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FRENCH COLONIES, FORGERIES

Return To Catalogue - French colonies, general 1881 issue, forgeries - France overview

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1859 Eagle issue


(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.


20 c Fournier forgery and possibly a 5 c Fournier forgery

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".

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.


Blocks of four stamps. From the collection of Philippe Potel, on thick yellowish paper. These 'essais'(?) or reprints(?) were noticed in https://www.franceandcolonies.org/philatelist/188.pdf of 1982. Some of them have a large coloured outer region.


Enlargement of one of these 'essais'?


A printing plate for a 1 c stamp, possibly used to make forgeries or album illustrations?


Ceres issue:


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.


1881 Commerce issue

75 c red

The 1881 issue has been forged. Especially rare overprints have been forged on genuine and forged stamps. See: French colonies, general 1881 issue, forgeries for more information.


1893 French colonies Tablet issue

Click here for information on forgeries of these stamps.


1906 Dr. Balley forgeries

5 F red on yellow Forgery!
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 06 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.


Other forgeries


(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.


Postage Due forgeries


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.

For the many forgery types of this issue see:
French colonies, postage due stamps, primitive forgery type 1
French colonies, postage due stamps, primitive forgery type 2
French colonies, postage due stamps, primitive forgery type 3
French colonies, postage due stamps, more forgeries
French colonies, postage due stamps, Fournier forgeries, first type
French colonies, postage due stamps, Fournier forgeries, second type


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