Italy Tuscany 1851-1860

 Characteristics common to all Lion values

Constant flaws generated by imperfect or badly duplicated stereotypes are known. Among the most conspicuous we point out the specimens that have circular spots of color below are the lion's mane.
Examples without a watermark are known, probably due to the displacement of the paper or because they were printed exactly in the spaces without the drawings.
When comparing originals and counterfeits, it is advisable to carefully observe the dimensions, the lion figure and muzzle expression; the details of the mane; the progression of the punctuation of the back, arranged in noncontinuous lines: the four particular spots on the paw.
There are no official reprints of this first issue of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany; there are only private reprints of the 2 soldi and the 60 crazie, with the original watermark, but in colors clearly different from the originals.

The Tuscany stamps are generally rare and expensive, so the chances of having a genuine are slim. Also the printing is poor so the best way to verify is by checking if your stamp has the features of the genuine

Lion Series Genuine Features

1. Center of the cross lines up with outside of the vertical in "T"

2. Rows of small pearls

3. Space between crown and head

4. 4 oblong shaded pearls

5. Serif on left side of "T" only

6. 4 curves in hair outside

7. 3 toes over the shield with 1 extra off

8. Stem of flower detached

9. N's have very thick diagonal and thin legs

10. Curved lines made up of dots

11. 4 visible toes on each foot

12. 4 or 5 dots on knee

13.Small triangular detached section

14. Tail made up of 3 distinct and unattached sections

15. Angled end

Genuine Stamps

Note - most of these were obtained from Italian forum members

Forgeries

Sperati Proofs

1860 Shield Issue

Genuine Features

Dimensions: 23 mm x 18.5 mm

1. Cross lines up with left side of vertical "T"

2. Corner elements in form of X surrounded by a circle

3. Rows of small pearls

4. 3 large irregular precious stones

5. Right object less inclined tha left one

6. Right void larger than left one

7. Line out of alignment with corner frame

8. Thick irrugular line

9. Top of "N" wider than bottom part

10. 5 empty spaces

11. Bottom in straight line

12. Notches on the ends

13. "B" lines up with top of shield

14. Frame line curves

15. 5 pearls

Genuine stamps

Forgeries

Fournier Forgeries

These account for most of the forgeries that show up on auctions.

The original sheets were in a 10X6 format

A special item from Fournier is this sample card 

Peter Winter created excellent forgeries in the 1980's

The modern paper gives them away