(A dot in the leaf)
Return To Catalogue - 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.
(A dot in the leaf)
In the genuine stamps, there must be a dot in the leaf at the upper right hand side as shown in the above image.
Primitive forgeries exist. Example:
(Spiro forgeries)
The above Spiro forgeries don't have a dot before the word 'COLONIES' or behind 'POSTES' as in the genuine stamps. Also, there is no dot in the center leaf in the upper right corner. Furthermore the letters are poorly done and the number of lines and dots is not the same as in the genuine stamp.
Image taken from a Fournier Album.
Fournier has made forgeries of the 1859 eagle issue. They do have the dot in the upper right corner. In the 'Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries' I have seen the values 1 c and 20 c. In the 1 c Fournier forgery there is no dot between "1" and "C" (both left and rigth) which do exist in the genuine stamps, the "1" and "C" are also placed too close together. In the 20 c Fournier forgery there are also no dots between the "20" and "C". I
Hialeah forgeries:
(Hialeah forgery, genuine envelope, 3 forged 80 c stamps, reduced
size)
The forgeries made by someone in Hialeah, Florida (USA) are usually not very dangerous. They are poorly made forgeries offered as such on E-bay. They are probably made by using a scanner and printer. However, recently (August 2003) he also starts offering genuine envelopes, decorated with his forgeries and with forged cancels added! The above example is such a genuine envelope, with 3 forged 80 c eagle stamps and a forged 5129 numeral cancel, a forged "Corr des armees" and a forged "REGIMENT DE TIR" cancel on the backside of the envelope.
There exists a postal forgery of the 80 c stamp, more information can be found in 'The Postal Forgeries of the World' by H.G. Leslie Fletcher.
Postal forgeries of the 80 c value, with a feather sticking out
of the backside of the head of the eagle.
This is a forged Tete-beche pair made by the stamp forger Fournier. This forgery was listed as
'First choice forgery' under 'Colonies Francaises' in his 1914
pricelist. It has the cancel "COCHINCHINE 6 OCT 76
SAIGON"
As said before, the forgeries made by someone in Hialeah, Florida (USA) are usually not very dangerous. They are poorly made forgeries made with a scanner and printer and offered as such on E-bay. In August 2003 he also starts offering genuine envelopes, decorated with his forgeries and with forged cancels added!
(Forged 'Tonkin Corps Expedit' envelope with two 40 c French
colonies Ceres stamps)
On the above envelope all the stamps and cancels (numeral cancel "3122" and "TONKIN CORPS EXPEDIT" in a circle) are forged.
The 1881 issue has been forged. Especially rare overprints have been forged on genuine and forged stamps.
Fournier made forgeries of these base stamps (and made lots of forged overprints on these stamps aswell). The Fournier forgeries were printed in blocks of twelve stamps (3 rows of 4 stamps).
| Genuine | Forgery (obtained thanks to Bill Claghorn's forgery site) | |
 |
 |
 |
| Genuine stamp has: 1) Perfect perforation in the corners 2) unbroken line to the left of the R of REPUBLIQUE in bottom tablet. 3) unbroken pole where it touches forehead wreath. 4) No dark dash in lines under right edge of N of COLONIES 5) U shape in right arm buckle. |
Forgery has some of the following (maybe not all):
1) Perforation in corners does 'not match' 2) Broken line to the left of the R of REPUBLIQUE in bottom tablet. 3) Broken pole where it touches forehead wreath. 4) Dark dash in lines under right edge of N of COLONIES 5) Line in right arm buckle. |
Second forgery? This forgery looks like a Fournier product, 1) but the printing is much worse 2) and the perforation is also different 3) It doesn't have the Fournier characteristics 4) However, the forged cancel "COTONOU" exists in the Fournier Album. 5) In short, a mystery item..... |
Other examples of Fournier forgeries:
Block of 25 c Fournier forgeries as they can be found in the
Fournier Album.
Part of a block of 75 c forgeries from a Fournier Album.
Imperforate 15 c with "FAUX" overprint, 20 c, 1 F and
perforated 25 c Fournier forgeries, I've also seen the 25 c
imperforate
(Forged stamps and forged Tahiti
overprint and inverted Indo China overprint)
(Obock, Diego Suarez and Guyane Fournier forgeries)
(Fournier forgeries of Benin, cancel 'GRAND POPO BENIN 7 NOV 92')
The above Fournier forgery of New Caledonia has a forged postmark
'NOUVELLE CALEDONIE 2E/3 SEPT 29 MOUNEA'. In the forged overprint
'NLLE CALEDONIE' there is no accent on the 'E' of 'CALEDONIE'. In
the Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries another forged
overprint can be found with the '=' starting below the first 'L'
of 'NLLE' instead of the second 'L'.
Probably the second forgery, note the short leg of the
"7" in the 75 c value.
Click here for information on forgeries of these stamps.
Two forgeries from Senegal with "St. LOUIS 19 FEVR 06"
cancel
Mauritania, 5 Fr forgery with "TIOJIKJA 19 JUIN 06
MAURETANIE" cancel and Dahomey 5 Fr forgery with "PORTO
NOVO 7 OCT 06 DAHOMEY" cancel.
Forgery from Guinee and from Cote D'Ivoire with cancel
"GRAND BASSIN */25 MARS 09 COTE D'IVOIRE"
(Ivory Coast 5 Fr forgery)
I don't know who made these forgeries, I have seen them from Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Dahomey and Senegal.
(A forged overprint of Madagascar made by Fournier
on a genuine stamp with forged cancel 'TAMATAVE 7 SEPT 96
MADAGASCAR')
A sheet with forged cancels of the French colonies made by the
forger Fournier
Another part of a sheet with Fournier
forged cancels
A page with forged Fournier overprints, among them four Ivory
Coast parcel stamp overprints.
This is a 5 F forgery made by Fournier
In the above forgery, the ornament left to the word 'CHIFFRE' is not as symmetric as in the genuine stamps. The white dot to the right of this ornament is placed too far away from the curly parts of the ornament. Many lines that are double in the genuine stamps (top of 'CHIFFRE', outer right frameline etc.) have become a single line in Fournier's forgeries. Fournier forgeries are quite deceptive. See also French colonies, postage due stamps, for more information.
Fournier forgeries of the 1 F black and 5 F black values.