Brazil Verticals 1850-61

 There are several forgers of this stamp series but most apparently only produced one or just a few values so there is not much chance of finding them in your collection.

So I will only comment on the 4 main forgers, Fournier, Spiro, Foure and Mercier

George Foure

German philatelic merchant, good friends with the well known engraver Schilling from whom he acquired original plates of many rarities.

Release: Europe, early 20th Century

Printing: Photo-lithographed

Paper: Soft, yellowish wove 

Cancel: 33 mm double ring with legend CORREIO GERADACORTE

Design Flaw: Background cross-hatching (burelage) is blotchy and coarse.

A full sheet of Foure forgeries wrongly attributed to Fournier

Louis-Henri Mercier

The main differences with the Foure forgery are the shape of the '2" and the end curls on the "3" and "6"

Louis-Henri Mercier sold all his stock to Fournier shortly after his bankruptcy

Lithographed on smooth, hard wove paper

Very good forgery, but paper is too thick

Design Flaws:

10r - Vertical stroke of "1" is slightly concave instead of straight

20r - Tip of "2" ends in a ball instead of a point

30r - Opening inside "O'' is too wide

60r - Ball at top of "6" is a full circle instead of a half circle

90r - Inner oval at top of "9" is too large

180r - Top of "8" inclines to right

300r - Left side of the middle "O" does not touch shadow of the "3"

600r - Opening inside last "O" is too large

Fournier/Spiro

The following were sold by Fournier but based on the 5X5 sheets and cancels were probably from Spiro. Fournier sold the complete 1850 & 1861 series

The 1861 Sheets