[Above: These stamps, issued from 1940-1942, bear the picture of France's leader Marshal Petain. Petain earned great fame in WW1 and was one of France's greatest war heroes.]
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[Above: These embossed postage stamps depict the Legion Tricolore. Barely visible is a strip of 'albino' stamps separating the strip of blue and red. They are pure white stamps.]
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[Above: Used on envelope, 1944.]
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[Above: These 1943 era postage stamps bear the slogan of the Vichy regime -- Work, Family, Fatherland.]
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[Above: This envelope from 1941 has six vignettes featuring Petain (top), along with an actual French Petain stamp (lower right).]
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[Above: Here is a postage stamp featuring the leader of France, Philippe Pétain. Look below to see a very rare bisect (cut in half) version of the stamp. This was a practice used occasionally all over the world, sometimes done due to shortages of postage stamps (one stamp could be made into two). Most of the time these bisects were authorized by the country's postmaster, but sometimes it was done without proper authorization, perhaps by a local post office, or even a regular person and it managed to slip through the mail. Why this was done here I have no clue...]
[Above: This Red Cross envelope, or rather a paper folded into an envelope, was sent on April 25, 1943 from Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne, a commune in the Corrèze department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of central France. Click to enlarge.]
[Above: Close-up. Click to enlarge.]
[Above: Reverse of envelope. This has basic information on how to reply to this letter, what form to use, etc. Click to enlarge.]
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[Above: These stamps were issued to benefit the French Waffen SS Legion. They were issued April 20, 1942, Adolf Hitler's 53rd birthday.]
[Above: This is a very rare imperf test proof (block of four) missing denominations and inscriptions.]
[Above: More imperforate test proofs missing denominations and inscriptions.]
[Above: Imperforate block of four proofs.]
[Above: Imperforate proof with tab.]
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[Above and below: Here are some examples of these stamps (three with tabs) being used in the military field post. Other than the one above, all of these covers could very well be modern fabrications. To me, they look too clean and even the cancels look off. Beware -- there are tons of fakes!]
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[Above: BEWARE! ACHTUNG! ATTENTION!
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[Above: These stamps were also issued to benefit the French Waffen SS Legion. The top two were issued in 1941, while the bottom two, overprinted and issued in 1942, were issued to help the French soldiers fighting on the Eastern Front in Russia.]
[Above: Rare sheet form.]
[Above: Block of four with tabs.]
[Above: Here are errors of the above stamps. You will notice the overprints are upside down! As you can imagine, these are very rare.]
[Above: Here is a partial sheet of the inverted overprint error.]
[Above: Pair with tabs.]
[Above: Pair with tabs.]
[Above: Very offset printing!]
[Above: More offset printing!]
[Above: Here is another rare variety, this time no print at all.]
[Above: Imperforate blank.]
[Above: Exceptionally rare large die proof.]
[Above: Exceptionally rare large die proof -- color variation.]
[Above: Exceptionally rare large die proof.]
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[Above: Here is an example of the above stamps being used in the military field post.]
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[Above: Envelope with National Socialist 'Und Du?' (And You?) vignette stamp.]
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[Above: Envelope with LVF letterhead.]
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[Above: And lastly, an example of the overprinted variety of this stamp, this time it is machine canceled by the civilian postal service.]
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[Above: BEWARE! ACHTUNG! ATTENTION!
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[Above: A souvenir sheet showing a sword cut into a bear, representing the Communist Soviet Union, which in the picture has laid waste to a city.]
[Above: A different souvenir sheet for study purposes. Color differences are from scanning.]
[Above: Note the engravature marks on the picture, these details are often not on fakes.]
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[Above: An envelope of the above souvenir sheet showing a feldpost stamp, although this was done for philatelic purposes.]
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[Above: Another envelope bearing the bear souvenir sheet, this time hand written.]
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[Above: A rare imperforate example.]
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[Above: An odd error of a piece of a sheet with the words usually below the bear atop it.]
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[Above & below: BEWARE! ACHTUNG! ATTENTION!
[Above: Another fake sheet, this time 'used'. This one would probably fool many young collectors. This sheet was being sold as a reproduction, but could easily enter the market as an 'original' by any unscrupulous person. While this sheet is a good fake, it is not without its flaws. Notice how the color is off and once again it is missing much of the engravature marks of the original. Also note how this fake even has uneven perforations like the original, many fakes miss this detail. The person who faked this sheet used a grey ink for the cancels to make them look faded with age. Beware.]
[Above: Lastly, an imperforate fake. This isn't very convincing. It looks blurry and look at the text -- it's poorly done. Look at the 'E' in 'CONTRE', it is deformed. The fake sheet above this one has the same error.]
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[Above: This German stamp overprinted with the words '33. Waffen Grenadier Division Charlemagne' is FAKE!.
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[Above: A postcard from 1942.]
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[Above: A color version of the postcard above (with slightly different continental graphics).]
[Above: Wording on back of postcard.]
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[Above: Another version of the postcard above, used with Waffen-SS French Legion stamp.]
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[The following are a postcard pack depicting the Waffen SS French Legion.]
[Below: Cover]
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The above item is a fraud and is intended to trick would-be collectors. It uses authentic French Legion stamps, but everthing else is fraudulent. The big stupid looking eagle and swastika to attract people is a dead giveaway. The cancels are also horrid fakes.]
The above item is a fraud and is intended to trick would-be collectors. It uses an authentic feldpost envelope (of very low value) and adds a fake French Waffen-SS postage stamp (the variety seen above). The cancel on the stamp is fake as well. This cancel type is totally fantasy and never existed. Low life frauds, like who made this envelope, often use real feldpost envelopes to add a feel of authenticity to their fakes.]
These sheets are fake and are modern reprints! Be careful, do not be fooled. Luckily you can spot out a fake of this variety relatively easy. First, look at the blue part of the fake stamp above, notice there are no engravature marks like that of the original. The text also looks more purple than the original red. Another clue -- look at the perforation holes on the sheet above. Notice on the originals the perforation is uneven, while on many of the reprints the holes are perfect. The original imperfect perforation pattern is similiar on all originals I've seen. The perforations on the fake below are slightly uneven, but still not to the extent of the originals.]
It appeared on an auction site in 2014. Although technically this might be termed a fantasy since a stamp like this never appeared in the first place.]
