Fake stamps from Russian period
Fournier
François Fournier (1846-1917) operated as a
forger in Geneva from 1904 onwards.
According to Varro Tyler's Philatelic Forgers, Their Lives
and Works, Fournier, unlike many of his contemporary forgers, did not seek
to defraud the public. He described his material as facsimiles and promoted it
to collectors who could not afford to purchase genuine items and to uneducated
collectors as a preventive measure against their being deceived by dishonest
stamp dealers.
After his death, his former employee, Charles Hirschburger,
continued the business until his own death in 1927. In order to prevent the
stock from falling into unscrupulous hands, l'Union Philatélique de Genève
purchased the entire lot, some 400 kilograms in weight, from Hirschburger's
widow.
After printing the word 'FAUX' on the front or the word 'FAC-SIMILÉ'
on the back of the forgeries, representative selections were mounted on album
pages by students from the Geneva School of Arts and Crafts. These pages were
housed in 480 special loose-leaf albums which were sold in 1928 to interested
individuals and organisations for about $25. The balance of the stock was
burned. Over the years many of these albums have been broken up to satisfy the
demands of collectors of individual countries and the current value of a
complete album has risen to around $6,000.
In some instances a few more pages with forgeries mounted on
them were produced than were needed to make up the 480 albums. These recently
came to light in the estate of Monsieur E. Friederich, the former President of
l'Union Philatélique de Genève and former President of the Fédération
International de Philatélie.
( my source:
http://www.jamesbendon.com/ )
The postmarks
The postmark is very
important when you are checking the Finnish Ringstamps and 10 Mark m/1901 for Fournier fakes - there are 4
well known postmarks
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HELSINKI
5 III 00 |
TAMMERFORS
8 V 98 |
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KUOPIO 1 IV 98 |
WIBORG
11 XI 97 |
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The paper
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One of the reasons that Fournier made such good facsimiles was that he used genuine paper from Russian sheet margins of Rouble stamps
from the 1889 and 1902 issues.
The Ringstamps were printed on horizontal laid
paper - same as the Russian 1889 issue, and the 10 Mark m/1901 was printed on
not laid paper.
Fournier made his
facsimiles on all kind of paper (horizontal, vertical, and not
laid paper)
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The perforation
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Fournier perforated his
facsimiles 13½ or
14 and here it is important to note that he used line-perforation for all issues.
The genuine Ringstamps have also
line-perforation, but the genuine 10 Mark m/1901 has Comb-perforation
They can also be found imperforated and without any postmark - see 10 Mark
below on this site. |
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The
design
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3,50 and 7 Rbl stamps from
Fournier are found both with 1 and 2 out-frame line
illustrated stamps - both are fake
illustrated below fake and
genuine 3,50Rbl ring stamp
this
fournier has only one frameline
rows of pearls are smudgy and in bad design
and finally the NW ring is off center towards left
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The
stamps
the following are based on Olamo's work:
Finland, Reference Manual of Forgeries
and my own studies
probably further combinations of horizontal / vertical laid paper and postmarks
can be found |
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3,50 Rbl Black/Gray Ring-issue
horizontal laid paper;
postmark:
WIBORG 11 XI 97
KUOPIO 1 IV 98
HELSINKI
5 III 00
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3,50 Rbl Black/Gray Ring-issue
vertical laid paper;
postmark:
WIBORG 11 XI 97
KUOPIO 1 IV 98
note above stamp has only 1 out-frame line |
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7 Rbl Black/Yellow Ring-issue
vertical laid paper;
postmark:
ÅBO 5 III 93 (2-ring postmark)
WIBORG 11 XI 97
KUOPIO 1 IV 98
HELSINKI
5 III 00
TAMMERFORS
8 V 98
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7 Rbl Black/Yellow Ring-issue
vertical laid paper;
above has same
paper type as genuine stamp but only one out frame line
TAMMERFORS
8 V 98
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misprinted 3,50 Rbl Black/Yellow Ring-issue
Horizontal laid paper
with 'WIBORG
11 XI 97' postmark
Very thin vertical laid paper with
'HELSINKI
5 III 00' postmark
the rightside stamp is with
Wiborg portmark on vertical laid paper - and with only 1 out-frame line |
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Horizontal laid paper
with 'KUOPIO 1 IV 98' postmark
this copy is not included in Olamo's work:
Finland, Reference Manual of Forgeries.
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10 Mark m/1901
horizontal laid paper;
postmark:
TAMMERFORS
8 V 98 |
10 Mark m/1901
vertical laid paper;
postmark:
WIBORG 11 XI 97
HELSINKI
5 III 00
WIBORG 3 V 02 (date bridge upside
down)
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| note the line / comb perforation -
there are also differences in the ornaments |
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I
have made red circles on the genuine 10 Mark |
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WIBORG
3 V 1902
Fournier
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imperforated 10 Mark
Fournier ! |
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On eBay I
spotted a 10 Mark Fournier with a "Wiborg 3 V 02" postmark !!!
- also note that the dateline in the bridge is upside-down - I am very
interested in learning if you know about similar items
another variation which I
have in my collection is the abowe showed imperforated 10 Mark which also is a
Fournier - click the image for bigger size |
Genuine stamps:
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read more about Fournier
HERE (in
Swedish) |
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