Raoul de Thuin

De Thuin's work was considered so dangerous to philately that his tools and stock were purchased by the American Philatelic Society in 1966 in order to curtail his activities.

[1] In a 1969 letter to Carl Walske, de Thuin stated that he was a good friend of Angelo Panelli, who was closely associated with the forger Erasmo Oneglia.

[5] 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.

[7] De Thuin specialised in forging overprints of Central and South American countries, especially Mexico, thus turning common stamps into rarities.

[9] 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.

[12] The numerous aliases were to circumvent fraud orders which prevented the US Post Office from forwarding mail addressed to particular persons or firms.