Preview of Stamps Catalogue: VOLUME 1

FRANCE, Postage due stamps 1859 issue, inscription "CHIFFRE TAXE a percevoir"

France taxe

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1859 Value, inscription "CHIFFRE TAXE POSTES a percevoir", imperforate

Postage due 10 c black Postage due 25 c black Postage due 30 c black Certified genuine (cleaned)

  10 c black (2 types)
  15 c black (2 types)
  25 c black
  30 c black
  40 c blue
  60 c brown
  60 c blue

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
10 c; type 1	RRR	RR	Type 1 (lithographed) accent on 'à' more horizontal, issued January 1859
10 c; type 2	***	***	Type 2 (typographed) accent on 'à' more vertical, '1' different, issued March 1859
15 c; type 1	***	***	Type 1 (typographed) accent on 'à' more vertical, issued 1863
15 c; type 2	R	RR	Type 2 (lithographed) accent on 'à' more horizontal, Bordeaux issue (1870)
25 c	R	***	Issued 1871
30 c	R	R	Issued 1878
40 c	RR	RR	Issued 1871
60 c brown	RR	RR	Issued 1871
60 c blue	***	R	Issued 1878

These are the first postage due stamps issued in the world. I've seen an unissued 60 c black; and another unissued 20 c black (both RRR).

Unissued 60 c black stamp.

I've been told that this is a proof of the 60 c value in color red and another 15 c blue.

Non issued 20 c stamp, destroyed by cutting it into half.

A sheet with 15 c "Bordeaux" stamps, note the damaged plate in the upper right part of the last stamp in the 9th row. See also: http://timbresbordeaux.blogspot.sg/2013/07/une-variete-du-timbre-taxe.html. The full sheet consisted of another two panes of 50 stamps each arranged in the same manner (above only one part is shown).

Are there different types of the 40 c stamp? On the right the bottom left of the "4" is aligned with the bottom left of the "N" of "CENTIMES". On the left it isn't.

Forgeries

France Postage Due Stamps, 1859 issue, Fournier and Sperati forgeries

A forged cancel "CHALON-S-SAONE 2E/17 OCT 74 SAONE ET LOIRE" on a genuine 60 c brown stamp was discussed in Le Postillon Revue Philatelique of 1902 on page 235. I have never seen this forged cancel.
Another forgery appears on page 325 of this revue and describes a 10 c 1859 forgery which was produced by W.. of Lyon. This person perfected his forgery once it was detected several times. The color of the forgery is too black. Here a reproduction from this journal:

Reproduced from Le Postillon Revue Philatelique of 1902, page 325

Examples of forgeries:

(Forgeries of the 10 c, 40 c and 60 c)

Probably forgeries, the "O" of "POSTES" is perfectly round. The "à" has a downward tail in this forgery type. I don't think this cancel (parallel bars or concentric rings) was ever used on genuine stamps of France. One of the stamps appears to have a "K.K.ZEITUNGS EXPEDTIONS" cancel.

Highly dubious 10 c value, most likely a forgery.

A bogus issue: 20 c black

Two 15 c forgeries pasted on a piece of a letter. The "5" has the upper loop touching the lower one. Also note the badly done lettering in "percevoir".

This looks like a forgery to me, note for example the strange "c" in "percevoir".

Dubious 60 c item. The bottom of the "p" of "percevoir" points to the left bottom corner. The "C" of "CHIFFRE" is different from a genuine stamp. Also a block of four of these forgeries.

I've been told that this is a forgery as well.

Two other very dubious items, note the white space inside the "0" of the 10 c value. Note that the "a" is slanting forwards.

Illustration from the Gray 1870 catalogue
Two 15 c forgeries with very bad lettering. The design is similr to one given in "The illustrated catalogue of postage stamps" by J.E.Gray (1870, page 18). Also an illustration of the same forgery that appeared on page 65 of a de Torres' album.

40 c and 60 c forgeries with "percevoir" too large, the "p" is placed too far to the left. Next to it a 5 F black of the next issue with the same forged cancel "CHAMBERY 2E/26 SEPT 72". These might have been made by the forger Oneglia.

The same forgey with "CHAMBERY 2E/26 SEPT 72" cancel pasted on an old letter. I wonder if the "LIBOURNE 2E/24 SEPT. (32)" cancel is real?

Forgery of the 25 c, note the very strange "R" in "CHIFFRE" or the wrong accent on the "a".

Forgery of the 10 c, perhaps a cut from an old album. The accent on the "a" almost touches the "T" of "CENTIMES".

Another forgery of the 10 c value.

Fournier forgeries

Fournier offers 4 values for 2 Swiss Francs in his 1914 pricelist (the 10 c black, 15 c black, 60c blue and 60 c yellow). I've seen a 15 c Fournier forgery with a forged "PARIS 6E/21 FEVR. 70 R.DU PONT-NEUF" cancel in a Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries. For Fournier forgeries of France Postage Due Stamps, 1859 issue, click here.

40 c forgery. I've been told that this is a Fournier forgery, but I sincerely doubt so.... Other sources say that this is a reproduction made for the Expo in Nice. The central inscription is badly done (compare with a genuine stamp).

Deceptive forgeries of the 40 c value. In my view the "c" of "percevoir" is placed slightly too high.

Forgeries with a "HAZEBROUCK 2E 1 MAI 75 (51)" cancel. The same cancel appears on a 2 F stamp which was only issued in 1884!

Forgeries with "LE HAVRE 4E/17 DEC 75 (74)" cancel. Note the wrong perforation on the 1 F stamp (and the cancel of 1875, while this stamp was only issued in 1881). It looks like these forgeries are the same as those with the Hazebrouck cancel.

This "LE VAL-D' AJOL 2E/8 JANV 76 (82)" cancel looks highly suspicous.

Highly suspicious "ARCUEIL - CACHAN 11" cancel.

I've seen some forgeries with a "CAZERE S GARONNE 3 DEC 83" cancel.

Forgery of the 10 c value, note the "o" in "percevoir" or the "0" in "10".

Schröder forgery

The forger Oswald Schroder made a forgery of the 40 c value. I have never seen this forgery myself. It seems to imitate the lower left corner of a stampsheet.

Sperati forgeries

For Sperati forgeries of France Postage Due Stamps, 1859 issue, click here.

A mystery label with inscription "REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE CHIFFRE TAXE 25 c" in black. According to https://www.franceandcolonies.org/philatelist/134.pdf this is a rejected design made somewhere in the 1870's.