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officials, moved to
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, who jailed and then expelled him in 1936. He was living in Belize sometime after 1936 and back to Mexico City by the early 1940s. He then appears to have settled in MĂ©rida, Mexico by 1946. In 1968/9 he moved to Guayaquil, Ecuador his wife's home town - the biggest regret of his life.
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In the 1960s the
American Philatelic Society began a campaign to drive de Thuin out of business through their 'Committee of Five' and after prolonged negotiations most of de Thuin's stock and equipment was bought by the APS in December 1966 in order to remove it from the market. The APS subsequently
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De Thuin's method of sale was to use one of his aliases to send sheets of approvals to collectors, mainly in the United States, which mixed a few genuine common stamps with forgeries of rarer items. Many collectors were duped and in 1962 a London sale of 498 lots of classic Mexico belonging to Prof.
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De Thuin specialised in forging overprints of
Central and South American countries, especially Mexico, thus turning common stamps into rarities. He also copied illustrations that he had seen in magazines, sometimes repeating the mistakes of the original illustrator where he had no original to refer
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As late as 1974 he was still in business in
Guayaquil, Ecuador, though it appears old age and bad eyesight had severely curtailed his activities. In private correspondence of 1974 he stated that he had bought a villa there and was married to an Ecuadorian woman. Although almost blind he was still
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According to contemporary
Mexican newspaper reports, found by the American Philatelic Society, he first entered Mexico in 1931 as a 'journalist', on the run from French and Belgian police who wanted him for forgery. He was then expelled from Mexico for setting up a forgery ring involving public
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and dealer who was originally a citizen of
Belgium but who operated from Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, of which country he eventually became a naturalised citizen. De Thuin's work was considered so dangerous to philately that his tools and stock were purchased by the
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produced a reference guide to his work of over 500 pages, however, there is evidence that de Thuin continued to produce forgeries, or at least to sell them from stock, long after then.
115:, at 35 Boulevard Lambermont in Brussels, Belgium. Services included the removal of fiscal cancellations from British stamps and the application of forged overprints to Siamese stamps.
165:" De Thuin had also been reported as saying that although he had only three wives, he had four hundred mistresses and that they had borne him twenty-five children.
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De Thuin stated that he was engaged in philatelic "work" as early as 1916 and the philatelic world began to be aware of him between the two World Wars.
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The numerous aliases were to circumvent fraud orders which prevented the US Post Office from forwarding mail addressed to particular persons or firms.
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whom Lowe regarded as a superior craftsman. He noted that long before the true identity of de Thuin was known, his work had been identified by
British
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I have no conscience at all at having deceived all those foolish people. They are just fanatics who neglect their families for their passion.
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able to conduct business and to travel, saying that he had recently visited his family in Rio de
Janeiro.
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to. He is thought not to have produced whole stamps apart from the classic issues of Mexico.
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Hormer Lizama was cancelled when the sale was revealed to consist mainly of de Thuin fakes.
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Gilda Rivero
Mendoza was de Thuin's wife and one complainant in 1947 asserted that
307:. State College, Pennsylvania: The American Philatelic Society Inc., 1974, p.377.
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The
Yucatan Affair: The Work Of Raoul Ch. de Thuin, Philatelic Counterfeiter
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The Yucatan Affair: The Work Of Raoul Ch. de Thuin, Philatelic Counterfeiter
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462:. State College, Pennsylvania: The American Philatelic Society Inc., 1974.
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The Oneglia Engraved Forgeries Commonly Attributed to Angelo Panelli
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De Thuin operated using various aliases and accomplices, including:
161:. Lowe reported that de Thuin had been quoted as saying that "
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Linns refresher course on fakes and forgeries by Rick Miller.
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Belgian-Mexican stamp forger and dealer (1890–1975)
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122:, de Thuin stated that he was a good friend of
329:. Limassol, Cyprus: James Bendon, 1996, p.17.
126:, who was closely associated with the forger
394:, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, March–April 1967, p.77.
100:in 1966 in order to curtail his activities.
467:Philatelic Forgers: Their Lives and Works.
285:Philatelic Forgers: Their Lives and Works.
487:Transcripts of de Thuin's correspondence.
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287:London: Robson Lowe Ltd., 1976, p.49.
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377:Sociedad Filatelica de El Salvador,
366:Story of the "Maya Shop" Fraud Order
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149:compared de Thuin unfavourably with
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211:Free French Philatelic Agency
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532:Belgian emigrants to Mexico
381:, San Salvador: Chapter. 3.
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98:American Philatelic Society
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432:"Catalogue Raoul de Thuin"
244:He died on 23 April 1975.
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392:The Canadian Philatelist
379:The El Salvador Handbook
346:Lowe & Walske, p.18.
214:MĂ©rida Philatelic Agency
208:French Philatelic Agency
436:catalogue.klaseboer.com
390:"Postmarked London" in
205:Belgian Export Company
111:In 1927 he had a shop
89:Raoul Charles de Thuin
23:Raoul Charles de Thuin
458:Chemi, James M., ed.
303:Chemi, James M., ed.
259:List of stamp forgers
190:Gilda Rivero de Thuin
187:Gilda Rivero Mendoza
118:In a 1969 letter to
104:Origins and travels
403:Beal, pp. 377-379.
184:Raoul Ch. de Thuin
157:who had named him
368:in Chemi, p. 377.
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512:1975 deaths
507:1890 births
316:Chemi, p.7.
223:R.G. Knapen
217:R.G. Knapen
147:Robson Lowe
120:Carl Walske
68:Citizenship
52:Nationality
501:Categories
265:References
82:and dealer
46:, Ecuador
44:Guayaquil
248:See also
63:'George'
441:17 July
232:The end
173:Aliases
71:Mexican
55:Belgian
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159:George
471:ISBN
443:2009
331:ISBN
289:ISBN
37:Died
32:1890
29:Born
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