Fournier album of philatelic forgeries, by lowell ragatz. He is most famous for discovering a possible second british guiana 1c magenta, which was eventually declared an altered example of a damaged 4c magenta following expert examination by the royal philatelic. Angola bogus stamps and a story behind fournier forgery. Fournier was happy to help these collectors fill gaps in their printed albums with an expertly produced facsimile at a fraction of the price of the real. Kock, is the past secretary of helsingfors frimarkssamlare forening, who owns finlands largest stamp forgery collection. Fournier advertised over 3500 different issues from. Check back often as this philatelic stamp forgery site is new regularly. Forgeries general philatelic works philatelic books hh. Philatelic library the history of stamp counterfeiting.
Watch for new additions here and in the monthly members newsletter, aps stamp sense. Francois fournier 24 april 1846 12 july 1917 was a stamp forger who thought of himself as. Philatelic fakes and forgeries references edit williams, leon norman. Paperback, 104 pages, a few small marks to the covers and slight dusty marks to upper pageedges, internally clean, in good condition. His forgeries are in general of deceptive quality but he also offers forgeries made by other persons, for example spiro. Includes his 1914 catalog of facsimiles of obsolete postage stamps as well as examples of his forgeries for all countries including stamps and cancellations. Because general, whole world, stamp collecting is not as popular now as in fourniers days new pretentious forgeries are not often issued. A book by jan karasek describing all forgeries of czech stamps from. Explore these monthly examples of fakes, forgeries and the genuine article to test your knowledge and to learn more about detecting the real article. Examine them and see if you can tell the differences. Because fournier made forgeries from such a wide variety of countries, many of the 480 books have either been divided into country references or have had many items removed. These stamps were issued 1912 with the forged overprints of parcel post stamps of the 1915 overprint issue,three of the stamps have legible cancellationstwo in 19 and one 1914 which was prior to the overprinting which was done in 1915.
Clicking on a stamp will bring more detail deeper in the tree. Therefore the world forgery catalogue gives you a good idea of what stamp forgeries philatelists may encounter, although many of the works cited are preworld war 2. A sequel to his now out of print book spurious stamps, a history of fakes. Forged or genuine is a monthly feature testing your ability to identify stamps that are faked versus their genuine counterpart. Shortly afterwards edward loines pemberton published forged stamps.
Forgeries general philatelic works philatelic books. Whatever was not placed into one of the books was burned to ashes. At first, forgers were just trying to make money off selling the counterfeit postage. Forgeries allowed a common person to buy and use the copies of this valuable item.
This deceptive forgery of the 1peso value alone was sold by bela szekula of budapest and guisquiere of brussels. The history of stamp counterfeiting and how to spot a fake the first postage stamp was issued in great britain in 1840, and it didnt take long for the first fake postage stamp to appear as well. The stamps were used in former portuguese colonies angola, mozambique, cap verde etc during the reign of louis i, and their noble design features the portrait of portugese royal crown. Stamp forgeries of eastern rumelia stampforgeries of the. Very few remain intact or the degree of completeness of this book. The fournier album of philatelic forgeries, ragatz, 1970. Therefore the world forgery catalogue gives you a good idea of what stamp forgeries philatelists may encounter, although many of. Lot 359 fournier forgeries album soler y llach private treaty sale. The serrane guide stamp forgeries of the world to 1926, p. Fournier s 1914 price list of stamp facsimiles, 17th edition. Because general, whole world, stamp collecting is not as popular now as in fournier s days new pretentious forgeries are not often issued. He said when it comes to forgeries or completely bogus stamps its easier to determine their true nature. Philatelic library the history of stamp counterfeiting and.
Dec 11, 2014 no better is the last point made than by the publication in 1991 of philatelic forgers, their lives and works by varro e. An excellent coverage of the forgers, fournier, sperati, oneglia, smeets, etc. There is also an exhibit in the exhibits section posted. The above stamp is a bogus issue, a genuine 10 p stamp of germany, overprinted with kamerun and piaster, such a stamp was never issued. He started his career when he bought over the forgeries of another forger, mercier in 1904. Forgers covered are sperati, fournier, spiro, oneglia and others. The fournier album of philatelic forgeries lowell editor ragatz on.
The purpose of this brief paper is an introduction to the forgeries of this popular stamp. First, the hand in the middle holding the staff is not developed with all fingers. The most famous of the forgers were sperati and fournier. By 1863 forgeries were so common that the book forged stamps. Forgery indicates stamps produced to defraud collectors. On this page you will see genuine stamps and forgeries side by side. List of us forgeries us stamp prices and us stamp catalog. Stamps forgeries of crete, heraklion, retymnon, therison. Fakes might refer to cancellations, overprints, added or clipped perforations, stamp design alterations. Dangerous overprint forgeries on the postage stamps of yugoslavia from recent years. Postage stamp forgeries and counterfeit identification. He described his material as facsimiles and promoted it to collectors who could not afford to purchase genuine items and to uneducated.
To avoid prosecution for forging legal and valid stamps, fournier concentrated on reproducing obsolete stamp issues for sale by tobbanocists, book dealers and stationers. Used with a genuine circular cancel, hobart tasmania apr 1901, and is the only example of this stamp ever seen by most large dealers i have mentioned it to, or shown it to. Fourniers 1914 price list of stamp facsimiles, 17th edition. Fournier forgeries francois fournier 18461917 operated as a forger in geneva from 1904 onwards. Fournier stands out as the greatest forger in the history of philately. Thirtyone years later, a prominent early american collector of forgeries, charles henry coster, had accumulated 1,200 different varieties of forgeries. Earee says the portrait of the king in this forgery is a more accurate likeness than the genuine stamp.
Ranging from 50 to 150 pages each, his books constitute nearly 4,000 pages of reference material on philatelic fakes and forgeries from around the world. The names of famous forgers such fournier and spiro come to mind. Here is a second type of forgery,this is the one varro e. Stamp forgeries have been around almost as long as postage stamps. A notorious forgery and how to recognise it in 1872 and 1873 thousands of forgeries of the british is stamp were made, and were sold over the counter by a clerk at the stock exchange postoffice in london. A survey of counterfeits, forgeries and other questionable. Many of these albums have since been broken up, but in 1970 a photocopied version was made by lowell ragatz. Fortunately, it is a rather easy stamp to identify. Visit us for over 500 philatelic articles and thousands of comments from stamp collectors around the globe. On december 22, 1922, grand duchess charlotte of luxembourg gave birth to a daughter, princess elisabeth.
A forgery is an imitation of a postage stamp intended to fool a collector or to cheat a. It is believed to have been a oneoff attempt, and sperati it seems abandoned the idea of making more copies, after this absolute perfectionist decided he could not 100% accurately colour. He even operated a philatelic clinic where stamps could be repaired. An excellent resource and information portal for stamp forgeries, expertizers.
The fournier album of philatelic forgeries 1970 edition. Useful bibliography of books and magazine articles on locals, revenues and fiscals, railway letter stamps, proofs, essays, reprints, forgeries, and all other back. Fakes and forgeries exhibit click a link below introduction. The first classical forgeries began to show up in the 1860s. Occasionally, rare forgeries can exceed the value of modestlypriced genuine stamps. This is index page for articles about articles index on postage stamp forgeries and counterfeit identification. I have never seen such a forgery myself, but pictures can be found in the fournier album of philatelic forgeries. Francois fournier 24 april 1846 12 july 1917 was a stamp forger who thought of himself as a creator of art objects and a friend of the little man fournier was born in croixderozon, switzerland, but became a french citizen and served in the army during the francoprussian war in 187071. Their forgeries were of excellent quality, and the forged stamps are sometimes nearly impossible to. Fournier forgeries are among the most famous items in the stamp world.
Fournier also made forgeries of the stamps of the german post offices in china germania type. Spennemann, stamps and postal history of the german. Story behind fournier tipo coroa forgeries one of the most famous stamp designs worldwide is tipo coroa portuguese for crown type. I have sets of the roman imperial coinage, all of david sears books, and many other references, that i.
The first stamp to be copied was the famous penny black, the original version of which cost a lot of money. The asterisk is used only in connexion with fournier forgeries. Francois fournier 18461917 produced large amounts of false postage stamps between 1900 and 1914. Peter winter and the modern german forgeries on ebay. Never mark a stamp as fake, says canadas top forgery expert. Tyler which tell the stories of stampforging luminaries such as sperati and francois fournier and their rather grubbier brethren such as rudolph greasy dick thomas and adrien champion with his five aliases. It is a short study of these forgeries which has won several awards at smaller shows.
According to varro tylers philatelic forgers, their lives and works, fournier. This site is intended to be educational, informing viewers of common forgeries and showing their characteristics, primarily by comparison. Worlds leading stamp collecting discussion bulletin board. Six issues of crete, the american philatelic congress book 8 1942 1726. According to varro tylers philatelic forgers, their lives and works, fournier, unlike many of his contemporary forgers, did not seek to defraud the public. Catalogue fournier forgeries stamp catalogue index. This exact stamp i have in stock is illustrated in the bpa superb book on the sperati forgeries, and the excellent harold bynoff smith. Stamp forgeries of eastern rumelia stampforgeries of the world. The fournier album of philatelic forgeries, ragatz, 1970, 175pp, softbound, some cover faults. Fournier mainly used his postmarks on his own products only. The forgery was printed by tinsa mcmillan at the time the stamp was in circulation. The first adhesive postage stamp was issued in may 1840. To make a perfect forgery one should be a real professional. Peter winter and the modern german forgeries on ebay article.
While he created all the issues, overprints, and even the errors it is not difficult to spot the forgeries because the base stamp has 3 easily spotted differences. Overprinted stamps not marked after their catalogue number have been considered to be total forgeries, but there are, of course, exceptions. The first postage stamp was issued in great britain in 1840, and by the early 1860s or earlier the first postage stamp forgery in the sense of a stamp created to fool philatelists into thinking that it is a genuine one appeared on the market. Philatelic fakes and forgeries find your stamps value. A smattering of stamp fakes and forgeries that have been sent to linns collectors forum over the past several years is shown in figure 1, clockwise from the top left. Fournier was a stamp forger in the early 20th century. Fournier forgeries romanian stamps collectors page. Because fournier made forgeries from such a wide variety of countries, many of the 480 books have been either been divided into country references or have had many items removed.
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