Francois Fournier was a stamp forger producing
facsimile stamps in Switzerland. A compilation of subject-specific articles
which mention the Fournier forgeries held in the Spanish-Philippine Annotated
Philatelic Bibliography, compiled 4 February 2025.
The compilation does not include where the subject
is mentioned in more general catalogues or in auction catalogues.
Fournier, F. (1928). Album de fac-similes. [Album of facsimiles]. 167 unnumbered pages (pp. 112). publ. Union Philatélique de Geneve, printed by F. De Siebenthat & Co., Geneva, Switzerland.
Published posthumously by Union Philatélique de Geneve. Reprinted in
1970 (see Fournier, 1970)
A copy of the original album (No 269), with the original facsimiles
attached can be viewed at: https://web.archive.org/web/20091028150827/http:/geocities.com/claghorn1p/FournierAlbum/index000.htm
L'Union Philatélique de Geneve
prepared 480 of these albums containing real facsimiles from the surviving stock
of the deceased François Fournier as a means of alerting the philatelic trade
and collectors to the facsimiles produced by Fournier. Unfortunately, very few
of the 480 albums that were produced survive to this date and the detail of the
illustrations in the reprinted albums is poor and of no use in identifying the
actual Fournier facsimiles. Their only use is in making the philatelic
community of the existence of the facsimiles.
The Philippines are
illustrated on page 112 and feature the 1898 King Alfonso XIII issues, some
have the addition marking “FAUX”. Examples of cancels and surcharges are
provided on blank paper, although not examples of the surcharges applied to
stamps.
It is worth noting that the
albums sometimes differ in the varieties illustrated both in terms of whether
perforate or imperforated versions are attached but also of different forgery
types of a particular stamp. See Peterson 2014f and Palmer (2024d) for a description of the different Fournier types
known.
Copy No. 462 with all of the
original stamp facsimiles still attached was offered for direct sale by the
Madrid auction house for 6,000 Euros in March 2021.
Fournier, F. (1970). The Fournier album of philatelic forgeries editor L. Ragatz. publ. J. Van den Berg, Washington, OH, USA.
A reprint of Fournier
(1914) and Fournier
(1928) with introduction providing
background information about the albums and the work of Fournier provided by
Ragatz. For best images of the album pages see Fournier 1928.
Gooding, N. (2024k). Nigel Gooding Collection - 1898. Downloaded 27 July 2024 from Spanish-Philippines Philatelic Site. 43 pp. https://www.nigelgooding.co.uk/Exhibits/NigelGooding/AlfonsoXIII/Frame04.htm
Palmer, M. (2024d). Fournier forgeries. Unpublished notes.
Illustrates three types of Fournier Forgeries for the 1898 issues.
Peterson, D. (1999b). Forgeries and their references of Spanish Philippine postal stamps, Part 2. Philippine Philatelic Journal, vol 21 no 1, pp. 1-12.
The second part to Peterson (1998i). Part 2
covers 1863 to 1898 issues. Table of forgeries with cross references to
Bartels, Collin, Serrane, Gooding, Earee and others. Useful comparison of
different authors but of limited usefulness for new unlisted forgeries as no
illustrations are provided. Useful list of references describing Philippine
forgeries.
Peterson, D. (2014f). Identification of Fournier forgeries of the 1898 Philippine ‘babyhead’ issues. Philippine Philatelic Journal, vol 36 no 4, pp. 18-27.
The article describes
forgeries of the 1898 “Curlyhead” issues and not the “Babyheads”. See also Palmer (2024d).
Saum, G. (1994). Philatelic forgers. Possessions, vol 17 no 2, pp. 4-9.
Description of forgeries by
Francois Fournier of stamps belonging to the US possessions, a commentary is
provided on the 1898 Puerto Rico issue (which has similarities to forgeries of
the Philippine issue). Forged cancels of the Philippines are illustrated
together with excerpts from Fournier (1970).
Serrane, F. (1929). Vade-Mecum du Specialiste-Expert en Timbre Poste hors d'Europe. [Vade-Mecum of the Specialist-Expert in Postage Stamps Outside Europe]. Volume 2. 315pp. (pp. 222-227). publ Nice, France. (in French).
Translated and reprinted in
serialised editions within in the American Philatelist (Serrane, 1992 and 1995). A
translation into English is also provided in Serrane (1998).
Serrane, F. (1992). Serrane guide. (Manual of the specialist-expert in non-European Stamps). The American Philatelist, vol 106, no 11, pp. 1034-1037. (WN 1102, November 1992).
Translation of Serrane (1929) from French
into English and serialised in the American Philatelist. The November 1992
issue marks the start of Volume 2 and includes a forward and introduction. The
Philippine forgeries are to be found in Serrane
(1995).
Serrane, F. (1995). The Serrane guide. The American Philatelist, vol 109, no 5, pp. 421-424. (WN 1132, May 1995).
Translation of Serrane (1929) from French
into English and serialised in the American Philatelist. The May 1995 issue
includes the Philippine forgeries. The introduction to this volume is found in Serrane (1992). Reprinted
in Serrane (1998).
Serrane, F. (1998). The Serrane Guide. Stamp Forgeries of the World to 1926. 371pp. (pp. 274-277). publ. American Philatelic Society.
Translation of Serrane
(1929) from French into English by Cortland
Eyer of Serrane (1929), with an introduction and bibliography by Varro Tyler.
(Volume 1 is also included). Also listed as Eyer
(1998).
Stampforgeries. (2024b).
Forged stamps of the Philippines. web page downloaded 7 October 2024
from Stamp forgeries of the world web site. https://stampforgeries.com/forged-stamps-of-philippines/
Illustrations of some Philippine
forgeries, although not a complete list. The web page includes a list of
literature intended for further research.
Tedesco, T. (2007). Index of literature in the English language that describes postal stamp forgeries, fakes, reprints, fraudulent postal markings, and other obliterations. Part 11: Countries Phenrhyn to St Kitts-Nevis. Philatelic Literature Review, vol 56 no 4, pp. 122-123. (WN 217).
Bibliography of forgeries arranged by Scott catalogue
number. The section does not include full reference details but is a useful
checklist, not complete.
Tedesco, T. (2014). Index of literature in the English language that describes postal stamp forgeries, fakes, reprints, fraudulent postal markings, and other obliterations, and bibliography. 1760pp. (pp. 511-516 & A165-A166). publ. American Research Library, Bellefonte, Pa.
Updated bibliography
includes book, periodical and website references. Last updated 2014.
Tyler, V. (1990). Focus on Forgeries: Cuba, 1898 King Alfonso XIII issue, Scott 172. Linn's Stamp News, vol 63 no 3199 p6. (26 February 1990).
Description of the Fournier forgery of the Cuba issue, included in this bibliography as similar forgeries by Fournier exist for the Philippines.
Tyler, V. (1991). Philatelic Forgers, Their Lives and Works. 2nd edition 160pp. (pp. 32-34, 113, 115-116, 122-127, 139 & 145-146) publ. Linn's Stamp News (Amos Press), Sidney, Ohio.
Partial copy only. An update of Tyler (1976). Includes Francois Fournier, Miguel Segui, Louis and
Richard Senf, Jean de Sperati, Philip Spiro, Placido Ramon de Torres and
Venturini. [Others included in the book to investigate but don’t have full
copy].