Fournier Forgery Album.
No. 184, containing approximately 3,000 items comprising unused and used
singles, multiples and many surcharges and cancels, complete except for
only nine empty spaces, exceptionally fresh pages in blue binder with
"Album De Fac-Similes Edite Par L'Union Philatelique de Geneve" embossed in
gold on front coverEXTREMELY FINE. AN OUTSTANDING EXAMPLE OF THE FOURNIER FORGERY ALBUM. ONLY 480 ALBUMS WERE MADE.
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 being deceived by dishonest stamp dealers.
When Fournier died in 1917, one of his employees, Charles Hirschburger, unsuccessfully tried to continue the business. When Hirschburger died in 1927, l'Union Philatelique de Geneve purchased the Fournier stock, which weighed over 800 pounds, from Hirschburger widow. The Union then marked the forgeries with "FAUX" handstamps on the front and/or "Facsimile" on the reverse, and employed students from the Geneva School of Arts and Crafts to mount representative selections of the forgeries in 480 albums. Whatever was not placed into one of the books was burned to ashes.
Because Fournier made forgeries from such a wide variety of countries, many of the 480 books have been either been divided into country references or have had many items removed. Very few remain intact and have the degree of completeness as does this book. We believe that because of its condition and completeness, this is one of the most desirable examples of the few remaining Fournier Forgery books (Image)