Sale 1203 — The Gernot Reiners Collection of Togo and Cameroon - The Anglo-French Occupation
Sale Date — Tuesday, 18 June, 2019
Category — British Togo - Third Setting
The Remarkable John E. Lea Forgeries of British Togo. Set of seven stamps including 5pf, 10pf (2), 20pf (2), 50pf and 2m, each with red "Forged." handstamps and affixed to page, genuine German Yacht stamps with forged Anglo-French overprints closely resembling the Third Setting of the Sansane Mangu find, accompanied by two original documents, first a letter dated Aug. 31, 1915 indicating the receipt of the stamps and "for transmission to the Postmaster General, Gold Coast", from Mr. Lea of Manchester and signed by Stead Pope the District Surveyor for Posts & Telegraphs (later to become the Postmaster General of the Gold Coast), second a typed letter from Accra dated Sept. 16, 1918 from the Postmaster General's Office in Gold Coast to Mr. Lea stating "...to inform you that the Stamps have now been obtained from the Court files and are enclosed herewith"A REMARKABLE GROUP OF FORGERIES, WITH ORIGINAL SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS, THAT WERE USED IN TRIAL AND LIKELY LEAD TO THE CONVICTION OF THE FORGER. A UNIQUE AND KEY PIECE FOR AN AWARD-WINNING EXHIBIT OF TOGO.
Mr. Lea who was a prominent stamp dealer in Manchester, was to discover these were actually forgeries and provided these to the authorities in the Gold Coast as examples of the forger's work. Unfortunately, court records from the Gold Coast are no longer available and no report of the trial has been found. We presume the forger was caught and convicted as these were obtained back by Mr. Lea from "the court files" in 1918.
The forgeries suggest the work was done by someone with close links to the Catholic Mission and Lome Post Office. Three (one 20pf, 50pf and 2m) have closely overlapping Lome datestamps. The underlying datestamps were dated prior to this Setting and the 2m clearly shows "14" for the year.
TOGO (British), 1915, 3pf Brown, Third Setting (61; SG H29; Gibbs 29). Excellent strike of "Lome, Togo 22.10.15" circular datestamp, wide margins with excellent centering, bold color, Extremely Fine and very rare, Gibbs estimates that only about 30-40 used singles are in existence of the 50 printed in total, with 2006 B.P.B. certificate, Scott $2,500.00, SG £2,500
TOGO (British), 1915, 5pf Green, "TOGU" Variety, Third Setting (62 var; SG H30 var; Gibbs 30a). Setting 3, horizontal pair, positions 4-5, right stamp the variety with the damaged "O" reading like "U", tied on small piece by perfectly struck "Lome, Togo 27.2.15" circular datestamp, fresh and Very Fine, Gibbs states only about 35 of this variety could have been printed, likely far less even in existence today, with 1977 Buhler certificate (not noting variety)