Jean De Sperati: The Master Of Philately Counterfeiters

A stamp may be falsified for use for mail. This kind of forgery is known as postal fake, or to deceive collectors, in the case of valuable stamps. Here is called philatelic forgery.

The first postage stamp was issued in Great Britain in 1840, and twenty years later, the first postage stamp forgery. Jean de Sperati is among the master forgers in the history of philately. The Vancouver Island forgery refers to a stamp that was originally issued in 1865. To produce his forgery, de Sperati bleached a real, cheaper stamp of the same vintage. He then used a process called photolithography to make an almost perfect copy of the stamp. In his lifetime, Jean de Sperati forged over 500 stamps. He sometimes signed his work in pencil on the back. His forged stamps are now often worth more than the originals.

During World War II, Sperati's trade paid off handsomely as stamps became an easily carried and easily hidden hedge against property confiscation. It was an ideal time for a counterfeiter. His luck ran out many times along the path of his crooked career but he always managed to wriggle his way off the hook.

In 1942, when Sperati sent a package of supposedly valuable stamps to a stamp dealer in Lisbon, French customs seized it. They charged him with trying to avoid customs payments and took him to court. In court, French criminologist Edmond Locard testified that the stamps were at least worth 223,400 French francs. In order to avoid huge fine, Sperati had to prove that the stamps were his own forgeries and therefore worthless. He confessed that he had been a successful stamp forger for the last 30 years. The French court had other things to worry about in a middle of a German occupation and acquitted Sperati. In 1952 he was taken to court again and sentenced to two years in prison for fraud. Due to his age, he did not have to serve the sentence.

By 1954, at the age of 70 and with failing eyesight he was made an offer he couldn't refuse. The British Philatelic Association (BPA) - anxious to stop Sperati for good - simply bought him out!

The BPA's action sent shock waves throughout philatelic circles. For the first time, the stamp world became aware of the magnitude of the forger's output of bogus stamps. For a price reputed to be anywhere from $15,000 to $40,000, the philatelic association got the aging counterfeiter to turn over all his stock, dies, and proofs. But, most importantly, he agreed that he would never again produce a counterfeit stamp. Sperati's forgeries are currently very valuable in the philatelic market.

To avoid forgeries and frauds postal authorities establish security measures on the stamps. These may be the complication in the design, including watermarks or use of watermarks on the paper. To avoid erasing postmarks they use not permamentes ink which run to put the seal on the water or coatings of varnish. But In the long list of philatelic fakers, con-men, and counterfeiters, Jean de Sperati remains the master of them all.