An Old Switzerland Collection Of Classics. Worth A Look And Comments/Help Appreciated

This Swiss collection was dropped off at my office by a very old man for my enjoyment to look at.
It is not my collection. I'll start with these two pages. There are more to post.

I have dabbled with collecting Swiss stamps in past.

I am somewhat confused regarding these (are they real to start?)

Rayon 5 Rp confusing me- color seems off- greenish except for 2 examples at bottom are dark blue.

There are a lot of 4 margin examples here. But again, are they real?

There are more pages of this stuff in the collection.

Enjoy. Please comment as I am not expert in this area.

Swiss Sc 5 cat. $1200, Sc 6 cat. $115,000 There are dividing lines between stamps.

Swiss Sc 9 cat. $210,000 full blue frame around cross, Sc 11 or 12 or 13 cat. $750-$1000.

Stamps with four margins are rare and command substantial premiums.

I would hold off on any certs.

My gut opinion is that vast majority here is fake.

The slanted "///" on last scan on almost all 15 Rp doesn't seem correct. Should be more upright "III"

Agree that they have a high probability of being fakes. Here is a (very bad) copy of the only one in my collection. Much closer to the dark blue example in the first group.

Details on those 4 pages are to small to make a judgment. The last picture looks like a good stamp but a crease thru the center makes it worthless .The problem with forgeries in early Switzerland is you need the actual stamp in front of you to make a determination ,scans don't help .

I would say that probably the 4-margin ones are fake based on the cancel used. It's far too clean for all. All 4-margin values seem to have exactly the same cancel besides. Now there are real cancels that look like this type, and I think measurements/comparison might prove or disprove fakery. It's possible that the group can all have the same cancel but that would be very, very unlikely.

Conversely all the non-4-margin stamps look to have genuine cancels at first glance. The 10rp Rayon II (yellow paper) in the mount has a more righteous-looking lozenge cancel of the same style, grayer and (probably) oilier ink, and not so clearly struck. That all the non-4-margin stamps look correct by cancel is probably not just a coincidence. Are those stamps also the only ones with faults, perhaps?

I have to agree with the above. Judging by these images it seems to me only 3 of these have been postally used. However - maybe someone has collected them all and not bothered about selling because it was presumed all the stamps in good condition are fakes. There is always the possibility for a few 'sleepers' in between. I would recommend specialised reference/books - and lots of patience and time to investigate! Good luck

more from same collection:

The big photo of the 2 1/2 Rp is position 4 in the sheet of 40.
http://www.pro-philatelie.info/fael...abelle-1.jpg

Perf12,

Thank you for link to that site. Quite helpful, although I wish it was in English.

I think many of these stamps could be Fournier fakes.

rgstamp:If you could post individual photos of the stamps ;identification would be easier..

So here is pair 10 Rp. Rayon II

It is definitely a forgery. there are 40 varieties of this, all with different arabesque lines in background. There is no way a pair should have same exact pattern from my research last 24 hours o this.

I'm not sure if Fournier or some other known forgery type??





But here is the mystery. If you look at scan above with the page with about 30 specimens of this stamp, there are a few intermixed with brighter color, smaller margins and different arabesque pattern. I will scan in one or two of these later. These may be real, or perhaps the work of a different forger.

I think we can exclude Sperati.It's another forgery type.Link below;
but your stamp I did not find.
http://www.vsphv.ch/fr/falsifications/collection/
Sperati was a clever forger.Below: pic 1)Authentic: pos.30,31,32
Pic 2) Forged strip of 3 ,Pos.30,31,32,There are some small differences.We can be fooled easily.He put the black lines around the cross.





Sperati forgery; Cherrystone auctions

these pics are stamp #1 (crease) and #6 from grouping top row.
They stood out as a different color and different background of arabesque lines






Sperati was smarter forger- he apparently changed up the lines in the multiple, however he is greedy adding the black lines around cross

I plate left stamp above as POSITION 15 and right as POSITION 25.

I think they are real but not sure

perf12: remaining from the collection that have a shot at being real:




from left to right: these match plate positions 20, 28, 10, and 3.



I guess that still doesn't make them real but I definitely eliminated other 24 candidates of 10 Rp Rayon II on page as definite forgeries.

Sadly I am growing a liking for early Swiss stamps. Its like smoking cigarettes.