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

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.

