When English postmaster Rowland Hill initiated the world's first postage stamp, the Black Penny, in 1840, his intention was simply to introduce a uniform and cheap postal rate. But in a few years the example of England was followed by other countries, and the stamps themselves turned from a utilitarian object into an object of collecting.
By the end of the XIX century, some postage stamps became the pride of collectors and cost a fortune. Thus, the stamp of British Guiana was valued at a thousand francs, the stamp of 1847 from the island of Mauritius - in two thousand. The same “Mauritius”, but sample 1849 - blue and red - “pulled” and at all on the astronomical amount - 40 thousand francs. Naturally, the expensive artifacts soon had doppelgangers.
It is no secret that any counterfeiter who has reached significant heights in his craft is a holder of many related specialties; engraver, painter, master printer. Giovanni Speratti was no exception. born October 4, 1884 in Pistoia, Italy. His father, a retired officer, bought a paper factory, where he produced various printing products. In addition to Giovanni, the family had two older sons - Massimo and Mariano. All of them helped their father in the business, each learning one aspect of it. Giovanni learned the techniques of engraving, printing and photography. He learned all these skills from renowned masters in the city of Bologna.
One of the marketing chips factory Speratti was the production of paper, imitating the ancient parchment. Other popular products were photographic and engraved postcards, for the production of which Giovanni was responsible. In addition, the two older brothers took orders from the Philatelic Society of Tuscany to issue postage stamps on its behalf. So the process of publishing various stamps was quite ordinary for all the Speratti brothers.
But despite his efforts, at the beginning of the 20th century Colonel Speratti's factory went bankrupt. In 1909, he and his sons were forced to leave for France. Here each of the brothers went his own way. One became a military man, the other - a photographer, and Giovanni began to participate in the publication of philatelic magazine. It was his immersion in the world of philatelists that allowed him to learn the true value of individual stamps.
In those days, collecting them was the domain of the rich. In particular, Rockefeller, Emperor Nicolai II. the Spanish King Alfonso XS and GD had extensive collections. And Giovanni, who by then had become Jean de Speratti, decided to cash in on this. Since he knew which stamps were of considerable value, he chose as a trial balloon the first stamps of the Republic of San Marino of 1877 issue. Although they were printed typographically on special paper, this was not a problem for an expert like Speratti. How much the master sold his fake creation for, history does not tell us. However, in 1910, the stamp work Speratti surfaced at the Berlin auction and had a certificate of authenticity. Unaware of its true origin, fake for a serious amount of money bought a famous businessman and philatelist, Dr. Keler. The fraud was revealed only after 20 years, which was reported in the German tabloids.
Following the San Marino stamp, Speratti “issued” stamps of the Cape of Good Hope. The fraudster often advertised the sale in his own magazine. The prices were much lower than those asked by collectors for authentic copies. But Speratti provided a certificate of authenticity along with the stamp. Not his own, but the authority of experts. The fact that Giovanni for his “work” bought cheap stamps of the same year that the release of the necessary artifact. After that, with the help of a solution invented by him deduced the original drawing, leaving untouched the paper, watermarks and stamping stamp. On the resulting blank, the master printed a fake stamp. The degree of Giovanni's skill is evidenced by the fact that for the stamp he selected one of 500 varieties of paper, and the shades of green ink alone had at his disposal more than a hundred. So there is nothing surprising in the fact that the experts could not detect the forgery.
It is not known how long Giovanni's business would have prospered if not for an unfortunate accident. In 1942, Speratti was living in the French town of Au le Bon and, as a citizen of Allied Reich Italy, had no problems with the German administration and collaborationist authorities. He still sold his forgeries using the French post office. Except that, unlike before the war, there was strict censorship in France in those days. Letters were selectively opened and checked for credibility. In February 1942, Speratti's message to Portugal was subjected to such an opening. Although the Italian wrote on the envelope and on the accompanying sheet that he was sending copies of 18 stamps, postal officials doubted this. They decided that Speratti was defrauding them and the tax office by evading taxes and smuggling art. The depot was handed over to the police, who, despite the sender's explanation, took his own recognizance.
At the same time, the detectives sent the Speratti stamps for examination to the famous philatelist Edmond Locard. The latter thoroughly examined not only the stamp designs, but also the method of printing, inks, texture, paper, watermarks and perforation. And gave his verdict. “The stamps are genuine, in excellent condition, very rare and expensive.” He estimated the value of the collection at 224,000 French francs. As a result, Speratti, instead of being charged with counterfeiting stamps and fined, faced a much more impressive article - “smuggling of cultural property”, which provides from 3 to 15 years in prison.
When the investigator presented the expert's report to Speratti, he clutched his head. The Italian claimed that the stamps were made by himself, and demanded that not one but several experts give an opinion on the authenticity. Law enforcers sent works Giovanni Swedish specialist Imre Vaida. That was greatly surprised when he saw at once 10 samples of the rarest Swedish stamp 1855. It was a yellow three-skillingovik - a yellow-colored stamp known among collectors. Just recently, the only surviving specimen left the auction for 20 thousand dollars. Since technically Vajda couldn't tell what he was seeing - whether it was a fake or not - he decided to think logically Speratti couldn't have gotten 10 genuine stamps at once. “So,” the Swede concluded, “he forged them.
When Speratti appeared before the Paris court, both the prosecution and the defense had their own expert opinions. In addition, the defense lawyer drew the court's attention to the fact that the French criminal code does not contain the concept of philately at all. That is, stamps, however valuable, are just a means of postal collection, not objects of art. Therefore, to judge his client under the article “smuggling of cultural property” is inadmissible As a result, the court sentenced the fraudster to a year in prison and a fine of 10 thousand francs for the attempted illegal export of stamps In addition. Speratti was obliged to compensate for damages of 300 thousand francs in favor of the Union of philatelic traders Later the fine was reduced to a symbolic 5 thousand francs After serving time Speratti continued to “print” vintage stamps. Post-war Europe was a fertile place for the sale of counterfeits. The fraudster even declared himself “Rubens philately,” implying that his skill is as great as that of the great painter By the way, experts could find only one way to get him out. He always printed the stamps in lithography. And some stamps were printed with metallography. That's how they were distinguished. But if the printing methods of the original and the fake coincided, Speratti's stamps were indistinguishable from the originals.
Realizing that with such abilities, the Italian will simply destroy the world of philately. The Royal Philatelic Society of London decided to take unprecedented measures. In 1953, it concluded an agreement with Giovanni to pay him 10 million francs in exchange for the fact that he once and for all will refuse to print counterfeit stamps. Under the terms of this agreement, the Italian surrendered to the museum of the society equipment, tools, clichés and fake stamps Remaining at Speratti stamps were also attached to the agreement and posted in special albums of the museum.
A year later, the swindler published a book “Complex Techniques for the Production of Imitations of Postage Stamps”, but he never discovered all the methods of stamp printing. In 1957, Giovanni Speratti died, taking all his secrets to his grave.
