Ethiopia Fournier Forgeries Collection

Ethiopia · 1914 ·

This is a collection of 39 different stamp forgeries of early Ethiopian issues, created by the master forger François Fournier. Each stamp is handstamped with 'FAUX' (French for 'false') to identify it as a forgery, likely applied after Fournier's death when his workshop materials were sold off.

François Fournier (1846-1917) was a prolific Swiss forger whose products were sold to collectors as 'facsimiles'. After his death, the Philatelic Union of Geneva purchased his remaining stock and marked them to prevent their use for postal fraud.