M. Lemiere's Address on the Stamps of France At a meeting of the Shanghai Philatelic Society held on Wednesday at thie Royal Asiatic Society's Hall, Mr. J. Em. Lemiere, _president of the society, gave a very interesting address on the stamps of France.
Mr. Lemiere spoke at length on the first stamp issue which, he said took place in 1848, in accordance with a decree dated August i4 of that year. Stamps of three denommations were issued, ¢.e., 20 and 40 centimes and one franc. The charges at the time were 20 centimes for a letter or parcel weighing less than 7} grammes, 40 centimes for those over 7} grammes and less than 15 grammes, and one france for those between 15 and 100 grammes. A franc was charged for every fraction of a gramme over 100. Registered letters were charged double the ordinary letters. These stamps were engraved by Barra, the celebrated engraver, and his first die was reproduced by Galvano. Three hundred stamps comprised a sheet, and each was cut in_tiwo for sale.
In the subsequent year 10 and 95 centime stamps were added to the existing list. Among those issued were some which were printed top downwards, tete boche. No reason is given for this fact, but some think that it was a mistake whi'e others think the reason was to control or distinguish the stamps so that when postmasters saw them, they would be able to know whether or not they were real.
Mr. Lemiere then gave some details of stamps which were issued Tu subsequent years, mentioning the President's stamps, the Empire stamps and the stamps issued by the present republic. He concluded by giving some details of French stamps which were proposed but never issued. There were stamps, he said, which were printed like wafers so that when they were affixed, they had simply to be broken by dry stamps for cancellation. Some others were printed on paper having also a design on the back. When these were placed en letters or in water and later removed. the impression at the bottom would be removed, and they therefore could not be resold.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.