Flag on Devil's Island: The Autobiography of One of the Great counterfeiters and Art Forgers of Modern Times [Hardcover]

Francis Lagrange (Author), William Murray (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (1961)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0006AX6XM
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,661,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3.0 out of 5 stars The story of Francis (Flag) LaGrange - Counterfeiter and Forger., August 3, 2006

By 

D. Tubbritt (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flag on Devil's Island: The Autobiography of One of the Great counterfeiters and Art Forgers of Modern Times (Hardcover)

The story of Francis LaGrange - Counterfeiter and Forger.

Francis LaGrange is an artist with a love for life and women. It is love for women that leads him into a life of easy money creating fake antiques and then forging money for the French underworld. His downfall is the theft of a triptych from a church in Rouen, France. LaGrange creates an exact replica of the triptych, replaces the original in the church and the original is sold for millions. His luck runs out when the buyer, an American, looses everything in the stock market crash and the original is triptych is put on the market.
Sentenced to the Penal Colony of French Guiana, LaGrange details his escape attempts, his life on the Iles Du Salut and life after the prison closes.
LaGrange offers a different perspective than most who write about The Bagne. His view is that all other storytellers sensationalized the true life in French Guiana. He even singles out Rene Belbenoit - author of Dry Guillotine". LaGrange's attitude was that those who found prison tough and unfair were lazy and broke the rules. They brought everything on themselves.
Some of La Grange's artwork found its way to The Museum of Art and Archeology in the University of Missouri - Columbia. He also painted the frescos that were in the church on Isle Royal.