An image of a cover with the Sachsen Dreier stamps from Peter Winter’s 1985 catalog.
The details of the stamps in this used strip of five and the sheet of 20 (Figure 6) differ significantly; the strip is much more believable than the sheet. Winter evidently made more than one version of this stamp!
Winter described another cover (Figure 7) in the 1985 catalog as follows: “This surviving rather decorative cover bears the two most famous 3 pfennig Saxony stamps of 1850/51 as a single franking, cancelled with a grid cancellation. The letter is addressed to the mining office in Annaberg. DM 120.” Here, the stamps on the cover were canceled only with grid cancellations.
Figure 8. Cover with different markings and stamp positions, from the 1988 catalog, but with identical printed script as that on the cover in the 1985 catalog.
In comparison, three years later in the 1988 catalog, a very similar cover to Annaberg with the two stamps of 1850-51 is shown (Figure 8). This cover shows at top right an additional framed cancellation, “REICHENBACH 20 Aug 52.” The stamps and cancellations are additionally positioned slightly differently. However the sweeping penmanship is identical in both cases, figures 7 and 8! It is evident that multiple copies of this cover were printed and the stamps and cancellations applied by hand.
The 1988 catalog includes many items from the 1985 catalog, including the unused sheet of 20 which is again priced at 330 marks.
Figure 9a. Peter Winter’s 1988 catalog features a cover addressed to Emil Lodde in Leipzig that was supposedly sent in May 1851.
Figure 9b. Another cover addressed to Emil Lodde dated August 1850 was later purchased via an internet sale. The Figure 9 covers show identical handwriting on both fronts and backs.
The 1988 catalog included another cover (Figure 9a), addressed to a Mr. Emil Lodde in Leipzig. On this cover, the stamp is canceled with the double-ring diamond cancellation No. 1, in addition to a double-ring datestamp “DRESDEN 18 MAE. 51.” The author’s son Michael purchased a similar Annaberg cover for three euros on the internet (Figure 9b). The cover has the same printed text on the front and back. The Dresden cancellation is missing and the stamp is instead canceled with a double-ring datestamp “CHEMNITZ 5. AUG. 50.” The seller evidently knew absolutely nothing about its origin.
Winter did not always produce his “covers” in the same way, but gave free rein to his imagination. To assume that these are all that Winter produced for the “Sachsen-Dreier” (3-pfennig Saxony, 1850) is premature.
The strip of five shown in Figure 5 proves that he marketed the stamps he produced in different forms, in sheets, a block of four, pairs or strips, and in each case, mint or with cancellations. An authentic strip of five as Winter illustrated is not known to exist.
Figure 10. A cover of Winter’s “Sachsen-Dreier” does not appear in any of his catalogs.
The author was able to acquire a cover from Leonard Hartmann. This one – comparable to the strip of five – was apparently canceled in Leipzig, this time with a double-ring datestamp of January 4, 1851. It was addressed to an Inspector T. Garthe in Döbberlin (Figure 10). The printed text on the reverse is not illustrated in any of Winter’s catalogs.
Some of the Winter covers are quite deceptive but many have unrealistic frankings, postal markings, printed text, etc. The European covers are not so horrible; however, those from other countries such as the United States, British Empire, etc., are a bad joke, at best.
Figure 11. The front and reverse of a cover franked by a replica of the 1852 4-cent British Guiana (black on blue paper).
Figure 12. The front and reverse of a cover franked by a so-called 1856 1-cent British Guiana (black on blue paper). This stamp is not known to exist. A close look at this cover compared to Figure 11, ostensibly from two different years, shows identical wording and handwriting.
The best proof that the manuscripts on the front and back side of a cover are printed is to compare them with others, as they are usually identical in all respects (Figures 11 and 12).
In this example, Figure 11 shows a front franked with a 4-cent British Guiana stamp of 1852 (black on dark blue paper). The Figure 12 letter shows a 1-cent 1856 British Guiana stamp, black on dark blue, as a single franking on cover. (This latter cover can also be found in Winter’s price lists as a mixed franking with the 1856 1-cent British Guiana Magenta). A 1-cent black on dark blue paper stamp never existed for British Guiana, and there is famously only one genuine copy of the 1856 1-cent Magenta known.
These two covers with different stamps – issues of 1852, and supposedly, 1856 – are addressed to the same person on the same day with absolutely identical inscriptions and spelling. They are addressed to the Lord Bishop of Guiana in Georgetown. The inscriptions on the covers are identical, which would not be the case with two different letters from the same sender. The covers differ only in the paper, one being white-cream and the other yellowish. Also, both reverse sides have absolutely identical writing and text, as well as an identical dated postmark “DEMERARA 14 AP.” Finally, the postmaster’s initials are identical on both covers. British Guiana covers are listed but not illustrated in any of Winter’s catalogs, meaning that one would have to see the actual products to identify these similarities.
Regarding Winter’s allegedly genuine British Guiana One-cent Magenta of 1856, he said that a “German auctioneer had lured it away from him”! The auctioneer, whom the author knows, emphatically denies Winter’s statements to this day.
Figure 13. Authentic German telephone card (left) and a fake said to be created by Peter Winter.
The scarcity of Winter’s products is difficult to deduce as he almost never commented on this. He did not want to give anyone any insight into his productions. He supposedly produced many items, not only fantasy stamps, in five-figure numbers. One, for example, is the alleged ZKD/Stasi telephone card (Figure 13), of which he is said to have had more than 70,000 made. These were offered by the Lothar Krüger stamp company in Munich a little later for a considerable amount.
Figure 14. Bogus commemorative Lady Diana stamp credited to Peter Winter.
His Princess Diana £10 souvenir sheet (Figure 14), according to his own statement, had a printing of about 50,000 and all were sold. The imprint was “Queen of Hearts.” It touched hearts worldwide just after her death and enriched Winter’s wallet considerably. The mass-produced Diana commemorative stamps were marketed via well-known stamp dealers at that time as sets in packets.
Figure 15. Blocks of replica Inverted Jennys were a popular item from Peter Winter.
The rarest, or at least the most sought after, Winter product today is the so-called “Inverted Jenny,” a facsimile of the famous error of the U.S. 24-cent airmail stamp of 1918 (Figure 15).
Winter was horrified to discover in the mid-1980s that the original error stamp was still valid for postage. He did not want to get into trouble with American authorities under any circumstances. He gave some of them away to friends, but also consigned some blocks of four to the Schwanke auction house. At the WIPA 2000 show in Vienna, Winter let it be known that he produced only 672 individual prints (this is interpreted as 168 sheets of four) of the faux Inverted Jenny. He destroyed the printing plates, at least according to his own statement. His Inverted Jenny reproduction is not in his catalogs.
Hans-Joachim Schwanke reported that blocks of four of the Inverted Jenny replicas were offered and sold several times at auctions for 400 to 500 euros; in recent times much higher hammer prices are noted. It almost seems like a “special offer” that until recently Schwanke offered some of the blocks of four, some autographed by Winter on the back, for 70 euros each.
So, what are Winter’s replicas worth today? If you follow the offers in Winter’s price lists, there was nothing available for less than 20 marks. Classic stamps were priced at 40, 60 or even 90 marks. The prices covered a wide range, with multiples, pieces and covers mostly in the three-digits range. These were the prices that Winter charged at the time; and which were also paid by interested parties in individual sales. Of course, there were discounts (up to 50 percent) for bulk purchases, but what major buyers and direct customers paid is beyond the author’s knowledge as Winter never made anything public.
Today, prices for Winter’s items differ just as they did in the 1980s, from too high to too low. Unrecognized, Winter items can sometimes be purchased for a few euros. When the originator is known to the seller, the price quickly increases, sometimes even by 10 to 20 times or higher, especially in the British and U.S. philatelic markets, as recent auctions by Cavendish and others prove.
Did Winter become rich and happy from his work? His numerous ventures indicated he didn’t.
As skilled as he was in his artistic work, his financial investments were troublesome. His gambling hall in his hometown of Bremen, Germany, turned out to be a bankrupt venture, after years of expensive construction costing him in the six-figure range. It almost drove him to ruin.
Winter was a storyteller, a prankster, a “Till Eugenspiegel” (a German prankster from the 1500s) who was always up for jokes and his own interpretation of the events. Winter was always a charmer, a bon vivant who appreciated all facets of life and love and was prepared to spend a lot of money on them.
In the end, he died in the summer of 2018, impoverished and lonely in his second home in Bremen after many years of suffering from cancer. I hope my book about Peter Winter’s work proves to be useful for the collector as well as for dealers; it has just been published in English.
Acknowledgment
Thanks to Leonard Hartmann for helping with the study and translating this article.
The Author
Wolfgang Maassen RDP FRPSL, born in 1949, has been an author, publisher and journalist in the fields of philately and postal history for more than 45 years. He has been involved in public relations for the German national association for collectors for 35 years. He was head of the press office for the IBRA 1999 World Exhibition in Nuremberg, head of the administration for IBRA 2009 in Essen, the biggest philatelic literature ever, the IPHLA 2012 in Mainz, and is also in charge as head of the organizing team for IBRA 2023 in Essen.
He has advised several German professional organizations as a consultant for many years, and has also been chief editor of four well-known national and international journals. Amongst these, he ran philatelie (the German magazine with the highest circulation in Europe) from 1989 to 2016.
From a personal point of view, his efforts have for years been focused on two series of books: a series of manuals for stamp collectors and a chronicle of German philately. He has published more than 100 books meanwhile.
Since May 2005, he has been president of the International Association Internationale des Journalistes Philatélique (AIJP), the international federation of philatelic authors, publisher and journalists, and has been made a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London and a signee of the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in recognition of his work.