sheet stamps
Fake Barcelona
Fake 50c Peace to deceive the Post Office
A case amply relayed by the press of the time!
In fact, a notable event in Postal History!
July 3 and 4, 1937: the dailies "Le Journal" with a nationalist tendency and "L'action Française" clearly nationalist and anti-communist report in the middle of the Spanish Civil War that the fake stamps of the 50c red type peace would come from Spain and more especially from Barcelona.
This led to the (questionable) philatelic designation still used today in the catalogs of "Faux de Barcelona"
On July 7, 1937, the daily newspaper "Le Temps" classified in the center left reports that a report of the scientific police does not make it possible to attribute with certainty this counterfeit to a foreign or French origin elsewhere..._cc781905-5cde-3194- bb3b-136bad5cf58d_
A counterfeit of very good quality!
The engraver of the 50c Peace Type: Antonin Delzers delivers his expert analysis on the realization of the forgery on a daily basis “Le journal”: Photographic process, followed by retouching. Wider and longer stamp.
Obviously during the retouching some mistakes are made, but with the naked eye difficult to tell the difference.
"A beautiful work" exclaimed Delzers!
Nyons scythes and Sissonne scythes?
The Jomin spouses sold well-imitated Fake Stamps to soldiers from a military camp in Sissonne; they were arrested by the police...
Lucien Moulin bought a stock of False Stamps which he tried to sell at 350F per thousand (0.35c per stamp) in Nyons . He was sentenced to one year in prison.
On Wednesday, February 16, 1938, a second tobacco cutting knife, as well as an intermediary broker (Paul Ferré) involved in this case of false stamps were tried before the 16th correctional chamber.
We learn that stamps (probably in small quantities) were sold in Saint-Ouen (Ile de France region)
On 07/20/1937 , the daily "Le journal" announced that two of the biggest fish in this case of fake 50c Peace were finally caught by the judicial police.
On November 13, 1937 , the daily "Le Matin" draws up the police report of this affair:
Antonio Cuminato (an Italian) gave the stamp sheets to Israel Elonoff (a Russian). Nothing has ever transpired about the accomplices behind the printing of the forgeries. Either: Cuminato to remain silent, or the police kept the information confidential.
Eleonoff has (among others?) provided sheets to intermediaries: Désiré Riotte and Paul Ferré.
The latter two often operated around the Gare Saint-Lazare.
When arrested Eleonoff was in possession of 118,000 counterfeit stamps.
Paul Ferré would have sold several thousand fake stamps (Yet very rare to find on letters today??)
The fake stamp
The Type III False Stamp
The genuine Type III stamp
I'll let you appreciate the many notorious differences (about twenty) between the fake and the real... I won't list them, the enlargement of the stamps is enough on its own...
Extremely rare bottom sheet of the Faux de Barcelona dated 15.8.36
Modern timbrology, which relies on digital techniques, makes it easy to highlight the tiniest differences in printing and confirm what experts like Antonin Delzers could see at the time.
The bottom of the sheet dated 15.8.36 of the Fake of Barcelona (Very rare) placed opposite a bottom of the sheet (not common) dated 29.9.33 in Type I, clearly shows that the Fake of Barcelona with "the bit with teeth " ; the cumulative offset of the horizontal serration is greater than 1mm in the end (Even better visible on the enlargement on the left.
Under UV lamp (mentioned for info and not illustrated in this article) the papers have a slightly different rendering.
The inter-panel of the false Barcelona is slightly less wide (a few tenths of a mm).
Dans la largeur le Faux est dentelé comme suit : _cc781905-5cde- 3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905 -5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905-5cde-3 194-BB3B-136BAD5CF5CF58D_ _CC781905-5CDE-3194-BB3B-36BAD5CF58D_ _CC781905-5CDE-3194-BB3B-13B-36BAD5CF58D_ _CC781905-5CDE-3194-BB3B-3BAD 15-14-15-14
The real stamp is indented only 14.
Finally, is the serration comb-shaped? Uncertainty remains.
A block of four Fakes with inter-panels and press number n°2. Not common!
In the absence of an authentic document with the press number n°2, I cannot confirm that the number 2 is undoubtedly different from that of the press n° 2 of the Boulevard Brune printing house in Paris…
A pair of Fakes with press number n°5. Not common!
The number "5" of the press of the fake on the left is different from that of the press Chambon of the boulevard Paris Brune
A block of four Fakes with inter-panels and press number n°7. Not common!
A pair block of Fakes with press number n°5. Not common!
There are therefore at least two different press inscriptions in the printing margin of the fake.
Hypothesis 1: the counterfeiters used two different presses. Very unlikely !
Hypothesis 2: the counterfeiters changed the press printing number via the printing wheel on the dedicated block. What purpose ? Distinguish bundles of sheets?
The number "5" of the press of the fake on the left is different from that of the press Chambon of the boulevard Paris Brune
Rare (?) letter dated 30.9.37 for Houilles en Seine et Oise. The false Barcelona is completed by a Sower at 15c to reach the Tariff of the internal letter at the 1st weight step. Several letters thus circulated in Seine et Oise during the 2nd half of 1937. Mechanical postmark "Gare Saint-Lazare" with 7 wavy lines and date block on the left; start of use 1904.
Letter of 4.11.37 posted in Houilles Seine et Oise, for Paris 2nd. As with the letter above, the Barcelona scythe is completed with a 15c Sower to achieve the Domestic Letter Rate at the 1st weight step. Obliteration with a type 04 date stamp.
Fakes from Nyons, Fakes from Sissonne, Fakes from Saint-Ouen, Fakes from Saint-Lazare, Fakes from other towns in the south of France… These are the same fakes.
Philatelic history will retain the “improper” name of Fake of Barcelona.
I will conclude with an oxymoron by saying that the nationalist press will finally have been wrongly right on the philatelic level. It is thus (but in all conscience) that I will name this fake stamp in my monograph in praise of the 50c Peace type.
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