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Sigmund Friedl (1851, 
To Austrian philatelists, Sigmund Friedl is known mainly for his Friedl
The 1881 and 1890 Vienna Philatelic Expositions
1851 births 1914 deaths People from Lipník nad Bečvou Moravian-German people Austrian philatelists Stamp forgers Austrian people of Moravian-German descent Austro-Hungarian people Philately of Austria {{Austria-bio-stub
Sigmund Friedl (1851, Lipník nad Bečvou
Lipník nad Bečvou (; german: Leipnik) is a town in Přerov District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,800 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservatio ...
, Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The m ...
– 1914, Vienna
en, Viennese
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) was one of the most famous Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n philatelist
Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is possi ...
s. Toward the end of his life he defrauded stamp collectors by selling them forgeries
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbid ...
.
Sigmund Friedl's interest in postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...
s started already at the age of 13. Only two years later, he started trading them. In 1872, he opened his own stamp shop in Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
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. Soon he became a stamp expert and started working as an examiner. He had great success with his shop, for example, he sold the unique Tre Skilling Banco for a sum of 4,000 florins
The Florentine florin was a gold coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains (3.499 grams, 0.113 troy ounce) of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purcha ...
to the famous collector, Philipp von Ferrary
Philip Ferrari de La Renotière (January 11, 1850 – May 20, 1917) was a noted French-born stamp collector, assembling probably the most complete worldwide collection that ever existed, or is likely to exist. Amongst his extremely rare stamps w ...
. Through his good relationship with the post, he was able to cheaply obtain the remaining stocks of several postage stamps and resell them.
At the same time, he wrote the first Austrian stamp catalogue
A stamp catalog (or stamp catalogue) is a catalog of postage stamp types with descriptions and prices.
The stamp catalog is an essential tool of philately and stamp collecting. Stamp catalogs are part of philatelic literature.
Similar catalogs ...
s and enhanced the stamp albums. Finally, Sigmund Friedl established his own stamp museum in his villa in Unterdöbling Unterdöbling (Central Bavarian: ''Untadöbling'') was an independent municipality until 1892 and is today a part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna. It is also one of the 89 Katastralgemeinden.
Geography
The Katastralgemeinde Unterdöblin ...
. In 1881 and 1890, he organised the first major Austrian stamp exhibitions, which also attracted international attention.
To Austrian philatelists, Sigmund Friedl is known mainly for his Friedl perforation
A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes collectively are called a ''perforation''. The process of creating perforations is called perfor ...
s and the disreputable Friedl forgeries. The Friedl perforations are private perforations of Austrian definitive stamps, which were tolerated by the post. The Friedl perforations always had a different number of perfs than the original perforation of the definitive stamp series made by the post. The forged stamps were mainly forgeries of the Mercury series issued in 1851, which were sold to collectors with fraudulent intent. After the deception was exposed, Friedl had to buy back some of these stamps.
See also
* List of stamp forgersExternal links
The 1881 and 1890 Vienna Philatelic Expositions
1851 births 1914 deaths People from Lipník nad Bečvou Moravian-German people Austrian philatelists Stamp forgers Austrian people of Moravian-German descent Austro-Hungarian people Philately of Austria {{Austria-bio-stub