PORT. INDIA CROWN STAMP- FOURNIER FAC-SIMILE
SELO COROA DA INDIA PORTUG.- FALSOS FOURNIER
       
Fournier (surcharged version)
selo autêntico/ genuine India Crown stamp
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DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS:

-in the top right spandrel of the fac-simile the central leaf is joined with the leaf immediately above, forming a heart shape.

In the original, the outer circle barely touches the lower frame, while in the forgery it interferes with it.

CARACTERISTICAS DISTINTIVAS:

-no florão do topo, à direita, da reprodução Fournier, a folha central está ligada à folha imediatamente superior, formando um coração.

No autêntico o circulo mal toca no quadro, especialmente em baixo, enquanto que na falsificação o circulo interfere claramente com as cartelas superior e inferior.
FALSO
AUTÊNTICO

 

CAUTION: some stamps (forgeries and genuine alike) look different because of too much or too little ink. Light colored stamps may be difficult to verify, as may stamps too heavily canceled. The Fournier forgery may be either canceled, or not. Needless to say, cancellations are forged!
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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.
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Complete list of the Portuguese India Fournier Crown facsimile, including the surcharges (from his own 1914 catalogue in French):

Portuguese India- 1879 (5- 300 Reis); 1880 (10- 50 Reis);

Surcharges- 1881 11/2 s; 41/2 s; 6 s; 1T; 2T; 4T; 8T; double surcharges 41/2 s after 11/2 s; and 2T after 4T.
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Bibliography:

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

Fournier's 1914 Price-list of Philatelic forgeries (Reprint published by H. Garrat-Adams & Co, England, in 1958);

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

Index of pages/ voltar ao índice
Lisboa, Portugal-
2005/03/21
   
João Manuel Mimoso