DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FORGERY:

-printing less sharp and lines rougher, particularly noticeable in the lettering but altogether a good forgery. Shade inside the "O" in "ANGOLA" incomplete in the forgery; cross on top of the crown less detailed and usually detached.

CARACTERÍSTICAS DISTINTIVAS DO FALSO:

-impressão mais difusa, particularmente notável nos textos. Sombra no "O" de "ANGOLA" incompleta no falso. Cruz superior mais simples no falso em que geralmente não toca na coroa.

NOTE: All Angola crowns were forged by Fournier / Todos os selos Coroa de Angola foram falsificados

ORIGIN: François Fournier, a Swiss-born who turned French in time to serve in the 1870 war against Prussia, was not a philatelic forger like many others who try to pass their wares as genuine stamps. He set off to produce fac-simile sold as such and advertised them as a cheap means to complete collections or as a collection in itself. He registered his trademark in 1903 (though he traced the ancestry of his business to 1891 because he had bought the stock of a predecessor) and published a series of catalogues until 1914, when the war halted his business. He died in 1917 but the business was carried on by a former employee. Upon this follower's death in 1927, the remaining Fournier stock was purchased by a Swiss philatelist organization that surcharged the fac-simile with the word "FAUX" and produced a number of reference albums that were spread throughout the world. The remaining stock was burnt.

Although it may be argued that Fournier's cinderellas do not qualify as forgeries according to my definition because he did not try to deceive buyers, many after him made business by knowingly passing his fac-simile for genuine stamps.

Bibliography:

Davies, D.J. "Forgeries of Portugal and Colonies";

Tyler, Varro E. "Philatelic forgers- their lives and works";

Fournier's 1914 Price-List of Philatelic Forgeries (4th reprint edition by H.Garratt-Adams & Co, Hereford, England).