François Fournier
François Fournier (* 1846 in Croix-de-Rozon ; † 1917 ) was a stamp forger .
Fournier, born in Switzerland, later became a French citizen and served in the army during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 . He later settled in Geneva , where in 1904 he bought the company of his bankrupt predecessor Louis-Henri Mercier alias Henri Goegg. He was one of the early forgers in the 19th century, he opened his company in 1892 and was awarded diplomas and gold medals at various stamp exhibitions for his copies of stamps .
Fournier soon began to produce large numbers of forgeries himself, or, to put it more elegantly, facsimiles . He also employed capable engravers such as Venturini from Turin - an early master of his field who delivered his good forgeries to Fournier, where they were stamped with his false stamp. This also explains the different quality of its products - sometimes amateurish and easily recognizable, sometimes almost perfect. Between 1910 and 1914 he advertised his works in his own magazine and price list, Le Fac-Simile ; the last of them in 1914 contained 3,671 different offers with by far not just rarities. Fournier claimed to have over 20,000 repeat customers.
Even then, opinions were divided as to whether this was all good or bad; Some thought his work was useful and sensible - giving less wealthy collectors the opportunity to fill their albums - others condemned his work as criminal, probably for commercial reasons as well. Anyone who could acquire the largest rarities for a few francs was a lost customer for the specialist trade. So it is not particularly surprising that Fournier was a thorn in the side of the leading postage stamp companies, and the fight against him found its way into the trade magazines. One was not particularly squeamish in the choice of words and the blades were often violently crossed. The fact that there is nothing illegal in the production and distribution of counterfeits to this day was and is easily overlooked. The only important thing is that this is never accompanied by the intent of fraud.
The First World War caused Fournier's companies to have sales problems and his company ran into serious difficulties, as well as health problems that led to Fournier's death in 1917. He was buried in his birthplace, Croix-de-Rozon.
One of his employees, Charles Hirschburger, continued to run the company with moderate success until his death in 1927. His widow then sold the entire remaining stock of 400 kg of facsimiles and the workshop equipment to the Union philatelique de Genève , which in 1928 produced 475 numbered albums from them, which were sold to examiners, interested parties and museums at the then price of $ 25.00 - a sought-after one today Plant. The equipment was given to the Historical Museum in Geneva. The remaining stocks of forgeries were burned on September 17, 1928 under notarial supervision.
To this day, Fournier's products are used for scams, which will probably never change. He himself was never accused or convicted of fraud in his life and never tried to bring his works to collectors as genuine.
literature
- Union Philatélique de Genève: Album des Fac-Similés, 1928.
- Varro E. Tyler: Philatelic Forgers: Their Lives and Works., Linn's, USA 1991. ISBN 0-940403-37-4 .
- Francois Fournier - "Art" on a grand scale! In: Wolfgang Maaßen: Real or False? Forgeries and forgers in philately , Phil * Creativ Verlag, Schwalmtal 2003. ISBN 3-932198-48-4 , pp. 142–150.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fournier, François |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Forger |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1846 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Croix-de-Rozon |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1917 |