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François Fournier (24 April 1846 – 12 July 1917) 〔Tyler, Varro E. ''Philatelic Forgers: Their Lives and Works.'' London: Robson Lowe Ltd., 1976, pp. 14-15. ISBN 0-85397-052-1〕 was a stamp forger who thought of himself as a creator of "art objects" 〔Ragatz, Lowell., ed. ''The Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries: A Photographic Composite for Reference Purposes''. Worthington, Ohio: Janet van den Berg, 1970, introduction.〕 and a friend of the little man. Fournier was born in Croix-de-Rozon, Switzerland, but became a French citizen and served in the army during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870/71.〔 == Facsimile business == Fournier did not become involved with the philatelic business until later life. In about 1903 he returned to Switzerland and settled in Geneva, where in May 1904 he bought the stock of Louis-Henri Mercier, real name ''Henri Goegg'', who had gone bankrupt.〔 It is at about this time that Fournier began his business producing facsimile stamps. The business grew rapidly, and from 1910 to 1913 Fournier produced his own journal and price list, ''Le Fac-Simile''. He claimed agents in 23 countries and in 1913 stated that he had 10,000 approval customers and 10,000 catalogue customers.〔 His last price list in 1914 shows 3,671 different stamps for sale, although not all were his own creations.〔 At first Fournier was on good terms with stamp dealers and philatelic societies. However, as his business grew and his facsimiles started to be passed off as the real thing by unscrupulous dealers and collectors, a backlash developed against him, and he found his wares banned by dealers and his advertising blocked. The creation of ''Le Fac-Simile'' in 1910 was one way of obtaining publicity for his business, and it was said that up to 25,000 copies of each edition were distributed.〔 The journal was also Fournier's personal platform through which to air his grievances and to rail against his treatment by the mainstream stamp trade and particular individuals in it.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「François Fournier (stamp forger)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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