Jean de Sperati

Jean de Sperati (1884-1957) was among the most noted postage stamp forgers of the world. Even professional stamp authenticators of his time attested to the genuineness of his stamps. A printer and engraver by profession, he was able to mimic the detailed motifs, the pressure and the paper with such accuracy that he earned the title "the Rubens of Philately".

Childhood and youth

Jean de Sperati was born 1884 in Pisa, Italy. However he spent a large part of his life in France. As a child in Pisa and later in France, Sperati began to collect stamps. He was particularly interested in the printing techniques, as well as photography which was in its infancy at that time. Relatives owned a postcard factory as well as a papermill. Through this, Jean de Sperati was able to obtain copious knowledge of photographics, print technology and chemicals. These formed the basis for his eventual career as a stamp counterfeiter.

The first forgeries

The first attempts to copy stamps went extraordinarily well. The first forgeries were of valuable stamps from San Marino, and stamp experts believed them to be real. Thereupon Sperati began to produce numerous further copies of valuable stamps from throughout the world. It developed to well over 500 master-quality forgeries from more than 100 different stamp-issuing agencies.

In 1942, for the first time in his life, Sperati came into conflict with the law. A shipment marked as valuable from Sperati to a stamp dealer in Lisbon, Portugal was intercepted by French customs. It contained several falsified German stamps. They charged him with "exporting capital" without a license and trying to avoid customs payments. He protested his innocence, and explained to the police that it contained only "copies" of valuable stamps, which he himself had prepared, whereupon the police called in the country's best stamp experts to clear up the facts of the case. These experts came to the judgment that the stamps in question were all originals, and downright valuable ones at that. Sperati yet managed to convince the police that they were fakes, and was therefore charged with fraud. His trial took place in April, 1948.

The Trial 1948

To explain, Jean de Sperati tried to convince the court that he had no deceitful intentions in the sale of the stamps. He considered himself to be an artist and not a counterfeiter. Furthermore he declared it the court that he had merely forgotten to clearly mark the stamps as a forgery and he promised to be more diligent about such marking in the future. He claimed that he had offered the forgeries of rare stamps at about 1% of the normal market price in order to assist the simple collector to obtain these rarities. Nevertheless the Parisian judiciary convicted Jean de Sperati and sentenced him to a year in prison, 10,000 francs fine and an additional 300,000 francs for criminal intentions. The Parisians judiciary did not convict it on the basis of the imitation, but rather because of Sperati's "deceitful intentions". He was convicted in April 1948.

After the guilt verdict

Jean de Sperati did not have to serve his prison sentence on the grounds of his age - he was already over 64 years old. In 1954 he sold all remaining forgeries as well as all pressure plates at the "British Philatelic Association" for an enormous sum of money. He then withdrew from the forgery business and promised never again to falsify a stamp. His motive for selling the tools of his trade to the "British Philatelic Association" was to prevent them falling into the possession of someone who would imitate his work. Jean de Sperati died three years later in Aix-les-Bains at 73 years old.

His Life's Work

The stamp forgeries of Jean de Sperati are some of the best of the world. Many of them slumber undetected in various collections. Jean de Sperati falsified only the most valuable rarities of the stamp world. He did this with an inimitable precision scarcely obtained by any other counterfeiter. A Sperati-forgery is today in no way worthless. They are highly regarded and obtain high prices as special collectables. Other stamps forgeries, on the other hand, are worthless. Jean de Sperati paid great attention to the plotting of the postmark when falsifying the stamps. Therefore available postmarks are limited to those of larger cities. Sperati's forgeries are currently very valuable in the philatelic market. It is believed that he might have produced over 5,000 forgeries. Fact|date=March 2008

ee also

* Robson Lowe, author of "The Work of Jean de Sperati", 1955, and coauthor with Carl Walske of "The Work of Jean de Sperati II", 2001. (See below)
* Philatelic fakes and forgeries
* List of stamp forgers

External links

* [http://www.gnomevillage.com/gnews/StampNews/Sperati.asp Gnome Village page on Sperati]
* [http://www.glenstephens.com/snapril04.html Glen Stephens column on Sperati forgeries]
* [http://klaseboe.club.fr/sperati.htm Klaseboer list of forgeries]
* [http://economist.com/daily/columns/artview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8509075 Article on Sperati from The Economist]
* [http://www.pbbooks.com/sperati2.htm The Work of Jean de Sperati II] , book by Robson Lowe and Carl Walske, 2001
* [http://www.sothebys.com/app/paddleReg/paddlereg.do?dispatch=eventDetails&event_id=28074 Sotheby's Auction: The Philatelic Collection formed by Sir Gawaine Baillie, Bt. Volume X: British Empire Part two and Sperati Forgeries of the World]