MERCURY STAMP JOURNALPublished periodically by the MERCURY STAMP COMPANY

522 Fifth Ave., New York 36, N. Y.Edited by Edwin Mueller

No. 32 Copyright, 1954, by Edwin Mueller

EUROPEAN CLASSICS

DECEMBER, 1954

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XII. FRANCE

France was and is one of the great powersof Europe. When postage stamps were in­troduced in 1849, it was a Republic; itbecame a Monarchy in 1852 and again aRepUblic in 1870. On the north, Francebordered on Belgium and Luxembourg, onthe east on the German States of Prussia(Rhine Province), Bavaria (Palatinate) andBaden, the Rhine forming the frontier be­tween the last named and France, thenSwitzerland (Cantons of Basel, Bern, Neu­chatel, Vaud and Geneve) and the Kingdomof Sardinia (Savoy and Piedmont). On thesouth, the border was formed by the Medi­terranean Sea, with the island of Corsicabelonging to France, and the PyreneesMountains, with Spain (Provinces of Na­varre, Aragon and Cataluna) on the otherside of the Pyrenees and tiny Andorrainbetween. The vVestern border was theAtlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay and EnglishChannel). In 1849, France covered 204,350square miles, with 350 million inhabitants.In 1860, after the acquisition of Savov andKizza, this increased to 212,650 sq. mi: witha population of 370 million, which rose to38 million in 1866. By the loss of Alsaceand Lorraine, France's territory was reducedin 1871 to 207,000 sq. mi. with little over36 million inhabitants. In 1876, the popu­lation had risen again to almost 37 million.

Since 1792, France has been divided intodistricts, called Departements. Originally,there were 83 depa1·te1nents, numbered inalphabetical order, from Ain to Yonne. Dur­ing the wars of the Republican and Napo­leonic periods, the newly acquired territories~lso were divided into departements, so that111 1811 there were no less than 134 departe­ments. After 1815, France again was con­fined to its original boundaries, but due tointernal changes the number of departementshad increased slightly and in 1849 was 86.

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When the Sardinian provincl's of Annecy,Chambery and Nizza were acquired in 1860,three new departements with the numbers87, 88, and 89 were formed. In 1871, theloss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany affectedfive departements, namely Bas-Rhin (No.67), which was lost completely, Haut-Rhin(No. 66), of which a small slice remained as"Territoire de Belfort" under French sov­ereignty, Moselle (No. 55) and Meurthe(No. 52), of which less than half remained,to be combined into a new departement,Meurthe and Moselle (No. 52), as well asVosges (No. 82), of which only a small sliceof territory was lost. The numbers of thelost departements were not reassigned; there­fore, at the end of the classic stamp period,France was divided into 86 departements,numbered from 1 to 89 (except the numbers55, 66 and 67), and the territory of Belfort.

The capital of France was and is Pariswhich with its suburbs formed a separat~departement Seine (No. 60). The city wasfounded by the Romans, who had called itParisia, and became one of the most im­portant cities of the world. It had a popu­lation of 1,050,000 in 1851, which had risenin 1861, after incorporation of the suburbs,to 1,700,000 and in 1876 to almost 2 mil­lion.

France had during the classic stamp perioda rather large number of overseas possessions.One of them, Algeria, on the northern coastof Africa, from 1848 was considered an in­tegral part of France. It covered about

The Mercury Stamp Journal is sent reg­ularly to friends and customers of theMERCURY STAMP COMPANY free ofdarge. Others may obtain four consecu­tive numbers upon payment of $1.00.Bound Volume 1 (Nos. I to 12 withindex) $5.00, back num bers (ava ilableNos. 9, 12-14, 18, 22, 27-31) 25c each.

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80,000 sq. mi. and had a population of about2,200,000 in 1849, of which only about110,000 were Europeans. While the totalpopulation increased only slowly - it was2,500,000 in 1856 and 2,800,000 in 1876­the European population almost tripled dur­ing that period, being 170,000 in 1856 and320,000 in 1876. Until 1858, Algeria wasunder military rule, then civilian adminis­tration was gradually established. In 1871,almost completely under civilian adminis­tr,ation, Algeria was divided into three de­partements. The other French overseas pos­sessions consisted in 1849 mainly of a numberof settlements on the West Coast of Africa,later forming in part the colonies of Senegaland Ivory Coast, several islands near theeast coast of Africa, the most importantbeing Reunion, French India, consisting offive settlements on the coast of British India,as well as a number of small islands in thePacific, with Tahiti as the most importantone. On the American continent, only onepossession, French Guiana, remained of agreat empire, as well as the islands ofGuadeloupe and Martinique in the Carribeanand St. Pierre and Miquelon off the coastof Newfoundland. During the c1assic stampperiod, the possessions on the west coast ofAfrica, especially in Guinea, as well as inthe Pacific-the latter mainly by the ac­quisition of New Caledonia-were enlarged,and a few new possessions, the Somali Coast(Djibuti) on the north-west coast of Africa,and Cochinchina-a part of Indochina-wereadded. Altogether, the French possessionswere numerous and scattered all over theworld, but compared with the French colonialempire of the 18th century and with the1arge and valuable possessions in Africa,which were acquired after the end of theclassic stamp period, were of little impor­tance.

The history of France is a long and color­ful one. The earliest inhabitants of thecountry had come from the east, amongthem the Liguri,ans and Iberians, who hadsettled in the southern part. As early as600 B.C. the Greeks had a colony at Mas­silia, the present Marseille. About the sametime, the Gauls, which belonged to the Celticrace, invaded the territory from the eastand subjugated the former inhabitants. Theirthree branches, the Aquitani, Celtae andBelgae, settled in a territory which extendedover the borders of the later France, mainly

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at the North and East, where it extendedto the Rhine. They were a nomadic raceand wandered far, even to Asia and Africa,Britain and Spain. Northern Italy was longunder their rule and in 390 B.C. they oc­cupied Rome ,and burned it. Eventually,they were driven back by the Romans whothen in turn invaded Gaul territory, whichthey called Gallia. In 50 B.C., Caesar com­pleted the conquest and established on theterritory of the later France, Belgium andNethermnds the Roman provinces of Aqui­tania in the North and Gallia in the South,to be redivided in 26 B.C. into four provinces,Aquitania, Gallia Belgica, Gallia Lugdunen­sis and Gallia Narbonensis. The decline ofthe Roman Empire also brought the downfallof the Gauls who in the last centuries ofthat Empire had played an important partin its history. Teutonic races moved in fromthe east in the 3rd and 4th century andafter a turbulent period, during which thehordes of the Visigoths, Burgnndians, Yan­daIs and Huns moved on their nomadicwanderings through the territory, the Franks,a Germanic tribe from the Lower and MiddleRhine, gained possession of the whole ter­ritory. It remained for the time being partof the Western Roman Empire, but in the5th century, on independent Frankish King­dom was established. It contained not onlyall of France, but also Belgium, Netherlands,and extended over a large part of westernGermany and Austria, Switzerland and evena northern slice of Spain. Under Charle­magne, who ruled from 768 to 814 and wascrowned "Emperor of the West", the Frank­ish Kingdom became one of the most power­ful entities in the world, extending fromthe Spanish peninsula to the plains ofHungary and from Denmark to SouthernItaly. After this empire was divided in 843,the Western Frankish Kingdom was estab­lished, which had as its eastern boundary theRhine and comprised beside France part ofBelgium in the north. In the 9th and 10thcenturies, the power of the kings deterio­rated and independent lords greatly limitedthe royal authority. In the 12th century, aconflict with England, which claimed theFrench crown, beg,an and continued for threecenturies. During that time, the British dur­ing some periods controlled almost all ofFrance and the French king became nearlypowerless. In 1328, the House of Valois cameto power and the authority of the kingdom

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was gradually restored. But still only halfof France was loyal to the king, while theother parts were either occupied by theBritish or were in the hands of Britishvassals. At the middle of the 16th century.about twenty percent of the country didnot recognize the authority of the king,which deteriorated again, when shortly latera series of civil wars started. They ledeventually to the accession of the House ofBourbon to the throne in 1589. The rule ofthe Bourbon kings, although characterizedby many wars, especially against the Habs­burgs, led under Louis XIV to the establish­ment of a united kingdom, in about thepresent boundaries of the country. LouisXIV's rule was the culminating point ofgreat luxury and splendor by the rulingclass, which eventually proved to be theseeds of the bloody French Revolution, whichstarted in 1789 under the rule of Louis XVI.The revolutionary period, which had led tothe First French Republic, ended in 1799,when the suceessful General Napoleon Bona­parte was made First Consul in a provisionalthree Consul government. In 1800 Napoleonbeeame dictator and in 1804 was erowned"Emperor of all Frenchmen". During theten years of his rule, N.apoleon's militarygenius brought France to the greatest mightin its history and in 1811 the borders ofFrance had been extended to the Baltic(incI. northern Germany and the Hanseatiecities), Belgium, Netherlands, parts ofNorthern and Central Italy and the IllyricProvinces (on the eastern coast of theAdriatic). Aside from that, almost all Europewas composed either of French vassal statesor allies of Franee, leaving only GreatBritain, Russia and Turkey outside of Na­poleon's orbit. When Napoleon in 1812 triedto invade Russia, his downfall started, untilhis final defeat and abdication in 1815.Louis XVIII of Bourbon now was establishedking, followed in 1824 by Charles X, whowas deposed by a revolution in 1830. LouisPhilippe, Duke of Orleans, beeame king,but he also was forced to abdicate as aresult of the revolution of 1848, when themonarchy was abolished and the SecondFrench Republic created. But it was ofshort duration, because a nephew of Na­poleon I, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, waselected president by the National Assembly.and established himself in 1851 as dictator.A year later, he was crowned Emperor

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Napoleon III. For helping in a war againstAustria in 1859, he gained from SardiniaSavoy (Savoie) and Nizza (Nice) in 1860,but intervention in the civil war in Mexicofrom 1862 to 1867 ended in defeat. TheFranco-Prussian war of 1870-71 led to theoccupation of large parts of French territoryby the German Armies headed by Prussiaand to the defeat of the French armies.After the siege and capitUlation of Paris,it came to an armistice which resulted inthe loss of the provinces of Alsace (Elsass)and Lorraine (Lothringen). Napoleon III,who had been captured, was deposed, andthe Third French RepUblic was created. Theseat of the government was transferredduring the siege of Paris to Bordeaux andhad to be transferred again outside of Paris,to Versailles, after the hostilities ended,because a kind of communist regime, theCommune of Paris, had been establishedthere in March 1871, which lasted for twomonths. Only then the republican govern­ment returned to Paris and the NationalAssembly elected the chief of the pro­visional government, Adolphe Thiel'S, aspresident. In a rather short period of yearsthe damage, caused by war and revolution,was repaired. Thiel'S resigned in 1873 andwas succeeded by Marshal MacMahon, whosepresidency lasted until 1879.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, Francehad become one of the great colonial powers,with valuable possessions, especially in theEast and West Indies, as well as on theNorth American continent. But in the 18thand the early 19th century most of thesecolonies were lost, mostly to the British,among them Canada, which was ceded in1713 and 1763. The island of San Domingo,which had become a French colony in 1677,acquired independence in 1801 and theRepublic of Haiti was established there.Louisiana, _the last colony on the NorthAmerican continent, was sold to the UnitedStates in 1803. During the classic stampperiod, France had only a number of rathersmall colonies of mediocre importance andonly in later decades, by great acquisitionson the African continent, France againbecame one of the great colonial powers.

The postal history of France starts inpre-Roman times, but until the Middle Ages,the mail service was kept for royal, govern­mental and ecclesiastical matters only. Thegener.al public had to send their letters by

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fa VOl' of travellers or had to bargain forthe fee with the postholders. The firstattempts to organize private mail serviceswere made by universities, religious ordersas well ,as large cities, by the latter mainlyfor the needs of the merchants. But therewas no general organization and littlecoordination. Only in 1464, a decree by KingLouis XI laid the foundation for an organ­ized governmental mail service, to serve thegeneral pUblic. Fixed mail routes' andschedules were established gradually through­out the country and postal stations werebuilt to sustain them. By a treaty with theGeneral Postmaster Francis of Taxis in 1504,mail routes through France for the Taxismail service were created and in this waypostal connections with foreign countrieswere established. There were still no generalletter rates, the fees to be paid having to beagreed npon with the individual postmasters.Only in 1576 was a uniform rate schedulefor letters established by decree and theoffice of Controleur General des Postescreater1 to supervise all mail matters. Thegovernment mail service still had no mon­opoly and the mail services of the cities,universities, etc. provided a competitionwhich led to continuous conflicts. This prob­lem was partly solved in 1610 when thecities were forced to abolish their mailservices. Later in the 17th century, all otherprivate mail services were abolished and in1672 the government became the sole opera­tor of the postal service in the country. Butthe government started to lease operationof the mail service to private contractors,who paid the king increasing amounts forthe privilege of operating the mails. Thisprivilege now became a highly valued pos­session, which passed from one hand toanother for large sums of money. In turn,the contr,actors charged the postmasters bigsums for the privilege of operating thepostal stations as well as the mail routes,forcing the postmasters to charge high letterand other rates to the public, to make endsmeet. In this way, the postal service be­came one of the means of squeezing largesums out of the public, especially the mer­chants, who needed the mail service fortheir business, and it was considered anotherform of the heavy taxation by the kingcustomary at that time. At the same time,the government also leased the privilege toestablish 100al mail services in the large

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cities and a number of "Petites Postes",which provided local mail service only, werecreated, the first one in Paris in 1653. Thefirst postal treaties with foreign govern­ments were concluded, when in 1664, thegovernment took over the foreign mailservice. Bnt this was of short duration anllin 1694, the foreign mail service togetherwith the domestic one was leased for anagain increased amount to a contractor. Thepostal privilege eventually fell into the handsof a clique of a few noble families who, tomake up for the steadily mounting yearlytribute they had to pay to the king, increasellthe postal r,ates so high that practically onlythe rich people and, for necessity, the busi­nessmen, could make use of the mails. N ever­theless, the mail service had developedsteadily and in 1735 there were almost 1000post offices in the country. The mail serviceto foreign countries also developed and in1778 for the first time a speeial ship mailservice to the colonies was inaugurated,which extended in 1786 to North America.In 1780, the first step to re-establish govern­ment-operated mail service was made, bytakiug over all "Petites Postes" in the cities,which in 1786 were consolidated with theother postal service, when establishment ofloeal mail delivery was considered. One ofthe first acts after the revolution of 1789was to end the leasing of the postal serviceand to put its operation again into the handsof the government. A Direction Generaledes Postes was est,ablished in 1789, whicheffected a complete reorganization of thepostal service and the establishment ofuniform postal rates. For the following years,a large part of the efforts had to be con­centrated on the organization of the mailservice in the occupied countries, as wellas to and from the French armies, scattel'edall over Enrope and North Africa. In thisway, quite a reorganization of the Europeanmail service in general took place, withroutes running throughout the whole con­tinent, among them, from 1812, a directoverland mail route from Paris to Constan­tinople, where a French post office wasopened in 1813. After the end of the Na­poleonic period, the domestic mail servicewas improved. Rural mail service was in­troduced in 1830 and, a few years later, thefirst raill'oads and steam boats were used fortmnsporting the mails. The first ratherprimitive travelling post offices were estab-

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lished in 1844 to he made a ennanentiustitntion on Jan. 1, 1845. A uniformletter rate for the ,,·hole country (including_\lgeria) was debated for a numbcr of years,l"'fore it was accepted, together with theintroduction of the first postage st.amps, on.Jan. 1, 1849. The postal selTice was nowconducted b~- a Direction de I'AdministrationGenerale des Postes. For the various warsin which the countr~- was involved between1815 and 1870, rather elaborate fieldpostorganizations ,verI' in operation.

During the Franco-Prussian ,Var of 1870­'il, the postal service ,Yent through its mosttrying period since the issuance of postagestamps. Paris, the seat of the postal adminis­tration, was threatened by encirclement and,,-hen the government moved to Bordeaux, thepostal administration, which had been con­solidatNI with the telegraph administration,followed suit. Large parts of the countrywere occupied by the enemy and, after thesiege of Paris became complete in September1870, the postal administration wrs cut offfrom its supply of postage stamps and itsParis printing plant. Shortage of stampssoon made itself felt and supplies wereshifted from one part of the country toanother and from one post office to another.As there was no suitable government print­ing plant outside of Paris which could printt~-pographed stamps, the original plan toget the printing plates or matrices fromP,aris by balloon was abandoned. As theBordeaux Mint had adequate facilities formanufacturing lithographed stamps, anemergency issue, lithographed and imperfo­rate, ""as hurriedl~" produced there and thefirst v,alue issued as earl~- as Nov. 13, 1870.These emerw'nc~" stamps, together 'Yith theavailable stock of IJl"eYious issues, servedthe post offices in the unoccupied parts ofthe country outside Paris. Their further man­ufacture was abandoned in :March 1871, whenthe Paris Mint again was able to supplystamps to the whole country. During thesiege, Paris had the facilities of the Paris~Hnt at its disposal and therefore did notsuffer any shortages of stamps; even theplates of 10c, 20c .and 40c in the old Ceresdesign of 1849 were reactivate(l in October1870 and were useel for the so-called ParisSiege issue, which until ::\farch 1871 wasused only in Paris. Dnring the siege, Paristried first to send mail runners through tlleGerman lines, but when this failed-only

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few such mail runners re,ached friendlyterritory and still fewer returned safely tothe city-~a regular service by balloons wasestablished in September 1870, which func­tioned until January 1871. This was thefirst g(\vermuent-organized air mail servicein the world. A similar one, but of much lessimportance, was organized in the beleagueredfortl'ess of Metz until it surrendered to theel",my, from August to October 1870. TheParis balloon service carried about 2,500,000pieces of mail, on 66 flights. Mail from out­side Paris to the city was successfully de­livered by carrier pigeons. A futile attemptto send mail down the Seine to Paris infloating containers was also made. Soonafter tllC siege was lifted, the rebellion ofthe Paris Commune in March 1871 made theconstitntional government ,again move fromParis, this time to Versailles, and the postaland telegraph administration was also es­tablished there. The Paris Commune hadestablished its own postal administration,which was restricted to Paris, but had notonly taken possession of the Paris Mint, butalso of all printing material and the stocksof stamps. While Paris was well suppliedwith stamps-the existing stocks and newprintings from the old plates, in the Ceresand Xapoleon designs - there was againshortage of stamps outside of Paris. Theexisti" g stocks were shifted around, butthis was not sufficient and the postal ad­ministration was just considering reactiva­tion of the emergency printing of stamps inBordeaux, when the rebellion was suppressedin May 1871 and the regular Paris printingfacilities again became available. But ittook until 1872 for the supply of stamps tobecame regular again and until 1877 for thelast stamps with the Napoleon head to bereplaced by stamps in a mOl'e republicandesign.

After retul'll of the post,al and telegraphadministration to Paris in May 1871, thegreat task of complete reorganization of theservice was started, which took several years,almost to the elld of the classic stamp period.In 1873, there were about 11,500 miles ofrailroads. There was, in contrast to manyother eoulltrics, no postal parcel post inFranee during the classic stamp period,postal parcels being introduced there onlyin 1881. France harl a great number ofpostal treaties with foreign countries andin 1875 became a founding member of the

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Universal Postal Union. Due to difficultiesin the legislature, the universal postal treatybecame effective in France on Jan. 1, 1876,six months later than in the other founding

countries.During the classic stamp period, the

volume of mail showed a sharp increase forwhich principally the cheap uniform letterrates, introduced simultaneously with thepostage stamps, were responsible. The num­ber of domestic letters was 158 million, in­eluding 26j1, million city letters, in 1849,and rose to 185j1, million in 1853, 290 mil­lion in 1863 and 365 million in 1869, wentback to 349 million in 1872 and 354 millionin 1873, after the war of 1870-71 and theloss of Alsace and Lorraine, to start to riseagain slowly in the following years. Anequally high amount of other mail wascarried, for example 379 million newspapers

in 1869.When postage stamps were intl'oduced on

Jan. 1, 1849, France had a highly developedpostal system. There were about 3500 postoffices in operation and their number in­creased rather rapidly. The acquisition ofSavoy and Nizza in 1860 added 113 llostoffices ,am] at the end of 1862 they num­bered in France proper around 4500. Theloss of Alsace and Lorraine in 1871 involvedalso the loss of 170 post offices which cameunder German sovereignty. At the end ofthe classic period, at the beginning of 1876,there were in France over 6250 post offices.According to their importance, the postoffices were divided into several categories,"Bureaux de Direction", from 1864 named"Bureaux de R,ecette", being the highestgrade of offices, while "Bureaux de Dis­tribution" had somewhat restricted serviceonly. "Facteurs-Boitiers", which workedmainly in the rural parts, were a kind ofletter collecting agency, with rather stronglyreduced serviee. In the capital, Paris, therewere about 25 post offices in 1849 ann al­most 40 in 1876, ,not counting the post officesin the suburbs whieh were incorporatecl intothe capital in 1860. The Paris main postoffic,e had the name "Bureaux Central";the other offices were either "Bureaux Prin­cipal" or, with reduced service, "Bm'eauxSupplementaires". In Algeria, which wasconsidered pa rt of France, there were arounn25 post offices in 1849 and 30 in 1853; thena fast development set in and the numberof post offices increased to 80 in 1863 and

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140 in 1876. 'fhe first reguLar travell'ingpost offices on railroad trains were createdin France on Jan. 1, 1845. They were activeon 5 routes in 1855, on over 50 routes in1863 and more than 80 routes at the endof the elassic period in 1876. No actualtravelling post offices existec] on ships. Whilefacilities for the handling of mail by thepersonnel of the ships existed long beforestamps were introducen, contractual agree­ments for the aeceptance of mail on boardof ships seem to have existed only since

1853.France had a number of post officcs on

foreign territory, but all of the early oneswere closed before the end of the 18theentury and, therefore, are of lesser interest.In 1860, when Savoy and Nizza had cometo France, it inherited also the postal servicein the principality of Monaco, which fromthen on was conducted by the French postaladministration as part of its own service.Only one post office, in the capital Monaco,existed during the classic stamp period. Inthe little republic of Andorra in the Pyrenees,the postal service was conducted by the twoprotectors, Fr,ance and Spain, but there isno proof that a regular French postal serviceexisted in Andorra during the elassic stampperion, although there are strong indicationsthat postal facilities were provined by theFrench postal service. On Swiss territory,in Basel, from 1846 to 1865, France had apost offiee at the railroad station, mainlyto faeilitate the transit of mail. A numberof post offices existed during the classicstamp perion in various towns of theTurkish Ernpire and its tributary territories.In 1813, such offices had been establisheda t Constantinople, Salonica, Smyrna andBosna-Serail. Several new offices were openedaround 1830, and others had been closed_In 1849, French post offices functioned inConstantinople, Beyrouth, Dardanelles andSmyrna as well as Alexandria (Egypt). Be­tween 1852 and 1863, 18' more post offices onTurkish territory were opened and one closed.During the same period, one more postoffice in Egypt (Suez), two in Moldavia­Wa,lachia (Galatz, Ibraila), one in Tunisia(,runis) ann one in Morocco (Tangier)started to operate, as well as one in China(Shanghai). After 1863, nine additionalpost offices, of which five were in theTurkish Empire, two in Egypt, one in Tun­isia and one in Japan (Yokohama), were

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opened and six closed, of which three' welein the Turkish Empire, one in Egypt andtwo in 1101dana-Walachia (now Romania).At the end of the classic stamp period, in1876, there existed 31 French post officeson foreign soil, namely 23 in the TurkishEmpire, three in Egypt, two in Tunisia andone e.ach in 11orocco, China and Japan.

Aside from regular post offices on foreignsoil, additional postal facilities were operatedat some French consulates. In some cases,they acted as feeders to the regular Frenchpost offices, especially on Turkish territory,where mail from inland town was in thisway brought to the French post offices inthe sea ports. Examples of this were theFrench consulates at Aleppo and Jerusalem,which accepted mail and forwarded it by,my of the French post offices at Alexan­dretta and Jaffa respectively. In other cases,the consulates acted as feeders for themail-carrying French shipping lines, espe­

cially in South America, where the consulatesfunctioned as postal agencies and deliveredthe mail entrusted to them directly to theFrench ships which carried it to Europe.This was the case especially in Argentinaand Venezuela, where this mail service as­sumed large proportions, but also, to asmaller extent, in other countries in SouthAmerica and in the Carribean.

The postal service in France during theclassic stamp period was so efficient thatit left practically no room for private mailservices. Only during the emergency of theCommune of Paris in 1871, when the capitalwas in the hands of rebels, private initiativewas able to interwne. The postal admini­stration of the constitutional governmentdid not recognize the postal administrationof the Commune. ']'herefore, the former didnot accept mail from the Commune postalservice and did not deliver any mail destinedfor Paris to the latter. Paris, after themonths of the siege, in this way again wasseparated from the other parts of the countryand the mail service to and from the outsideworld was completely interrupted. With thepermission of the Commune postal admini­stration and tolerated by the governmentalpostal administration, a number of privateagencies were cre,ated ill Paris which againsta fee acted as intermediaries for mail fromParis to other parts of France 01' foreigncountries, and vice-versa. Several post officesin the vicinity of Paris, especially Vincennes

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and St. Denis, which were in the hands ofthe governmental postal service, were usedas exchange points. Mail was taken over anddelivered in Paris either directly from orto private senders, or to the Commune postalservice. As the rebellion lasted for not muchmore than two months, these private mailEervices were of very short duration andthey vanished after the suppression of theCommune.

France used as c'ulTency the franc, whichwas divided into 100 centimes. It became themain currency of the Latin Currency Unionto which a large nnmber of the Europeancountries belonged. In the postal service,another unit of currency, the decime, equiv­alent to 10 centimes, was also used, especiallyfor rate or postage due markings. A ratefigure "2" on an old letter therefore usuallymeans 2 decimes or 20 centimes, and apostage due marking "1" should be consideredas 1 decime or 10 centimes.-Weights anddistances were measured in the metric system,which was created during the French Revo­lution. ']'he kilogram was divided into 1000gr,ams (1 ounce equivalent to 28% grams).The kilometer was equivalent to about five­eights of a mile.

During the French Revolution, a "repub­lican calendar" was introduced by a law ofNov. 24, 1793 and made retmactive to theday of the proclamation of the Republic(Sept. 22, 1192). The year consisted of 12months of 30 days each, with five or-inleap years-six complimentary days at theend of the year. New flowery names wereintroduced for the months and the yearsreceived Roman numbers, starting with I,which year ran from Sept. 22, 1792 to Sept.21, 1793, and so forth, until during the yearXIV, by a law of Sept. 5, 1805, the "repub­lican calendar" was abolished and from Jan.1, 1806, the Gregorian calendar reintroduced.

'To determine how long the classic stampperiod in France lasted is rather difficult.The first real stamp collectors and dealerswere active in Fmnce in the early Sixtiesand soon starter! to influence even the stampmanufacture, as is proven by the imperforatestamps of the 1862 and 1863 issnes, madein 1869 for the stamp collector BaronArthur de Rothschild. Therefore, the realclassic stamp period ended in France withthe issuance of the first perforated issuein 1862. But as philatelic influence wasstill in its infancy and restriction of our

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ino!lograph to the issues hefore 1863 woulddo injustice to 99% of the classic materialof the issues until 1876, we have decidedto consider as classic issues all postagestamps issued before 1876 - therefore allstamps in the Ceres design and with thehead of ~apoleon III-and all postage duestamps in the square design, in usc until1882. All newspaper and telegraph stampscan in any case be considered classic stampsbecause their use ceased in 1870 and 18711'espectively.

France was the sixth country-the thirdin Europe-to issue adhesive stamps. PostageSta,mps were introduced on Jan. 1, 1849,Postage Due Stamps on Jan. 1, 1859. Francewas the first country to issue this lattereategory of stamps. The offieial term"Chiffre-Taxe" for these stamps did notmake much sense, but it became so tradition­al that only in 1946 the eorrect term"Timbre-'l'axe" was adopted for use on thepostage due stamps. Combined Newspaperand Newspaper Tax Stamps were issued onJan. 1, 1869, Telegraph Stamps on Jan. 1,1868. K a postal stationery with imprintedstamps was issued during the elassic stampperiod. Postal Cards, officially printed andsoleI at the post offices from Jan. 1, 1873,had regular postage stamps p.asted on. Pestalcards had been used temporarily previously,during the siege of Paris, from September1870 to January 1871, but they w'ere issuel]without stamps pasted on.

The Combined Newspaper and NewspaperTa.x Stamps are a peculiar kind of stampsam] France was the only country to uscthem. Basically they were fiscal stamps whichwere intended to collect the tax levied uponnowspapers, 5c for newspapers published inthe Mpartements Seine (Paris) and Seine& Oise (Paris suburbs), 2c in the otherdepartements. Both values wore prepared inthree colors, lilac, blue and 1'ose. '\Vllile thelilac stamps were to be sold for the valueprinted on them (2c, 5c), the blue stampswere to be sold with a surtax of 2c (there­fore for 4c and 7c), the rose stamps with asurtax of 4c (therefore for 7c and 9c). 'l'hesurtax of 2c and 4c was the postal fee fornewspapers, 2c for delivery within the d(~­

partement where the newspaper was ]JUblishedand 4c for delivery within all France in­duding Algeria. Therefore, ,he lilac stampswere purely newspaper tax stamps. Invariance to the use of newspaper t,ax stamps

176

in other C~JUntJ'ies (Austria, Modena, Parma,etc.), they were not employed by the postoffices and generally can be found only Onnewspapers which were not mailed, thereforehave no philatelic standing at all and we donot have to deal with them. But as the blueand rose stamps paid not only the newspapertax but also thc postal fees, they are I)hil­atelie.ally on a much highcr level thannewspaper tax stamps; they are combinednewspaper and newspaper tax stamps, whicharc of the same philatelic standing as theplain newspaper stamps of other countries.Only the values of 2c (+2c) and 2c (+4c)were ever issued, while the 5c (+2c) and the5c (+4c) were prepared, but never put intousc. After Sept. 6, 1870, when the newspapertax was abolished, the stamps paid for postalfees only and therefore were Tegular news­papel' stamps. We will call them simplynewspaper stamps in our discussions.

The introduction of the different kinds ofstamps on the dates given was restricted toFranee proper (including the island ofCorsic.a) as well as to Algeria, which was notconsidered a colony but lJaTt of France. Thefirst extension of the territory where postage~tamps were used occured late in 1851, whenstocks of stamps were sent to five colonies,Freneh Guiana, Freneh India, Guadeloupe,Martinique and Reunion. At the offieesabroad, as far as the offiees in the TUTkishBmpire and its tributary states are eon­eerned, postage stamps were inhodueedgenerally in the see and half of 1857, but insome eases, stamps must have been sentthere several yean earlier, as a numbeT ofeovers with stamps are known from Constan­tinople as early as May, 1854. Postage duestamps were put into use there shortly aftertheir introduetion, but are known from Con­stantinople only. Their use seems to haveeeased after 1871 as only the 100, (litho­graphcd -and typographed) and the 150, (typo­graphed) are known used there. ·When Savoyand Xizza (mme to Franee, Freneh postagestamps amI postage due stamps wel'e intro­(lneed there On July 1, 1860, replaeing thestamps of Sardinia, eurrent there until then.The same was the case in }'Ionaeo, whieh washenoeforth treated in respeet to postal af­fairs exaetly as if it had been a part ofFranee propcr. The same must have beenthe ease with Andorra, if a Freneh postalsel'viee funetioned there during the elassiestamp period, which is not proven. The post

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.\

office at Basel in Switzerland ~eems 10

ha \'e worked as transit office only and Ill'

stamps were in use there.In the French Colonies, the use of French

stamps ,..-as a temporary one. After twoyears, late in 1853, it was discontinue'l andthe colonies reYerted to payment of postagein cash. These conditions remained in forceuntil the middle of 1859, when a generalissue for the French Colonies, in a specialdesign, ,..-as introduced in all colonies. Thischangerl again in December 1871, whenstamps of the motherIand were introducedin the colonies, the only distinction beingthat they were left imperforate, while thestamps issued in France proper (and Al­geria) were perforated, a policy which wascontinued until five years after the end ofthe classic stamp period. We will not dealwith these stamps used in the colonies only.In Cochinchina, during the pacification ofthe country, from 1860, regular Frenchstamps were used, 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80c of1853; only from .June 1, 1863, the generalissue for the French Colonies was introduce,lthere also. This is the only proven case ofissuance and usc of regular French stampsin the colonies after 1859. It has beenclaimed that during the emergency of 1870­n, due to lack of stocks of the specialcolonial issue, regular French stamps weresent to some colonies and used there ­especially the 5fr of 1863 and several valuesof the Bordeaux issue of 1870-but this hasnot been proven.

France had rather simple postal rates.\Vhen postage stamps were issued on .Jan. 1,1849, simultaneously a new rate schedulewas introduced, 'Yith a uniform letter ratefor France including Algeria, without re,spect to the distance. Letters paid 20c upto 70 grams, 40c from 70 to 15 grams.Ifr from 15 to 100 grams and Ifr for each,additional 100 grams or part thereof. Forlocal mail, thm'e were different rates forthe capital, Paris, and for other cities, asingle letter (up to 70 grams) was chargedin Paris 15c and in other places 10c. Reg­istered letters paid double rates. For news­papers and printed matter rather compli­cated rates were in force, based on size andnumber of pages. On .July 1, 1850, somechanges took pIace, the rate for letters to70 grams was increased to 25c, from 70to 15 grams to 50c; a uniform registration

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fee of 25c was introdnceel at the same time.Only for soldier's letters, the aIel letter ratesremained in force. Circulars aurl simila rprinted matter now paid a straight rate offico From Aug. 1, 1850, when a newspapertax was introduced, taxed newspapcrs wcretr,ansported and delivereel free within FranceI.nd Algeria. This was abolisheel in 1852and newspapers then had to pay postage inadrlition to the newspaper tax. The reducedrates were 2c for delivery within the samedcpartement and 4c to other parts of Franceand Algeria. On .July 1, 1853, the Parislocal letter rate was reduced to 10e. A yearlater, on .July 1, 1854, a reduction of thedomestic letter rates took place. Letterswithin France and Algeria now paid 20c upto 70 grams, 40c from 70 to 15 grams,80c from 15 to 100 grams and 80c for eachadditional 100 grams or part thereof. Forunpaid letters, a surcharge of 50 % inaddition to these rates was now collectedfrom the addressee. The registration fee alsowas reduced, to 20c. On Aug. 1, 1856, therates for printed matter anel newspapers weresimplified and also based upon weight only.Printed matter now paid lc for each 5grams, 10c for 50 to 100 grams, etc., news,papers paid 2c up to 20 grams and lc foreach additional 10 grams within the samedcpartement, twice these fees to other partsof the country and to Algeria. A new re­duction of the letter rates took place on.July 1, 1860, by increasing the weight limitsfor other than local letters. The lowest letterrate was now to 10 grams, the second cate­gory from 10 to 20 grams. On .Jan. 1, 1863,another reduction of the local rates, includingParis, took place. Local letters up to 10grams now paid 10c, from 10 to 20 grams20c, from 20 to 100 grams 40c and foreach additional 100 grams 40c. For unpaidletters, .a 50% surcharge as for other do­mestic letters was now COllected. In May,1863, a special Late Fee was introduced forletters which were posted after the closingof the mails. Up to a quarter of an hourdelay, the fee was 20c, from a quarter tohalf an hour 40c and thereafter, until theactual departure of the mail, 60c. The lastcategory was collected only outside Paris.The war of 1870-71 led to .an increase inthe ·postal rates, which became effective onSept. 1, 1871. Letters up to 10 grams nowpaid 25c, from 10 to 20 grams 40c, from 20

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to 50 grams 70c, from 50 to 100 grams 1£1'20c, and for each' additional 50 grams 50c.The minimum fee for printed matter wasincreased from 1c to 2c. The registrationfee was more than doubled and now 50c.Local letters paid up to 10 grams 15c(unpaid 25c), from 10 to 20 grams 25c(unpaid 40c), from 20 to 50 gr,ams 40c(unpaid 60c), from 50 to 100 grams 65c(unpaid 1£1') and for each additional 50grams 25c (unpaid 40c). Postal Cards, whenthey were introduced on Jan. 1, 1873, paid15c within Fr,ance and Algeria and 10c inthe local mail service. On Jan. 1, 1876, thelimits of weight were increased; letters nowpaid 2.'5c up to 15 grams, 40c from 15 to30 grams, 70c from 30 to 50 grams and70c for each additional 50 grams. A finalst,abilization of the rates took place on June1, 1878, when the reduced rates for localmail were abolished and a uniform domesticletter rate of 15c for letters up to 15 gramsand of 10c for postal cards was established.At the same time, the postage due rateswere increased to a surcharge of 100%,making unpaid mail now pay twice as muchas paid one.

The rates for foreign mail were rathersimple compared with those of other coun­tries and there were few changes during theclassic stamp period. In 1875, before theuniform U. P. U. rates came into force,single letters to European countries paidbetween 25c (to Luxembourg) and 70c (toNorway), 50c to the United States, 80c toEgypt and 1£1' to most overseas countries,except the French Colonies, which had specialrates, varying from 35 to 50c. The uniformrates of the U. P. U.-letters 30c for 15grams (U. S. A. 40c), postal cards 15c(U. S. A. 20c) and printed matter 5c (U.S.A.8c) for 50 grams--came into force on Jan.1, 1876.

Special rates were in force for the ba.lloonmail during the siege of Paris, from Sep­tember 1870 to January 1871. For mail fromParis, domestic and foreign rates were thesame as for regular single letters but themaximum weight was reduced to 4 gramsand the same rates were valid for letters,printed matter and postal cards. Only forthe latter, the rate within France an(lAlgeria was reduced to 10c. No registeredmail Or mail of higher weight was acceptedfor transportation by the balloons.

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The newspaper tax, which was introducedon Aug. 1, 1850, was 5c in the departementsof Seine and Seine & Oise, including Paris,and 2c in other departements. The formertax inelUlle(l free transportation in all ofFrance and in Algeria, the latter only inthe departement where the newspaper waspublished. Newspapers which were deliveredlocally paid lc tax. From 1852, the tax,,,,as increased from 5c to 6c for Paris andneighborhood and from 2c to 3c in theother parts of the country; at the sametime, the free mailing privilege was abol­ished. In 1868, the tax returned to theprevious rates, 5c and 2c; they were inuse when the combined newspaper and news­paper tax stamps were introduced and re­mained in force until the newspaper taxwas abolished on Sept. 6, 1870.

The telegraph fees were established onMarch 1, 1851, when the telegraph servicewas opened for private use and were subjectto several reductions. When telegraph stampswere introduced on Jan. 1, 1868, telegramswithin the same departement cost 50c, withinFrance and Algeria 1£1', with a 50% surtaxfor night telegrams.

The rates of the Paris private mailservices during the Commune rebellion werestrongly influenced by competition. Theearliest services charged a fee of no lessthan 50c for each letter, but when newservices were established by competitors,the fee was reduced to 25c, 15c and even­tually 10c for a letter. Printed matter paida fee of 5c, registered letters 50c.

The rates for letters from the FrenchColonies during the period of use of stampsof the motherland, from 1851 to 1853, werebased upon a rate for single letters of7)/, grams weight. For transportation byFrench merchant ships, the fee was 25cplus 10c, ship fee-the latter was not col­lected for mail of military personnel-,byBritish ships 1£1' from Reunion and 1£1'50c from the colonies in India and inAmerica.

Prepayment of mail fees was not obli­gatory during the first years of the useof postage stamps. Only registered letters,printed matter and newspapers had to beprepaid by the sender. On July 1, 1850,even a temporary step in opposite directionwas made, abolishing the regulation thatregistered letters had to be sent prepaid.

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In 1849, less than 10% of all letters weremailed prepaid and this ratio increased toonly little over 20% in 1853. Prepaymen-;-,was made obligatory for letters within Franceand Algeria-except for local letters-onJuly 1, 1854, from which day on a surtaxof 50% was collected from the addresseefor unpaid or part paid letters. The sameregulations came into force for local letterson Jan. 1, 1863. The collecting of a surtaxled to a gre-at increase of prepaid lettersand in 1863, 90%, in 1869 almost 95%of all domestic letters were mailed prepaid.The prepayment of the newspaper tax andof the telegraph fees was always obligatory.For letters to foreign countries, generallyno obligatory prepayment existed before theU. P. U. rates came into force in Franceon Jan. 1, 1876, but several postal treatiessecured preferred rates for prepaid letters.

The use of postage stamps started inFrance and Algeria on Jan. 1, 1849, but forletters outside of the local mail service only.The fees for local letters continued to bepaid in cash until August 1, 1850, whenthe necessary low values for such lettersbecame available. The fees for printedmatter and newspapers also continued to bepaid in cash; only from Aug. I, 1856, couldpayment of the fees for printed matter bemade with postage stamps. The late feeintroduced in 1863 had to be paid in stamps.After abolition of the special newspaperstamps in 1870, the use of postage stampswas also extended to the payment of fees fornewspapers. The use of stamps on mail toforeign countries was permitted from July1, 1850. The postage due stamps from theirintroduction on Jan. 1, 1859 were first usedonly for unpaid single local letters outsideParis, from June 1, 1859, including therural mail service of a post office, but stillonly for single local letters and only out­side of Paris. On Sept. 1, 1871, the useof postage dues was extended to heavierletters and other mail, but still only forlocal mail outside Paris. The use of postagedues for all domestic mail including localletters in Paris started only on Oct. 1, 1882.The newspaper stamps were introduced onJan. 1, 1869, and used for payment of thepostage plus newspaper tax on newspapers.Their regular use ceased, when the newspapertax was abolished on Sept. 6, 1870. Al­though the use of these stamps was intended

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for Paris as well as outside of it, theywere in fact never used in P,aris and suburbs,where the pnblishers preferred to continueto pay postage in cash. The telegmph stampswere nsed for the payment of telegraphfees from Jan. 1, 1868, until April 4, 1871,when their use was abolished as impractical.They were used only for telegrams mailedby the public to the telegraph offices butnut for those delivered there personally andpaid for in cash.

The q7tantities of sta.mps used increasedwith the volume of mail on the one handand with the creation of a surtax for unpaidletters on the other hand. In 1849, about19 million stamps were used, increasing toover 31 million in 1853. When the use ofstamps was made obligatory, the rise becamesteeper, to almost 83Vz million in 1854,almost 200 million in 1858, 414 million in1865 and 546 million in 1869. The war of1870-71 brought a decrease to 402 millionin 1870 and 483 million in 1871, to be fol­lowed again by a rise to 549 million in 1872and 543 million in 1873.

During the classic stamp period, Franceissued only denominations which were neces­sary for the most needed rates. "-'ben Post­age Stamps mere introduced on Jan. 1, 1849,only three values were issued, 20e, iOe andlfr, representing the three letter rates. The20c and Ifr were used from the given date,but the 40c was delivered by the printeronly in December 1849, and put into uselate in January, 1850. The rate increaseof July 1, 1850 made 25e stamps necessary,which were in use from that day. The 20cstamp, which had become unnecessary, waswithdrawn from the post offices on June30, 1850. For city letters, for which paymentin cash ceased on Aug. 1, 1850, new valuesof 10c and 15c were necessary, which cameinto use on that day. The 15c stamp becameunnecessary after less than three years ofuse, when the local rate for Paris wasreduced to 10c from July 1, 1853 and itwas withdrawn from the post offices on June30, 1853. The rate reduction of July 1,1854 made necessary a new value of BOcand required the re-introduction of the 20cvalue. The latter came into use on July 1,1854, the former in October, 1854. The nowunnecessary 25c and Ifr stamps were with­drawn from the post offices on June 30,1854. When payment of postage in stamps

17.9

for printed matter started, a 5e value wasissued on Sept. 15, 1854, which was also use­ful as additional value to make up some ratesto foreign countries. For payment of postagefor newspapers, stamps of 1e, 2c and 4ewere issued, the first on March 1, 1860, thelatter two on Jan. 1, 1863. A new value of.10e, which was mainly needed for postageon samples, but was also useful to make upsome letter rates, was issued in April, 1867.A high value, 5fr, was introduced in No­vember, 1869; it was mainly needed forpostage on registered money lettm·s. Therate increase of Sept. 1, 1871, made neces­sary the re-introduction of the lSe and 2Sevalues, which were in use from that day.The 10c and 20c stamps were withclrawnshortly afterwards, the former to avoid con­fusion with the new 15c stamp which hadthe same color. But when p08tal cards wereintroduced on .Jan. 1, 1873, which made 10e

stamps necessary, this value was re-intro­duced. At the end of the classic pOl'iod, therewere 11 denominations of postage stamps inuse, Ie, 2c, 4c, 5c, 10c, 15c, 250, 30c, 40c, 80cand 5fr.

Of the Postage Due Stamps, first only011e value, 10e for local letters outside Paris,was introduced on Jan. 1, 1859. When :J

500/0 surtax was introduced for local lettersOn Jan. 1, 1863, it was withdrawn and re­placed by a 15e v,alue, which was issued onthat day. The increase of the postal ratesfrom Sept. 1, 1871, led to the issuance onthat day of three more values, 2Se, 40e and60e, all for local mail only, while the 15cbecame unnecessary. The rate increase ofFeb. 1, 1876, made the 60e value unnecessaryand it was withdrawn, but it was re-intro­duced on June 1, 1878, together with a new30c v,alue, owing to the increase of thepostage due surcharge to 1000/.0, which alsomade the values of 25c and 40c unnecessary.At the end of the classic stamp period,therefore only postage dues of two values,30c and 60c, were in actual use. Of theN ewspa,per Stamps, foul' values, 2c (+2c),2c ( +4c), 5c ( +2c) and 5c (+4c) were pre­pared to be issued on Jan. 1, 1869, the firsttwo for use in the departements, the last twofor nse in Paris and suburbs. Only the2c (+2c) for delivery within the departe­ment, and 2c (+4c) for delivery within allFrance and Algeria, were actually issued,while the two 5c values (for use in Paris

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and suburbs) remained unissuecl. The Tele­gmph Stamps, issued on Jan. 1, 1868, com­prisecl the four most neecled values, 2Sc,SOc, 1fr and 2tr. Of the Postal Cards, twokinds with affixed postage stamps, wereissued, 10c for local delivery and 15c fordelivery within France and Algeria.

Of the private mail services during theCommune of Paris only one, the AgenceLorin, issued adhesives for the service, whilethis ,agency and another one, the AgenceMoreau, issued special envelopes. The issu­ance of adhesive stamps by the Agence Lorinwas influenced by the fact, that the stampdealer, Arthur Maury, was a partner of thatagency and the special adhesives were ab­viously his idea. Postage stamps in the de­nominations of 5c (for printed matter),10c (for letters) ,and 50c (for registeredletters) were issued early in May 1871 andwere used for outgoing letters. Postage Duestamps of 5c (for printed matter), 20c (forletters) and 60c (for registered letters)­the last two including the 10c local postageto be paid by the agency for each letterto the Commune postal administration-wereused for incoming mail, to be delivererl inParis. The Agence Moreau printed envelopesof Hic (for letters) and 25c (for heavierletters), which fees included a special returnenvelope, to be used for the answering letterand to be delivered in Paris without chargeby the agency. The Agence Lorin printedspecial 10c enwlopes ,,,hich could be in­serted in letters from Paris and whichwet'e good for delivery of the answer in Paris.

Only a few stamps were withdrawn froml1se, as stated previously, namely of thepostage stamps the 20c of 1849 on June 30,1850, the 15c of 1850 on June 30, 1853, the25c of 1852 and 1853 as well as the 1£1' of1849 and 1853, on June 30, 1854, the 10c and20c of 1863 and 1870 late in 1871, and the80c of 1872 in May 1876. All other postagestamps remained in use until they were usedup, except the stamps of the provisionalBordeaux issue of 1870 which were withdrawnwhen the emergency ended. The stamps ofthe last dassie issue 1870-75 as well as the5fr 1863 remained in use until replacedby the corresponding values of the new1876 issue which started to appeal' in May,1876. The last values to be withdrawn werethe 5fr 1863 and the 40c 1870, which re­mained in use until new 5fr and new 40c

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.. ~ ..

i ~

were issued on June 1, 1877, all(l in June1878, respectively; the 5fr can still be foundused occasionally in 1878.-0f the postagedne stamps, the 10c and 15c became uselesson Jan. 1, 1863, and Sept. 1, 1871, respec­tively when new rates were introduced. The10c is claimed to have been withdrawn onDec. 31, 1862, bnt the existence of usedmultiples indicates that either some PORtoffices must still have had stocks when theincreased rates of Sept. 1, 1871, came intoforce or else that small remainders werere-issued in September 1871, before the newvalues of 25c, 40c and 60c were available.The 15c was not immecliately withdrawnon Aug. 31, 1871, but owing to lack of 25cpostage due stamps, partly used as provi­sional 25c postage due st.amp, in which casethe additional 10c were accounted separatelyby the post offices. Some post officeschanged the "15" of such stamps by manu­script or handstamp into "25". Only at theend of September 1871, when the 25c postagedue st.amps became generally available, the15c stamps were definitely withdrawn. Of thenew values of 1871, the 60c was withdrawnon Jan. 31, 1876, due to the increase in therates on Feb. 1, ] 876. The 25c and 40c werewithdrawn on May 31, 1878, again becauseof changes in the rates. The last two values,the 30c and the re-introduced 60c of 1878,were not withdrawn when correspondingvalues in a new design were issued on June15, 1881 anc1 in May, 1884, respectively,but used up. The 60c is known used as late as1890.-The newspaper tax stamps becameuseless and were withdrawn when the news­paper tax was abolished on Sept. 6, 1870.­The telegraph stamps had the same fate,when the telegraph administration was con­solidated with the postal administration andpayment of telegraph fees by way of specialstamps was aholi shed soon afterwards, onApril 4, 1871.

France belonged to those countries whichdid not demonetize any stamps during theclassic stamp period. Only on Jan. 14, 1914,an postage stamps issued before 1876 losttheir validity for payment of postage. Nodemonetization of the postage due stampsseems to have been regarded necessary, be­cause they could not be used by the public,anyway. During the war of 1870-71, thevalidity of French stamps ceased in thf'provinces occupied by the Germans. Special

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occupation stamps-sec Alsace-Lorraine­were introduced early in September, 1870-earliest date known is Sept. 6-when thepost offices were again opened, but no uscof French stamps was permitted. Exceptfor tIle provinces of Alsace and Lorraine,which remained under German rule, the oc­cupation stamps were withdrawn in theother occupied French provinces on March24, ] 871, and French stamps re-introduced.

The classic period of French postagestamps is dominated by one design, theCeres head, which remained in use from] 849 to 1876, interrupted by the change ofdesign from 1852 to 1870, during the ruleof Napoleon III. The upright rectangulardesign, which shows the Ceres head in acircle of pearls, with a simple meander-typeframe at left and right, inscriptions at topand bottom, became RO popular, that it wascopied or adapted by several other countriesfor use on their own stamps and has in­fluenced many more classic stamp designs.The inscriptions read "REPUB. FRANC."at top and "POSTES" at bottom, the latterflanked on both sides by the value indication.When Louis Napoleon Bonaparte came topower, the same design was eontinued amIthe Ceres head simply replaced by the headof the dictator. The first two values, 10cand 25c, issued in December and August,18:;2. respectively, still had the inscription"REPUB. FRANC.", but when the monarchywas proclaimed and the reign of NapoleonIII beg,an, "REPUB." was replaced in thesecond half of 1853 by "EMPIRE", withoutany other changes. In 1861, the emperororl1ered that he should be pictured in thefuture with a laurel wreath on his head,but only new values were issued in the newdesign, the first one in 1863, while it tookfor the old values until 1867-68, for the 1ceven until 1870, to become effective. For the5c the change never took place, except onproofs. The change of design was also useelto make some improvements in the frame.The country name now was unabbreviated"EMPIRE FRANCAIS" and the meanderson both sides were made more distinct. Forthe values below 10c, a new design was,adopted, with the same center as the higllervalues, but a simplified frame, withoutmeanders on the sides and large figures ofv,alue in both bottom corners. This newdesign was introduce<1 not only to make the

181

value indication more conspicuous but alsoto prevent the future fraudulent transfor­mation of low values into higher ones, aswas reported for the 5c 1853, which had itscolor changed to blue and the figures ofvalue altered into "20" by some industriouspeople who wanted to cheat the postal service.For a new high value, 5fr, a rectangulardesign, twice as wide as that of the lowervalues, similar to that of contemporaryrevenue stamps, was created, with the samecenter, meanders at left and right, "EMPIREFRANCAIS" at top and "TIMBRE POSTE"at bottom. The value indication was insertedat both sides of the center, "5" at left and"F" at right. When the Ceres design wasre-introduced, without change, first in 1870for 10c, 20c anc1 40c, then in 1871 for 15cand 25c, the original design was used. Thelithographed Bordeaux emergency issue of]870 was also a rather accurate copy of theoriginal Ceres design for the values from10c to 80c, but the design of the valuesbelow ]Oc was adapted similarly to thecorresponding values of the laureated Na­poleon issue of ]863. After return to peace­time conditions, in 1872, the values from1c to 5c were issued in a design similar tothe corresponding values of the Bordeauxissue. In the same year, another change tookplace for the values from 10c to 80c, bymaking the figures of value larger andthicker, so that they beeame more conspicu­ous. Only the 30c and 80c were immediatelyissued with this change, while it took forthe 15c until 1873 and for the 10c until1875. For the 25c and 40c the change didnot take place any more. The value indica­tions, by the way, had their particularities.On the stamps in the original Ceres designas well as with the unlaureated Napoleonhead and the provisional Bordeaux issue,the value indieation on each side includedthree dots, the bottom line of the stampsread, for example, "·5· C' POSTES .5' C,''.The value indication for the 1£1' value was"'I'FR'" on the 1849 issue and "'l'F'"on the 1853 issue. The value indication ofthe 1863 issue showed only one dot each,for example "20C' POSTES' 20C". For theenlarged figures of the 1872 stamps in theCeres design, first, for the 15c, the samearrangement with three dots as for the1849 issue was tried, but this proved toocrowded and for the 10c one dot on each

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side was eliminated, "'10C' POSTES '10C''';for the 30c and 80c the one-dot system ofthe 1863 issue again was chosen. - TheCeres design w,as the work of the engraver.T. •r. Barre. For the head of Napoleon IIIH contemporary coin was used by the sameengraver as basis. The laureated Napoleondesign was created by A. Barre, son of.T. .r. Barre. The copying of the Ceresdesign for the Bordeaux emergency issuewas done by A. Dambourgez (20c, Type I)and L. Yon (other stamps).

The postage due stamps have a rathersimple numeral design. The slightly orna­mented frame had the inscriptions colorlesson solid ground, "POSTES" at left andright, "CHIFFRE" at top and "TAXE" atbottom. The center-which was inserted intype-cOllSists of inscriptions only, the valueindication in two lines, with "a percevoir"(which means "to collect") below. The authorof the design is unknown. The designs ofthe newspaper and telegraph stamps showthe imperial arms, the eagle, in the center.On the newspaper stamps, the eagle isframed by the insignia of the Legion ofHonor, with the imperial crown at top. Itis placed in a curved octagonal frame, whichhas oak leaves in the corners and a stalkof wheat on each side at top. The rectangularframe shows "TIMBRE IMPERIAL" at topand ".TOURNAUX" at bottom, in doublelined letters on horizontally lined ground.The value indication is in the bottom corners,above ".TOURNAUX". The inscription "Tim­bre Imperial" characterizes the stamps of­ficially as revenue stamps and the sameframe was in later years used extensivelyfor other kinds of revenue stamps. Thetelegraph stamps show the arms as crownedimperial eagle, with thunderbolts in its claws,similar to the arms used previously in thedesigns of v,arious revenue stamps. Placedin a double oval inner frame, it shows,colorless on solid ground, "EMPIRE FRAN­CAIS" at top and "TELEGRAPHES" atbottom. The corners of the simple rectangu­lar frame are filled in at top on each sideby a bee-which symbol was used by bothN,apoleons as representing the "workingclasses"-and at bottom by value indications.The designs for the newspaper and telegraphstamps were both the work of the engraverE. A. Oudine.

France employed foUl' printing esta.blish-

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ments for the manufacture of its stamps,thrce of thcm in Paris and one, used onlyduring the emergency of 1870-71, in Bor­deaux. The National (from 1852 to 1870Imperial) Mint of Paris manufactured ina special department all postage stampsexcept the emergency stamps of 1870-71, theImperial (from 1870 National) PrintingWorks of Paris all postage due stampsexcept the emergency issue of 1870-71, andthe Atelier General du Timbre of Paris allnewspaper and telegraph stamps, while theXational Mint of Bordeaux produced in1870-71 an emergency issue of postagestamps and postage due st,amps. Generally,these establishments did the complete job,from the manufacture of the printing ma­terial to the printing, gumming and per­forating of the stamps. Only the ParisMint and, to a somewhat lesser degree, theAtelier du Timbre, were well equipped forthe manufacture of stamps, while the ParisImperial Printing Works had much lesssuitable facilities and the Bordeaux Mintwas not at all able to deliver typographedstamps and had to substitute lithographyfor the emergency issue it was commissionedto provide. Aside from the lithographedBordeaux emergency issue-a complete setof postage stamps from 1c to 80c and a15c postage due st,amp-and the first print­ing of the 10c postage due stamp in 1859by the Imperial Printing Works, which wasalso lithographed, all stamps were typo­graphed and letter-press printed.

(To be continued)

MERRY CHRISTMASand a

HAPPY NEW YEAR

May the year 1955

'be one of

peace and prosperity.

Publishers and Editor

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS• The next issue of the MERCURYSTAMP JOURNAL is scheduled for March,1955.• Issues 15 to 17, 19 to 21 and 23 to 26of tho MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL arebadly needed to complete volumes. We wantto thank those readers who have returnedtheir surplus copies, but we would greatlyappreciate the cooperation of other readers.Double credit on future issues wiII be given,if requested.• In Theodore Champion, the dean ofFreneh stamp dealers and one of the greatold men of philately, who died on Aug. 31,1954 at the age of 81, we lose another goodfrieml, whose advise and help we alwaysappreeiated. His life work was the Yvert­Tellier-Champion Catalog, whieh he editedfor more than fifty years and kept up todate praetieally alone, spending each yearmore than half of his time in improvingand eOl'l'eeting the eatalog. Champion wasnot only one of the leading stamp dealersof the world, he was also an eager collectorand his collection of unused stamps of theworld is one of the largest in existence,eontaining many of the greatest raritiesamI unique items. IVith Champion, one ofthe last great dealers of the old school hasleft us, but the eatalog he built wiII remaina monument to his memory, cherished bygenerations to come.• The Alfred F. Lichtenstein Award for1954 was presented at a banquet in NewYork on Oet. 22, 1954, to Dr. Ca,rroll Cha.~e

for his work for philately, espeeially hisplating of several early United States stampsand his study of Freneh revolutionary post­marks, 1792 to 1815.• The International Philatelic ExhibitionNew York 1956 is now definitely scheduledfor the first week in March, 1956. It wiIIbe one of the opening shows of the new35 MiIIion Dollar Coliseum exhibition build·ing at Columbus Circle, for which the cornerstone was laid on Oct. 21 and which willhave the most modern facilities which canbe expected of a perfect exhibition building.The show will oeeupy the third and fourthfloors, while on the completely separatedfirst and seeand floors the great Interna­tional Flower Show wiII be held. The Asso­dation for Stamp Exhibitions, whieh organ-

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performed the research. We believe that asolution along these lines not only woulddo away with awards to exhibitors who didno eollecting at all, but whose only meritis the ownership of a collection assembledby others, but it would also make anyspeci.al rules for dealer exhibits quite un­necessary.

Only twelve months separate us from theday, when the FIPEX 1956, the Internation­al Philatelic Exhibition New York 1956, willopen its doors to the pUblic. It will be agrcat event in any c,ase, because the showwill be one of the initial features at theopening of the Coliseum, the big newexhibition building now under constructionat the Columbus Circle site. The combinationof a great international philatelic exhibitionand the opening of the world's most modernexhibition palace will guarantee a great pub­lic interest in the show and will be of im­measureable propaganda value for philately.On the other hand, the international exhi­bitions, organized in this country since 1926at ten-year intervals by the Association forStamp Exhibitions, have proven to be most:attractive to the best and most important

collections all over the world. Only once inten years have collectors an opportunity toshow the pride of their collecting activitiesin the metropolis of the New World, whichhaving meanwhile become the seat of theUnited Nations, is also the capital of theworld. Response to the preliminary announce­ments of the 1956 show has already beenso great that the sueeess of the show inrespeet to international partieipation ean beconsidered assured. Conditions in this countryare somewhat different from those in Europe,with a mueh doser relationship betweencollectors and dealers in all philatelic sod­eties and ventures. The preparations for thebig show are running smoothly, thanks toperfeet teamwork of all philatelists concernedwith them. The Post Offiee Department haspledged full support and will give any pos­sible assistanee. The rules and regulationseontain a number of innovations, mainly tofaeilitate and improve the judging of theshow. The first prospeetus, which is sehed­uled for release in March 1955, will revealall the work which has been done and willgive a vivid picture of the most modernand effieient facilities for showing thephilatelic treasures of the world to the larg­est philatelic audience in the world.

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EUROPEAN CLASSICSXII. FRANCe*

For the typographed postage st.amps, thcoriginal elies were cut in steeL Sueh dieswere manufactured only for the issues 1849,1852 and 1863, for the last issue threedifferent ones, for the values 1c to 5e, 109;to 80e and 5fr, with the same head engravingtransferreel to all three. The master diesfor these three issues showed the completedesigns, with all inscriptions except thevalue indication on both sides of the woril"POSTES", which remained blank. The basicdesign of the 5fr 1863 had no value indi­cation and therefore the die was complete.For the 1853 issue, no new master die wasmade, but that of the 1852 issue used and{jnly the inscription at the top altered to«EMPIRE FRANC.". For the lithographeilpostage stamps of 1870 (Bordeaux), first onedie-for the 20e-was cut in wood (Type I),then another die for the 20c engraved onstone (Type II). Both were complete ill-

"Continued from page 18,1.

196

eluding value indic-ations. Frames only wereengraved on stone for the other values, aswellas for the definite 20c (Type III). Forthe postage due stamps of 1859, the designof the frame only was cut in wood, a processwhich was repeated in 1870 for the litho­graphed 15e, for which a similar woodcutwas made. For the newspaper as well as thetelegraph stamps, a master die was cut insteel for each, complete except for the valueindie.ations,-The dies for the postage stampswere made for the 1849 and 1852 issue byJ. J. Barre, for the 1863 issue by A. Barre.The engraver of the frame for the postageilue stamps is unknown. The first woodcutfor the lithographed issue of 1870, of the20c, Type I, was executed by A. Dambourgezwho probably also made the woodcut of the15e postage due stamp. The other values,which were engraved on stone------the wholeilesign of the 20c, Type II, and the framesof all other values and of the 20e Type III-were the work of the engraver L. Yon. Thedies for the newspaper and telegraph stamps

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were made by the engraver E. A. Oudine.In several e.ases, the engravers put theirinitials or their name in the design of thestamps. On the 1852 issue, a small "B"below the bust of Napoleon stands forBarre; it was removed for the 1853 issue.On the lithographed stamps of 1870 we findon all values, except the 20c in Type I, thename YON inserted in very small lettersat the right side of the leaf which is on topof the bunch of grapes on the Ceres head.The newspaper and telegraph stamps showthe name OUDINE, the former in the centerabove the inscription JOURNAUX, the latterbelow the eagle.

In three cases, master dies for typo­graphed stamps were retouched. The firstcase concerns that of the 1849 issue, whichwas altered by removing a small shadingline in the corner of the mouth. This wasdone after the matrix for the die of the20c was cast; therefore only this one valnehas the shading line, more or less distinctly,while it is missing on all other values. Thesecond retouched master die was that forthe 1853 issue. The retouch affected the hairof the head, especially the curls in front ofthe ear, which were made more curved, acurl at the top of the head, which nowconsists of two thin lines instead of onethick line, and the shading of the neck,,vhich now covers part of the previouslyblank space below the ear, where the linesnow run throngh instead of being broken inthe middle. This retouch must have beenmade late in 1859, as the die of the 1c,w'hich was issued early in 1860, alreadyshows the retonched type. In 1860, newdies of the 10c and 20c were made by usingthe l'etouched die. These two values there­fore came imperforate in both types (TypesI and II), perforated in Type II only,while 5c, 25c, 40c, 80c and 1fr came onlyin Type I and lc only in Type II, imperfo­rate as well as perforated. The third caseconcerns the master die of the 1863 issue.The two dots, before and after POSTES,were originally small and were made thickerlate in 1861, creating a second type. Thedies of the 30c and 40c were cast from themaster die with sm.all dots, that of the80c from the retouched die with thick dots.The first dies of 10c and 20c were takenfrom the master die with small dots(Type I), but in 1868 new dies were made

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

for these two values from the retouchedmaster die (Type II).

Several of the original dies for the lith­ographed emergency issue of 1870 were alsothe subject of retouches, but for valuesother than 20c it is (loubtful, whether theretouches were made on the original diesof the frames or on the completed dies.Therefore we will deal with these retouches"'hen discussing the dies of the specificmlues. '1'he 20c in all three types must havebeen retouched in the original dies-TypeIII frame only-as the transfer stones werecbtained directly from these original dies.The die of Type I was retouched twice,those of '1'ype II and III once.

'1'he dies of the various val1teS of thedifferent typographed issues were obtainedfrom the master dies by way of workingdies. A rather unusual way was chosen toinsert the value indications, which weremissing in the master dies of the postagestamps. Plugs, which had the value indica­tion engraved into them, were inserted atboth sides of the inscription POSTES,making the design of each value complete.This operation was made very carefully andonly in few cases small spaces remainedopen, which show as thin colorless verticallines or traces of such between POSTESand the value indic.ations. This is especiallyobvious for the 80c of the 1863 issue, whilethis phenomenon is much less conspicuouson other stamps. On the 30c 1863, for ex­ample, such a line shows at right in frontof "30", but only on the proofs and earlierprintings, including the Rothschild favorprints of 1869, but not on the latter print­ings and also not on the imperforate stampsfor the Colonies. This unusual method ofobtaining the dies for each value was usedfor the Ceres design (1849 and 1870-72issues) as well as for the designs with theXapoleon head (1852, 1853 and 1863 issues),hut in the 1863 and 1870-72 issues for theva lues of 10c and up only. Only for the1872-75 stamps with the thicker figuresof value anothor method was used. As basisfor the 10c value the die of a value in theregular Ceres design was used, the two fig­ures of value and the bottom corner orna­lllen ts removed, the space filled in with typemetal and the new die created by engravingin the solid ground the two new thick "10",and the corner ornaments. For the three

197

other values, 15c, 30c and SOc, the wholebottom tablet of the design, including thetwo corner ornaments, was removed in thesame way and the whole tablet-inscriptionand corner ornaments-engraved for eachof the three values separately in the solidground, with the word POSTES and the two"0" also conspicuously taller than on theoriginal design. The dies for the low valuesof the 1863 issue, 1c, 2c and 4c, as well asan unissued 5c, originated from a masterdie with blank spaces instead of the valueindications, which were inserted in workingdies. For the dies of the Ie, 2c, 4c and 5c1872, the dies of the corresponding valuesof the 1863 issue were adapted, by changingthe top inscription and the head by way ofworking dies. The value indication "5F"of the 5fr 1863 was not included in thedesign, but inserted in a second printingoperation. It seems that "5F" was set upin type and used as die. Two types, onewith "5F" 4mm, the other 4~mm, are dis­tinguished by some specialists, but we con­sider this more the result of an illusion orto be accidental printing varieties. The diesfor the lithographed emergency issue of1870 were obtained by transferring thehead of the 20c (Type II) into the framesof the other values, to make the designscomplete. Only for the 20c, Type III, nosuch die was created, which fact will bediscussed when the manufacture of theprinting material is explained.

For the postage due stamps, the dieswere obtained by type-setting the inscrip­tions in a working die of the frame. Butonly for the 10c, typographed and litho­graphed, and for the lithographed 15c, suchdies were obtained, while for the typographed15c the die of the typographed 10c was usedand only the figure changed in a workingdie. For the 25c, 30c, 40c and 60c originallyno dies were made, but the change of thefigures of value achieved during the manu­facture of the printing material, which wewill discuss in a later paragraph. Only in1873 a die was made for the 25c by changingthe figure in a working die of the 15c. Forthe newspaper and telegraph stamps, thedies of the specific values were created bycutting the value indications into the ap­propriate spaces of working dies taken fromthe master dies.

The die of the 25c in the Oeres design

198

deteriorated during the intense use from1871 on and three stages of this deteriora­tion-which shows primarily in the cornerornaments-can be distinguished. They areconsidered by some authors wrongly as types.The three stages come in different platesor settings, but stages II and III are alsoknown from the same setting, se-tenant, asresult of the replacement of worn clichesby new ones. Other dies also suffered throughwear and tear various defects during theiruse, but they are very small and usuallycannot be used for distinguishing the variousplates.

The dies for the lithographed emergencyissue of 1870 were the subject of variousl-etouches, which extended only to the valuesup and including 10c. The die of 1c wasthe subject to two consecutive retouches,while the dies of 2c, 4c, 5c and 10c wereretouched once. The retouches are mostlyrather small and not very conspicuous. Onlyon the 10c the retouch, consisting mainlyof a thickening of the inner line of thoframe in the spandrels-----similar to the re­touch made in the original die of the 20c,Type III-is more obvious. In other cases,the white line separating the back of thehead from the background was eitherstrengthened or removed.

To obtain the printing materia,l for thetypographed postage stamps, manufacturedby the Paris Mint, a method was used whichwe encounter rarely for classic typographedstamps, but which was in later years usedmore frequently, in a somewhat modifiedway. From the original die of each value, asmany matrices in guttapercha or other suit­able materi.al were taken as the plate shouldcontain stamps. These were arranged intopanes and electrotyped, resulting in platesof panes which were mounted on a base tomake them "fit for printing. Each pane wasan entity and contrary to the settings ofsingle cliches, favored at that time for typo­graplJed stamps, such plate remained intactafter each printing and cleaning, each indi­vidual design staying in the same positionfor all printings from the particular plate.This method of production of the printingmaterial, although a technically advancedone, did not always prove economical, espe­cially when single designs of some platesbecame worn and their removal or improve­ment was a bothersome job. This seems to

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.. be the reason why after 1870 not only suchplates were used for the printing but alsosome settings assembled from single cliches,allowing the easy replacing of worn clichesand therefore keeping the printing materialusable longer.

The printing stones for the lithographedstamps, manufactured at the Bordeaux Mint,were obtained from the original dies (allthree types of 20c) or from the dies (othervalues) by way of transfer stones. Thesecontained for the 1870 emergency postagestamps 15 (5x3) designs and 10 (5x2) de­signs for the 15c postage due stamp ofthe same issue. The transfer stones wereobtained by transferring the design of thedies by the usual lithographic procedure toa stone. Only for the 20c, Type III, forwhich no die was made, the original die ofthe frame w,as used in the same way andthen the center of the original die of the20c, Type II, with the Ceres head, trans­ferred individually into each of the 15frames. The printing stones were obtainedby so many lithographic transfers from thetransfer stones as the stone needed to becomplete. The transfer stones of the postagestamps were either obtained from the origi­nal or the retouched original die or dies,which leads to three different transferstones for 1c and 20c, Type II, two differentones for 2c, 4c, 5c, 10c, 20c, Type I, and20c, Type III, as well as one transfer stoneonly for 30c, 40c and 80c. Some retouchingalso was done on the individual designs ofthe transfer stones - in French called"reports"-which makes it easier to identifythe 15 "transfer types" of each value andtransfer stone. In both transfer stones ofthe 20c, Type III, as result of the processby which they were obtained, the Ceres headis in a slightly different position on eachtransfer type.

For the postage due stamps, which werethe product of the Imperial (National)Printing Works of Paris, somewhat differentmethods of manufacture were used for theprinting material. The first stamp, the 10cof 1859, owing to lack of other suitablefacilities, had to be produced by way oflithography. A transfer stone of 6 designsin a horizontal strip was obtained from thedie and the printing stone manufacturedby making the necessary transfers frol11this transfer stone. After a short period,

MtRCURY STAMP JOURNAL

the .necessary installations for typographywere completed and early in 1859, a settingof the 10c assembled which consisted ofsingle sterotypes taken from the die. Latein 1859, another change took place, a newsetting, now consisting of single electrotypeswas put into use. The first printing materialused for the 15c 1863 was also a setting ofsingle electrotypes, but late in 1864, anotherstep was made to improve the manufactureof the printing material by using blockmatrices of 10 (5x2), from which elecrotypes-called "planche-mere"-were taken, as anintermediary step for the assembly of theplate. For the new values of 25c, 40c and60c, such electrotyped blocks of the 15c,consisting of 20 (5x4) designs, were taken,the figure "15" removed in each design andthe new figures inserted. As the position ofthese new figures varied slightly for eachof the 20 designs, there exist actually 20types of each value. The necessary electrostaken from these adapted block matriceswere used for assembling the plates. Forthe 30c of 1878, probably the same methodwas used, but possibly also another, stillmore advanced method, which was introducedmiddle of 1873 for the 25c. It was similarto that employed by the Paris Mint forthe postage stamps, by using a die madefor this value, arranging the necessarynumber of matrices to a pane and electro­typing them, to manufacture plates of paneswhich were mounted on a base.

The manufacture of the printing materialfor the newspaper and telegraph stamps bythe Atelier General du Timbre probablyfollowed the same methods as were used forthe contemporary postage stamps by theParis Mint, but no detailed informationseems to be available in this regard.

The size of the plates and stones for allpostage stamps, including the lithographedemergency issue but excepting the large size5fr, was uniform. The printing forms con­sisted of two panes of 150 (10x15) each,side by side. Only in a few cases-for ex­ample the first printings of the Ifr 1849-single panes of 150 (10x15) seem to havebeen used as plates. On the other hand, forthe most needed values, especially 20c and25c, plates of panes for more than one print·ing form were made and these often used indifferent combinations, the same plates some·times used for' th"e left pane of one printing

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form and later for the right pane of anotherone. These combinations enable to disting­uish different printings of some values; noless than nine such combinations are knownfor example of the 25c of 1871. At the endof the classic stamp period, in the earlySeventies, a number of plates in doublesize, containing four panes of 150 (10x15)in ,a block, were manufactured, to make moreefficient use of the mechanical flat presseswhich had been in use for a few years inaddition to the hand presses. The 5fr stamps,design as well as value indication, wereprinted from plates of 150, consisting oftwo panes of 75 (5x15), side by side. Forthe first postage due stamp, the lithographed10c, the size of the stone is not known, butold reports make it probable, that it con­sisted of 120 stamps in three panes, sideby side, the center pane having 60 (12x5)designs and the two others 30 (6x5) designseach. The settings of the first typographedpostage due stamps, namely the 10c andthe first setting of the 15c, consisted of500 (25x20) stamps, which were not dividedinto panes. Later settings of the 15c and allsettings of the 25c, 30c, 40c and 60c con­siste(1 of 150 stamps, in three panes of 50(5x10), side by side. It is claimed that thecomplete setting actually consisted of 300stamps, two such groups of 150, probablyin tete beche position. The stone of thelithographed 15c had the same arrangement,150 or 300 stamps respectively. A peculiarar1'angement was used for the newspaperstamps. These stamps were to be pasted onthe paper before the newspapers wereprinted, their cancellation being effected byheing oVeI'printed with newspaper text. Toaccount for the loss of stamps when print­ing the newspapers, due to printer's waste,the publishers obtained 101 stamps for theprice of 100. In accordance with this dis­count of 1%, the plates consisted of 202designs, two panes of 101 each, side by side(10x10), with the additional 101st designbelow the 100th design on the left paneand below the 91st design on the right pane.The telegraph stamps were printed fromplates of 100 (10x10).

The spacing was quite even for all postagest.amps, about. l;/,mm., horizontally as wellas vertically. The spacing was wider for thepostage due stamps, namely about. 2% to2;/,mm. for the typographed stamps. The

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spacing of t.he lithographed 10c postagedue st.amps was 2mm., while the lithographed1.5c had a somewhat irregular spacing, from1mm. to l;/,mm. The newspaper stamps werespaced about. 2;/,mm. and the telegraphstamps ubout l;/,mm. between horizontal1'OWS and about 2mm. between vertical col­umllS. The width of the gutter between thepanes for the stamps in the Ceres design wasabout 18nl1n. and 21;/,mm. for the 1853issue. On the typographed postage duestamps, the gutters were 21mm. for the 15cand only 5mm. for the 25c, 30c, 40c and 60cOn the lithographed 15c, the gutter was10n11n. wide.

The plates generally had no margin print,

except from 1852 to 1856, when the panes ofthe typographed postage stamps had asingle border line about 8mm apart (Fig.55). All panes of 10e and 25c 1852 and of25c and Ifr 1853 had this border line, whilethe panes of 5c, 10c (Type I), 20c (TypeI), 40e and 80c first had border lines andfrom 1856 no lines; the panes of 1c, 10c(Type II) and 20c (Type II), which wereall issuP(1 after 1856, never have border lines.'When preparations for perforating the post­age stamps were officially made in 1862,two small crosses were added to the panes,above the 5th stamp at top and below the145th stamp at bottom, as guide for theperforating process. All plates used forperforated stamps of the 1852, 1863 and1870-75 issues have these crosses, but thelast plates used for the imperforate Ie, 5c,20c Jmd 80c 1853 have them too. The 5fr] 8fi3 had the crosses above the 3rd andbelow the 73rd stamp.

Some of the stones of the lithographedpmergency postage stamps of 1870-71, upto and including the 20c, but not all, hadon the outer side of a pane, at top or atboHom, small figures, which are considered

Fig. 55

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Fig. 56 Fig. 57 Fig. 58

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plate numbers. 'l'hey run from 1 to 15,including a Roman II, and generally eachmlue comes with different numbers. ItReemR that these stones were numbered inorder of their manufacture, regardless ofdenomination.

One of the most attractive features of thedassic France stamps is the existence of anumher of inverted designs in some of theplates, which resulted in tete beche multiples.It has been argued whether these inverted(Iesigns, caused by matrices inserted ininverted position during the assembling ofthe plates, were put in pnrposely or ac­ddentally. Considering the fact that-withone exception-always only one of the panesof a plate contained tete beches, either oneor three, only in one O,)lse two, and thatafter 1863 no new plate included inverted(fesigns, we tend to the opinion that thepeculiar arrangement of some plates waspurposely made. As the official files giveno information, all speculation about thereason for this measure must remain guess­work, possibly they were simply used foreasier identification of the printed panes.Of the 1849 issue, panes of five values hadinverted designs (Fig. 56). The 10c hadthree (positions 27, 58 and 145), the 15c,25c and Ifr one each (positions 80, 131 and35 respectively), all on left panes, whilethe 20c comes in different combinationswith one (position 93) on a left pane orthree (positions 92, 110 and 148) on a rightpane, the latter also used for the unissued20c blue. There are no tete beches knownof the 1852 issue, but panes of three valuesof the 1853 issue show inverted designs(Fig. 57), namely 20c either one (positions20, 51 or 90, perforated only) or two(positions 10 and 30, perforated and im­perforate, the latter from unfinished sheetsof the perforated issne), 80c one (positionHiO, imperforate and perforated) on a rightpane. and Ifr (position 131) on the leftand right pane. Of the 1863 issue, only one

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

pane of the 4c had an inverted design(position 25), on a right pane. When theplates of the 1849 issue were put in useagain in 1870, the inverted designs can befound in the same positions as in the 1849issue for the 100, 15c and 25c (Fig. 58). Forthe 20c also panes with different positionsof invertefl designs were found, either one(position 128) or three (positions 101, 119and 148), all on left panes. They werepossibly reserve plates not used in 1849-52,as newly made plates had generally noinverted designs.

Two major plate err01'S occurred duringthe classic stamp period by insertion ofmatrices of another value in plates of twovalues. In the first case, the error wasf1etected and corrected before the printingstarted, while in the second case detectionwas made only after sheets with the errorwore distributed to the post offices andpartly used up. When the plate of the 40c] 849 was prepared, two matrices of the 20cslipped in one of the assembled panes, whichwas only detected after the electrotypedprinting plates were made. To make themusable, the figures of value in the twodesigns of the wrong value, which occupiedpositions 146 and 147 in a right pane, werechanged, by filling in the two wrong figures"2" with type-metal and engraving "4"s intheir place. The two re-engraved stamps arerecognizable not only by the shape of the"4" which is wider-on position 146 moredistinct than on position 147-but also bythe fact that they show the shading line inthe corner of the mouth; this line wasremoved before the die of the 40c was madeand can be distinctly found on 20c stamps,which were the only valne derived from theoriginal die before retouching. The seconderror occurred in the 1872-75 issue withthiek figures, when a cliche of 15c slippedinto a setting of 10c, in position 90 of apane. This resulted in an error 15c brown onrose instead bistre on white, which also

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Fig. 59

comes in multiples with the regular 10cbrown on rose (Fig. 59). The first copiesof the error appeared early in 1875; it wasdetected shortly after, the stiH availablesheets with the error having been withdrawnfrom the post offices and the setting cor­rected by replacing the wrong 15c clichewith a correct 10c cliche.

In a few cases, we can find a slightdoubling of some designs which is due topartial double entry when the matrices weremade. Such varieties were, for example,found in one pane of the 5fr, in six positions(9, 13, 21, 22, 28 and 72), which show thebur!Jlage in the top left part of the designdistinctly doubled. Doubling of the outerframe line may also be the result of re­entries, but usually is a sign of wear, whichmade the edges of some cliches rise andprinting as lines parallel to the frame lines.

A number of plates suffered, partly dueto extensive use, more or less serious dam­ages, especially in some margin designs.Plate flaws are numerous, especially for the20c and 25c values, which were printed ingreat quantities. Certain of these plate flaws,which have attractive features, have becomepopular and acquired kinds of nick names,for example 25c and 40c 1849 "a la barbe",20c 1863 "a la corne", lc 1863 "a la cigar­ette", etc. A rather gener,al occurrence, espe­cially on margin stamps, are broken framelines, the breaks sometimes affecting thedesign of the frame. Due to the fact thatdefective designs could not easily be re­placed in the plates-which would have beeneasy if only settings of single cliches wereused-plates with defective designs wereused over long periods and only when thedamage became too obvious, the plate waswithdrawn from further use. In a few cases,the printer tried to recover such plates­and also plates with faults which occurredduring the manufacture-by filling in the de­feetive parts with type-metal and attempting:t retouching job, which, although oftenrather clumsely done, seemed satisfactory.Such retouched plates, with single designs

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more or less conspicuously retouched, can befound primarily of lc (imperforate and per­forated) and 25c 1853, 20c 1863 and 25c1871. So-called "errors", "20" instead of "25"at left on 25c 1871, "30" instead of "80" atright on 80c 1872 and similar ones, are noteven plate flaws, but accidental printingflaws, due to hardened ink which fiHed someparts of the recessed inscriptions. Therewere numerous individual retouches on thelithographed stamps of 1870, which aremore or less conspicuous. They were partlymade before the printing started, in partlater to improve worn designs. They concerneither the inscriptions or the head; especiallythe line behind the head has either beenstrengthened or removed. Some retouchedfigures are conspicuous, for example 40cwith broad "4", and 80c with the "80" atright reading "88", etc.

In rather sharp contrast to the advancedmethods of procuring the printing material,the methods of printing were rather old­fashioned. As a general rule, the stampswere printed on hand presses and only atthe end of the classic period, in the earlySeventies, a few steam-driven flat pressescame additionally into use for the postagestamps. The printing was rather carefulfor the 1849 and 1852 issue, due to expertmake-ready, and less well printed stampsare exceptions. Only for one printing of the40c 1849 the make-ready does not seem tohave been applied properly and the appear­ance of the stamps is worn, similar to thestamps printed after 1870 from the sameplates. Generally, the make-ready was veryinfluential for the appearance of all issues.It shows usually in the medallion with thehead, where strengthening or disappearanceof shading lines, especially on the neck, isdue to the application of positive or negativemake-ready. The make-ready is responsiblefor a characteristic occurrence, lined groundof the medallion, horizontally or vertically,in exceptional cases horizontally and ver­tically or diagonally. There have been severaltheories advanced for this lined ground--":'a peculiarity, which, by the way, can alsobe found on typographed issues of othercountries during the same period, for ex­ample Greece, large Hermes heads, andAustria, 1867 issue-but we believe that thesurface stmcture of the material for themake-ready, which in the specific cases

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\vas either ribbed paper or ribbed felt, wasresponsible for the phenomenon of "linedgronnd". The "lines", more or less stronglypronounced, some times not only show inthe medallion, but also in other solid partsof the design, for example, the tablets withthe inscriptions. The "lined medallion" var­iety can be found rather frequently on the1870-75 issue, somewhat less frequently onthe 1863 issue and the perforated 1853 issue,while it is scarce on the imperforate 1853issue and rare on the 1849 and 1852 issues.For the issues from 1853, the printing wasnather uneven; very fine printings as wellas quite coarse ones can be found, not onlydue to more or less careful make-ready butalso due to careful or careless printing.Combined with the natural wear of theplates during their long period of use,printings from the same plates sometimeslook strikingly different, especially obviousfor the Ceres design, where the imperforate1849 issne generally is an example of carefulmake-ready and printing, while the printingsmade from the same plates twenty yearsLater for the 1870-72 issue usually have aworn and much less careful appearance.This makes it rather easy to distinguish theimperforate varieties as well as the stampsissued imperforate for the colonies after1870 from the imperforate stamps of the1849 issue. Overinked prints, which makethe inscriptions almost disappear as well asprints which, due to faulty inking, showparts of the design incompletely printed,occasionally can be found of the issuesfrom 1853. The 1870 lithographed emergencyissue, due to the haste in which it wasprinted, is distinguished by many badlyprinted stamps and really fine prints areexceptions, which especially are character­istic only for 2c (from the first transferstone, erroneously previously called "ToursPrinting") and 30c. The usual minor print­ing varieties also can be observed on stampsof all issues, for example slight shifts duringthe printing, resulting in doubling of partsof the design, etc. Offsets are rather scarcedue to the use of hand presses and clear onesonly can be found on the Last printings ofthe classic period, made on flat presses.

'rhere were few major printing varietieshceause checking of the finished sheetssepms to have been careful and misprintedsheets rejected by the controllers. We know

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of only two stamps in real double prints,namely 80c 1853 and 10c Bordeaux, of whichused copies are reported. The 30c of theBordeaux issue is reported in a partialdouble print. Several values of the Bordeauxissue are reported printed on both sides,namely 4c, 10c (transfer type I), 20c,Type II, and 20c, Type III. A curiousv,ariety is reported of the 80c 1853, namelywith Ifr 1853 on the reverse side. Two usedcopies are known, one even with parts oftwo Ifr in tete beche position on the back.It is claimed, that a 80c sheet by error wasprinted on a Ifr sheet from printer's waste,hut this seems very unlikely because thetwo stamps were not printed concurrentlyand we must seriously question the genu­iness of this variety. A double print of thedesign is also reported of the 10c typo­gr,aphed postage due stamps, but the de­scription suggests that it is a shift, not areal double print. Of the only stamp whichwas printed in two printing operations, the5fr 1863, a major printing error is known,namely copies without value indication, com­ing from a sheet which either completelyor partly escaped the second printing opera­tion, which added the value indication tothe design. One unused and three used copiesare known, all caucelled in Paris and allmore or less defective (Fig. 60).

The paper of all stamps was machine­made aud of medium thickness. But somethick to very thick paper, as well as verythin paper, to almost pelure, can be foundoccasionally for some values and is soughtafter by specialists. The paper had nowatermark, but parts of the papermaker'swatermark of Lacroix Freres, a paper mill ofAngouleme, reading "LACROIX FRERES"or "LA + FRERES" in two lines, have beenfound in a few cases as exceptions on singlestamps. Stitch watermarks also exist, butthey are scarce.

The use of colored or tinted paper for thepostage stamps is one of the characteristicfeatures of the stamps of France. Generally,it was intended to print all stamps on paper

Fig. 60

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which was tin ted or colored in a shade similarto that in which the printing was done,hence, blne stamps on bluish paper, redstamps on Tose paper, etc. This was actuallydone and the paper, colored or tintedthrough, must have been especially preparedfor each value. The most distinct coloredpapers used were buff to brownish buff(20c 1849, later all 2c), bluish (all 1c and20c 1853), greenish (all 5c) and rose (all80c and 10c of 1873). But aside from that,almost all stamps come from certain print­ings also on white or yellowish paper, thelatter often not a basic coloring of thepaper, but due to the influence of the gum.The shade of the paper is difficult toascertain, especially for used stamps, as thecolor of the paper may have changed dueto soaking or accidental chemical influence.The underprint - see next paragraph - issometimes also deceiving. In a few cases,paper was used for a wrong value, eitherin error or due to lack of the correct paper.This was the case for the 20c of 1853(Type I and II), which, probably by error,in 1855 and 1861 was also printed on thegreenish paper of the 5c, and for the 5c ofthe same issue, which during the emergencyof 1871 was printed on the bluish paper ofthe 1c. In other cases, paper of a more orless dissimilar color must have been deliveredby the papermakers, but the official filesalso report cases where paper, delivered bythe papermakers in correct color, changedthrough the influence of the gum to a dif­ferent shade or color. Especially the 20c 1853must have been the subject of such accidents,because it exists from specific printings'llso on violet and rose paper.

The paper, as delivered by the manufac­turers, was not directly used for printingof the stamps, but it obtained first a solidunderprint in lithography, which was in­tended to make manufacture of imitationsof the stamps more difficult. This under­print, which was printed with plain varnish,should have been colorless, but it frequentlyhad a grayish, yellowish or even brownishtint, which makes stamps printed on suchpaper look like stamps on yellowish or buffpaper, which was especially true for thefirst printings of the 20c 1849. The colorof the underprint also often influencednoticeably the printing ink, so that stampsprinted with the same ink on paper with

204

Fig. 61

(lifferently tinted underprint look very dif­ferent. The underprint did not cover thewhole sheets of paper but was only an areaa little bit largel' that the printing plates,se that its existence becomes more or lessclearly visible on the sheet margins. Onlythe paper for all postage stamps includingthe emergency issue of 1870, the newspaperand telegraph stamps had the underprint,while the postage dne stamps which couldnot be userI by the public were left withoutit. After receiving the unrIerprint, the paperin the top right corner received a hand­stamped control marlc. First, a marking"C.F." (Controle Franchises) in a small oval(12Yzx7mm.) was used, in black or blue,which can be found on the sheets of the1849 and 1852 issues, as well as the firstprintings of the 1853 issue. From 1854,another marking, showing "Controle" ani!the letters "T.P." (meaning Timbres-Poste)in a small oval (15x8mm., Fig. 61), wasuserI, always in blue, but it is also reporterIin red on the HI' 1853. Both markings canbe found either on the top sheet marginnear the top right corner or, usually in­verted, on the bottom sheet margin nearthe bottom left corner. The postage duestamps had the control mark mostly on theright margin of a pane. In some cases, thehandstamp was placed too far inside thesheet anit then can be found partly, in ex­treme cases completely on stamps, an oc­currence which is appreciated by the special­ists.

The Color Scheme used by France for itsstamps was a conservative one and once acolor was adopted for a rate the stampswhich covered this rate were always of thissame color. The stamp for the single letterrate was to be blue and this color was used,l"'f!anllcss of whether the rate was 20c or25c. Only for the first 1Yz years, the 20cstamp, although the proofs were in blue, was

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printed in black for reasons of expediency,becanse black stamps could be printed fasterthan blue ones. Otherwise all 20c and 25cRtampR from 1850 to 1876 were blue. The 10cRtamp for the loc.al single letter rate wasbistre brown and continued in this coloruntil 1871, when this rate was increased to15c and the 15c value took over the samecolor. The color of the Ifr 1849 was origi­nally a pale brownish vermilion, called"rouge terne", but rather distinct variations,to a bright vermilion on the one hand andto a brownish carmine on the other hand,yere ,already among the first printings, usedin January 1849. The color of the first 40cof 1850 was orange, a color retained for allfollowing 40c of the classic period; but asthis color was too similar to the vermilionshades of the Ifr, the eolor of the latterwas officially changed by decree of Dec. 1,1849 to carmine. Carmine was also kept forthe Ifr 1853 and, after the Ifr was replacedby the 80c in 1854, adopted by this lattervalue and, from 1860 in somewlJat lighterand more rose sllades, continued for all 80c,until the end of the classic period. Thefirst 15c stamp of 1850 was green and afterthis value w.as abolished, its color was takenoyer in 1854 by the 5c which retained it farlwyond the end of the classic period. Thelc stamps were all olive green, the 2c stampsrdl brown, the 4c stamps gray and the 30cRtamps brown. The 5fr 1863 was printed in,llra.y lilac, and the value indication addedin a similar, somewhat darker color. Whenthe 10c was re-introduced in 1873. it wasprinted in light brown, but rose paper wasused to provide an easier distinction from the] 5c. This was the only case where the colorof the p,aper was used to accentuate thecolor difference between two values. Other­wise, the tinting or coloring of the paper wa smainly used for aesthetic reasons, to im­prove the appearance of the stamps. An evenmore conservative trend is visible in the colorReheme of the postage due sta,mps. The colorof the stamp whieh eolleeted dues on asingle letter was always black, whieh 0.0101'first was used for the 100., then the 15c, the25c and eventually the 300.. The stampscollectiug postage due on double and triplelC'ttprs, introducpd in 1871, werp blue (40c)and ye770w bistre (60c). When in 1878 theaouble mte waR increaRed to 60c, this valuewas re-isRued in the blue color of the abol-

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isher1 40c. For the newspaper stamps, onlythe franking value was indicated by differentcolors, while the two different denomina­tions, represpnting the tax of 2c and 5c, hadin each group the same color. The purefiscal 2c and 5c without franking valuewere lilac, the 2c and 5c with 2c frankingyalup were blue and the 2c aud 5c with 40franking value were rose. The color schemeof the telegraph stamps was carmine, green,orange and lila,c.

Generally, mineral and vegetable inks wereused for the printing of the stamps, but itR('emR that littl(' importance was attaehedto the application of uniform colors. Thislen to numerous ,and sometimes quite RtrikingRhadeR for many stamps. The blue color eanbe found from a milky blue through variousRhades to a blackish blue, especially on the20c 1853. In some cases, more or less distinctultramarine shades OCi3urred occasionally,gellPrally being rare. This was the case forall tbrpp types of the 20c Bordeaux iSRue,of which Type II exists in a really distinctultramal'ine shade, while for the two othertypeR the ultramarine shades are leRs distinctand often eonfused with more common paleblue or other slightly off-color shades. The40c postage dne stamp also exists in a rarelig-ht ultramarine shade and the 40c and 60cRhow distinct prussian blue shades as searcenll'ieties. The bistre brown of the 10c stampstends rather Rtrongly to greenish, yellowish-even pure ypllow for the 10c 1853-andbrownish shades, the carmine of the 80cRhows also eonsiderable variations into ver­milion and rose carmine. The orange of the40c v,aries from yellow to orange vermilion,in the emergency issne of 1870 it showsRtill greater variety and tends to purewrmilion and blood red shades. A character­istic de~p blood red Rhade, called "rouge­sang", is rare and much in demand byspecialists. Frequently, more common bloodrpd shades are misrepresented as this muchrarer shade. The green of the 15c has onlyRmall variations, but when it was adoptedby the 50. it tended to greater variety andin 1860 its color officially was changed tovellow green - bec.ause the original colorlooked blue in artificial light, which alsoIp(1 to fraudulent changplings into the 20cyalue-again with a nnmber of shaileR. Theoli'-e green 0.0101' of the ] c run in manyRhanes to bronze green, that of thp 20 from

205

red brown to maroon-with a scarce choco­late shade of the Bordeaux issue-and thatof the 30c from grayish brown to blackishbrown, while some of the shades of the 4chad a distinctly lilac tint. The color of thelilac gray 5fr w,as rather sensitive andchanged very easily to gray, greenish grayor blnish gray; therefore not much impor­tance should be attached to these variations.The color of the separately printed valueindication of this stamp tended to bluishshades, sometimes, as an accidental variety,being distinctly blue, possibly due to acci­dental deterioration of the ink before print­ing. The colors of the orange and brown~tamps easily were subject to accidentalsulphurization which darkened them tobrownish shades and even made them com­pletely black; in such cases, the originalcolor can be restored quite easily with thehelp of a solution of peroxide.

The ,qu,m used for all stamps was ratherpure arabic gum, which was originally color­less and rather brilliant but became yellow­ish or even brownish when aged. It wasapplied by hand with brushes and thestreaks are sometimes clearly visible. Thegumming was done in some cases rathercarelessly and left small parts of the sheetswithout gum, of which a small printing ofthe 40c 1849 is a fine example, showingbrownish streaky gum, which covers onlytwo-thirds of the back of some stamps.

Until 1862,all postage stamps were issuedimperforate. The postage due stamps ofthe classic period were all imperforate, whileof the newspaper and telegraph stampsonly the first printings put on sale wereimperforate. Of the telegraph stamps, allfour values were actually issued and usedimperforate, but of the newspaper stampsonly the 2c ( +2c) blue was issued and usedimperforate. It is claimed that the 2c (+4c)rose also was issued imperforate, but asonly two used copies (overprinted withnewspaper text) are reported to be known,there does not seem to be sufficient prooffor such a claim. In 1870-71, when anemergency issue was printed at Bordeaux,it was again issued imperforate, because noperforating devices were available there.Pri1'ate71/ ron7etted or perforated postagestamps are rcportcil as early as from thelast years of the ns(' of the] 849 issne, bntoven if snch items shouM prove genuine-

206

Fig.62,63

which does not seem certain at all-theseprivate separations were more of an acci­dental and local nature. The first majorprivate efforts to facilitate separation ofthe imperforate stamps can be recognizedduring the use of the 1853 issue when in1861 and 1862 such stamps with privateseparation became numerous and widespread.On Jan. 1, 1861, the stationery store ofSusse Freres at Paris started to use aharrow perforating device which perforateda block of 50(10x5) stamps in one operation.The perforation was 7(7x8 perfs.), withlarge holes of about l:)4mm. diameter. Dur­ing the same period, various kinds of rou­lettes-dot and line, serpentine as well assawtooth (Fig. 62)-some of which arecharacteristic for particular post offices,were used to help separate the postagestamps in Paris and other places, privatelybut also often by the postmasters themselves.In so far as such separations were appliedby the postmasters, they also can be foundon postage due stamps (Fig. 63). All theseprivate separations should be collected oncovers, or at least pieces, only, because offcover no proof for their authenticity isusually possible. Known are 1c, 5c, 10c, 20c,40c and 80c of the 1853 postage stamps­all from 1860-61 printings only-with theSusse perforation as well as rouletted inlines and a few values also with saw toothroulette. Of the postage dues, the 10c and] 5c (both lithographed and typographed),as well as the 25c, 30c and 60c blue existronletted in lines or perforated, 10c and15c also sawtooth rouletted by the post­masters.

During the emergency of 1870-71, whenimperforate postage stamps-the Bordeauxissue-were again used, private roulettes of"adous kinds were introduced, but surpris­ingl:v th~ir use was by far l('ss widesprearlthan during the :vears 1861 and 1862. All"alu('s are known rouletted in lines, whileonly a few values are also reported with

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sa,,'tooth roulettes, The authenticity of Ii

line perforation 13, which can be found onall values, is questioned.

From October 1862, the postage stampsstarted to be issued officially perforated.A horizontal comb perforation 14x130(14x16 perfs) was used for this and allfollowing issues of the classic stamp period,'rhe perforating deviee applied the perfora­tion simultaneously to five or more stackedpanes of 150 (10x15), In each operation, onehorizontal row of ten was perforated onthree sides, so that sixteen operations wereneeded to complete a pane, the last operationproviding the bottom perforation for thelast row of the pane and running throughthe bottom sheet margin. For the largersize 5fr of 1863, the same comb perforatingaevice was used but every second verticalrow of perfor.ations was removed, therebyproviding each pane of 75 (5x15) stampswith a comb perforation 14x130 (28x16perfs). The perforating was done for allpostage stamp issues at the Paris Mint. Forperforating the newspaper and telegraphstamps, which were manufactured by theAtclier General du Timbre at Paris, lineperforating devices were used, which ap­plied a line perforation 120, varying from11% to 12%, to the full sheets of 202stamps for the newspaper and 100 stampsfor the telegraph stamps. Of the former,only the 2c (+2c) blue and the 2c (+4c)rose were actually issued perforated. Theyhad nine perforated blank spaces in thebottom row of each pane.

The perforating devices did not operatevery accurately and off center copies arethe rule among the classic stamps. Thenarrow spacing of the stamps makes im­perfect perforation more obvious than onother st,amps, because due to the slightestshift the perforations cut the frame linesand the design, making it look worse thanit actually is. Perfectly centered classicstamps of France deserve a considerablepremium and the centering-minded collectorhas a rather difficult job. The perforatingdevices did not always work properly andthis resulted on the one hand in stampswhich are only 15 instead of 16 perfs high,'J'his may have been done in some casespUl'posely, to alleviate the otherwise result­j ng off center conditions. On the other hand,stamps with a broad bottom tooth on each

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Fig. 64

side of the vertical perforation can be found,mostly in the last row of the panes. Inextreme cases, strongly shifted perforationsexist, with the perforation running throughthe center of the stamps. Of perforationvarieties, we oce,asionally find double perfo­rations which, when the second perforationis shifted in one direction only, resulted inso-called "diamond" perforation on two op­posite sides of the stamps. Several stampswere reported in pairs, imperforate between(20c 1863, 5c and 10c 1872), but as suchvarieties are very unlikely for comb perfora­tion, we have every reason to believe thatthey are fakes made from French Coloniesor imperforate France stamps. Covers withsuch ,-arieties which were recorded, havemuch too early dates-1860 and January1862-to be genuine. Only one case is knownin which entire imperforate sheets wereissued by mistake, namely of the 20c 1863,of which a number of imperforate sheetsin a milky blue shade were sent in April1869 to Nancy and there used up, mainlyon corrsepondence of the firm LebaudyFrcres (Fig. 64). In all other cases ofimperforate stamps of the otherwise per­forated issues-1853 perforated, 1863 and1870-75-they are either favor prints orthey come from government archives orofficials, connected with the manufactureof the stamps, but were never issued at anypost office. France was the first country,which manufactured favor prints, in 1869,when by order of the Emperor the ParisBanker Nathaniel de Rothschild obtaineda number of imperforate sheets of the thencurrent postage stamps-1c and 5c of theperforated 1853 issue, 2c, 4c, 10c (Type I),20c (Type I), 30c, 40c and 80c of the 1863issue-for the collection of his son, Arthurde Rothschild. These favor prints, of whichsupposedly 600 to 700 copies each were pro­vided, were valid for postage and a few

207

of them seem to have been used by theRothschild family on their mail. The 1c and5c of this "Rothschild Issue" can be dis­tinguished from the corresponcling valuesof the imperforate 1853 issue only by theprinting and by the shades. In the sameway, the 5c, as well as the 30c and 80c arcdistinguishable from the corresponding val­ues of the general issue for the FrenchOolonies. It is sometimes rather difficult todistinguish the imperforate stamps whichcame from other sources, on the one handfrom the Rothschild favor prints, on theother hand from the imperforate 1853 issueand the general issues of the French 001­onies. "Ve know imperforate the 20c of 1862,all values (incl. Ie and 5fr, as well as 10c,Type II) of 1863, 1c, 2c, 4c, 5c and 10c of1872, and the 80c thick figures of 1872, butother values may exist, although only in afew copies from the official files and havingmore the character of proofs.

'['he sheets issued by the post offices weregenerally panes of 150 for the postagestamps. The post offices must have receivedthe sheets already divided into panes andthe few full sheets known of the imperforateissues seem to come from official files orofficials connected with the printing of thesestamps. '1'he perforated postage stamps wereall separated into panes before the perfo­rating process and therefore can exist onlyin panes. '1'he postage due stamps were sup­plied to the post offices in sheets of 150,except for the large sheets of 500 of the10c and 15c typographed (first printing)whieh were cut up into blocks of 260 (13x20)and 240(12x20) before delivery to the postoffices.

'1'he forms for the postal cards were offi­cially printed and issued at the post officeswith pasted-on stamps. They were type-setand printed in sheets of unknown size onthe letter press. '1'hey were first manufac­tured by the National Printing Works ofParis, but later, when larger quantities wereneeded, also by private printing establish­ments. There exist a rather great numberof printings, on white or buff thin card. Thefirst cards of January 1873 had no valueindication and came in two kinds, both onwhite, one with space for two 5c stamps, onebelow the other-because there was no 10cstamp at that time-the other with spacefor a 15c stamp. From February 1873 on.

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the cards were printed with value indications,the 10e card on buff and now with spacefor one stamp only, and the 15c earil on\,hite..From .January 1, 1876, when tlle newH.P.H. rates eame into force, uniform c.ards,on "'hite Ol' buff, were introduceil, which"'mId be useil for local, domestic or foreign(lestinations. Only the officially issued cards\rere permitteil at the reduced post cardrates.

(To be continued)

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS• The next i.,sue of the MERCURYSTAMP JOURNAL is scheduled for May,lWj5.• Ollr appeal for the return of surplliscopies of the MERCURY STAMP JOUR­N AL was quite successful and a number ofreaders have returned sueh copies, which hasenabled us to complete volumes and even tomake two issues available again singly. Weappreciate this help very much. Several issuesare still badly needed, especially No. 15, butalso Nos. 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23 and 24.We will be very thankful for the return ofany of these numbers.e With the death of Alfred H. Caspa?'y on.January 7, 1955, one of the last great gen­eral collectors has left us. Oaspary was areal connoisseur of fine stamps, who formore than fifty years had bought stampsfor their r,arity ancl beauty only. In thiswa~-, he had assembled a collection, whichis not only the most valuable stamp collectionin this country, but in all probability thefinest collection of rare classic stamps of theworld ever assembled. Our personal connec­tions with Caspary date back to the yearsafter the first 'World War, when he spentseveral vacations at Karlsbad (Bohemia),amI have continued after we came to thiscountry. Often he visited our office, carry­ing one or two volumes of his pricelesstreasures under his arm to discuss theoutstanding items to our mutual enjoyment.It was always a delight to see the choiceand unusual items of classie stamps, thisdistinguished collector was able to acquireto a consider,able extent as early as beforeWorld War 1. His holdings included a largenumber of unique items of almost all classiciRsues of the world. With the years, Cas­pary's taste for exception.ally fine items

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MERCURY STAMP JOURNALPublished periodically by the MERCURY STAMP COMPANY

522 Fifth Ave., New York 36, N. Y.

Edited by Edwin Mueller

No. 34 Copyright, 1955, by Edwin Mueller

EUROPEAN CLASSICS

JUNE, 1955

XII. FRANCE*

Of the private mail services, only theAgency Lorin issued adhesives, namely post­age stamps and postage due stamps. Bothkinds were type-set and show the arms ofthe city of Paris, as well as the letters Land M: (initials of the firm's partners,E. Lorin and A. Maury), in a double-linedframe. The postage stamps have a largefigure of value at top, CENTIMES belowit, and IMPRIME (5c), LETTRE (10c)or CHARGEMENT (50c) at bottom. Thepostage due stamps show no v,alue indication,only a kind of tentative accounting of"Timbre", "Commission" and "Avis", partof which only was printed, while the balancewas to be inserted in manuscript. Above thisaccounting were the same inscriptions as onthe postage stamps, IMPRIME (5c), LET­TRE (10c+l0c) and CHARGEMEKT(10c+50c). The stamps were printed on theletter-press, in green, violet and rose onwhite paper, and were imperforate. Of thepostage stamps, when used, the upper partwith the figure of value was pasted on theletters-only this part of the stamps wasgummed-the balance remained as a receiptin the hands of the sender. The postage duestamps were completely gummed and pastedundivided on the letters. The special returnenvelope of the Agency Lorin had a circularembossed design, which showed a three-mastsailship, with the legend FLUCTUAT NECMERGITUR-the motto of the City of Paris,meaning "It floats but does not sink",probably denoting the indestructable natureof the municipality-as well as the valueindication "10c" at bottom, and was printedin red on blue envelopes. After a short time,the design was mutilated, because the gov­ernment authorities did not permit the useof Ruch envelopes. The value indication was

*Concluded from page 208.

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removed ,and of the inscription only the firstletter of each word, "F" and "N", remained.Envelopes of this kind, blue or white, passedthrough the mails.

A number of stamps were issued on fixeddates and therefore first day covers or can­cellations can exist. But only of the 20c1849 such first day pieces can be foundmore frequently; they are sought for byspecialists. Even a few examples of pre­mature use--on Dec. 31, 1848-are recorded;this was made possible by the fact that thesale of stamps at the post offices startedon Dec. 25, 1848. Of the 1£1' vermilion 1849a few first day copies also seem to havesurvived, as great rarities. The 25c, whichwas used from July 1, 1850, also was sold bythe post offices a few days earlier; firstday covers are very rare. Of the latterissues, first day covers and cancellations arestill much more elusive, either because thefirst days of issue, established by the officialdecrees of issue, were only theoretical onesand the stamps actually were issued onlyseveral days or even weeks later, or thestamps were available on the day of issueat a few post offices only. Therefore, allfirst day covers and cancellations of the1852 and later issues are rare to very rare,many of them not known at all. Of thosestamps, which were not issued on a fixeddate, earliest known uses alone can be soughtand collected. There are no non-philateliclast day covers or cancellations, because all

The Mercury Stamp Journal is sent reg­ularly to friends and customers of theMERCURY STAMP COMPANY free ofc~arge. Others may obtain four consecu­tive numbers upon payment of $1.00.Bound Volume I (Nos. I to 12 withindex) $5.00, back numbers (availableNos. 9, 12-14, 18, 22, 25-33) 25c each.

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classic postage stamps were demonctized onlyin 1914. But last day cancellations of regu­lar use can be substituted in those cases,where, due to change of rates, specific valuesbecame unnecessary and were withdrawn ona fixed day, for example the 15c 1849 onJune 30, 1853, and the 25c 1852 and 1853on June 30, 1854.

Several values of the perforated postagcstamps are known with the name of com­mercial firn18 printed on the back. Theseare forerunners of punching of stamps withinitials, used in later years by some firms toprevent thefts. Most of these overprintswere under the gum and therefore can bealso found on used stamps. It is claimed thatthis overprinting was done after the stampswere purchased at the post officcs, andthat the firms which nsed such overprintshad the gum soaked off, the overprint ap­plied and then the stamps regummed, a veryunlikely procedure. We rather think thatthese firms had an agreement with thepostal administration, that against paymentof the costs they were supplied with suchoverprinted stamps and that the overprintswere made in the Paris Mint after thestamps were printed, but before they weregummed and perforated. Such overprintsunder the gum are known from two firms.One used three-line overprints, A.B.SEE &FILS/banquiers/COLMAR (on 1853, 40cperf, 1863, lac, 20c, 30c, 40c, 80c) and,after the war of 1870-71 when the firmhad moved to Paris, LD. SEE ];'ILS & Cie./banquiers/PARIS (on 1863, 10c, 20c, 30c,40c, 80c, 1870, 20c, 40c, 1871, 25c). Theother, Langel' & Cie, importers of Le Havre,had the name LANGER in a rectangle of thesize of the design of the stamps printe(ldiagonally on a network of curved lines(on 1863, 80c, 1870, 40c, 1871, 25c, 1872,1;Oc, 80c). Of the See overprints, several areknown inverted. The overprint of LD. SEEFILS & Cie, in a slightly different type,is also known on the gum (1871, 25c, 1874­75, 10c, 15c) and another overprint, of thebanking firm Claude Lafontaine, H. Prevost,Martinet & Cie, reading O.L.H.P.M./et Cie./it Oharleville, in three lines (on 1853, 5cperf, 1863, lac, 20c, 30c, 40c, 1870, 10c, 20c,40c, 1871, 25c, 1873, lac) is also knownon the gum only.

France can register quite a number ofunissued stamps, ones prepared for issue

218

which never were actually used. The firstsuch stamp was printed as early as 1848,when the 20c was printed in blue, beforethe change of color to black, to facilitateprinting, was ordered. But the black colorof the new 20c stamp proved impractical­an expericnce many postal administrationshad in using that color for their earlystamps - and definite change to bluewas ordered. Again blue 20c stamps wereprinted in 1849 and 1850, altogether no lessthan 23Yz million copies. But due to the raisein the letter rate to 25c, which had takenplace shortly afterwards, they never wereissued. The postal administration tried tosalvage this great quantity of unnecessarystamps, by applying with a roller an over­print "25" in red on a portion of the stamps.But, after overprinting about 2 millioncopies, this was abandoned and the stamps,unoverprinted as well as overprinted ones,were destroyed. Of the unoverprinted 20cblue, only a small number of copies fromthe files have survived, which were aug­mented by a somewhat larger number ofcopies found later in the material retainedby high postal officials and in printer'swaste, all without gum. Several tete-bechemultiples are also known of this 20c. The25c on 20c, by the way, would have beenthe first overprint on a government-issuedstamp. Only one, rather doubtful copy,which was in the Ferrari collection, seemsto have survived (Fig. 65). Another over­print was applied late in 1871 on a remainderstock of 600,000 10c stamps of the 1863issue, which were needed for local NewYear's mail owing to lack of regular lacstamps. To avoid confusion with the new15c stamp which had the same color, a blueoverprint "10" was applied. But the over­printed 10c stamps were never issuedand later were destroyed. A comparativelylarge number must have e'scaped destructionbecause this unissued stamp is found muchmore frequently than the other stamps ofthis kind. There is also an unissued postagedue stamp, a 20c black, prepared in 1876

Fig_ 65

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for a change in postage due rates, whichdid not materialize. Only a small numberof copies seem to have escaped destructionand came into philatelic possession. A simi­lar 60c black, by some authors also consideredan unissued stamp, is in all probability onlya proof, because no quantities of it seemto have been printed. Of the newspaperstamps, imperforate only the 2c(+2c) blueactually was issued and used, while thiswas never the ease for the 2c (+4c) rose,5c (+2c) blue and 5c (+4c) rose. Of theperforated stamps, the 5c(+2c) blue and the5c ( +4c ) rose were never issued and used.These five stamps are considered unissuedstamps, although it seems doubtful thatactually quantities of them ever wereprinted. It seems quite possible that theexisting copies come from a small numberof proof sheets and therefore should beconsidered proofs and not unissued stamps.

The existence of a great number ofEssays and Proofs of French stamps is oneof the features which baffles the beginnerin collecting stamps of that country. Manyof these essays alld proofs are rather com­mon and in some cases quite similar toissued stamps, so that they are frequentlymistaken for or offered as such. The mostf.amous ease is the so-called "Vervelle" Ifr1849, which has even been listed in thegeneral catalogs and frequently is con­sidered all unissued stamp. Actually allknown copies come from an ungummed proofsheet, on thin paper and in a pale vermilioncolor similar to that of the issued stamps,including one tete beche, which was foundin the estate of the printer, and which adealer by the name of Vervelle acquired.Other proofs in colors similar to the originalssometimes also are offered as such, most fre­quently proofs of the 25c 1853 in a paleblue or ultramarine shade. Some essaysand proofs are really rare-a number oftete beches was also found in proof sheetsas well as the retouched 40c in the Ceresdesign-but the diversity in design, color,paper, etc. is so great that collecting essaysand proofs of France is a study in itselfand establishment of correct market valueseven for the experienced philatelist quitee. problem.

Beginning with the perforated stampsof the 1853 issue, a number of stamps existwith Specimen overprint, probably for use

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as samples or for presentation purposes. Theoverprint was made by a roller in black ink,the word SPECIMEN, in sans-serif letters,measures 16x3mm. Known are the followingpostage stamps: 1853, perforated, Ie, 5c(also double overprint), 20c (also tetebeche), 40c, 80c (,also tete beche), 1863,Ie, 2c, 4c, 20c, 30c, 40c, 80c, 5fr (on tholast twice, side by side); 1871, 15c, 1874,15c. Of the postage due stamps, the 60colive yellow and the 60c blue are knownwith the same overprint. The 5fr of 1869is also known with typographed overprint,vertical in blue "Specimen", in two sizes,16Y,x4Y,mm. and 16x2mm. The telegraphstamps, imperforate and perforated, areknown with black overprint EPREUVE.

There were no remainders of classicFrance stamps ever sold officially exceptsome postage dues, which were sold to thedealer A. Maury in 1878. Nevertheless,France is one of the few countries where allstamps, with few exceptions, are available fol'the collector of means in mint multiple,~

and exist, in rather large blocks in immacu­late condition in private collections. Whilethe remainders-if there were any, as moststamps were used up-were officially de­stroyed, there were kept a number of samplesheets of each stamp not only in the officialfiles, but also remained in private possessionof the engravers and printers, as well as ofsome postal officials, connected with thomanufacture or distribution of the stamps.From all these sources, full sheets and largeblocks gradually came into philatelic pos­session, making possible large scale collectingof France in mint blocks with their beauti­ful shades, one of the most attractive fieldsfor the collector of means. There are onlya few exceptions, stamps which were notfound at the above sources and are raritiesin mint singles and extreme rarities or evenunknown in blocks. The rarest of these isthe lithographed 10e postage due of 1859,of whieh no unused multiples at all areknown and even mint singles are rarities,most unused copies being without gum,originating from covers where they escapedcancellation. Almost equally rare is the 10cpostage stamp of 1852, of which no unusedblock is known and the largest unusedmultiple seems to be a strip of three. Ofthe Ifr vermilion 1849 the only kllown unusedhlock is one of 8 stamps. Some of the

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newspaper and telegraph stamps are alsovery elusive in unused multiples. All otherclassic France stamps are rather easily avail­able in mint singles, as well as in mintblocks. Some of them are r,arer than othersand quite a number rather expensive, but insomewhat marked contrast to other countries,collecting classic France in mint conditionis not a very difficult job, and, when thenecessary cash is av,ailable, not even whenthe collector tries to obtain all stamps inblocks of four.

Unused tete beche multiples are, of course,considerably more difficult to obtain thanregular multiples. Of 1849, the 15c and theIfr "rouge terne" are unknown unused,while of the Ifr vermilion one tete becheis known in a block of 4. All other valuesare known in a number of tete bechemultiples, but they are rarities, except the20c black, which can be found more frequent­ly. Of the 1853 issue, the rarest tete bechesare the 80c carmine, of which only one,and the Ifr, of which two tete beche mul­tiples are known. Less rare is the 80c rosebut it is still a rarity. Of the imperforate20c, one tete beche pair is known, whichcomes from an unfinished and unissuedsheet of the perforated issue. Of the perfo­rated stamps of this issue, tete beches ofthe 20c are among the least rare and the80c is also not a great rarity. Rare againis the tete beche of the 4c 1863, as are thoseof the 15c and 25c of 1871, while the tetebeches of the 1870, 10c and 20c are moreplentiful and that of the 10c of 1873 isthe least rare of them all.

As far as 7lcSed multiples are concerned,used blocks are known of all classic postagestamps, although some of them are veryTare, while others are scarce to rare. Of the1849 issue, the rarest blocks are those of15c and Ifr vermilion, the largest knownblock of the latter being one of ten. The10c 1852 is extremely rare in used blocks,while of the 1853 issue, except for a few ofthe varieties, no value is very rare in blocks.The same is true of used blocks of allperforated issues, some of them being moreplentiful, although still considered scarce.Of the Bordeaux issue, used blocks of the20c, Type I, are rare, as well as such blocksof several of the rare "reports". Of thepostage due stamps, no larger units thanpairs seem to be known of the 40c and

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60c olive yellow. Of the 10c and Hic litho­graphed, used pairs are rare and blocksvery rare. The other postage due stampsexist in used blocks, which are scarce of the10c and 15c typographed, rare of the 30cand 60c blue and very rare of the 25c. Ofthe newspaper stamps, the largest knownused multiples seem to be pairs, which arerare. The telegraph stamps are known inused blocks, imperforate and perforated.They are all scarce to rare, especially theimperforate values.

The used tete beche multiples are some­what less difficult to collect than the unusedones and all existing values are knownused, although not all in blocks and severalas great rarities only. Of the 1849 issue,only one 15e tete beehe, a vertical pair oncover, cut into, is known and of the rarecolors of the Ifr, there exist one tete beche­in a block of 4 in the vermilion color andone tete beche in the "rouge terne" eolor,in a strip of three. The other used teh~

beches of this issue are also very rare,exeept the 20e black, which is scarce butmore plentiful. Of the 1853 issue, the usedtete beches of the 80c in both eolors arerare, those of the Ifr very rare. Of theperforated stamps of this issue, the 20e isthe most plentiful of all used tete beches,although still scarce, while the 80c is rare.The only tete beche of the 1863 issue, the4c, is rare in used condition. Of the 1870-73issue, none of the used tete beehes is veryrare; they ,are scarce to rare, in diminishingorder of rarity, 15c, 25c, 10c, 10c on roseand 20c.

Generally, the stamps of France are notscarce on entires, at least there are onlyvery few stamps which merit a large­premium in such condition. Thanks to thefiles of many large commercial enterprises,which wm:e preserved for many decades, insome cases far into the 20th century, covm'sof the cheaper values are plentiful and onlythe large number of specialists, collectingvarieties, cancellations, etc., secures for themany premium at all. Of the postage stamps,only the 5fr 1869 is scarce on cover andsells with a considerable premium. Of course,tete beches and other varieties on cover aresought for and for this reason often sell ata substantial premium. On postal cards, the10c and 15c values are common, 5c+5csomewhat scarcer, but all other frankings

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scarce to rare. Postage due stamps on coverare less plentiful and therefore deserve ahigher premium, especially the 40c and 60cblue, which are scarce to rare on cover, andthe 60c yellow bistre, which can eyen beconsidered a coyer rarity. Newspaper stampson full newspapers also are not common andwill sell at a rather large premium, whiletelegraph stamps on telegraph forms, al­though rather scarce, seem to be less popu­lar and sell at a smaller premium.

Before postage due stamps were intro­duced, postage to be collected from theaddressee was marked on the letters bymanuscript or handstamp. There also existedspecial labels, black on rose or yellow, in­troduced in 1825, with the amount of postagedue to be inserted in manuscript, whichwere pasted on such letters. These labelswere either used complete or only the npperor center part with the written due indi­cation was pasted on the letters. They werereplaced in 1845 by labels with differenttext, black on rose, yellow or white. Allthese labels, which exist in several types,seem to have been used only occasionally-orthey were removed before the letters weredelivered to the addressee-and they arerare to very rare on letters.

Certain kinds of varieties are preferablycollected on entires, especially the privateseparations, for which nsually a guar.antyof genuineness can be given only in thatcondition. French stamps used at the officesabroad are more appreciated on entires andthe use of the 1849 and 1852 issues in the col­onies can be proven only on entires, as thestamps were cancelled upon arrival inFrance. Mixed [rankings also are muchmore sought after on entires than on pieces.Between different issues, such frankings arerather common and during the emergencyof 1870-71, we can find three and even fourdifferent issues used on the same entire.Mixed frankings between different categor­ies of stamps are known only between thelilac newspaper tax stamps and postagestamps. In such cases, which are rare, thecombination was used in lieu of regularnewspaper stamps, which combined paymentof newspaper tax and postage. They can befound on newspapers, both kinds of stampstogether precancelled by newspaper text.Mixed country frankings are uncommon andcan be found mainly from post offices

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abroad, either from Turkish territory, withTurkish stamps, or from Latin America,especially with stamps of Argentina andVonezuela. During the territorial changesalong J!'rance's borders, mixed country frank­ings also became possible. When Savoy andNizza came to France in 1860, the stampsof Sardinia, previously used there, remained\-alid for a short period concurrently withthe French stamps, but we have not seenmixed frankings between them and if theyexist, they must be very rare. 'When theGermans occupied large parts of Franceduring the war of 1870-71, they did notrecognize the French stamps and only theirown special occupation stamps (Alsace-Lor­raine) were valid for franking purposes.Nevertheless, mixed fr.ankings between AI­saco-Lorraine stamps (from Jan. 1, 1872,stamps of the German Empire) and stampsof France are rather common, but theyoriginated through the lack of a postaltreaty between France and Germany at thattime, which made it necessary for the sendersto use stamps of both countries-they pro­cured tho necessary stamps of the othercountry priv.ately-to prepay mail to thedestination.

A rather large number of emergencyjrallkings exist in France. Most of themoriginated in the emergency of 1870-71 andIllade use of all possibilities, starting withthe use of remainders of obsolete issues tothe use of splits-bisected and quarteredstamps-, use of postago due stamps andrevenue stamps for postage, etc. During theemergency, the small values naturally wereused up first and the splits were all madeto reliew such shortages. Quite a number ofpostmasters reverted temporarily to the habitof the pre-stamp period, by collecting post­age in cash and stamping the letters P.P.to acknmdedge such payment.

The most spectacular of the emergencyfran kings are the splits, bisected .as well asquartered stamps. The bisecting usually wasdone diagonally, only occasionally verticallyand as an exception horizontally. During theemergency of 1870-71 most splits wel'e madeto coYer the 10c and 20c rates, after Sept.1, 1871, the 15c and 25c rates. Some kindsof bisects are known from a number oftowns, while of others and of the quarteredstamps only .a few examples, of several onlyone, are known. No bisects are known of the

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1852 issue and the perforated 1853 issue.The following bisects are recorded: 1849,40c (20c rate); 1853, 20c (10c rate or,plus 20c+20c=50c rate), 40c (20c rate),80c (40c rate); 1863, 2c (lc newspaperrate, or plus 2c+2c=5c rate or, plus 2c+2c+20c=25c rate), 4c (2c newspaper rate),10c (plus 20c=25c rate), 20c (10c rate),40c (20c rate), 80c (40c rate or, plus 80c=lfr20c rate); 1870, 10c (plus 20c=25c rate)40c (plus 40c=60c rate); 1870 Bordeaux,10c (plus 20c=25c rate), 40c (20c rate or,plus 80c 1863=lfr rate); 1873, 10c (plus10c=15c rate). The last item exists also astete beche pair, of which one stamp is bi­sected, suggesting philatelic intent. The fol­lowing stamps are known quartered: 1863,80c (20c rate or, plus 1c+2c+2c=25c rate) ;1870 Bordeaux, 20c, Type III (plUS 20c=25c rate), 80c (20c rate). All such splitsare rare to very rare and especially v.aluableon cover.

The use of postage due stamps for post­age must have been inaugurated by thepostmasters, not only because the publicdid not have any unused postage due stampsbut because the few known examples of suchlise-reported are the 10c lithographed andtypographed, as well as the 15c typographed-all are especially marked by the post­master for such emergency use. Either thE'indication "a percevoir" was crossed out bypen strokes-or only "a" crossed out and"percevoir" changed into "per<)u" (paid)­or the boxed P.P. marking was used tocancel the stamp. Such "adjusted" postageaue stamps on cover are r.are to very rare.

The use of revenue stamps for postagemust have been still less frequent and weknow only of newspaper tax stamps used inthat way. From the time the newspaper taxwas abolished-on September 6, 1870-untillate in 1871, the publishers seem to haveused up their stocks of the lilac 2c news­paper tax stamp for payment of postage,mainly on newspapers and such use, whichwas not a strictly emergency measure buta using up of otherwise worthless stamps,seems to have been tolerated by the postoffices. Rxamples of such use are rare. Wecan find regular revenue stamps of the 1865and 1871-72 issues postally cancelled. Thevaid not pay a postal fee, but a tax on reg.istered foreign money letters, held at thepost offices, which originally was 20c, from

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1871 25c. Such revenue stamps often werecancelled with the regular numeral cancel­lers or town postmarks; they can be foundon the letters themselves or on forms re­

ferring to them.On the other hand, postage stamps and

newspaper stamps were occasionally used asrevenues, mainly to pay the advertising taxon handbills. Such stamps usually were can­celled by printed text and are often mistakenfor stamps pre-cancelled on newspapers forpayment of postage. Several values of therostage stamps up to 15c, issues 1853 to1872, and both values of the newspaperstamps are known used in such manner asrevenues.

A special chapter is the Balloon Mailduring the siege of Paris 1870-71. As theweight limit was 4 grams, letter sheets wereprepared on all available thin paper, somewith printed forms for the address, alwayswith the indication "Par BaIlon Monte".Aside from that, several newspapers wereprinted on thin paper, in the form of lettersheets with space for personal correspon­dence. The news services also printed theireditions on thin paper, to be mailed in thesame way. Curiously enough, the AgenceHavas supplied a special German editionfor the newspapers in Germany, Austria andSwitzerland, mailing it regularly to itssubscribers in these countries, war or nowar. As post cards, first unprinted piecesof paper were used, later also printedforms. Payment of postage was obligatoryon all balloon mail, unpaid letters werecharged a 50% surtax. All available stampswere used on balloon mail, first the 1863issue, especially 10c, 20c, 30c, 40c, 80c, asexception also Ie, 2c and 4c, then also the1870 "Paris Siegc" issue, 10c, 20c and 40c.Occasionally we can also find stamps ofolder issues -on such mail, which are gen­erally scarce to rare. Known are 1853, 10c,20c, 40c imperforate and 1c, 5c, 10c, 20c,40c and 80c perforated. The 1870-71 Bor­deaux emergency issue cannot exist on gen­uine Paris balloon mail. As great rarities,even tete beche pairs are known on balloonmail, as is the 80c 1863 imperforate. Col­lecting the different flights, the variousfrankings and cancellations, etc., is a spe­cialized field in itself, which has attractedmany collectors, but which will become moreand more popUlar, when airmail collectors

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better recognize the historical importanceof this first governmental airmail, organizedas an emergency measure, without any phila·telic considerations. The balloon mail dur­ing the siege of the fortress of Metz con·sisted of thin pieces of paper in the sizeof post cards, without printing. No stampswere used on this mail, payment of postagebeing certified by a boxed P.P. marking.

Mail to or from Paris during the Com·mune regime in 1871 usually does not show.any special markings; it is regularly frankedwith government postage stamps and onlycan be recognized by the dates and, as faras mail to Paris is concerned, by the factthat it is addressed to intermediaries inParis snburbs. Only a small number of suchletters show handstamps of the private mailservices which handled them. Few are knownwith additional private stamps of the AgencyLorin used on them, either the postagestamps on the letters from Paris or thepostage due stamps-these always togetherwith a regular 10c government postagestamp, to pay the local letter fee-on lettersto Paris. The special reply envelopes forletters to Paris, usually franked with 200government stamps, are also very rare, asare special envelopes franked with 10c gov·ernment stamps in which letters from Pariswere sent to the private mail services forforwarding.

Of the existing fraudulent frankings, tocheat the postal service, only two kinds areof special significance, namely the use ofstamps changed into a higher value andthe use of postal forgeries. Of the former,color changelings of the green 5c 1853 intoblue and painting in "20"s instead of the"5"s in the value indications, so that theywere usuable as 20c stamps, are reported,I'ut we have never seen such fraudulentfrankings and they must have been, ifactually used, sporadic incidents. In severalcases, postal forgeries seem to have beenmanufactured and successfully used, althoughall known examples are rather crude imi­tations of genuine stamps. Of the recordedeases only one-that of the postal forgeryof the 1870 Bordeaux, 20c, Type III, usedin two different types at Marseille in Marchand April 1870-has been more closely in·vestigated, because the forgers were appre­hended, convicted and their materi,al con­fiscated. It is also the only postal forgery

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of which unused copies, also in blocks andparts of sheets, have been preserved andare in collections. More is also known of arather crude postal forgery of the 25c 1871,which was used in Algeria from September1875 to January 1876, and of which adifferent type is also reported used inMarseille. The reports ,about all other postalforgeries are rather hazy and of most ofthem only contemporary reports exist butno copies are actually known. It may besuspected that most of them were onlybadly printed genuine stamps, which weresuspected of being forgeries. In the earlyyears of adhesive postage stamps, all postaladministrations were afraid of the pos­sibility that their stamps could be success­fully imitated and in several other countriesperfectly genuine but badly printed stampsaroused suspicion and were investigated asforgeries. This may especially have beenthe ease with the "postal forgeries" of the1849 issue, 25c and other values, reported incontemporary newspapers, as well as reportedpostal forgeries of 20c 1853 imperforate,40c 1853 perforated and 20c 1863, becausecopies of such postal forgeries are unknownto us, as are reported "postal forgeries" ofthe 15c 1874. In reports of postal forgeriesof the 20c 1870 Bordeaux in Type I and/orType II there may be more truth, becausethey are recognized by several authoritiesof French stamps and seem to exist incollections.

The history of the French postmarks isso extensive and diversified that we can dis­cuss it only in general terms in a monographof the scope of ours. France has not onlythe distinction of having introduced thefirst handstamped postmarks - the eoarliestexamples are known from as early as 1611­but also of having given us the first townpostmarks; in 1695. Therefore, the history ofthe French pre-stamp postmarks covers notless than 237 yeoars and it is quite naturalthat a large number of different postmarks,partly due to the many historical events ofthe period, were created.

The oldest postmarks, which began to ap­pear in the 17th century, were circular mark·ings with the inscription PORT P AYE(Postage Paid), the Bourbon lily or otherarms in the center. They seem to have beenused in a few places only and disappearedafter several years. Only in 1695 do we find

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another attempt to introduce postmarks, thistime with the town name, often preceded by"De" (From), straight lines without dateindication. From 1715, abbreviations of thetown names started to be used on the post­marks, for large towns often only the firstletter of the name, making some of thesemarkings difficult to identify with a spe­cific post office. Some of these postmarksare ornamented and show the Bourbon lilyor a crown in addition to the town name.Aside from the town postmarks, Port Payemarkings again started to appear in 1730,and in 1750 the first combined town PortPaye postmarks were introduced. They wereused for paid letters only and are quitediversified, straight lines, as well as orna­mented ovals 01' circles, triangles etc., the"Port Paye" often abbreviated P.P. or re­placed by L. F. ("Letter Franche" = FreeJetter) 01' FRANC, FRANCHE 01' the like.They are generally scarce because it wascustomary to have letters sent unpaid andfor the addressee to pay the postage. Noneof these postmarks had any date indication.From 1783, we find in a few odd cases theyear date, without day or month, stampedon letters. Letters which had to be forwarded,and the amount of postage transferred toanother post office received from 1761 spe­cial "Debourse" postmarks, usually inscribedDEB. in addition to the town name.

While the postmarks of the period before1792 show very great diversity, probably be­cause each postmaster procured postmarksof his own choosing, the revolutionary andNapoleonic period, from 1792 to 1814, showsmuch greater uniformity which suggests thatthe postmarks were now centrally manu­factured and delivered to the post offices.All post offices, beginning with 1792, re­ceived new straight line town markings, withthe departement number above the name.Special postmarks for paid letters had theh~tters P.P. added, usually flanking the de­partement number on both sides; for for­warded letters, special "Debourse" postmarkS,usually with DEB. added to the departe­ment number, were introduced in 1800. Allpost offices operating from 1792 to 1814,including those in the conquered territoriesill many parts of Europe, received postmarksof these kinds. Also during that period thefirst date postmarks were introduced, in1794 straight lines with the revolutionary

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names of the month only, from 1795 nu­merals indicating the (Lay of the month only,often in a cil'cle or square. Combined dayand month markings first appeared in 1798and from 1802 special circular date mark­ings, giving day, month and year, were in­troduced, until 1805 according to the revolu­tionary calendar and from 1806 accordingto the Gregorian calendar.

After the fall of Napoleon and the restor­ation of the Bourbons to the throne, thesame types of postmarks remained in use.The secondary post offices - Bureaux deDistribution - which were created in 1820,received at that time straight line townpostmarks similar to those of the other postoffices but with the town name in italics.For unpaid letters, the amount to be col­lected from the addressee had until thenbeen marked in manuscript on the face ofthe letters - paid letters had the postagepaid marked on the reverse side -; nowhalldstamped rate markings were introduced,in the shape of reguLar typographic figuresor in an odd imitation of manuscript fig­ures, sometimes with added "c" for "cen­times". In Paris, special markings were in­troduced in 1837, which were double circles,,,-ith the amount to be collected in the center,PARIS at top and the delivery time atbottom.

Generally, all town postmarks were with­out date indication - the earlier date mark­ings of a few post offices were without townname and mainly used as arrival markings­and only in 1820 were date markings intro­duced at all post offices. They were firstcircular markings with the date - day,months and year - stamped alongside theregular dateless town postmarks of the postoffices. Similar date markings, but with anadditional dotted outside circle, were in­troduced in 1836 for the Bureaux de Distri­bution. In 1828, a small number of postoffices obtaine(] the first combined town anddate markings, which showed in a box thetown name and the departement number inthe first row and the date - day, monthand year - in the second row. A new typeof combined town and date postmarks wasgenerally intrOduced at all post offices in1830, double circles with the town name attop, the departement number within bracketsat bottom and the date in the center. Smallornaments were often added at left and

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

T

~' I

right. The first postmarks of this kind werelarge, 27 to 32 mm. in diameter, from 1836- now always without ornaments - theyhecame smaller and measured about 25mm.in diameter, to be further reduced to 20 to22mm. in 1838, which remained the standarrlsize for the town postmarks nntil the endof the pre-stamp period.

The City Posts, called "Petites Pastes".used postmarks similar to those of the gen­"ral mail service. Of the nine services of thiskil1CI- aside from Paris, in Bordeaux, Lille,Lyon, Marseille, Nancy, Nantes, Rauen andBtrasbourg - only Bordeaux used postmarkswith the town name and the inscriptionPETITE paSTE, while sever,al of theothers used postmarks with the names ofthe various suburbs as early as 1767. Other­wise only date markings (d,ay or day plusmonth) or markings which gave the numberof the collecting trip were used by the cityposts from 1760. During the same period wealso find numerals or numerals plus lettershandstamped on the mail, which are mailboxmarkings. Paid letters were marked PORTPAYE, mostly abbreviated P.P., or FR.DE P. (Franc de Port), first recorded from1778, while unpaid letters were marked NONPAYE or PORT DU, the latter often abbre­viated P.D., from as early as 1765.

The Travelling Post Offices in 1848 ob­tained double circle postmarks similar tothose of the town post offices, either witha town name, but without departement num­her, or with indication of the route, for ex­ample VERSAILLES A PARIS. On thenight trains, these postmarks, which werestamped only on the back of the letters,were regular double circles, on the day trainsthe inner circle was replaced by an octagon,and on express trains by a wavy-lined circle.Similar ship markings, inscribed BATEAUA VAPEUR, can be found from 1842. Dou­hIe circle markings with the name of theship were introduced in 1837 and generallyin 1843.

The Army Post Offices, which started touse postmarks as early as 1704, constitute avast field. They were straight lines with theinscription ARMEE DE . . . ." and wereused in similar form in all wars until theend of the pre-stamp period. They becameespecially numerous during the period from1794 to 1814.

The French Post Offices Abroad started

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to use postmarks in 1813, when datelessboxed markings with the town name wereintroduced. In 1838, the double circle typewas introduced, first about 25mm. in diam­eter, from 1845 20 to 22mm. in diameter,with the name of the country where thepost office operated instead of the departe­ment number at bottom. In the FrenchColonies, the first postmarks seem to haveheen introduced around 1740; they followedin their design the contemporary postmarksof the homeland but with the name of theeolony replacing the departement number.

In Algeria, the first postmarkS, introducedin 1833, were double circles ,as used in themotherland, but with "pass. D'AFR." in·stead of the departement number. In 1840,this inscription was replaced by ALGERIE.In all other respects, Algeria was consideredpart of France proper and its postmarkswere identical to those used there.

The French postmarks of the pre-stampperiod are rich in additional markings. Inthe large cities, collection ,and delivery mark­ings were applied, showing the number ofthe pickup or delivery trip, while in themral areas - but partly also in the suburbsof the towns - mail box and letter carriermarkings, usually consisting of letters orletters plus numerals, were used. From 1830,uniform markings were introduced for thisserviee, "CL" ("Correspondence Loeale") and"CD" ("Correspondence Locale, Distribu­tion"), from 1836 "OR" ("Origine Rurale"),from 1840 also "B" (Boite" =Mail Box)and from 1847 also "01," ("Origine Lo­cale") .

Registered letters from France are knownas early as 1792 and special postmarks wereused from the same year, inscribedCHARGE, in various types, also with the townname and the departement number. For aspecial kind of registered letter, from 1809a handstamp "R", abbreviation of "Recom­mande" was used, from 1830 also a markingRECOMMANDE D'OFFICE. From 1829,there existed also a kind of special deliveryletter, which was forwarded by couriers.Such letters received markings ESTAF­FETTE, P.P. EST. or the like, as an excep­tion also in combination with a town name.Newspapers from 1779 obtained specialmarkings PERIODIQUES, which were quitediversified, especially in Paris, where similarmarkings for printed matter inscribed 1M-

225

PlUMES were also in use.France was a country which had a large

percentage of official and other mail whichwas exempt from paying postage. The franksused on such mail are very numerous, thefirst one, from 1744, reading AFFAIRESDU ROY.

Mail to foreign countries generally ob­tained the same postmarks as domestic mail,but from 1836 special boxed markings"P.D." ("Port Paye it Destination"=Post­age Paid to Destination), "P.P." (PortPaye" = Postage Paid to a specific pointonly) and "P.F." ("Port Paye it Frontiere"= Postage Paid to Border) were introducedfor such mail and from 1843 a special boxed"R" for registered mail. Mail from foreigncountries was subject to special attention andthe origin markings are a French invention.heing introduced there as early as 1699.They were applied by the border post officesand road, for example, "DE HOLANDE" orthe like, from 1802 giving the name of theexchange post office, for example "ES­PAGNE PAR BAYONNE" or "PAR COL­OGNE". In 1839, a uniform type of suchmarkings was introduced, double circles withthe country of origin at top and the Frenchexchange post office at bottom. At the sametime, ship letters arriving in French Medi­terranian ports obtained a special marking"PAQUEBOTS DE LA MEDITER­RANEE". Origin markings for mail fromthe Colonies and from America were intro­duced in 1760 and 1784 respectively. From1839, they were of a uniform double circletype similar to that of the other originmarkings. Disinfection markings are alsonumerous on foreign mail, especially for theperiod after 1830.

The ink used for the French postmarksduring the pre-stamp period was generallyblack, but red postmarks are also frequentat all times. Blue ink was used only occa­sionally and is scarcer, except in specialcases, mainly in Paris, where blue ink wasused' regularly.

Before 1lewspaper stamps were introducedin 1869, the newspaper tax was collectedby handstamps, which were stamped on thenewspapers and are of philatelic interest,because newspapers stamped in this waywere free of postage and were delivered bythe post offices without additional payment.Such himdstamps, which were inscribed

226

TIMBRE NATIONAL, from 1852 to 1870TIMBRE IMPERIAL, were in use fromAugust 1, 1850, when the newspaper taxesof 2c and 5c respectively were introduced.In 1852, the tax was made uniformly 3c andpostage had to be paid extra. New hand­stamps, which differentiated between therates, 3c, 3c+2c postage and 3c+4c postage,were introduced. In 1854, the tax was in­creased for Paris to 6c and now thepostal value was indicated by the COlor ofthe handstamp, black without postage, bluewith 2c postage and recl with 4c postage.This system was continued, when the taxwas reduced to 2c and 5c respectively in1868. After the newspaper stamps were intro­duced in 1869, new handstamps were in­troduced for newspapers, still with the in­scription TIMBRE IMPERIAL, but whichshowed only the payment of postage, 2c inblue and 4c in red.

France was one of the numerous countrieswhich followed the example of Great Britainin intrOducing special cancellers for the can­cellation of its adhesive postal stamps. Thesespecial cancellers should have been introducedtogether with the first postage stamps onJanuary 1, 1849, but their manufacture anddistribution was delayed, so that they cameinto use generally only on January 15, 1849,hut in rare cases a few days earlier, thefirst known day of use being January 10,1849. These first special cancellers werediamond grids, showing five crossed lines inboth directions, and they were introduced atall post offices in France and Algeria.

In the period from Jan. 1 to 15, 1849,before the special cancellers were distributed,the post offices used either their town post­marks as cancellers - all three sizes ofdouble circles, the secondary post officesthe straight lines in italics - or they ap­plied pen markings as cancellation. Thepostmasters of a few towns created theirown cancellers, various kinds of bars, barredor dotted circles, or rosettes, etc., of whichabout a dozen different kinds, all scarce torare, are known from that transition period.

The grid canceller was used generally untilthe end of 1851 and then was replaced, be­ginning Jan. 1, 1852, by other kinds ofspecial cancellers, namely in Paris by adotted star, outside of Paris by a diamondof dots, the latter with small numerals int,he center. 'rhe replacement was effectuated

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

quickly and all post offices seem to havereceived the new cancellers early in 1852.There are only a few exceptions, namelyseveral Paris post offices which used thegrid canceller until 1855 and the militarypost office at Rome, which used it until 1862.A number of other cases of late use also areknown, but they are exceptions.

The dotted diamonds with small numeralsin the center were distributed to the postoffices in alphabetical order. The first listof post offices, of Jan. 1, 1852, contained3703 post offices outside Paris, which re­ceived the cancellers with the small numerals1 to 3703, Abbeville to Yvre L'Eveque. Thecancellers with the numbers from 3704 to3709 were distributed to the post officesabroad, those from 3710 to 3739 to the postoffices in Algeria. New post offices ob­tained the numbers beginning with 3740,again with certain groups of numbers orsingle numbers given to the post officesabroad (3766 to 3773, 4008 to 4019) andthose in Algeria (3751 to 3764, 3774 to 3777,3793 to 3795, 3846, 3912, 4005, 4007, 4104,4106, 4116, 4120, 4122, 4187, 4189, 4190,4361 to 4374, 4446 to 4448). Until this kindof spedal cancellers was discontinued, all to­gether 4494 different numbers were used forthem, the highest number being 4494, whichwas assigned late in 1862.

Of post offices, which were closed, thenumbers usually were reassigned to newpost offices. When the territory of Savoyand Nizza was acquired in 1860, the postoffices there received in October 1860 spe­cial cancellers with numbers from 4194 to4251. Monaco in this way received thenumber 4222. For a short period, beforethese special cancellers were distributed­from June to October 1860 - the post officesused the Sardinian town postmarks - doublecircles with the town name on top and arosette at bottom - to cancel the newly in­troduced French stamps, which cancellationstherefore can be found on the 1853 issue.They are known on the 5c, 10c, 20c, 40cand 80c and are generally scarce to rare.

The post offices in Paris did not obtainthe general type of cancellers but, also onJan. 1, 1852, introduced their special kinds.The main post office (Bureau Central) nowstarted to use a dotted star canceller, thesub-offices (Bureaux Principaux) dotteddiamonds, but with a letter, A to N, in the

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

center, the branch offices (Bureaux Sup­plementaires) with additional "S" ("Sup­plementaire") or "SI", "S2", "S3" or"S4". The post offices in the Paris railroadstations had similar dotted diamond can­cellers, but with "PG" (Paris Gare) and anadditional letter, signifying the station, forexample "E" for (Gare de 1') Est, or "L" for(Gare de) Lyon. There were also several kindsof roller cancellers used in Paris, some intro­duced as early as 1849. They consisted firstof a continuous grid band, later of bandsof dots of different shape, size and density,also of ,a band of dotted stars. All theseroller cancellers were mainly used on reg­istered and foreign mail, but some of theml'emained in use only for short periods andothers were used sparsely. In special cases,they cancelled sheets or large blocks whichwere used for accounting purposes or whichwere put in the files. It is claimed th.at thelarge dot rollers were also used to cancelfull sheets of remainders to prevent theirmisuse and it is a fact that large blocks ofwhich it seems unlikely that they were everused for postage can be found cancelled inthat way. They are considerably less rare thanblocks regularly used and cancelled on mail.The Paris main post office from 1860 alsooccasionally used a circular or octagonalcanceller of dots without inscription.

As in other conntries, after a few yearsthe list of the post office numbers becameunwieldy, due to the numerous additionsand changes, and it was therefore decidedto renumber the post offices and at thesame time to introduce new special cancel­lers, ag,ain diamonds of dots, but now withlarge numerals in the center. This second listof post offices, of Jan. 1, 1863, contained,again in alphabetical order, 4361 post officesfrom Abbeville to Zicavo, and the numbersfrDm 1 to 4361 were assigned to the postoffices in France proper. The numbers from5000 to 5078 were assigned to the postoffices in Algeria, those from 5079 to 5107to the post offices abroad. Between 1863 and1869, new post offices in France receivedin order of their establishment the numbersfrom 4362 to 4999 and from 1869 to 1876 thenumbers from 6000 to 6449. New post officesin Algeria and abroad received between1863 and 1876 the numbers from 5108 to5169, namely the numbers 5118, 5119, 5121,5129, 5139 and 5153 to 5156 post offices

227

abroad, the other numbers post offices inAlgeria. Therefore, the highest number ofthe diamond dot cancellers with large fig­ures is 6449. There exists a small numberof such cancellers with a letter "A", "B" orothers added to the number, which were usedat branch offices of the post office usingthat specific number.

Again the numbers of closed post officeswere reassigned to new post offices. Thenumbers of the post offices in the lostprovinces of Alsace and Lorraine were givenbetween 1873 and 1876 to post offices inother parts of France. The numbers of fivepost offices abroad which were closed­5085, 5086, 5088, 5097 and 5118 - werelater reassigned to post offices in Algeria.

The c.ancellers with small numerals werereplaced quite rapidly and during 1863 allpost offices appear to have received thecancellers with large numerals, with theirnew numbers. But the use of some old can­cellers seems to have continued and duringthe emergency of 1870-71, a number of theold c.aIlcellers must have been redistributed,probably to replace lost ones. In such cases,the post offices obtained cancellers withtheir number according to the second list, sothat cancellers can exist from the same postoffice with the same number in small aswell as large numerals.

In Paris, no change took place on .Tan.1, 1863, and the cancellers there remaine,1unchanged until .Tuly 1, 1863. At that time,the special cancellers of the sub-offices andbranch offices were replaced by specialdotted star cancellers, similar to those usedby the Paris main post office, but withnumerals in the center. They come with thenumbers from 1 to 39. The other Pariscancellers remained in use without change.

All special cancellers, in France includingParis, in Algeria and at the post officesabroad, were withdrawn from further usein April 1876. From then on cancellationwas to be effected by the regular town post­marks. But some post offices continuedto use the numeral cancellers occasionallyand some late uses are known.

The regulations provided during the wholeperiod of the use of special cancellers thatin addition to them the town postmarks wereto be stamped alongside the stamps on themail. When the first special cancellers wereintroduced in .Tanuary 1849, there were in

228

use only the double circle postmarks -largesize (with or without ornaments), mediumsize and small size - as well as the straightlines in italics of the secondary post offices.These town postmarks were now used tomark the place of origin on the letters anathey were also used as arrival markings.There was only one major change in thetown postmarks during the classic stampperiod, namely from .Tuly 1, 1868 the addi­tion of the collection number in the post­marks, to the left of the figure of the day,mid the introduction of single circles whichwere, except for the missing inner circle,of the same type as the double circles. Bothdouble circles and single circles remainedin usc from then on. At the same time, thesecondary post offices also obtained doublecircles or single circles, with or without col­lection number, but with an additional dottedcireJe outside. This type of postmark nowreplaced the straight lines in italics. At thevery end of the classic st.amp period, in 1876,another major change took place in the townpostmarks, when the departement numberwas replaced by the name of the departement.

V\Then the use of stamps for postage onprinted matter started in 1854, the regula­tions were amended in part by dispensingwith the special cancellers for such mail.The regular town postmarks were to beused as cancellers of the stamps on printedmatter .and therefore, from now on, towncancellations, which until then were excep­tions, became the regular cancellation ofthe low values (lc, 2c, 4c and 5c) -whichgenerally are scarcer with numeral cancel­lations - and became much more frequenton the higher values. In Paris, special post­marks from the pre-stamp period and simi­]ar new ones were used for that purpose.During the emergency of 1870-71, the useof the town postmarks as cancellers increasedconsiderably, mainly to save work by abol­ishing the use of a second handstamp, andthis habit continued until the end of theclassic stamp period. When, from 1860, theuse of postage stamps for the payment ofpostage on newspap'ers started, a specialprocedure, later also used for the newspaperstamps, was introduced by applying thestamps to the unprinted paper and pre­cancelling them by overprinting with news­paper text.

The postal services on railroa,d trains and

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

-

:--

..II)

•

...

1

.9hip.9 first did not use their postmarks ascancellers, but stamped them only on theback of the letters. Only in 1852 and 1857respectively, were special cancellers createdfor these postal services. They were dia­mantIs of dots, for the tr,avelling railroadpost offices with the letters of the terminalsin the center - for example PD (Paris toDijon) or P AN (Paris to Angers) -, forthe postal services on ships with an anchorin the center. Now the regular railroad andship postmarks were placed alongside ofthe st.amps on the letters, but occasionally,,,eJ'e also used as cancellers. Special or fIeld­post officcs also had diamond dot cancellers,with various combinations of letters and nu­merals in the center. Double circle markingswith indication of the special orfieldpostoffice were placed alongside the stamps onthe mail or, as exception, used as cancellers.

The special markings were numerous duringthe classic stamp period. Registered lettersshow the CHARGE markings and, from 1858,a box with "No." and "PDS." (Poids =Weight) for entering such data. From 1860,these boxes became more involved by includ­ing the post office number and data abontthe wax seals used. They now were stampedon the reverse side of registered letters. Forthe "Late Fee" letters, introduced in 1863,special octagonal town markings were used,which, instead of the collection number, hatIthe indication "El", "E2" or "E3" beforethe date, "E" standing for "Exceptionelle".Letters posted after the last mail of theday had left, from 1850 obtained "APRESI,E DEPART" markings. The markings ofthe rural mail service and of the lettercarriers from the pre-stamp period werecontinued and can be also found used ascancellers, especially the "OR" and "OL"markings, as well as the small letters ornumerals in a circle, ovaloI' triangle. From1852, oval markings BM, standing for"Boite Mobile" were used for mail collectedfrom mail boxes on train connections orlocal ships. There were later also some townpostmarks with the inscription "Boite Mo­bile". Branch offices, which were mainlyserving the transit of mail, especially inrailroad stations, called "Bureaux de Passe",from 1866 used double circles, which had theinner circle shifted to the bottom, with thenumber of the related main post office attop. Used as cancellers, they are rare.

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL

A great number of markings existed forlJartlll paid or unpaid letter.9. From 1849,markings "Timbre Paste Insufficient" orthe like were used for part-paid letters.Unpaid letters from 1850 received largedouble-lined numerals, showing the amountin centimes to be collected; they come in,amounts from 4c to 5fr. In Paris, thedouble circle town postmarks, which includedthe amount to be collected from the ad­dressee, were continued and from 1851 reoplaced by new types, similar to the regulartown postmarks, but with the ,amount, forexample "15c", inserted in the inner circleabove the date indication.

The origin markings of the pre-stamp per­iod also were continued. They were now aU'double circles, with the country or place oforigin at top and the French receiving postoffice - a border post office, a ship orrailroad office - at bottom.

The telegraph office.~ obtained specialtown postmarks in 1866 - double circles,with the outside circle wavy-lined _ anaused them from 1868 for cancelling thetelegraph stamps.

At the French post offices abroad, regu­lar numeral c,ancellers were used, first from18.57 with small numerals, from 1863 withlarge ones. The town postmarks, which hadthe name of the country instead of thedepartemellt number, were stamped along­side the stamps but occasionally also wcreused as cancellers. The French OolonIes, dur­ing the time when stamps of the motherland

OUR OFFICE will be closed for vaca.

tions from July II through 31, 1955.

No business will be transacted and no

mail answered during that period.­

From June I until Labor Day, business

hours will be from 9 A. M. to 5 P. M.,

Monday through Friday; closed on

Saturdays.

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(1849 and 1852 issues) were used there, hadno special cancellers and this seems to be thereason why such stamps were not cancelled inthe Colonies. The town postmarks werestamped alongside, but the stamps them­selves cancelled only after arrival of themail in France, usually by the Calais-Parisrailroad post office or by the Paris mainpost office, with one of the available rollercancellers. Known are on such covers of the1849 issue the 10c (Martinique only), 25c and40c (both from French Guiana, Freuch In­dia, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Reunion, the25c also tete beche, from Guadeloupe) ann25c of the 1852 issue (from French Guianaand M,artinique). The stamps used duringthe pacification of Cochin China, from 1860to 1864, were cancelled with special diamondgrid cancellers with CCR or CCN2 in centerand a town postmark stamped alongside.Known are 10c, 20c and 40c of 1853.

Generally, black ink was usen for allFrench cancellers and only a very small per­centage of stamps is cancelled either in redor blue ink. Red ink was an exception forreguIar cancellers and town postmarks andonly the special printed matter postmarksand some other town postmarks used inParis can be found regularly in red. Allother red cancellations are scarce to rare.Blue ink was .also used in isolated eases only,but several post offices, notably in Parisproper, for some time used blue ink. Thesame was the ease for post offices in hotclimates, for which blue ink was more suit­able than black, which latter easily spoiled.This is the reason why we find some cancel­lations of post offices abroad as well as someship cancellations more frequently in blue.But in any ease, blue cancellations are muchscarcer than black ones and often scarcerthan red ones, although much less attractiveand therefore less sought for.

When we consider the relative rarity of the1Jarious cancellations on the different issues,we have to recognize that the conditionswere not the same for all values, becausesome of them were generally used for localmail only, others almost exclusively forprinted matter, etc. This is especially ob­vious for the 1849 issue, where the 15cvalue was used predominently in Paris andtherefore comes mostly with the specificcancellers of that city. It is not known usenin Algeria. Other values also are scarce used

23()

in Algeria, for example the 25c of 1853.On all values of the 1849 iss1te, the dia­

mond grid eanceller is the most common, buton the 10c, 250., 40c and 1fr the diamond doteaneellers with small numerals are equallycommon, while they are rare on the 15c andvery rare on the 200.. The Paris dotted stareaneeller is also common on all values, exceptthe 200., somewhat rarer are the various rollergrid and roller dot eancellations, also exeepton the 20c, on which value they are very rare.During the period from Jan. 1 to 15, 1849,the 200. ean be found with pen cancellationsas well as with the various types of townpostmarks, all searce. Town postmarks canalso be found from later dates and on othervalues, but they are mueh rarer, All otherkinds of eaneellations on the 1849 issue arerarities. Rei! and blue eancellations are rareon that issue, but known on all values, therarest being the 400. with red and the 400.and 1fr with blue eaneellation.

On the 1852 iss'lte, the most eommon caneel­lations are the dotted diamonds with smallnumerals and the Paris dotted star; the rollereancellers are seareel', the diamond grideanceller mueh scarcer. Town caneellationsare rare, red and blue caneellations very rare.

The imperforate 1853 issue is predomi­nantly eaneelled with the dotted diamondswith small numerals and the Paris dottedstar, but the 1c is an exeeption, beeause itis mueh more eommon with town eaneella­tion ,and the 50. is equally common with nu­meral and town eancellation. The roller can­eellers are scareer and the diamond grid can­eeller is scarce to rare. This issue is thefirst one which can be found with the .anchorship caneeller, which is not scarce, excepton the Ie and 5c. Foreign cancellations, orig­inating from ship eovers, are also not rare,espeeially Spanish, Italian ,and British mark­ings. The use of postage stamps for postageon newspapers also is first noticeable onthis issue, as the Ie and 5c are known pre­cancelled with neswpaper text. While blackink was still predominently used for thecancellers and cancellations in red or blueare rare to very rare, now the special printedmatter postmarks of Paris were applied inred and sueh red cancellations are more com­mon, although still scarce. All values are101 own, except 25c and 1fr.

On the perforated 1853 issue, the normaleancellations are the dotted diamonds with

MERCURY STAMP JOURNAL -

large numerals - which can be found occa­sionally on the imperforate stamps - andthe Paris dotted stars. An exception is againthe lc which is scarce with these two kindsof cancellation. On this value, the most com­mon 0ancellations are the town postmarks,which are also common on the 5c but scarceron the other values. The dotted diamondswith small numerals are scarce and all rollercancellers are scarce to rare. The anchor shipcancellation is less scarce on all values. Pre­cancelled with newspaper print, the Ie, 5cand, as rarity, IDe are known. Red and bluecancellations are generally scarce to rare,only the red Paris printed matter cancella­tions are more common, as are blue anchorship cancellations.

On the 1863 issue, similar conditions pre­vailed. While the dotted diamonds with largenumerals and the Paris dotted stars are themost common cancellation on the values from10c up, the lc, 2c and 4c are most commonwith town cancellation and numeral can­cellations on these values are scarcer. Thecancellers with small numerals are scarce, asare the dotted roller cancellers. Town can­cellations are still scarce on the higher val­ues, but less elusive than on previous issues.All values come not too r,arely with theanchor ship cancellation. The lc, 2c and4c are known with precancelling newspapertext; they are scarce to rare. The 4c is alsoknown bisected diagonally nsed in snch way.Almost all cancellations on this issue arehlack; red and blne ones are rare, exceptfor the red Paris printed matter cancella­tion, which is not very S0arce on any valne,even on the 5fr, and a special Paris towncancellation, nsed on balloon covers, whichcan be fonnd in red on 10c, 20c, 30c and 40c.

On the 1870 Bordeaux issue, all Pariscancellations are considerably scarcer thancancellations from outside Paris. Most com­mon on all values of this issue are the dotteddiamonds with large numerals, the lc, 2cand 4c being equally common with townpostmarks, while the higher values are scarcerwith such. The anchor ship canceller isfound rather frequently, while stamps pre­cancelled with newspaper text -lc, 2c, 4c,5c and 10c are known - are scarce to rare.Colored cancellations are especially scarce onthis issue, due to its small use in Paris. Thered Paris printed matter cancellation isvery rare and known only on IDe and 20e,

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Type III. Other red caneellations also arerare and not even known on some values.Occasional blue cancellations are scarce.

The regular 1870-75 isslie can be foundmostly with the dotted diamonds with largenumerals, exeept Ie and 2c, which are morecommon with town cancellations. The latterare also common on 4c and 5c, but stillscarcer on the higher values. The Paris dot­ted stars are equally common, except on lc,2c and 4c, on which they are somewhatscarcer. The dotted roller cancellers arescarce to rare and not even known on somevalues. The dotted diamonds with small nu­merals arc scarce, anchor ship cancellationscan be fonnd r,ather frcqnently on all values.Newspaper text precaneellation, which isscarce, is known on Ie, 2c, 4c and 5c. Coloredcancellations are rare, red except for theParis printed matter cancellation, which isnot scaree on all values, and the Paris balloonmail cancellation, which can be found on 10c,200. and 40c; blue cancellations are alsoscaree except for ship and offices abroadcancellations.

The postage due stamps nntil 1882 wereused only outside of Paris and therefore donot come with Paris cancellations. An ex­ception is the 60c blue, which, after Oct. 1,1882, was in use everywhere and thereforealso comes with Paris cancellations, includ­ing the dented triangles specially used therefor cancelling postage due stamps. The mostcommon cancellations on all postage duestamps arc town 0ancellations, but the ruralcancellers, OR or OL in a circle, and thevarious letter carrier markings are here lessrare than on postage stamps. Numeral 0an­cellers are much rarer and several values­10c lithographed, 30c and both 60c - do notseem to be known with this kind of cancella­tion. Colored c,ancellations are very rare amIonly the 10c, lithographed and typographed,is recorded with red and the 10c typographedwith blue cancellation.

Used newspaper stamps generally are pre­caneelled with newspaper text. Sueh stamps,0ancelled by postmarks, usually originatefrom the tolerated using up of such stampsfor postage on newspapers after Sept. 6,1870, and are extremely rare. The telegraphstamps were cancelled with the town can­cellers of the telegraph offices. We knowthem in black and, scarcer, in blue.

The starnps of the private mail service.q

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1generally were cancelled with the hand­stamps of the private mail agencies, showingthe firm's name and address. Only of theAgency Lorin a special canceller is known,consisting of the letters "O.IX" (supposedto stand for Bureau 0, District IX), whichwas used to cancel stamps of that company.

Officially, postage stamps were twicereprinted, but as these printings were validfor postage - and oC0asionally were usedon mail, although mostly by philatelists­they must be considered re-iSS1leS. The firstre-issue, of 1862-63, was principally not madefor philatelic reasons, but to satisfy the de­mands of other postal administmtions, whichat that time requested complete collectionsof all French stamps. This re-issue con­sisted of all values of the 1849 issue, 10c,15c, 20c, 25c, 40c and HI' - of the last onlythe carmine, not the vermilion color - inaddition to the unissued 20c blue, further­more of both values, 10c and 25c, of the1852 issue, and of the obsoletc values of the1853 issue, 25c and Ifr. The stamps wereprinted in the same shades and on thesame papers as the current stamps of the1853 issue. This distinguishes them to someextent from the originals, especially theshades and the gum, whieh is less brilliant,but several values are so similar to the origi­nals that they are often mistaken for such.Due to the changed methods of manufactur­ing of the pLates from the mother plates, thesize of the design of some of the re-issuesdiffers from that of the originals, whichfact helps to distinguish some values, es­pecially the 15c of 1849 and the HI' of 1853.'1'he sheets of the re-issues look exactly likethose of the originals - except that therewere no border lines on the re-issues of the1852 and 1853 issues -, they even had thehandstamped control mark on the sheet mar­gin. The Ifr of 1853 is the only value whichhad an inverted design in the plate, in thesame position 131 as on the originals. The40c of 1849 also shows the variety with re­touched "4", in the same positions as theoriginals, 146 and 147. 6000 copies each wereoriginally printed of all values of this re­issue, of which about 2000 later were des­troyed. The rather large quantity which wasprinted suggests that from the beginning itmust have been intended not only to supplyforeign postal administrations, but also col­lector,!! and dealers. The unissued provisional

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25c on 20c blue also was reprinted, but itis not known whether in 1862 or at anotherdate. The reprint differs from the oneknown copy, supposed to be an original, bythe overprint, which has a "c" and a diag­on.ally lined bar added to the figure of value.Another official reprinting was done in 1887,when the contemporary Minister of Posts,GralJpt, in addition to all values of the 1876issue, also ordered four values of earlierissues l'eprinted, namely 1c of 1863, 10c, 20caIHl 25c of 1870-71. These Granet re-issuesare ,all imperforate and - except for thelac and 20c, which also exist with gum­are ungummed. They WCl'e printed from spe­cially assembled settings of 12 (3x4) cliches,is unknown quantities and obviously strictlyfor philatelic purposes. They can be dis­tinguished by the shades and the printing,but they are quite similar to some printingsof t.he same st.amps issued imperforate fort.he French Oolonips and are not always easyt.o dist.inguish. There seems t.o be a wellbased suspicion that some of t.he imperforatevarieties of t.he 1863 and 1870-75 issues alsomay be reprint.s, but no definit.e conclusionsare possible. - Of t.he newspa,per stamps,which lost their validit.y for postage in 1871,official reprints were made twice, but it isclaimed t.hat. several private reprint.s werealso made of t.hem, due to the fact that theOl'iginal dies were temporarily in privatehands. In 1913, on the occasion of an int.er­national exhibition at. Ghent., Belgium, bothvalues were reprinted from the original dies,each in all three colors, imperforat.e andperforat.ed. V.arious kinds of paper wereused and t.here are numerous shades. Someof these reprint.s were overprint.ed EPRE·UVE. In 1937, on the occasion of the Int.er­national Philat.elic, ElXhibit.ion in Paris(PEXIP), bot.h values were again reprintedin all three colors from t.he original dies,but on whit.e paper and imperforat.e only.These reprints are very similar to t.he origi­nals and are difficult to distinguish. - Oft.he stamps of the private mail services,those of the Agency Lorin were reprinted bythe dealer A. Maury, stamps as well as en­velopes, at ,an unknown date and in unknownquantities.

France is very prolific in forgeries andfakes and numerous forgers and fakers havespent great efforts to imitate its rare stampsand variet.ies. Of practically all t.he better

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-

ndues of the classic issues several forgeriesexist, somc of them excellent and very dan­gerous. Such imitations ,are especially nu­merous of the 1fr vermilion and HI' "rougeterne" of 1849, as well as the HI' of 1853,but the less expensive values were also notlwglected and very good forgeries exist ofall other values of the 1849 issue and of thebetter values of the later issues of the post­age stamps, the postage due stamps - hereespecially of the 60c yellow bistre - and theimperforate telegraph stamps. Aside fromthis, all tete beches have been imitated aswell as the error of the 15c of 1874, even inpair with a 10c. Dangerous also are theforgeries of most of the values of the 1870Bordeaux issue, which even come in blocks.Equally well executed are the numerousfakes. Rarer values were made from cheaperones, for exemple the 10c of 1852 from the10c of 1853, the HI' of 1853 from the 80cof the same issue, and the 15c Error of1874 either from the 10c or the 15c of thesame issue. All tete beches were faked byjoining regular single stamps in tete becheposition. Re-issues, especially of the 15c of1849 and of the HI' of 1853, frequently canbe found with faked or pre-dated genuinecancellations, to be offered as originals. Ofthe varieties, especially the scarce paper var­ieties of the 20c of 1853 were faked by dye­ing. The private roulettes were extensivelyfaked, so that they should be bought onlyon piece or cover in their original state. TheSUSSI' perforation was even imitated withthe original perforating device by A. Maury,,vho had acqnired it. Faked cancellations onoriginals are not numerous, because mostFrance stamps are rarer unused than used.Only the 60c yellow bistre postage duestamp frequently comes with faked or pre­dated genuine cancellation, as it is veryrare genuinely used. Of course, fakes ofrare types of cancellations or scarce coloredcancellations are knoWll, as well as change­elings of figures or inscriptIOllS in genuinecancellations to imitate rarer ones. All to­gether, the collectors of France stamps haveto be exceedingly vigilant to avoid beingtricked by forged or f,aked items.

France is also not easy to collect for thecondition-minded colllectol'. There is firstthe matter of centering which is generallyvery unsatisfactory. Due to the narrow spac­ing of the stamps, the perforation holes

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usually touch the design even on perfectlycentered stamps and the slightest deviationmakes the stamps much worse looking thansimilarly "off-center" stamps of most othercountries. It is quite a job to assemble acollection of perfectly centered Francestamps and it takes yoars to complcte sucha task only for the main numbers. The dif­ficulties are aggravated by the fact thatthe paper of the stamps is r,ather sensitiveand tends to thinnings. The slightest care­lessness in handling them, often simply re­moving of a hinge, which seems peelable, pro­duces thin spots and the percentage of thinstamps must be larger for the stamps ofFrance than for ,any other country. Espe­eially the large size 5fr of the 1863 issueis almost always thin - or the thin spotsfilled in by more or less skillful repair­and perfect copies are really rare. Unnsedstamps, even when they are not thin, oftenlook thin, beoanse removal of hinges invari­~bly also makes the gum disappear in places,,vhich gives the stamps a thinned appearance.Generally, unused France stamps should beconsiderod only thin when they show it inbenzine, while "thin spots" visible only whenholding the st,alllps against a light shouldbo eonsidel'ed optical illusions, for whichmissing gum, but not thinned paper is re­sponsible.

The Scott Catalog lists for the classicFrance stamps (without telegraph stamps)'78 main numbers, from which we can deduct11 - 5 varieties, which do not deserve mainnumbers, 3 nnissued stamps and 3 newspapertax stamps, which were fiscals only _ ,leaving 61 classic stamps. All of these aremore expensive unused than used, except thelc and 2c of the 1870 Bordeaux issue andthc 40c Postage Due stamp, which are pricedthe same unused and used, and three PostageL ue stamps, namely the 15c lithographed andboth GOc, of which the 60c yellow bistre istho only onc whieh is considerably more ex­pensivo used than unused. '1'ho 67 classicstamps together ,arc prieed used at $923 andunused at $4105, if we take the eheapestkind, at $886. Therefore, a complete collee­tion of France, used or mixed, is within thereach of any collector in moderate circum­stances and, if extended over a longer period,even to a person of small means. This isespecially true if sueh a collector writes offthe most expensive stamp, the HI' vermilion

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of 1849, which alone lists $500, more thanhalf the price of all used stamps togetherand which is the only used stamp which listsover $100. There are numerous cheap itemsamong the e1assic stamps of France, no lessthan 36 are priced not higher than $1 andten of them are listed 10c or less, four evenat the lowest possible price, 2c. For thespecialist, this presents many possibilitiesand actually all cheaper classic stamps ofFrance are great favorites.

So much has been written about the stampsand postmarks of France, that the phila,telicliterature in this field is too extensive to bedealt with in detail. Most of the writingsof the last half century are dispersed inphilatelic magazines, mainly in French­the foremost source being "L'Echo de laTimbrologie" of Amiens - and the mono­graph by A. Maury, "Histoire des Timbres­Poste Fran<;ais", published in 1907, is stillthe basic book for all facts in the field. Inthe Kohl Handbook, Volume II, L. Meinertz­hagen on 110 pages did a remarkable job ofassembling and evaluating all facts knownat that time (1927) and this monograph­which was translated into English in the"Oollectors Club Philatelist" in 1928 - isstill very useful, although in some parts out­dated by new research. There exist also anumber of specialized catalogs, the best onepublished by Yvert & Tellier, unfortunatelydiscontinued after 1939, but to some degreereplaced by the more extensive specializingin the France part of the present Yvert­Tellier-Ohampion Oatalog. Those of Berckand Locard also are of some help, althoughthe latter one should be used with propercaution only because of a number of mis­leading and erroneous statements. A goodguide in English was published in recentyears (1949-51) by B. Kremer, "FrenchPhilatelic Facts". The postmarks and can­cellations were also the subject of extensivestudies, some of them concentrating on thepost offices of one departement only andpublished as separate booklets. The mostvaluable general publication concerningFrench postmarks is the "Oatalogue des Es­tampilles et Obliterations Postales" (1929),based on the Maury handbook, but exten­sively rewritten by a group of philatelists,which provides excellent information concern­ing the pre-stamps postmarks and the can­cellations, although its system seems some-

234

what odd in places. Very useful is also the"Oatalogue des Obliterations 1849-1876" byE. H. de Beaufond, published in 1947. Ohecklists of the numeral cancellers are availablein French by M. Langlois and E. Veneziani(1926, republished in 1939) -the former,together with L. Francois, having also pub­lished a monograph of the postmarks of thepost offices abroad -and in English byB. Kremer. Ooncerning Postal History, book­lets by E. Vaille, "Histoire des Postes", givegood information in brief. All in all, thespecialist of the stamps and postmarks ofFrance has available a large amount of lit­erature which will prove of great help. Thephilatelic student will have a more difficnlttask owing to the great amount of writing,dispersed in many volnmes of a great numberof philatelic magazines. He will have to bevery diligent in searching through this liter­ature to avoid working in a field which hasbeen thoroughly exploited by someone elseyears before. But despite this abundance ofliterature, many specific fields of Francestamps and postmarks have been quite ne­glected and provide attractive fields for newreseareh and interesting discoveries.

Fmnce is philatelically a very great anddiversified field, whieh can satisfy the pre­feI'ences of many philatelists. Shades andpapers, plate and printing varieties aloneare a very extensive field, which can be col­lected unnsed, used or on cover. The pre­stamp postmarks, among which those of therevolutionary and Napoleonic period as wellas the fieldpost markings seem to be themost attractive, are an extensive field inthemselves. The cancellations on the stampsalso open wide possibilities, with the twokinds of numeral cancellers, the numerousspecial and fieldpost cancellations, post of­fices abroad, etc. Oover collecting is equallypopuIa:r, dne to the ample supply of less ex­pensive covers, and the balloon covers of1870-71 belonging among the favorites. Thenumber of specialists of France is ratherlarge, not only in France itself, but also inother countries, including the United States.A collector, who choses to specialize France,will not only have an ample choice of spe­cific fields but also find quite a number ofcongeni,al collectors favoring the same stampsand willing to exchange ideas and sugges­tions.

(Next: XIII. Germany, Empire)

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