This is the first book on the Bordeaux Issue since 1951 and the only comprehensive survey in English. This introduction will suggest how we think you might find the book useful, depending on your collecting interests.
If you collect "one each" of France you will want one copy each of Scott numbers 38-48 (Yv. 39-49), a total of 11 stamps. (Like most works on the Bordeaux we have excluded, except from the References [58], the lone postage-due stamp produced concurrently.) If this is your goal you will want to read the section on Identification of the Bordeaux Issue so you won't buy, for instance, a one centime Colonies General Issue masquerading as a Bordeaux. You will also want to read the general chapter on the 20 centimes value because it will tell you how to distinguish between the three Types of the 20 centimes that look alike.
Some of the Bordeaux stamps are not easily found and in acquiring one of each you will probably discover later that you have bought a second copy of Scott #45, the 20 centimes Type III, because the second copy was in better condition than the first. The chances are your first copy is an example of Report 2 because this is, by far, the most common. If you are lucky, your second copy will be from Report 1 and you will notice a difference in the upper-left inner-frame line. This is the part of the frame that surrounds the background of the design which looks like a brick wall built 90 degrees out of line.
If that happens you will want to read the section on the Lithographic Process to find out what a report is. You will also want to read the first few paragraphs of each of the "value chapters" to find out how many "reports" of each are known. You will also discover that your goal has expanded from 11 stamps to 21 and that your Scott catalog is of no further use except to identify a few color varieties.
When you read the chapter on the Lithographic Process you will find some of the reports are known in more than one "state" (and this does not mean condition). Naturally, you will want examples of these as well and your goal has expanded to 30 stamps.
If you have gone this far you will have seen sketches of the plating signs for the various reports and noticed they come in groupings of 15 rather than the 150 or 300 which is the standard for most other French plating efforts. If you enjoy looking through the jeweler's loupe you may join the throng of plating specialists who, in the case of the Bordeaux, look for 315 stamps, each a little different. If you do this, please start off with Report 2 of the 20 centimes Type III and not Report 1 as we did. Report 2 is much easier to find, but to get all 15 positions you have to buy many more since the dealer's counter is not a good place to plate stamps! This creates a wonderful opportunity for trading as you will wind up with duplicates of the various positions.
We know of only two collectors who accomplished the goal of "plating" (i.e., reconstructing) all the reports. We know one collector who is including the various states of the reports as well. He will need 450 different copies and a long, long life.
For the plating, you will want to use the plating charts in this book which we have reproduced with the kind permission of Yvert & Tellier. Unlike other sources, they have updated the Dillemann charts of 1929 (with the later 5c Report 1 studies); we think they are the best. As you plate, you will find you cannot always see all of the plating signs shown in the book. Then you will want to read the extracts we have included from Dillemann's original verbal description of each sign. We have included his comments only when it is not clear just what the sign is or when he commented that certain ones were very small or very weak.
As you do your plating you will have noticed that on some stamps there are some rather sizable printing defects other than the plating signs. Then you will want to read the section on Printing Quality which describes additional details about the process of stone lithography which would produce defects. We think this subject will be the "new frontier" of Bordeaux collecting and in the chapters on each value we have included not only the catalogued design varieties but also those we know of through auction catalogues and friends. In order to become "respectable" all these non-catalogued varieties need is discovery of a duplicate. We invite you to let us become a clearing house in an effort to find mates for the ones we have listed and others you know about.
Many years ago we began to plate the Bordeaux stamps because we thought that if you could plate them they were not forgeries. Little did we know! We have included all of the information we could find in the literature on the forgeries.
As you search for copies of the Bordeaux Issue you will notice wide varieties of shades in some values. These are very collectible but it is very difficult to describe the colors. One of the old references (Serrane [83]) includes color comparison swatches which we have used with moderate success. The only successful determination is to compare your unusual shades with a reference collection; which means having them "expertized" by one who has such a collection.
We began collecting the Bordeaux Issue and wound up collecting the Franco-Prussian War. Just as easily we could have used the issue to begin collecting maritime mail or uses by the French offices abroad. If you like cancellations and covers, you will want to read the section on Cancellations and Uses. Because of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) you will find many interesting wartime uses of the Bordeaux as well as all of the regular cancels and uses.
Our original intention was to bring up to date the 1951 book of Lorne [69] by reviewing the literature since that time. We found some earlier literature which seems to have been ignored and have reviewed that as well. We have commented freely as to the significance of all of the references as well as interjected our opinions based on our own collection. We do not intend that our opinions be regarded as facts but rather as starting points for further research on the issue.
For the collector who wants to consult the original references we have furnished a rather expansive bibliography. Most of them are available in photocopy form from the Collectors Club library in New York and we have tried to point out what type of information you might expect to find in the individual references.
We have given a large amount of space in the references to the monumental work of Dr. Fromaigeat who pieced together, jigsaw style, blocks of 25 he found in the postal museum (Musee de la Poste et de Philatelie) in Paris. We feel his work is especially important in regards to the study of uncatalogued defects.
Dr. Fromaigeat remarked to us that the Bordeaux is the most interesting issue of all France. We agree.
Good hunting!