Classic Errors of France

CLASSIC ERRORS OF FRANCE by Steven C. Walske Among philately’s most renowned errors are the tête-bêche (or “head against foot”) stamps of the classic issues of France. These dramatic errors were caused by the upside down placement of individual stamp dies, or clichés, during the printing plate preparation. Other related errors occurring in this 1849- 1875 period, such as wrong denominations placed in a sheet of another value, were also caused by cliché placement errors. A simplified description of the plate preparation process is as follows. To create each printing plate of 150 stamps, individual clichés were pressed in lead from a master die and arranged facedown in 15 rows by 10 columns. Once in place, they were fused together at the back with heated solder and copper to create a lead assembly, and then flipped over for inspection. If a cliché was upside down or if the wrong value cliché had been inserted, the correction was very difficult due to the solder fusing which prevented the easy replacement of clichés. Consequently, it appears that no attempt was made to correct the tête-bêche clichés, while the value tablets of incorrect clichés were manually retouched directly on the lead assembly or plate. Using galvanoplasty, copper printing plates, or galvanos, were then manufactured from the lead assembly, and the printed stamps show the effects of these errors. Some writers refer to the galvanos as half-plates, since two were normally attached together for printing purposes. For the purposes of this article, however, each galvano of 150 impressions is defined as a plate. All of these errors are rare, although some considerably more so than others. For the most part, unused errors are rarer than their used counterparts. Relative rarity for any particular error is a function of the overall number of stamps issued for that denomination, the number of erroneous clichés relative to the total number of clichés used, and the relative likelihood that pairs of that denomination would be used postally. Detailed descriptions of these errors, organized by issue, follow below. The 1849-50 “Ceres” Issue The 1849-50 first issue of France has the greatest number of different tête-bêche varieties, and they include the premier philatelic items of France. The tête-bêche is known in all values of this issue except the 40 centimes, which has two examples of wrong denomination clichés. • The 10 centimes tête-bêche occurs in bistre, bistre-brun, and bistre-verdâtre (where appropriate, colors are described in italicized French for consistency with standard references), and is somewhat less scarce due to the large number of 10 centimes stamps printed and the high number of tête-bêche clichés relative to normal clichés. Of two plates used, one had three tête-bêche clichés at positions 27, 58, and 145, and the other was error-free, so 1% of the clichés were erroneous. From September 1850 to September 1852, there were 17.1 million stamps of this value printed, so it can be estimated that 170 thousand tête-bêche pairs were issued. Used pairs of this value can also be readily found, since the 20 centimes stamp was discontinued as of July 1, 1850, and it is not uncommon to see a 10 centimes pair used to make up a 20 centimes rate. Figure 1 shows an unused bistre-brun strip of three with tête-bêche, formerly in the Ferrary collection. Figure 1 – 1850 10 centimes tête-bêche in an unused strip of three • Only 3.3 million copies of the 15 centimes value were printed using two plates, so it is rare even as a single stamp. From the printer’s records, it is known that 2.4 million stamps were printed using the first plate, and only 900 thousand using the second plate. One tête-bêche cliché occurred at position 80 of the second plate, so it can be estimated that only six thousand tête-bêche pairs were printed. This value was principally used for the local rate within Paris from July 1850 until June 1853, so it is rarely found in pairs. However, a 1 franc 30 centimes rate to the United States gave rise to the only unique tête-bêche variety of France. Figure 2 shows a March 1852 double-weight cover front from Paris to New Orleans. Its 2 francs 60 centimes franking includes the only known (unused or used) tête-bêche pair of the 1850 15 centimes stamp. This cover has an interesting history. In 1896, it was 2 brought to a leading Parisian dealer named Victor Robert by an American merchant who had a suitcase packed with hundreds of covers addressed to the Lelièvre firm in New Orleans. After several days of sorting through the suitcase, Robert came across the tête-bêche cover. He immediately called Count Philipp la Renotière von Ferrary, the leading collector of the day, who purchased the item for 7,500 francs, or four times the then-current price of a Post Office Mauritius stamp. Ferrary was greatly concerned when the item’s authenticity was later questioned, so the pair was removed from the cover and placed in boiling water. When the pair surprisingly did not disintegrate, it was pronounced genuine. The cover was illustrated in the November 1924 11th Ferrary sale, and was not seen in public again until the PHILEXFRANCE ‘89 exposition. Figure 2 – Unique 1850 15 centimes tête-bêche pair on cover front to the United States • Six plates were used to print 41.7 million copies of the black 20 centimes from December 1848 until February 1849. Only 31.1 million were sold and, while much of the surplus was destroyed, quite a few remainders survived. The tête-bêche is known for positions 92, 110 and 148 of the first plate, position 93 of the third plate, and position 115 of the fifth plate; the other three plates were normal. Although difficult to estimate, it appears that approximately 175 thousand tête-bêche pairs were issued. Pairs of this stamp are commonly found paying the domestic double-weight letter rate from January 1, 1849, until June 30, 1850, so used tête-bêche pairs can readily be found. The tête-bêche 3 occurs in both the black on white paper and black on yellow paper varieties. Figure 3 shows a marginal block of thirty stamps on white paper with the position 93 tête-bêche of the third plate. This exceptional piece was formerly in the renowned Champion collection. Figure 3 – 1849 20 centimes black on white tête-bêche in an unused block of thirty • The blue 25 centimes stamp was issued on July 1, 1850, to reflect an increased domestic letter rate, and remained in use until September 1852. While three plates were prepared, only two plates were used to print 45.2 million stamps. One tête-bêche cliché occurred at position 131 of the second plate. The second plate was not placed in use until 4.3 million stamps had already been printed using the first plate, so only about 136 thousand tête-bêche pairs were printed. Since pairs of this stamp were principally used to pay the domestic double-weight letter rate, many used tête-bêche pairs have survived. However, only two unused examples are known, one of which is illustrated as Figure 4 and was formerly in the Ferrary collection. Since position 131 is on the left margin of the sheet, all horizontal tête-bêche pairs of this value must be “face-to-face”, and any “back-to-back” pairs are forgeries. Figure 5 illustrates a used full-margined vertical tête-bêche pair showing its placement near the lower left-hand corner of the plate. Figure 4 – One of two known unused 1850 25 centimes tête-bêche pairs 4 Figure 5 – 1850 25 centimes tête-bêche pair showing position at lower left of plate 2 • The orange 40 centimes was the only value of this issue that did not have any tête-bêche clichés, although two 20 centimes clichés were erroneously inserted at positions 146 and 147 of the second of the two plates used. The value tablets of these clichés were re-engraved either on the lead assembly or the copper galvano, and all of the four retouched 4’s are sufficiently different to be quite recognizable. Starting in February 1850, 4.1 million stamps were delivered, so about 14 thousand copies of each retouched stamp were printed. Consequently, these errors are quite rare, and extremely so with both errors in a pair. Figure 6 shows a mint marginal strip of five that includes both errors at the left. This extraordinary piece passed through the collections of Ferrary, Hind and Rothschild. These errors can also be found in the 1862 official reprint, for which 14.5 sheets of 300 were printed. This means that the reprint of the retouched 4’s is quite rare, with only fifteen copies of each stamp issued. Figure 7 shows a marginal strip of five reprints with both retouched clichés at the right. Curiously, no tête- bêche errors re-occur in the 1862 reprints of the other values of the 1849-50 issue, since it appears that an effort was made to select only error-free plates for the reprint. 5 Figure 6 – Both varieties of the 1850 40 centimes retouched 4’s in an unused strip of five Figure 7 - Both varieties of the 1862 reprint of 40 centimes retouched 4’s in an unused strip of five • The famed 1 franc vermillon stamp was issued in January 1849 to pay the domestic triple-weight letter rate, and was withdrawn from service in December 1849 because its color was too close to the soon- to-be issued orange 40 centimes stamp.

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