Typographed (sheets of 300). Design and engraving: Jacques-Jean BarreThe Ceres series was the first postage stamp series of France, issued in 6 different values from 1849 to 1850 as a representation of the French Republic.
The series bore the effigy of Ceres, goddess of growing plants in Roman mythology. Jacques-Jean Barre did the initial drawing and gravure. Anatole Hulot was in charge of the printing of the Ceres series done in Paris in the 19th century.
The drawing was used again by necessity when the Second Empire fell in 1870, with printing in Paris besieged by German armies and in Bordeaux where the French government fled.
Two new Ceres series were issued in the 1930s and 1940s.
Originals - many color variations exist
1. Crosses do not touch the frame
2. The leg of the R is out further than the top
3. The lower leg of the E extends further out.
4. The middle arm of the F is very short
5. The top of the A is flat.
6. The lower part of the C extends further than the top.
6a. The C has a cedilla
7. 97 large uniform pearls
8. 4 outwards pointing keys
9. 18 oval grapes
10. Oval shaped grape
11. Bottom of the C's extend further than the tops
12. Second S slightly smaller than the first one.
13. Bottom of S thinner than the top.
14. Slanted and curved neckline.
15. 5th line up extends to the neck edge and all lines made up of dots
16. Thick curved mouth with definite lower lip.
17. Large eye pupil and note shading dots around the eye
18. Curved nose line
19. $ well defined ears of wheat tips
20. Large ear opening
21. Large nose opening and rounded tip
22. Very even spandrels with small dots
Forgeries
Fournier Tete-beche pairs.
These were suoolied by several forgers
Very well executed
Note uneven spandrels with large dots
Fournier Tete-beche blocks
Fournier singles
From a less qualified source
Note the almost absent wheat tips and pointed nose
Genuine left, forgery right
Peter Winter 1980's
Peter Winter's forgeries are some of the best ever made
His catalog published in 1986 under "House of Stamps" is readily available online.
This is a sample of his work -
The obvious difference is the lack of detail in the corner spadrels.
Sample Fournier blocks with tete-beche
Spiro forgeries
These are poorly designed.
The base of the neck is not slanted
The pupil is too large
The side keys are too thick
The key feature is the large white spot ih the hair
Unknown Forger
A fairly active forger he produced copies of all the values including some tete-beche.
Also the stamps can be found cancelled but possibly cancelled by another seller
Genuine left, forgery right
The letters are uneven
The corner bckgrounds do not match the original.
Unknown Forger
The features are
Narrow numerala
Open C's
Faint small RAN
Below, Genuine left, forgery right
Menke-Huber souvenir postcard cut outs
Most examples featured Swis stamps.
Printed in 1900 they feature a full set of Ceres & Napoleon facsimiles
The individual stamps were cut out and sold as genuine
The key features are the niticeable brown edge outside the stamp, the shortwheat tips and the large pupil.
Printed in 1900 they feature a full set of Ceres & Napoleon facsimiles
The individual stamps were cut out and sold as genuine
The key features are the niticeable brown edge outside the stamp, the shortwheat tips and the large pupil.
Paul de Toulouse forgeries
Very little information on his forger.
He appears to have sold his forgeries in he Toulouse region only
Features
Overall they are very deceptive
The mouth is thicker
The pupil is larger
Many of the pearls in the circle frame are fused together and smaller
The 1’s in the 10’s are taller than the originals
The ears of wheat are shorter
Dark shading around the eyes
Dark shading around the eyes
Tete-beche pairs
Set of singles
Reprints
In 1862 some reprints were made of the first issues of France, generally in lighter colours than the original stamp
Reprints exist of all values of the Ceres issue, including the unissued 20 c blue and the essay. Both types of the 40 c ('4' different) were reprinted. The sizes of the reprints are also slightly different from the genuine stamps and on whiter paper.
Primitive Forgeries
Postal Forgeries
These are valuable and saw limited use
Sperati Forgeries
As might be expected, these are the ones that fooled many collectors.
They are very numerous and difficult to determine in auctions with low quality images.
In some cases Sperati copied the plate flaws of a stamp which further increases the deceptive quality.
The following cancels were used by Sperati:
‘LE HAVRE 5E 29 SEPT. 71 (74)’
MARSEILLES 7E 18 JANV. 71 (12)’
and the following numeral dot cancels: ‘359’ , ‘807’, ‘1630’, ‘1792’, ‘2660’ and ‘3151’.
The genuine is on the left. Sperati on the right
10c Reproduction A
1. there is a colorless line running from the head of the terminal "C" in bottom value tablet through the background above
2. there are two constant flaws in the background behind the head
3. there is a constant white dot just after the "P" of "POSTES"
Possibly the most deceptive
There is a small dot at the bottom between the ES of POSTE
The ornament in the top right corner is retouched and the top right side of the ornament is irregular.
10c Reproduction C
In the top left corner there is a white spot in the top left corner of that ornament
There is a white spot within the circle just to the right of the central pearl which is joined to the one above and to the circular frame-line
The bottom left corner of the outer frame line has been retouched particularly below the lower left ornament
The colored background edge below the "1" of "10" at lower right is irregular
10c Reproduction D
Broken Pearl at 7o’clock
A small break in the inner frameline above the right C of 10C
There is a white spot just above the center dot of the bottom right corner ornament
The inner frame line is broken immediately over the last "C" in the lower panel
10c Reproduction E
Dash instead of pearl at 3 o’clock
1792 typical Sperati cancel
Consists of Reproduction C (left) and D (right)
15c Reproduction A
Very deceptive forgery
There is a dent in the upper right part of the ‘P’ of ‘POSTES’. This letter also has its lower left side shaved off.
The C of FRANC has a white dot above it almost connecting it with the white space above it
15c Reproduction B
Easily recognized as the cancel is always in the same spot
15c Reproduction C
Spot of color in one of the pearls at the left hand side across from the nose
Fused pearls at 7 o’clock
15c Reproduction D
There is a break in the upper part of the ‘P’ of ‘REPUB’.
The left bottom corner ornament has a green flaw extending towards the right.
There is a second white dot below the usual one between the C and’ of 15 C POSTES on the left
15c Reproduction E
Continuous rows of squared dots cancel
Paris Star cancel ‘8
40c Reproduction A
The cancel on this forgery is always the same and always has the same position
There is a orange blotch below the ‘RE’ of ‘REPUB’
There is a white blotch below the ‘0’ of the right ’40’.
In some examples the left ‘4’ is badly done.
These forgeries exists with a grill cancel, a mute Paris Star cancel and the following numeral cancels ‘692’, ‘2063’ and ‘3300
1F Reproduction A
This forgery, type A of the 1 F value, is extremely deceptive.
It exists in several colors and with different cancels.
The distinguishing characteristics are (often barely visible):
There is a white dot in the internal left part of the ‘O’ of ‘POSTES’.
Sometimes a break can be found in the extreme left of the lower frameline.
The tips of the wheat ears are smaller
There are breaks in the lower backgrounds
Sperati also made a ‘die-proof’ in black of this forgery.
He also made tete-beche pairs of type ‘A’
Town cancels:
‘BLETTERANS 1 MARS 1849 38’
‘BOYNES 21 OCT. 1850 (43)
The following are all color variations of Reproduction A
1F Reproduction E
The cancel is always in the same position
1F Reproduction G
The top and bottom letters are thicker
The pearls in the circle are uneven
The background is faded
A minor white spot can be discovered below the ‘U’ of the word ‘REPUB’.
No comments:
Post a Comment
THANK YOU for the feedback. Your comment will be reviewed and appear on this blog within 24 hours
Do you have any pic to share? Use this code [img]your-image-url-here[/img]