The Navigation and Commerce issue is a definitive

Definitive stamp

A definitive stamp is a postage stamp, that is part of a regular issue of a country's stamps available for sale by the postal service for an extended period of time...

 series of French postage stamps issued for the colonial territories of France. It was designed by Louis-Eugène Mouchon.

The issue uses a standard design featuring allegorical

Allegory

Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...

 representations of navigation and commerce. The territory name is imprinted in a rectangular cartouche

Cartouche (design)

A cartouche is an oval or oblong design with a slightly convex surface, typically edged with ornamental scrollwork. It is used to hold a painted or low relief design....

 centered at the bottom of the stamp.

In the French colonies, it is the first series of territory-specific postal releases. To add the territory name permitted to end money loss from people buying stamps in low-valued currency colonies and selling or using them in high-valued currency colonies.
It was first released in 1892, with later releases featuring new color schemes. Dates vary by territory, but by 1900 values start appearing surcharged

Overprint

An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage stamp or banknote after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purposes such as accounting but they are also employed in public mail...

 in red or black ink to use the remaining stocks while colonies then used illustrated stamps.

List of French Territories that used Navigation and Commerce Stamps

• Anjouan
  Postage stamps of Anjouan
  In 1892 the French omnibus Navigation and Commerce issue of postage stamps included types specifically intended for use in the island of Anjouan. These were inscribed "SULTANAT / D'ANJOUAN". A series of surcharged values issued in 1912 was available for use in Madagascar and all of the Comoros, and...
  
  
• Benin
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Dahomey
• Diego-Suárez
  Postage stamps of Diégo-Suarez
  Diego-Suárez is a city at the northern tip of Madagascar in Antsiranana province. It was a French colony in the late 19th century until it was returned to Madagascar in 1896...
  
  
• French Congo
• French Guiana
• French Guinea
• French Polynesia/Oceania
  Postage stamps and postal history of French Polynesia
  This is a survey of the postal history and postage stamps of French Polynesia, formerly known as the French Oceanic Settlements.- Tahiti :The use of Tahiti postage stamps on mail first became valid on 25 October 1862, using the general stamps of the French Colonies. In 1882 a shortage of 25c stamps...
  
  
• French Sudan
• Gabon
  Postage stamps and postal history of Gabon
  This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Gabon.Gabon is a country in west central Africa sharing borders with the Gulf of Guinea to the west, Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, and Cameroon to the north, with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. Its size...
  
  
• Grand Comoro Island
  Postage stamps and postal history of the Comoros
  The postage stamps and postal history of the Comoro Islands is an overview of the postage stamps and postal history of the Comoro Islands, an Indian Ocean archipelago located on the south-east side of Africa....
  
  
• Guadeloupe
• India
• Indochina
  Postage stamps and postal history of Indochina
  This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Indochina.-First stamps:The postage stamps of French Indochina begin on May 16, 1886, with the overprinting of "5" or "5 C...
  
  
• Madagascar
• Martinique
• Mayotte
  Postage stamps and postal history of Mayotte
  This is an overview of the postage stamps and postal history of the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, one of the Comoros Archipelago islands located on the south-east side of Africa....
  
  
• Moheli
  Postage stamps and postal history of the Comoros
  The postage stamps and postal history of the Comoro Islands is an overview of the postage stamps and postal history of the Comoro Islands, an Indian Ocean archipelago located on the south-east side of Africa....
  
  
• New Caledonia
• Nossi-Be
• Obock
• Reunion
• Senegal
• Senegambia & Niger
  Senegambia and Niger
  Senegambia and Niger was a short-lived administrative unit of the French possessions in Africa, formed in 1902 and reorganized in 1904 into Upper Senegal and Niger....
  
  
• St. Pierre & Miquelon
• Ste. Marie de Madagascar

Forgeries

Charles Hirschburger, a forger of postage stamps

Philatelic fakes and forgeries

In general, philatelic fakes and forgeries refers to labels that look like postage stamps but are not. Most have been produced to deceive or defraud...

, and successor to master forger François Fournier

François Fournier

François Fournier was a stamp forger who thought of himself as a creator of "art objects" and a friend of the little man....

, made copies of the Navigation and Commerce stamps from the various colonies, including "most denominations". These were produced between 1917 and 1923 and are sometimes called "Fournier" forgeries. They are still extremely common. The forgeries are perforated 13.5 by 14, whereas the genuine ones are 14 by 13.5. There are also details in the designs which distinguish the forgeries. The forgeries were made on sheets of 30 stamps, each having a different colony name in the lower panel. Counterfeit overprints also were made for this series.

Sources and references

Notes
Sources

• Scott Catalog, 2008 edition.