I found this info in the book Timbres De France Au Type Merson by Francon and Storch, published by the Royal Philatelic Society in 1990. This info covers France only, not colonies.
The Forbin Forgery was produced around 1912 by the Parisian stamp dealer Forbin. Some accounts indicate it was produced in Belgium, but not confirmed.
The 5fr was a high value, and often not easy to find in post offices. That made used examples elusive. The forgeries are excellent in quality and thus hard to confirm. All Forbin forgeries are cancelled (Fake cancels too!) Only one mint example is known.
The artwork for the final design of the genuine Merson stamps was consistent across all values, except the 5fr. Whether on purpose or accidently, the genuine 5fr had numerous differences to all other genuine Mersons. The artwork used for the forgeries was one of the lower values, so the 5fr forgery looks close in many ways to all other Mersons, just not the genuine 5fr.
Below are some scans of ways to tell a 5fr forgery. The lines in the upper left, and the extra dots on the shield are the easiest to use in confirming a forgery.
These areas seem to have been "cleaned up" by the forger. Printing was all over the board and the plates often so worn that the shading in the bottom right and left can sometimes be hard to discern.
Posted 04/04/2024 4:51 pm
