Allegory stamps marked Faux

I've occasionally come across some of the early allegory stamps (Scott 1-20) marked "Faux" on the back (ie False or Forgery)

Does anyone know who does this and why?

Is it reputable collectors who've identified a forgery and don;t want anyone else to be fooled?




Comments

  • I must admit that none of my forgeries is marked FAUX on the back - I just checked them. The ones with FAUX on the front are all facsimiles made by Fournier, and overprinted after his death by the Union Philatelique de Genève to prevent misuse:
    FAUX
  • I just checked my forgeries and none of them have faux either.  Some of them do have Monpovia or Monrowia cancels.  :-)
  • Manfred

    when you say "facsimile" - is this then a copy of a forgery not the actual forgery?
  • A forgery is a reproduction of an original item produced with the specific purpose of being sold as an original. Fournier never did that. He was honest about what he was selling, he offered his copies as facsimiles, i.e. faithful reproductions of original stamps that were otherwise difficult to find for the average collector.
    I have listed the Fournier material under "Fakes & Forgeries" because that's the place where you would expect to find it. But, in my opinion it's simply unfair to call him a forger. And that's why I prefer to use the same term Fournier used himself when it comes to his reproductions, namely "facsimiles".

    BTW, (unmarked) perforated and canceled, i.e. finished "Fournier forgeries" of the 1880 issue are way more difficult to find than the original stamps. I am still missing 2c, 6c and 24c. Anyone with duplicates?

  • Travis,

    are you sure there is an "i" before the "a" of the fake cancels?
  • My bad.  There is just an "a".
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