CHASING FLIES

by Robert T. Kinsley

Are you ready to try something different? Then take up fly-speck philately, which we all know is searching for small, petite may be a better word, plate variations which might be found by close inspection of an issued stamp. Nowhere is this more evident than in the examination of the Classic issues: the curl in Napoleon's forehead; the size of dots on either side of POSTES; the infinite number of plate flaws of the 20¢ blues; and these are just in the Empire issue.¹ And there may be just as many plate varieties among the three 20¢ Bordeaux issues.² But accumulating enough copies of the Classics to examine in order to find even a few of the plate-flaw varieties could cost you, if we use my frame of reference, a fortune.

All is not lost. I can recommend an alternate issue, not classic, not modern, but a stamp of the late 1920s which is as cheap as they come, or better stated carries the minimum catalogue value. That stamp is Scott N°146 (Figure 1) the 50c vermilion lined Sower, printed in large quantity from 52 plates between 25 August 1926 and 27 June 1932 for first-class domestic mail; overprinted F M. in 1929 for the use of the military (Figure 2) (Scott N° M6, and there are varieties here); and overprinted again in 1930 to commemorate the 48th assembly (Congrés) of the Bureau International du Travail (Labor) in Paris (Scott N° 256). (Figure 3). For completeness this stamp was overprinted again in 1931 for the French administration of Andorra (Scott N° 12).

But those are distinct issues and we are supposed to be looking for fly specks, or rather plate varieties. One interesting constant variety is that of 50° instead of 50c (Figure 4). There are additional examples of defective printing where the color fills both a part and all of the numerals, where there are white spots and white circles (called anneaulune or moon ring). The stamp is reported with the c after 50 missing, with "Mouchon" or "Roty" missing, and with a gros pâté d'encre (large ink blot).

In addition to what are considered flaws, there are actual die types which Yvert lists as Types I and IV for this stamp, Yvert N° 199. Type I is distinguished as the only one having a "point," a spot on the Sower's cap. Actually, it's more like a tiny feather sticking straight up from the top of the cap. In addition, the upper insides of the two Rs are equal in size; the upper insides of the two As are almost equal; and (here's a tough one) the insides of the B are closer in size than on other types.

Type II is distinguished by the upper inside of the first R being bigger than that of the second R; and the upper inside of the B is smaller than the lower part; and the openings in the As, particularly the second A, are smaller than in Type I. Now you know we have gone from fly speck to flea speck, but don't forget, these are catalogue-listed varieties.

Type III is the same as Type II but without any shading under the first R; and Type IV also is without shading under the first R; the background behind REPUBLIQUE appears to have fewer white lines; and Yvert says the inside frame line on the left is thicker (but my fly-speck magnifier wasn't powerful enough to confirm).

Perhaps you can spot other differences. Specialists see variations in the thickness of the lower curl of the C of the value. Certainly there are differences in color, from bright orange to bright red and everything in between. And since this stamp was also issued in booklets (Figure 5), possibly in more booklets than any other French stamp, at least 60, there is a great variety of different advertising in the selvage. One valuable variety that you might look for in the selvage is the misspelling of stockings and socks with only one "s" in Bas et Chausettes.

In addition, a collection of varieties of this one stamp might include a known counterfeit of which some 40,000 copies were confiscated by postal authorities in Marseille in 1929 and thus exist only unused. They were apparently very well designed, with clear lines in the Sower's face and the sun's rays touching the semicircular sun.

Finally, if your objective is a copy of each variety, you will want an example of each of the two pieces of postal stationery which bear the imprinted stamp, a large white envelope (Figure 7) and a buff letter-card (Figure 8).

Endnotes

(1) See French Philatelic Facts, June 1950, by Brainerd Kremer.

(2) See The Bordeaux Issue of 1870 - 1871, by Ruth & Gardner Brown, a Vaurie Memorial Fund Publication of the France & Colonies Philatelic Society, 1981.