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| Preview of Stamps Catalogue: VOLUME 1 |
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| Preview of Stamps Catalogue: VOLUME 1 |
Note: on my website many of the
pictures can not be seen! They are of course present in the catalogue;
contact me if you want to purchase it.
A.Venturini was a forger from Italy in the early 1900's. He lived in Pisa, Turin and Florence.
According to "Philatelic Forgers, their Lives and Works" by V.E.Tyler, he made (or at least sold) forgeries of Swiss Cantonal stamps, French and French Colonies postage dues, Spain, Baden (see below), Monaco and Tuscany. He also sold Spanish and Portuguese colonies forgeries. If anyone has more information, please contact me! Also, according to the same source, he might have obtained his forgeries from Oneglia.
I presume these forgeries of Baden were made by Venturini. The
stamp forger Fournier applied the
perforations and cancels and sold them afterwards.
An imperforate 30 k stamp of Baden? Possibly a Venturini forgery.
Concerning the Venturini forgeries of Baden, the following text can be found in the Philatelic Journal of Great Britain, May 25, 1901, page 90 (it turns out that Venturini not only sold forgeries of the 18 k and 30 k, but even the printing plates): :
A Forgery Monger.
From The Schweizer Briefmarken Zeitung
One of the most noted forgers of the old Italian stamps is P. Oneglia, of Turin. Following the movement of his heart, this noble philanthropist took up the manufacture of stamps and now manufactures to his heart's content everything in the way of stamps, perforated and unperforated, used and unused, half sheets, whole sheets, in short all that the philatelic heart could wish for. So that everyone, even the smallest collector can obtain without any cost worth mentioning, the greatest rarities, the firm “ Oneglia ” will send a price-list free to anyone. Wonderful news reaches, us also from Pisa. In this town with the crooked tower, a. gentleman lives named A. Venturini ; after long experience Herr Venturini has come to the conclusion that the trade in “Imitations” pays much better than that in real stamps. Secretly, this man obtained a “ Lot ” of Imitations, and as he is of a very unselfish nature, he wishes the “reproductions” (as he very prettily names them) to be within the reach of everybody. "With this object the good Venturini offers his imitations to all dealers, adding that “in Italy it is not forbidden to manufacture stamp reproductions.”
He made this offer to one of our first German dealers and enclosed a specimen of his Imitations.
In an article in miserable French he says,- “You will be convinced that you can sell to collectors that set of France aud Colonies for 10 Mk. and the others for 5-7 50 Mk. whilst you do not pay so much as for the originals.”
We give some of the prices of these Reproductions. The Zurich 6r. are used or unused 20 for 60 Mk. Baden 18kr. green used 30 for 2 Mk. The price of the stumps offered amounts to 135 Mk. but for the whole “Lot” only 1,000- Mk. and even 600 Mk. in money and the rest in “genuine rarities.” “For the 10 Metal stereotypes ’’says Venturini, “which have served for printing, my lowest price is 20Mk. each, or 200 Mk. for the 10." And now we come to the end of this wonderful letter which runs “You can fully rely on my discretion about this business." \Vhat a character ! In the reply the dealer must have given Venturini a dubbing, for the second letter begins with : “I must say that your letter does not please me at all ” etc., and Venturini goes on to explain the difference between “ Selling imitations as sucli or selling theft, as genuine.” But Venturini is a good fellow and does not resent anything, and so that the dealer may still have the reproductions he writes :—“After all I will let you have them all and the Stereotypes. If you will have the stamps, I must send them to Turin to be perforated and you will have to wait a week.” And then he puts the whole of it down to 350 Mk. More can surely not be done! Venturini then sends his stamps to Turin and and to no other than his bosom friend Oneglia.
The real collector would treat these stamps with horror and rather leave his album empty than fill it with that kind of imitation which offends the eye of any proper collector. To war with these forgers !
These are genuine Suez Canal stamps, with forged "5105"
and "5129" numeral cancels added by Oneglia and
subsequently sold by the stamp forger Venturini.
