Liberia 1860-1880

 The design of Liberia’s first issue is very similar to the Perkins Bacon die of 1848 for Trinidad, Mauritius and Barbados. 

Four transfers were made, lithographed from line-engraved dies by Dando, Todhunter and Smith, London. 

I am only concentrating on the 1860 & 1880 issues as it is difficult to assign the forgeries to the interim 1864 & 1867 issues.

1860 design

The values 6 c red, 12 c blue and 24 c green only were first issued in 1860.

There is no outer line around the frame, the stamps are very closely printed together. The perforation was 11 1/2 to 12 and the stamps were perforated close or into the frame.

Original 1860

1880 design

Design in new colors and supplementary values; lithographed by T.F. Todhunter, London, from dies prepared by D. Feldwick, and printed on unwatermarked paper perforated 10½ with extra frame line.

Forgeries

According to different authors, as many as 50 different kinds of forgeries exist of these stamps. 

The genuine stamps have different background patterns and facial features for the different values. 

Many forgers have used the same background pattern for all values. Those sold by Fournier match the originals.

Fournier Forgeries

These are by far the best and most common

The following are the Fournier 1860, 1864 & 1880 forgeries he sold (original forger unknown)

They all have specific flaws that some authors believe were intentional to be able to easily IG them.
They consist of white areas in the grill and white space between Liberia and the water as indicated below

Singles from different sources sold by Fournier

Partial sheets sold by Fournier are listed in the Addendum

Imperato Forgeries

Most Liberia authors consider these were made by Nino Imperato of Genoa but I have not seen any listings and generally his work is good. These are rather crude.

Mercier Forgeries

These forgeries are well executed.

Of note:

The backgrounds are all the same

The ship is very low in the water

The T of CENTS is tall

The cancel reads "MONPOVIA" instead of  "MONROVIA"

Torres Forgeries

These are very crude 

Image from the Torres 1984 Catalog

Very dense clouds

Scott/Torres Forgeries of the 1880 series

These are essentially  identical to the above Torres other than the odd cancels

Spiro Forgeries

These are reasonable

The spear tip is wide

The dents in the rock are different from the original 

The C of CENTS is in a different position relative to "LIBERIA"

The following are all forgeries from unknown sources and vary from good to very crude.

Addendum

The following are from Fournier sold 4X5 sheets 

1860

1864

1867

1880

References

Forgeries of the First Issues 1860-1880 - Cockrill, Philip

Liberia Specialized Catalogue - Saleski

A Century of Liberian Philately. - Rogers, Henry 

Fournier Forgeries Revisited - Journal of the Liberian Philatelic Society 

Collector's Club articles

Klaseboer Forgery CD

Liberia Collector's Forum