Issue of 1851. Engraved. 1 Quattrino; 1, 8 Soldi; 1, 8, 4, 6, 9, 60 Crazie; blue wove paper, watermarked with crown, & c., on the entire sheet.
Issue of 1857. Poorly engraved. 1 Quattrino; 1, 8 Soldi; 1, 2, 4, 6, 9 Crazie; white wove paper, watermarked with waved crossed lines, forming ellipses, and the words "Poste Toscano" on the entire sheet.
NOTE - several forgeries have oil impressed watermarks but the original paper was never duplicated.
Genuine Issues
Genuine Features
Lion Features - Typographed
Watermarked but several forgeries are also.
Height of top letters 1.25mm, Bottom letters 1.5mm
1. Center of the cross lines up with outside of the vertical in "T"
2. Rows of small pearls
3. Corner shapes are crosses surrounded by a circle
4. 3 oblong shaded stones and part of another on the right
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 all pointing forwards.
12. 2 dots on knee
13. 2 dashes behind knee
14. Small triangular detached section
15. Tail made up of 3 distinct and unattached sections
16. 3 separate tail strands not touching the shield
17. Space between crown and lion head
18. Side frame lines extend through bottom frame
Forgeries
These are dozens of known and unknown forgers who copied this series. This is a small sampling.
Modern 1921 Exhibition in Firenzi
These show up as proofs or mints and are obviouslt too "perfect"!!
These were well executed but far too neat and lacking inside frame lines extending through bottom frame line.
Here are 3 tied to a fake cover.
Backwards Front Toe forgery
The cross is located exactly under the "T".
The crosses in the corners are also not as in the genuine stamps.
The easiest test is the fourth toe on the front leg of the lion, it is backward pointing.
Also note the flattened face of the lion.
Given the cancels, this might be a Spiro product.
There is no cross on the crown
Lion lacks any details and is mostly white
Rather crude overall
Copper Engraved Forgery
Letters uneven. Odd shaped "S"
Background wrong
Large Forward Tilted Crown forgery
Mane is neatly combed'
White Dot forgery
A white dot can be found between the crown and the 'A' of 'POSTALE'.
The knee is broken.
Line above values is continuous.
Many fine details are missing
This is a common forgery
Monkey Face forgery
The forgeries are printed with large margins
These forgeries have an extra very thick outer frameline.
The "O" of "POSTALE" is too round.
The nose of the lion is too big.
Sperati forgeries
The bottom left serif of the "T" of "TOSCANO" is broken
There is a dot of color between the "O" and "S" of "TOSCANO"
Short Tail forgeries
Tip of the tail is short
Front leg is damaged
Lion has long nose
All appear with same cancel
These are just a few of the obvious forgeries
The crown is tilted backwards
The top "S" is oddly shaped
Less shading on the hindleg of the lion
Torres Forgeries
These appear in his catalog but may be Spiro productions
Peter Winter 1980's forgeries
These are very well done but easily distinguised by the modern paper
Fournier Forgeries
By far the most prolific of the forgeries
Samples indicate they were produced by at least 3 sources
Singles without the "FAUX" markings
Forgeries with postmarks applied
An offer for a pre-packaged set apparently produced in Florence Itely
And finally, sections of full sheets sold by Fournier
