Return To Catalogue - French colonies, Tablet issue (1893) - French colonies, general issues - France overview
Note: on my website many of the
pictures can not be seen! They are of course present in the cd's;
contact me if you want to purchase them: evert@klaseboer.com.
I know that the forger Fournier forged these stamps. He made forgeries in large numbers of all French colonies (all values of all colonies it seems). In fact, it seems that about 50% of the higher values offered on Internet auctions as genuine are actually Fournier forgeries.
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Fournier forgeries of these stamps (obtained from Benoit Chandanson's website):
(Fournier forgery left, genuine stamp right)
They can be recognized by the often bad perforation, the colour is also different from the genuine stamps. Furthermore the following 3 characteristics can be observed:
Characteristics 1), 2) and 3) (upper images: forgeries, lower
images, genuine)
1) The fingers of the hand in the upper central part are badly visible
2) The upper horizontal bar of the "F" and "E" of "FRANCAISE" are shorter in the Fournier forgeries. The "R" is also different.
3) The fingers of the hand in the upper left corner part are also badly visible.
4) The bottom left fruit is attached to the horn.
(Perforation in the corners of a forged Martinique stamp)
5) The perforation is not perfect in the corners.
Fournier forgeries, examples:
Imperforate Fournier forgeries with overprint 'FAUX', these
forgeries originate from 'The Fournier Album of Philatelic
Forgeries'
Overprinted stamps were also forged by Fournier (on forged stamps):
(Forgeries of the parcel stamps of St.Pierre and Miquelon)
Some of the cancels used by Fournier (taken from a Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries):
(Reduced sizes)
I've seen a whole sheet of Fournier forgeries (in the Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries), where stamps of different countries were printed on one sheet of 30 stamps; from Sultanat d'Anjouan in the upper left corner to Soudan Francais in the lower right corner.
Apparently, Fournier printed sheets with one value, but from all colonies on one sheet as shown below:
A page with Fournier forgeries from the Fournier Album.
However, sheets with forgeries of one country only are also known:
Part of a sheet with 75 c forgeries of Mayotte.
A new badge of forgeries seems to have been introduced into the market recently. As in the Fournier forgeries, the corners perforations are not perfect, the colours too bright and the printing process is different from the genuine stamps (source: http://www.colfra.com/centre.php?page=article&contenu=actualite (link no longer exists), in French). More pictures of these recent forgeries can also be found on this website. I've often seen them with a tab below or on top, even with some printer mark on it.
Modern forgeries of Moheli and Mayotte, written with different
lettertypes, see for example the "M" of
"MOHELI" or "MAYOTTE", which has a very high
central part
A Ste.Marie de Madagascar forgery, note that the inscription is
"ST." instead of "STE.", the "S' is also
very different from a genuine stamp.
This might also be a more modern forgery of Nossi-Be; note that
the accent on the "E" of "BE" is in the wrong
direction.
The forger even seems to have made non-existing values for certain colonies.