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Preview of Stamps Catalogue: VOLUME 1

ONEGLIA FORGERIES, 1906 catalogue, "Parme" to "Sungei-Ujong"

Return To Catalogue - Oneglia forgeries, introduction, part 1 - Oneglia forgeries, introduction, part 2 - Panelli - Spiotti - Venturini

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Erasmo Oneglia was an Italian forger in the late 19th century from Turin. He is famous for his engraved forgeries, but he also made photo-lithographed forgeries. Many of his forgeries were previously attributed to the forger Angelo Panelli. The engraved Oneglia forgeries are usually 'overinked'. When Oneglia applied a watermark on his forgeries, it is very clearly visible. His watermarks are impressed instead of being real watermarks. Oneglia also collaborated closely with A.Venturini and E.Spiotti. The exact relationships that these forgers had is not clear up to this day.

Oneglia forgeries, 1906 catalogue, "Naples et Sicile" to "Orange"

Parme (Duché) *
Number	Year	Description	Price in Fr.
1852 - Couronne, fleur de lis dans un cercle:
1	1852	5 cent., noir sur jaune ...................................................................................................................	Fr. -.10
2		10 cent., noir sur blanc	Fr. -.10
3		15 cent., noir sur rose	Fr. -.10
4		25 cent., noir sur violet	Fr. -.10
5		20 cent., noir sur blue (should have been 40 cent.,)	Fr. -.10
1857:
6	1857	5 cent., jaune sur blanc	Fr. -.20
7		15 cent., rouge sur blanc	Fr. -.20
8		25 cent., brun sur blanc	Fr. -.20
1857 Petit écusson, couleur sur blanc:
9	1857	15 cent., rouge	Fr. -.50
10		25 cent., brun	Fr. -.50
11		40 cent., bleu	Fr. -.50
1853-57 Taxe-fiscale, inscription noire sur couleur:
12	1853-57	6 cent., rose	Fr. -.40
13		9 cent., bleu	Fr. -.40
Gouvernement Provisoire. 1859 - Inscriptions, type des timbre-taxe, couleur sur blanc:
14	1859	5 cent., vert	Fr. -.60
15		10 cent., brun	Fr. -.60
16		20 cent., bleu	Fr. -.50
17		40 cent., rouge	Fr. -.60
18		18 cent., jaune (should have been 80 cent.,)	Fr. 1.--

In the book 'Philatelic forgers, their Lives and Works' by V.Tyler, a copied page of the 'Philatelisten Zeitung 18 page 100, 1905' is reproduced with a forged Oneglia "PARMA 14 MARZ 58" cancel. Apparently other cancels were also used by Oneglia.
The distinguishing characteristics of these forgeries are:
First 1852 issue: Note the very strange "S" of "STATI"
Second 1857 issue: there is a thick line of color connection the top of the fleur de lis with the containing ellipse
Third 1859 issue: the genuine stamps have a missing top right serif of the "I" of "STATI", this forgery has a top right serif (many other forgeries also have this wrong design by the way).

This forgery of the same type even looks like it is engraved.

Since these Persia forgeries are marked "N", they were not made by Oneglia, but by another forger (as mentioned in the foreword of his catalogue).

Since these Prussia forgeries are marked "N", they were not made by Oneglia, but by another forger (as mentioned in the foreword of his catalogue). I'm actually not entirely sure what is being offered here, are these the full envelopes, or just cuts of envelopes?

Since these Philippines forgeries are marked "N", they were not made by Oneglia, but by another forger (as mentioned in the foreword of his catalogue).

Since these Porto Rico forgeries are marked "N", they were not made by Oneglia, but by another forger (as mentioned in the foreword of his catalogue). There are several, rather crude, forgeries of these stamps. I do not know which of these were offered by Oneglia here.

Paraguay. *
Number	Year	Description	Price in Fr.
1870 - Armes:
1	1870	1 cent., rose.....................................................................................................................................	Fr. -.25
2		2 cent., bleu	Fr. -.75
3		3 cent., noir	Fr. 1.--
1878 - Timbres de 1870 surcharge verticale (grand chiffre):
4	1878	5 cent. sur 1 rose	Fr. 1.--
5		5 cent. sur 1 rose (surch. bleu)	Fr. 1.--
6		5 cent. sur 1 bleu	Fr. 1.50
7		5 cent. sur 2 bleu (surch. bleu)	Fr. 1.50
8		5 cent. sur 3 noir	Fr. 2.--
9		5 cent. sur 3 noir (surch. bleu)	Fr. 2.--
Surcharge verticale (petit chiffre):
10		5 cent. sur 2 bleu	Fr. 1.--
11		5 cent. sur 3 noir	Fr. 2.50
12		5 cent. sur 3 noir (surch. bleu)	Fr. 2.50
Surcharge horizontale
13		5 cent. sur 2 bleu	Fr. 2.50
14		5 cent. sur 3 noir	Fr. 3.--
15		5 cent. sur 3 noir (surch. bleu)	Fr. 3.--
		La série de 15 pièces	Fr. 20.--

I believe the above Paraguay forgeries are made by Oneglia, since they have the typical bars with "G" cancel often used on Ongelia forgeries.

2 Reales brown, not in the above list, however this forgery does appear to have a "G" in bars cancel.

Pérak. *
Number	Year	Description	Price in Fr.
1878 - Timbres de Malacca de 1868 surchargé avec ovale C.* P., grav. en cuivre:
1	1878	2 cent. brun ..................................................................................................................................	Fr. 5.--
1880 - Timb. de Malacca 1868 C.C. surchargé PERAK:
2	1880	2 cent. brun	Fr. 1.--
1891 - Même genre, surcharge verticale. 2 Cents Perak:
3	1891	2 sur 4 cent, rose	Fr. 2.50
1890 - Id. Fil. C. A. dent. 14:
4	1890	10 cent. ardesia	Fr. 1.25
5		12 cent. violet brun	Fr. 2.--
6		12 cent. bleu C. C.	Fr. 2.--
7		24 cent. vert C. A.	Fr. 1.50
8		24 cent. vert C. C.	Fr. 3.--
		La série de 8 pièces	Fr. 15.--

These are the forged Straits Settlements (Malacca) stamps with a forged overprint.

I presume this is the forged India stamp with a forged overprint. I have not been able to obtain an image.

Portugal. *
Number	Year	Description	Price in Fr.
1866 - C.W. au dessous du cou, relief:
1	1866	Série de 8 diff................................................................................................................................	Fr. 2.--
1867 - Id. dent 12 1/2: :
2	1867	Série de 9 diff.	Fr. 2.50

In the above forgeries, the "G" of "PORTUGAL" is almost closed and the embossed head different. They are printed on very yellowish paper. In my opinion, they are Oneglia forgeries, since they have the typical bars and "1" cancel (on top of another cancel?).
The same forged stamps were used for forged Madeira overprints.

Pahang * (voir à page 43)

There are many forgery types of Romagne, I have not been able to figure out which one was made by Oneglia. Since Oneglia states in the introduction of his catalogue that he only sells cancelled forgeries, it should be expected that his Romagne forgeries are also cancelled. He might have pasted his forgeries on small cuts of letters (as he often did with other Italian states); although I have never seen such cuts.....

Roumanie. *
Number	Year	Description	Price in Fr.
1865 - Effigie du Prince Couza:
1	1865	2 par., jaune.....................................................................................................................................	Fr. -.30
2		2 par., orange	Fr. -.30
3		5 par., bleu	Fr. -.20
Les mêmes, papier vergé:
4		2 par., orange	Fr. -.30
5		5 par., bleu	Fr. -.30
1869 - Effigie du Prince Charles de Hohenzollern:
Judging from the cancel at the bottom, this is an Oneglia forgery
6	1869	5 bani, jaune	Fr. -.20
7		5 bani, orange	Fr. -.20
8		10 bani, bleu-ciel	Fr. -.20
9		10 bani, bleu-terre	Fr. -.20
10		15 bani, rouge	Fr. -.20
11		15 bani, carmin	Fr. -.20
12		25 bani, bleu et jaune	Fr. -.30
13		50 bani, rouge et bleu	Fr. -.30
1871 - Même effigie avec barbe:
14	1871	5 bani, rouge	Fr. -.20
15		5 bani, carmin	Fr. -.20
16		10 bani, jaune	Fr. -.20
17		10 bani, jaune (papier vergé)	Fr. -.50
18		10 bani, bleu	Fr. -.20
19		15 bani, rouge	Fr. -.40
29		25 bani, brun	Fr. -.20
1872 - Même type, impression défectueuse:
21	1872	10 bani, bleu	Fr. -.30
22		10 bani, bleu (papier vergé)	Fr. -.50
23		50 bani, rouge et bleu	Fr. -.50
1872 - Même type, dentelés:
24	1872	5 bani, rouge	Fr. -.50
25		5 bani, carmin	Fr. -.20
26		10 bani, bleu	Fr. -.20
27		25 bani, brun	Fr. -.20
1876 - Nouveau type, impression défectueuse - erreur:
5 bani rose misprint. The cancel is very clearly done (as in other Oneglia forgeries), see comment A)
28	1876	5 bani, bleu	Fr. -.50
1879:
29	1879	5 bani, rose	Fr. -.50
30	1858	5, 40 et 80 série	Fr. 7.50
31	1862	Série de 4 pièces	Fr. 2.50

A) The forged cancel "GALATI 4/9" was also used by Fournier. However, it is of a different type.

Since these Reunion forgeries are marked "N", they were not made by Oneglia, but by another forger (as mentioned in the foreword of his catalogue).
Even though it was made by another forger, this forgery still appears to have the bars with "1" cancel. Oneglia might have applied it since he only sold cancelled stamps (which he says in his the introduction of his catalogue). The second 30 c forgery has a cancel with a circle consisting of squares, which can also be found on his forgeries of Nevis.

Sainte Hélène. *
Number	Year	Description	Price in Fr.
1856 - Effigie de Victoria avec filigrane et couronne (gravure en cuivre):
1	1856	6 pence, bleu ..................................................................................................................................	Fr. -.30
2		6 pence, carmin	Fr. -.30
1862 - Idem, dentelé:
3	1862	6 pence, bleu	Fr. -.30
1863 - Idem, avec valeur en surcharge noir, trait court, dentelé:
4	1863	1 penny, carmin	Fr. -.30
5		2 pence, jaune	Fr. -.30
6		3 pence, violet	Fr. -.30
7		4 pence, rose vif	Fr. -.30
8		1 shilling, vert	Fr. -.30
9		5 shlling, orange	Fr. -.30
Idem, trait long:
Long black lines
10		1 penny, carmin	Fr. -.30
11		2 pence, jaune	Fr. -.30
12		3 pence, violet	Fr. -.30
13		4 pence, carmin	Fr. -.30
14		1 shilling, vert	Fr. -.30
1873 - Type de 1856:
15	1873	6 pence, bleu-ciel	Fr. -.30
16		6 pence, bleu gris	Fr. -.30

6 p with the forged watermark at the back.

Sainte Lucie. *
Number	Year	Description	Price in Fr.
1859 - Effigie de Victoria, filigrane, dentelé (gravure en cuivre):
1	1859	Sans valeur, 1 p., rouge ................................................................................................	Fr. -.30
2		Sans valeur, 4 p., bleu	Fr. -.30
3		Sans valeur, 6 p., vert	Fr. -.30
1863 - Meme type, filigrane C. C. et couronne, dentelés:
4	1863	Sans valeur, 1 p., carmin	Fr. -.30
5		Sans valeur, 4 p., bleu gris	Fr. -.30
6		Sans valeur, 6 p., violet	Fr. -.30
1874 - Idem:
7	1874	Sans valeur, 1 p., noir	Fr. -.30
8		Sans valeur, 4 p., jaune	Fr. -.30
9		Sans valeur, 6 p., violet	Fr. -.30
10		Sans valeur, 1 sh., orange vif	Fr. -.30
1881-82 - Meme type avec nouvelle valeur en surcharge noir, filigrance C. C. et couronne, dentelés:
11		1/2 penny, vert	Fr. -.30
12		1 penny, noir	Fr. -.30
13		2 1/2 pence, vermillon	Fr. -.30
1882-86 - Meme type et surcharge, filigrance C. A. et couronne, dentelés:
14		1/2 penny, vert	Fr. -.30
15		1 penny, noir	Fr. -.30
16		4 pence, jaune	Fr. -.30
17		6 pence, violet	Fr. -.30
18		1 shilling, orange	Fr. -.30

With impressed watermark.

These St.Lucia forgeries even exist with inverted overprints, here with inverted "HALFPENNY"

A mysterious item, with the circular cancel consisting of squares, a similar forgery of St.Lucia is shown in the book 'The Oneglia Engraved Forgeries' by Robson Lowe & Carl Walske (1996) in the appendix on page 98:

Mysterious item: Some early trial from Oneglia? It could be engraved.

Saint-Marin. * (San Marino)
Number	Year	Description	Price in Fr.
1	1877-90	10 cent., bleu................................................................................................................	Fr. -.50
2		20 cent., rouge	Fr. -.10
3		30 cent., brun	Fr. 1.--
4		40 cent., violet	Fr. -.80
1892 - Timbres, vrais, surcharge imitée:
5	1892	10 sur 20 cent., rouge	Fr. 2.--
6		10 sur 20 cent., rouge	Fr. 2.--
1892 - Timbres et surcharge imités:
7	1892	10 sur 20 cent., rouge	Fr. -.50
8		10 sur 20 cent., rouge grand surch.	Fr. -.50
9	1892-1894	1 lire, rouge et jaune	Fr. 1.20
10	1895-1899	1 lire, bleu	Fr. -.80
1892 - Timbres précedents surchargés:
11		5 sur 10 cent., bleu	Fr. -.50
12		5 sur 30 cent., brun	Fr. 1.--

The Serrane guide says:
Mauvaise série de Gênes (I.). Dentelés 11 1/2; sans filigrane ou avec faux filigrane par impression de corps gras gris- jaunâtre. Nuances criardes; quelques lettres des inscriptions touchent les traits fins (EP de REP, en bas; E de POSTALE, en haut; R de LIBERTAS, en bas); les lettres TAL sont reliées par le bas, etc. Le faux filigrane mis dans la benzine disparaît à la vue. Papier épais 70 à 75 nie. Fausse oblitération carré de gros points.
I presume the forger I is Nino Imperato from Genoa. Imperato is known to have sold forgeries made by Oneglia. Thus the above described forgeries of the Serrane guide are presumably the same that Oneglia made. Also in view of the fact that these are the only forgery type besides Fournier that I'm aware of.

Two Oneglia French Colonies stamps with "??ERRE MIQUE ?? 1E/6".

Since these Samoa forgeries are marked "N", they were not made by Oneglia, but by another forger (as mentioned in the foreword of his catalogue).
The Samoa set was also offered in Oneglia's 1899 price list, but not yet in his 1898 price list. I'm not sure if Oneglia sold one of the forgery sets, or did he perhaps sell the reprints?

Saxe. *
Number	Year	Description	Price in Fr.
Engraved forgery, possibly by Oneglia.
1	1856	5 negr., rouge ..............................................................................................................................	Fr. 0.50
2		10 negr., bleu	Fr. 2.--
1850 - Chiffre
3	1850	3 pfen., rouge	Fr. 2.--

Serbie. *
Number	Year	Description	Price in Fr.
1	1866	1 p., vert, dentelé.....................................................................................................................	Fr. -.20
2		2 p., brun dentelé	Fr. -.20
3	1868	1 p., vert	Fr. -.20
4		2 p., brun	Fr. -.20
1866 - Papier colorié par l'impression d'une teinte de fond (la verso est blanc):
5		1 para, vert sur rose	Fr. 1.50
6		2 para, olive sur rose	Fr. 1.50
7		2 para, violet sur lilas	Fr. 1.50
Erreurs.
8		2 para, vert sur rose	Fr. 1.--
9		1 para, vert sur rose (le verso est colorié)	Fr. 1.--

Since the above pair of Serbia forgeries have a bars with "G" cancel, I'm convinced this was a forgery made by Oneglia (even though it was described as a 'Geneva' forgery).

Sicile. *
Number	Year	Description	Price in Fr.
1859 - Effigie à gauche (Ferdinand II), gravure en cuivre:
1	1859	1/2 gr., orange..................................................................................................................................	Fr. -.50
2		1 gr., vert-bistre	Fr. -.30
3		1 gr., vert-olive	Fr. -.30
4		2 gr., blue-foncé	Fr. -.10
5		2 gr., blue	Fr. -.10
6		5 gr.. rouge	Fr. -.50
7		5 gr.,carmin	Fr. -.60
8		10 gr., blue-foncé	Fr. -.50
9		20 gr., violet noir	Fr. -.50
10		50 gr., brun-rouge	Fr. 1.--
Idem.
11		50 gr., brun-rouge	Fr. 2.50

I presume Nr.11 is an improved version of the 50 gr value. The work 'The Oneglia Engraved Forgeries by Robson Lowe & Carl Walske (1996) shows different improved versions of these forgeries.
The 5 gr seems to have been made by erasing the "0" from a 50 gr forgery. Therefore the "5" is placed too far to the left when compared to a genuine stamp.

Since these Soruth forgeries are marked "N", they were not made by Oneglia, but by another forger (as mentioned in the foreword of his catalogue).

Shanghai. N
Number	Year	Description	Price in Fr.
1	1856-66	Les 10 premières, toutes differentes, la série..................................................................................	Fr. 1.50

Since these Shanghai forgeries are marked "N", they were not made by Oneglia, but by another forger (as mentioned in the foreword of his catalogue).
I think the above shown forgeries are those sold by Oneglia, since they have the 4-ring cancel that can be found on other forgeries sold or made by Oneglia.

I do not think the 1877 stamps were ever used with a "0,15" overprint. The 1 F was overprinted with "0,25" (not "0,15"!).

Suisse.
Number	Year	Description	Price in Fr.
ZURICH - 1843:
1	1843	4 Rap., chiffre noir.............................................................................................................................	Fr. 1.--
2		6 Rap., chiffre noir	Fr. 1.--
3	1849	Idem - 1849 1 1/2 Rap., oblong	Fr. 1.--
BALE - 1845 - Colombe en relief:
4	1845	2 1/2 Rap., rouge bleu	Fr. 1.--
GENÈVE 1843 - Armes petites, format:
5	1843	5 x 5, noir sur vert	Fr. 1.--
Idem - la moitié du précédent:
Oneglia-Venturini forgery. See comments below in 1).
6		5 noir sur vert	Fr. 1.--
Idem - 1847 - Mêmes armes, port cantonal:
7	1847	5 noir sur vert	Fr. 1.--
8		5 noir sur vert jaune	Fr. 1.--
9		5 noir sur vert foncé	Fr. 1.--
Idem - 1849 - Envelopes coupées:
10	1849	5 cent., vert sur blanc	Fr. 1.--
Idem - Croix -cor de chasse, oblong:
11		4 cent., noir et rouge	Fr. 1.--
Idem - 1850 - Mêmre type:
12	1850	5 cent., noir et rouge	Fr. 1.--
Idem 1851 - Croix blanche sur fond rouge:
13	1851	5 cent., noir et rouge	Fr. 1.--
Idem - 1850:
14	1850	2 1/2 Rap., Post local	Fr. 1.--
15		2 1/2 Rap., Orts post	Fr. 1.--
Idem - 1851:
I've been told that these forgeries were made by the forger Venturini, who possibly obtained them from Oneglia
16	1851	5 Rap., bleu et rouge	Fr. 1.--
17		10 rap., orange, bleu et rouge	Fr. 1.--
Idem - 1851:
These forgeries are said to have been made by Panelli, who most likely got them from Oneglia
18	1852	15 Rap. (gr. ch.), rouge	Fr. 1.--
19		15 Rap. (pet. ch.), rouge	Fr. 1.--
20		15 cent. (pet. ch.) rouge	Fr. 1.--
21		15 cent. (gr. ch.), rouge	Fr. 1.--
1843-51 - Facsimiles des timbres cantonaux,
		série de 15 timbres (see image below)	Fr. .1.50
Mes timbres Suisses sont une nouvelle émission, on ne doit pas les confondre donc avec les vieux fac-similes.
22	1852	Crois blanche dans un écusson de 15 cent., rouge	Fr. 1.--

The book 'Philatelic Forgers, their Lives and Works' by V. E. Tyler mentions that A. de Reuterskiold identified a number of photo-lithographic forgeries by Oneglia-Venturini: 'A. De Reuterskiold, The Philatelic Record 29, pages 59, 60, 111, 198 (1907). There are no photos in this work though. Also, the text given there is : "Photo-lithographic forgery by Oneglia-Venturini, of Turin; very dangerous and differing from the original only in few details, which I do not think expedient to disclose here.", or similar not very helpful text.....
1) The Geneva forgery shown above was identified by the Verband Schweizerischer Philatelisten-Vereine (VSPhV) as a lithgraphed Oneglia-Venturini from Turin (see https://www.vsphv.ch/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/dg_38.pdf). I am not certain if this was actually the forgery offered in this pricelist, since it is very well done compared to his other forgieres, or if this was a later improved forgery perhaps which the pair Oneglia-Venturini made?

I presume this is the set of 15 facsimiles that was offered by Oneglia, they are generally assumed to have been made by Adrien Champion of Geneva.

I presume the same forged Straits Settlements stamps were used for these overprints (such as for example the forgery of Perak), although the next stamp appear to be genuine with a forged overpint:

Highly suspicious "SELANGOR" overprint with a "A03" overprint that looks pretty similar to the ones on the Oneglia British Guiana forgeries.

Sungei-Ujong. *
Number	Year	Description	Price in Fr.
1880 - T. Inde Angl. avec surch. ovale C * S. U.
1	1880	1/2 a., bleu ...................................................................................................................................	Fr. 5.--
1880 - T. de Malacca 1868 fil. C. C. avec le même surch
2	1880	2 cent., brun	Fr. 5.--
1881 - T. de Malacca 1868 avec S. U. en surch.
3	1881	2 cent., brun	Fr. 3.--
Id. Id. avec Sungei-Ujong en surch.
4		2 cent., brun	Fr. -.50
5		4 cent., rose	Fr. 3.--
1883 -88 - Id. T. Malacca 1868 fil C. A. avec la même surch.
6	1883-88	4 cent., brun	Fr. 1.50
7		8 cent., orang	Fr. 5.--
8		10 cent., ardoise	Fr. 5.--
9		Two cent sur 24 vert	Fr. -.50
10		Two cent sur 24 vert	Fr. 1.--
11		Two cent sur 24 vert	Fr. 1.--
12		Two cent sur 24 vert	Fr. 1.50
		...................4 diff. types.

I think the above S.U. forgery has a bars with "G" cancel. Note, however, that similar genuine Sungei Ujong bar cancels exist.

Oneglia forgeries, 1906 catalogue, "Saint-Vincent" to "Terre-Neuve"

Copyright by Evert Klaseboer