910644 - Gilbert & Ellice Islands 1935 KG5 Silver Jubilee 1.5d on piece with full strike of Madame Joseph forged postmark type 191

When Derek Worboys purchased the hoard of Madame Joseph cancellers in 1993, his intention was simply to remove them from the gang of London dealers who were putting them to fraudulent use. Once it was decided to illustrate them all in a handbook, Derek wrote to the major postal history dealers requesting some financial help towards this project. Very little was forthcoming until the British Philatelic Trust reimbursed Derek and the Royal Philatelic Society published the book.

Sometime ago, probably in the late 1980’s, a large accumulation of mint Commonwealth stamps became damaged through flooding. The owner laboriously separated the stamps and mounted each on a small square piece of paper. These eventually received the appropriate Madame Joseph cancellation. Thus these ‘worthless’ flood-damaged stamps became quite valuable as ‘fine used’.

Derek remained disappointed with his fellow dealers right up until his death in 1995. As a means to promoting the book, he threatened to ‘name and shame’ several dealers who we knew had been involved in using the cancellers.

The owner of the ‘fine used on pieces’ sent me his stock declaring that he no longer wanted anything to do with them.

Following the success of the book, and the reprint, I felt the time was right to release these items to interested collectors.

                                          Roger West - joint editor
                               Madame Joseph Forged Postmarks

                                Codnor Park                    July 2020