TAHITI

Return To Catalogue - Tahiti, postage due stamps - French Oceanic Settlements

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Stamps of the French colonies used in Tahiti, example:

A forged stamp with forged "PAPEETE 3E/14 FEVR" cancel.

1882 Stamps of the French colonies, surcharged

  "TAHITI 5 c" on 20 c red on green (1884)
  "TAHITI 10 c" on 20 c red on green (1884)
  "TAHITI 25 c" on 35 c grey on yellow
  "25 c" on 35 c grey on yellow
  "25 c" on 40 c orange
  "TAHITI 25 c" on 1 F green (1884)
  

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Forgeries exist, example:

(Forgeries)

(Forged overprint on genuine stamp, the cancel reads "GUADELOUPE"!)

Three forgeries, one of this issue and two from the next; the basic stamps, the overprints and the cancels are forged. All three bear the same cancel "PAPEETE 3E/14 FEVR 83".

Page with forged Fournier overprints, on the top left the forged Tahiti overprints. Image obtained from http://asppi.org/faux.php?affichage=fournier_fr

Forged Fournier cancels, reduced sizes.

1884 Provisional overprint on letters and newspapers

In 1884 a lack of stamps occured in Tahiti. Letters and newspapers were overprinted with the following cancel 'TAHITI 5 C':

(Newspaper wrapper 'LA CLOCHE' with this cancel)

It seems that similar overprints also exists with a value of 10 c, 10 c + 5 c and 10 c + 25 c.

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

1893 Stamps of the French colonies overprinted "TAHITI"

  1 c black
  2 c brown on yellow
  4 c brown
  5 c green
  10 c black
  15 c blue
  20 c red on green
  25 c yellow
  25 c black
  35 c grey on yellow
  75 c red
  1 F green

This overprint appears too tall to me, although the basic stamp is genuine.

The surcharge is in most cases obliquely printed, reading upwards, however, inverted (reading upwards or downwards) and downwards overprints exist.

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Fournier forgery, example:

For more information on these forgeries click here

This forgery has the cancel that is indicated in Fournier's album of philatelic forgeries "PAPEETE AOUT 93 TAITI". Other cancels were used by him as well: "PAPEETE 13 AOUT 9 TAITI", "PAPEETE 7 MAI 93 TAIT", "PAPEETE 4 AOUT 03 TAITI" and a numeral "1" (or "T"?) English naval cancel.

Forged Fournier cancels, reduced sizes.

I've been told that these stamps are also a forgeries. They both have a "PAPEETE 4 DEC 94 TAITI" cancel.

Three forgeries, two of this issue and one from the previous; the basic stamps, the overprints and the cancels are forged. All three bear the same cancel "PAPEETE 3E/14 FEVR 83".

Forged "TAHITI" overprint on a genuine stamp which was already used before in Point-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe

Fournier forgeries, the stamps, overprints and cancel "PAPEETE \ AOUT 93 TAITI" are all forged. The perforation in the corners does not match.

1893 Stamps of the French colonies overprinted "1893 TAHITI"

  1 c black
  2 c brown
  4 c brown
  5 c green
  10 c black
  15 c blue
  20 c red on green
  25 c black
  25 c yellow
  35 c grey on yellow
  75 c red
  1 F green

Inverted overprints exist of almost all values, a double overprint exist of the 1 F value. According to the Serrane guide the genuine overprints exist in about half a dozen different types.

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Forgeries, (probably Fournier forgeries):

For more information on these forgeries click here

According to the Serrane guide, Fournier also made forgeries with the cancel "PAPEETE 7 MAI 93 TAITI".

Forged "TAHITI" overprint. The top parts of the "T"s are totally different.

From 1893 on Tahiti belonged to the French Oceanic Settlements.

1903 Stamps of the French Oceanic Settlements overprinted "TAHITI" and value

(Reduced size)

  '10 CENTIMES' on 15 c blue
  '10 centimes' (red) on 25 c black
  '10 centimes' on 40 c orange

The '1' of '10' exists in two types. Inverted and double overprints exist.

The two types of the '1' of the 10 c surcharge

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Fournier forgery of an inverted "TAHITI 10 centimes" on 40 c orange stamp. The easiest way to recognize these Fournier forgeries, is the fact that the horizontal and vertical perforation does not 'match' as it does in the genuine stamps.

The forged cancel "PAPEETE 4 AOUT 03 TAITI" can be found in the Fournier Album of Philatelic forgeries, it was used on the Fournier forgeries shown above.

Forged Fournier cancels, reduced sizes.

1915 Red cross issue, stamps of the French Oceanic Settlements overprinted 'TAHITI' (red) and red cross

(Reduced sizes)

  '+TAHITI' on 15 c blue
  '+TAHITI' on 15 c grey

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

1921 Stamps of the French Oceanic Settlements overprinted "1921" and bar and surcharged (no country name indicated)

  '05' on 2 c brown and black
  '25' on 15 c orange and black

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

For Tahiti, postage due stamps, click here.

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