NO. 49/50 1967.

NEW EMBLEMClients will have

noticed that this edi-

tion of 'The Swiss

Philatelist' and the

cover of OUR 1967 Cat-alogue bear a new des-

The reason for

these alterations is

that d,,: to unwittingly

we have contravenedthe Swiss regulations

by using the "Poste

Locale' which shows

the National Cross of

Switzerland, as our

emblem. We have been

requested by the

authorities to change this

and we have their

permission to do so over

a period of timeallowing for stocks of

present stationery to

be exhausted. We were

rather Bonny to Bay

goodbye to the "Poste

locale" emblem as this

was Like an old friendus, but no doubt we

shall soon get used to

car new emblem -

&Ale Dove.

"STAMPEX" THIS YEAR WILL BE A SPECIAL EVENT FOR US: FOR THEFIRST TIME WE ARE ACTING AS HOSTS TO THE PTT PHILATELIC AGENCY,WHO HAVE NEVER BEFORE EXHIBITED IN LONDON. THEY ARE BRINGING AFINE DISPLAY OF MODERN MATERIAL AND SHOWING, AMONG OTHER THINGS,THE INTERESTING STAGES IN DESIGN AND PRINTING WHICH LEAD TO THEFINALLY ISSUED STAMP. THERE IS OF COURSE NO CONNECTION BETWEENOUR FIRM AND THE SWISS POST OFFICE OTHER THAN FRIENDSHIP AND WEHAVE GLADLY OFFERED TO STAFF THEIR PART OF OUR COMBINED STANDS,WHICH TOGETHER WILL FORM THE LARGEST UNIT AT "STAMPED". WE AREVERY PROUD THAT THROUGH THIS CO-OPERATION "SWITZERLAND" WILLFIGURE MOST PROMINENTLY AT THIS YEARS SHOW. VISITORS TO OURSTANDS WILL BE ABLE TO GET FULL INFORMATION ON THE PTT NEW ISSUESERVICE AND THERE WILL BE NO RIVALRY BETWEEN US AS TO THE "CAP-TURE" OF NEW ISSUE CLIENTS. OUR OWN DISPLAY WILL, AS ALWAYS,INCLUDE SOME OF THE MOST INTERESTING ITEMS FROM OUR STOCK AND WEHOPE THAT MANY READERS WILL TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO DISCUSSTHEIR COLLECTIONS WITH US.

50th "ANNlVERSARY"

It does not seem so long ago that we were working on thefirst number of "The Swiss Philatelist" (1951) and here we havearrived at number 50!

Although the editorial staff often grumbles at the tremend-ous amount of time spent on this little publication we have beenmore than compensated by the hundreds of encouraging letters re-ceived over the past years. If any further proof is needed thatour publication is of interest it is provided by the constantorders for back numbers.

New and original articles are difficult to find but youreditors will always be on the look-out for the type of copy mat-erial which will provide interesting reading and we hope you willcontinue to enjoy our publication.

W2.1908

Originally published in

Vie S. P. A. Journal U.S.A.

By George W. Caldwell

The Standing Helvetia issue of 1882 superseded, in part, theSitting Helvetia perforated series which dated back to 1862. Duringthese 20 years the volume of mail increased at an acceleratingtempo; so much so that the Mint experienced great difficulty inproviding an adequate supply of stamps. Reserves at times becamedepleted in some values; post offices in some instances experiencedsimilar depletions. Operating on a 24-hour schedule with increasedpersonnel working in two shifts failed at times to keep up with thedemand.

Under these circumstances the Postal Department decided tohave a new issue typographed by a commercial printing firm. A newdesign (Cross and Figure of Value) was approved, and by August 21,1880 the original master engraved die was completed. Preparationof duplicate master dies and lay-down dies was assigned to theMint. Operators of the coin press soon realized the original diewould have to be re-worked because some of the fine lines and dotsof this die in relief failed to withstand the heavy pressure re-quired to transfer it.

The delay prompted the department, about October 19, 1880 tolimit the Cross and Figure of Value design to the low values to 15centimes, and to have the higher values produced by another com-mercial printing firm using a different design.

MEUHLHAUPT AND LIBERTAS

In 1879 Muehlhaupt & Son of Bern had submitted a bid for pro-ducing Swiss postage stamps printed from intaglio copper plates.Undoubtedly, samples of their work accompanied that bid. Otherwisethe Postal Department would not have been able to evaluate thework. We are of the opinion, based on developments discussed later,that those samples were the 50 centimes and 1 franc Liberias plateessays, unofficial reprints of which are so well known in philat-ely.

The Muehlhaupt bid was not approved immediately because itwas only slightly below the cost of producing the then currentstamps. But it did provide a basis for discussion and the event-ual awarding of a contact to Much. ,lhaupt.

E. Horn, General Director ofPosts, wrote Muehlhaupt on Oct-ober 27, 1879, and again on Aug-ust 3, 1880, requesting detailcosts of some of the steps in thebid. He apparently was consider-ing the posibility of havingthese performed by the Swiss Mint.

On November 20, 1880 Hornrequested delivery as soon as pos-ible of definitive sketches, onein the Libertas concept for the 20 and 25 centimes values, and theother depicting the Standing Helvetia for the 40 and 50 centimes and1 franc. These were delivered three days later.

Director Horn on December 17, 1880 asked Muehlhaupt to submitdie prints as soon as possible. By the end of the month die printsof the 20 and 25 centimes values in the Libertas design were deliv-ered. Such promptness - 14 calendar days - indicates clearly thatMuehlhaupt had one or mo redies in the design fromwhich Laydowns could bemade. Let's examine sever-al essays which supportthat conclusion. These are:

la - A 1 franc Libertasessay pulled from theoriginal intaglio dieshowing the engraver'slayout lines.lb - A laydown of thatdie from which the fig-ures of value had been

ground off preparatory tousing it for sinking ad-ditional intaglio diesfor further values.

2 - Plate prints of the50 centimes and 1 francLibertas essays mentionedpreviously.3 - The 20 and 25 centimesdie prints delivered tothe department in December.

Coincidence of lineproves all these were der-ived from the original die(la).

If the tentative opin-ion expressed previouslythat the plate prints weresubmitted in connection withthe original bid of 1879 iscorrect, it naturally fol-lows that these dies weremade by Muehlhaupt & Son orfor them, and that they sereavailable for use in pro-ducing the 20 and 25 cent-imes submitted die prints.

On December 30, 1880,Muehlhaupt & Son received adraft of the contract. Andon June 1, 1881 they noti-fied the Postal Departmentthat printing plates for allfive values were completedand that "printing could bestarted."

All these plates werein the Standing Helvetiadesign; none in the Libert-as concept. Just why re-mains to be discovered.

DIES AND PLATES

The original die with-out figures of value wasintaglio engraved on steed.Duplicates of this weremade and the figures ofvalue added. With theseintaglio dies, relief dieswere made and used for pre-paring special 100-subjectinaaglio plates. Theseplates - one for each value- were used solely in theelectrolytic step and notfor printing stamps. Their

function was to transfer the designs to thinsheets of soft lead which then served as mouldsfor creating the intaglio copper electrotypeprinting plates.

Details of the electrolytic process usedby Muehlhaupt are not available. However, theprinciple undoubtedly was the same as that usedtoday. Taking one plate as an example thisprocess was essentially as follows:

The thin lead plate was attached to thenegative pole of DC electricity and placed ina tank of electrolyte - copper sulphate and subphuric acid, no doubt. A strip of copper wasattached to the positive pole and placed inthat tank. The flow of current caused minuteparticles of copper to leave the electrolyteand attach themselves to the lead plate fre-quently referred to as a mould. At the sametime similar particles left the copper stripand joined the electrolyte. Thus, no materialchange occurred in the electrolyte.

When a coppershell of desiredthickness had grownon the mould it wasremoved from thetank and pried loose. ,

After dressing upthis shell it wasfastened to a stiff-ener - a woodenblock perhaps - andwas then ready forprinting. Impressionsfrom these fastenersare frequently seenon the sheet margins.

Muehlhaupt useda manually operatedfiat bed press

of 200-stamps capacity.Thegumming and perforating were performed in theMint.

THE GIRARDET PRINTING

In 1886 the contract with Muehlhaupt wasterminated, and one consumated with MaxGirardet, another recess printer in Bern. At firsthe used equipment similar to that used byMuehlhaupt. But in 1900 he installed a steampowered press of 400-stamps capacity. Thispress, it is claimed, performed all the print-ing steps mechanically. This is rather abroad statement. Obviously, the inking of theplate, the wiping of the plate, and the impres-sion were automatic. The polishing of theplate, placing the paper on the plate and itsremoval after the impression were, in the op-inion of this author, manual operations.

ADDITIONAL VALUES

During March of 1891 a 3 francs valuewas added to the series, and on July 1 of thefollowing year, a 30 centimes. A causal com-parison with other values clearly indicatesthat a new master die was engraved for use intheir production. The lines of the design aremore regular and the entire appearance issharper; even the vignette was engraved anew.Altogether this is a much finer piece of en-graving than that of the other values.

GIRARDET'S STEEL PLATES

Complying with a request from the PostalDepartment, Girardet in 1904 made a steelplate (or plates) for printing what has be-come known as the 40 centimes Type II (Scott'sA22) (76F. etc.). What process did he use in

laying down these plates?Zumstein's 1924 handbook (French Edition)

provides thefollowing:"The last print.ing plates forthe 25 and 40centimes val-ues were nolonger produc-ed by the electrotypemeth-

od (galvanos),but by meansof steel plates on which the design had beenobtained by means of a new acid-etching processon steel."

Does this mean the plates were etched orwas it the original master die?

In attempting to answer that question byconjecture, one must bear in mind that the des-igns on the plate must be identical. Further-more, they must be so spaced and lined up thatthey match the perforating pins as near as prac-tical.

Identicalness would require photographyand acid etching, or a die using the transfermethod. The designs on these steel plates areidentical and reasonably well lined up, butcertain characteristics associated with acidetching are absent. Let's then consider thepossibility that a die was used in this case.

It is an established fact that line engra-vers, in most cases, use acid etching for var-ious purposes in cutting stamp dies. Defectsresulting from acid leakage under the resistare automatically cleared during the line en-graving steps.

In view of the above points, it is thiswriter's considered opinion that the acid etch-ing was done on the die, and that the designswere laid down on the plate by the usual trans-fer method. Hence, they were not etched. Thisconclusion is tentative pending further research.

The re-engraved 40 centimes stamp is read-ily recognized by the small figure of value atthe bottom.

The 25 centimes stamps printed from steelplates mentioned above, were issued in 1906.These are recognized by the smaller figures ofvalue in the upper corners, and the somewhatsmaller franco legends.

If we are correct in the tentative opinionthat the 40 centimes steel plates were made bythe usual transfer method, it follows that thedie for the 25 centimes value was made by alaydown of the 40 centimes die. Coincidence ofline indicates this.

THE BENZINGER PRINTING

Late in 1906 the Girardet contract expiredand was not renewed as plans were in hand fortypographing a new series in the new Swiss Mint.Delay in carrying out those plans forced atemporary printing of the Standing Helvetia is-sue. This printing was done by Benzinger & Co.of Einsiedeln, Canton of Schwyz, using a 200-subject steam powered press.

The printing plates by this time were prettywell worn and in some cases very much corroded.Benzinger, however, by cleaning, polishing andrecutting them, managed to turn out a commer-cially acceptable product.

PAPER

The Sihl Mill in Zurich supplied the paperfor al( these printings. Originally it was un-watermarked, and hence, it was necessary to add

Cont'd on page 4

STANDING HELVETIA Cont'd from page jthe control mark (there were two types, firstthe broad, then from 1894 the narrow) (Scott'swatermark 182). This was superseded in 1905 bywatermarked paper (Scott's Watermark 783). TheBenzinger printing was on granite (red and bluefibers) paper. This was the remainder of gran-ite paper originally purchased for printing theCross and Figure of Value stamps, but no longerneeded.

GUMMING AND PERFORATING

The stamps were gummed and perforated inthe Mint. The gum was applied by hand prior to1906. During that year a gumming machine waspurchased which produced much finer results. Thegum consisted of six parts of pure gum and onepart of dextrine. Pure gum without dextrinewould have made the paper more brittle.

Perforating the printed sheets presentedsome problems, due primarily to shrinkage. Int-aglio printing in those days, and even today, inmany security printing plants, requires thedampening of the paper, or wetting, as it isusually referred to. The purpose is to renderit soft so that less pressure is required toforce the fibers into the recesses of the plate.This permits all the ink to be drawn from theserecesses. This is a very exacting art requiringhighly skilled operatives. It is well knownthat irregular and unequal shrinkage resultswhen paper is not properly wetted. This leadsto a perforating problem.

Proper drying of the dampened paper afterprinting is likewise vital in this matter ofcontrolled shrinkage. The speed of drying andthe drying room temperature play a role as dothe quantity of ink imprinted on the paper, andthickness of the paper.

The Swiss Mint seems to have had difficultyin this phase of the printing, as indicated bythe use of perforators of three gauges: 111 x11,1111 x 12, and 11e.

When the public complained that sheets ofstamps perforated 711 x 12 broke apart tooeasily in handling, the department adopted aperforator of 9y3 x 9y1 gauge for the 1888 releas-es. This, however, was soon abandoned becauseof complaints that separation was difficult, re-sulting in damaged stamps.

COLOUR CHANGES AND VARIATIONS

The Universal Postal Union, at its 1897session held in Washington, D.C., passed a res-olution establishing an individual colour forstamps of the denominations most used on inter-national mail. These comprised green forprinted matter (5c); red for postal cards (10c);bluefor letter mail (25c).

Complying with this resolution, the depart-ment, in 1899, changed the 25 centimes green toblue, and the 50 centimes blue to green. Noother Standing Helvetia values were affected.The 5 and 10 centimes were in the Cross andFigure of Value design.

In 1903, the one franc lilac was changedto carmine-red for aesthetic reasons.

Variations of tint, shade and chrome arenumerous on the Standing Helvetia stamps. Thesestemmed from one or more of several causes. Pen-feet matching of two or more batches of ink wasdifficult in those days. It is well known thatin a press run, the stamps at the beginning ofthe run will vary somewhat from those at the enddue to gradual settling of the heavier pigmentsto the bottom of the ink reservoir. Thicknessof the ink and the amount transferred to thestamp paper played a role in this matter, asd 1 the pressure, particularly on the manually

operated flat bed presses. Slight differencesin the quality and thickness of the paper mayalso have contributed to colour variations.

PLATE FLAWS AND RECUTS

Numerous are the plate flaws and correctiverecuis seen on these stamps which were currentfor 26 years. Such conditions came mainly fromthe use of copper plate printing. Copper issofter than steel andits life is much shorter. These plate flawsare largely worn places,particularly in thefine background andshading lines. Many ofthese were corrected byrecutting the copperplates using engravers ,

tools. This would betrue also if the steelplates were unhardened,a possibility of whichwe have no information.If on the other handthey were hardened, acidetching would have been necessary.

A unique corrective measure was the replac-ement of a damaged subject on the 25 centimesType II steel plate. This was position 41 ofthe lower half of the 100-subject plate. Howthe damaged subject was removed we don't know.The plate was relatively thin - approximatelyone eighth inch perhaps - and if it was not hard-ened the damaged piece is likely to have beencut out by using steel implements. The lines ofseparation show some marks usually associatedwith acid etching. This would have been used ifthe plate was hardened. The critical questionin the matter seems to be the condition of theplate: hardened or not hardened.

Stamps printed from this repaired platewere perforated 1131 x 11 (Zumstein No. 95B)

POSTAL MARKINGS

A comprehensive treatment of the postalmarkings is beyond the space limitations of thisstudy. However, several basic points will pro-vide a practical foundation.

All were handstamped - machine cancellerswere not introduced into Switzerland until 1912.Thus, on many examples, there are sufficientproportions of the postmark to make classifica-tion possible.

The postmarks fall into three major types:single line town, which are very rare; boxedtype enclosing one, two or three lines; and thelarge double circles.

The circle types can be separated into twomain types: short bridge (space containing thedate) terminating at the inner circle; and thelong bridge extending to the outer circle. Bothcontain the name of the town at the top betweenthe circles. At the bottom between the circlesvarious items appear such as a small or largecross, name of the canton, or a functional in-scription. Such inscriptions appear at times inconjunction with the crosses.

The long bridge with concave corners isknown. This may be rare on the Standing Helvet-ia stamps.

There is another double circle short bridgepostmark varying from 19 to 22mm, and bearing odate but not the year. These are known as dwarfpostmarks. They were used exclusively at rec-eiving offices in small communities. They aresomewhat scarce on Standing Helvetia stamps. 0b-

viously these observations are general; the col-lector will find minor differences.

ESSAYS AND PROOFS

Essays associated with the production ofthe Standing Helvetia stamps are predominantlyin the Liberias concept. Large die essays of thevignette without LIBERTAS in the tiara and inseveral colours have been reported, as have bi-colours with red vignette and black frame. Theseare in addition to those already mentioned.

Zumstein's 1924 handbook Lists and illust-rates two 25 centimes large die essays in theStanding Helvetia concept. One of these appearsto be identical with the issued stamps ascentfor the figures of val-ue. The other is a pri-nt from the some dieused by an artist inpreparing a model. Hepainted out portions ofthe design and paintedin some decorativesfeatures. He blottedout the top figures ofvalue.

Max Girardet pre-pared two 25 centimesplate essays by usingone or more of the lay-down dies he had usedfor the 25 and 40 cent-imes steel plates. Oneof these he submittedto the department in1907. It differsslightly from the otherin the figures of value. Neither was accepted.

Proofs are known in normal and trial col-ours; on paper of various weights with and with-

UNOFFICIAL PARIS REPRINTS

After the termination of his contract, MaxGirardet, according to the record, sold the 25and 40 centimes steel working plates to a Pari-sian, who made a vast quantity of reprints.These are known in considerable colour varietyand on several media such as white and tintedpaper and card; on vertical and horizontal laidpaper; and in some instances on paper bearingthe paper manufacturer's watermark.

These are very fine prints, equal to thebest of the issued stamps. Thus there are nodefinite means of classifying an item as towhether it is official or a Paris reprint. Con-sequently, theyremain suspect.It is of inter-est to note thatthere is no phil-atelic record ofofficial steelplate proofs ofthese values.

The finequality of these

reprints led the writer some years ago to thetentative conclusion that new unused platesmust have been employed. Many other special-ists obviously must have come to the some con-clusion, It now can be reported that the plateswere special, and of 25 subjects. Full sheetsof 25 show portions of the siderographer's po-sition Lines and dots indicating these plateswere laid down by the usual Perkins-Bacon tran-sfer principle. Had the plates been from theworking group such tines and dots would havebeen removed or worn off.

Although these Paris reprints have nophilatelic value, they do make a very colourfulalbum page. However, it is important that theirstatus be prominently indicated.

CONCLUSION

In this study we have aimed to report allthe principle data pertaining to these StandingHelvetia stamps acquired during the years ofresearch and study. Conjecture has been usedwhere important, but only in those cases wherecollateral data give promise of reasonable con-clusion. 0bviously no work of this nature isever complete; new information turns up fromtime to time.

Some years ago o Swiss remarked to thewriter that "the Standing Helvetia group is themost popular of Swiss issues." This is under-standable when one considers its potentiality.Used copies, with but few exceptions, are in-expensive. Hence a collector, regardless ofeconomic level, can build at Least a modestspecialised collection in one or more of theareas discussed in this study.

The Standing Helvetia stamps were placedon sale April 1, 1882. They were demonetizedon December 31, 1924.

out controlmark. All thoseof which wehave informa-tion are imper-forate. Thirtyessays andproofs are list-ed in the Essay-Proof Journal,Whole No. 10(1946).

limited quotas. Thus, for instance,a franchised hospital would rec-eive a maximum of 3 Frs. in freestamps per existing hospital bedper year, or 25 cis. in stampswas allotted per child for char-itable vacation projects and camps.

The stamps of each franchisaigroup or entity received a specificfranchise number imprint in black,to guard against any abuse. Until19 25 the numbers were assigned ina random manner. After that eachpostal district was assigned spec-ific numbers (I: 1-100; II: 101-300; 111:301-400: IV: 401-500; V:501-600; VI: 601-700; VII: 701-800; VIII: 801-1000; IX: 1001-1100; X: 1101-1150; XI: 1151-1200)of which, however, never all num-bers became actually utilizedwhile some others seem to havebeen assigned to different fran-chise groups successively. Orig-inally about 600 different organ-izations benefited from postalfranchise privileges. In 192 4there were 820, and this numberremained more or less constant un-til 1943 when all franchise stampsand privileges were withdrawn.

Most covers of such organiz-ations bear a rubber stamp or animprint of the mailer's address,and thus entires can be identifiedreadily as to franchise stamp num-bers. Much work remains to bedone, however, before someone maycome up with an entire list offranchised organizations identi-fied by authentic covers, becausea majority of covers has been de-stroyed over the years. A furthercomplication in identifying suchstamp numbers arises from the factthat some franchise organizationsenclosed at times stamps in theircorrespondence with suppliers orprivate parties to be used for re-turn postage. The writer of thesenotes will be most pleased to re-ceive, from any reader with hold-ings of Swiss franchise entires,the names of positively identifi-able franchise numbers and theirusers, since such a list is now inpreparation and might appear atsome later date to be of help topostal history students.

To satisfy collectors' demandsfranchise stamps were obtainablefrom the GD-PTT in Bern, in mint orcancelled condition, but initiallyonly without control number imprint.After 1912 the GB-PTT also madeavailable to collectors sets ofentire sheets of stamps (100 perpane) with continuous control num-ber imprints (1-100, 101-200) oneach sheet. This bit of inform-ation is important in the case ofmultiples. Only those blocks orstrips on which the same controlnumber appears on all stamps areauthentically used, while blocksor strips with dif-ferent numbers oneach stamp come fromphilatelically iss-ued sheets. Accord-ing to the Zumstein

SWISS FRANCHIS E STAMPS

BY, FELIX GANZ

Swiss Franchise stamps, to many collectors,are of negligible interest, and few specializedcollections seem to exist in this field. Yet itis possible to assemble a non-duplicating collec-tion of over ten thousand items of this type ofSwiss stamps - and at no extreme expense, either!Before that last aspect is described, however, afew observations on the different phases of thisstamp category seem to be in order.

The Swiss postal laws of 1849-50 allowed freefranking privileges not only to all military mailand for every federal, cantonal, regional, andlocal (municipal) government agency, but extendedthese same rights to many charitable institutions,welfare societies, and other non-profit bodiessuch as hospitals, vacation colonies, youth careorganizations, or homes and hostels for the infirm,aged, poor, and mentally ill. These free frankingprivileges continued until the end of 1910, andmail from such sources, in addition to handwrittenor imprinted markings such as "free", "welfarematter", and the like - in German, French orItalian - often shows some ornate coat of arms orother marking, rubber-stamped on the cover to iden-tify the mailer. The variety of such fr anchisestamp precursors is enormous; but prices of entiresfrom the early period are still quite modest.

All early franchise mail was stampless - withtwo exceptions. The first concerns mailings bySwiss branches of the International Red Cross inSwitzerland during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 (and in one instance from World War I). Thesemailings were transported free of postal charges,and many letters bear identifying seals (stuck on)of various shapes and texts (Zumstein Nos I - XI

and XII/XIII. (Readers of this publication shouldbe familiar with these seals from the descriptionsof the Lehmann collections*). The other exception

also came into being dur-ing the 1870-71 War afterlarge contingents of theFrench Army crossed intoSwitzerland to be interned.A purplish, imperfed label

(Zumstein No.1) was issued by the Swiss PTT andshould have been affixed to all interned soldiers'mail to their families in France between Februaryand April (approximately) of 1871. All aforemen-tioned labels are of considerable rarity, especiallyon cover. After January 1, 1911, a new postal lawcame into effect, and among the many changes con-tained in it the entire franchise mail operationwas reorganized, with the principal innovation thatspecial franchise stamps were issued to all elig-ible institutions. Initially only the denomin-ations of 2, 5, and 10 cts. were issued; but becauseof rate changes 3, 15, and 20 cts. stamps were addedbetween 1916 and 1919. All these stamps (ZumsteinNo. 2 - 7) were printed on bluish paper, with apretty neutral design in the colours of militaryolive. and red. The decree of 1911 stated specif-ically that the Federal Department of Posts hadthe final say on which organizations would re-ceive, free of charge, franchise stamps for theirbusiness mail. In addition, it also set limits of2000 Frs. maximum in stamps furnished free to eachinstitution per annum and further regulated and

Handbook of 1924 (1..237) only the 2 cts.value was philatelically issued in wholesheets, in cancelled condition only, andwith control numbers running from 1-600.This information seems to be inaccurate,though, because the writer owns some mintsheets of this denomination, a cancelled-to-order one with numbers 601-700, andalso a sheet of the 10 cts. denomination(numbers 201-300).

In 1926 the 5, 10 and 20 cts. denom-inations were reissued with much boldercontrol number imprints, and the samethree values were again reissued, thistime on white paper, in 1927. When grill-ed paper came into use for Swiss stamps,very few (21,000) of the 10 cts. franch-ise stamps of 1927 (Zumstein no. 12z)were printed on such paper, both with andwithout control number imprint. Thesegrilled gum/paper stamps were freely onsale at the 1934 NASA exhibition postoffice; but very few collectors at thattime availed themselves of the opportun-

ity to acquire what has now be-come a modern rarity.

The franchise stamps of1926 and 1927 were also issuedin continuously numbered collec-tors sheets, mint and cancelled;

but unlike the 1911 sheets each sheet of100 stamps now contained only those con-trol numbers actually in use by a franch-ised institution. Thus sheet No. 4, forinstance, contains control numbers 431-550 , or sheet No. 7 those from 891-1050,etc. In addition, all 1927 issues wereavailable to collectors without controlnumbers, while the 1926 denominationsseemingly were not sold in that manner.Originally, unused franchise stamps withimprinted control numbers were not supp-osed to be available for collectors inunused condition; but this regulationcould never be enforced.

In 1935 the last franchise stampsset appeared (Zumstein nos. 14-16). Eachfeatures a different design, and allthree exist, with and without controlnumber imprint, on regular and on grilledpaper. By 1943 the PTT dis-continued the distributionof franchise stamps altogether;but stocks in hand remainedvalid until used up. Since1944 all former franchise beneficiaries(unless they had become municipal, offic-ial institutions) are required to affixpaid-for postage stamps or meter imprintsto all their mailings - without any gov-ernmental help.

0f all franchise stamps printing anderrors exist. Control numbers may bemore or less misplaced (horizontally and/or vertically), partly missing, or faulty;and plate flaws of varying degrees alsooccur, the most notable being the "missingcenter bouquet" variety on the 3 cts.stamp.

The originally mentioned number of10,000 varieties does not include theseflaws and varieties, nor the Red Crossprecursors. It is reached solely by att-empting to collect each basic stamp withall its different existing control numberimprints. Most interesting would be acollection of entires.... but such a pro-ject might well take more than one life-time.

In conclusion a sampling of definit-ely identified franchise stamp users is

appended - more to demonstrate the var-iety of users and Che distribution of as-signed numbers than to attempt any comple-teness.

a) Series of 19111919:7 Bureau Central de Bienfaisance,

Geneve90 Asile rural vaudois a Echichens125 Anstalt fur Epileptische, Tschugg

(Bern)130 Friedrikastift, Walkringen, (Bern)144 Union nationale Suisse des Amies

de la Jeune Fille (Verein derFreunde junger Madchen)

210 Tuberkulose-Fursorgestelle, Basel325 Zurcherische Pestalozzistiftung,

Schlieren (Zurich)549 Informationskurs fur Jugendfürsorge560 Hospice general de Geneve638 Pour la Jeunesse-Fur die Jugend-

Per la Gioventu, Zurich; later ProJuventute Zentralsekretariat,Zurich.

b) Series of 1926-1943:3 Hopital cantonal de Geneve: 5 0

Hospice general de Geneve;116 Informerie du district de Martigny

(Valais)384 Bezirks-Armenanstalt Frienisberg

(Bern)414 Kantonale Irrenanstalt Bellelay

(Jura bernois)507 Frauenspital Basel716 Kinderheim Bear (Zug)819 Kantonsspital Schaffhausen833 Krankenheim Rehalp, Zollikerberg

(Zurich)etc.

(The illustrations are taken from theZumstein Specialised Catalogue).

+EDITOR'S NOTE: For superbly reproducedcolour photographs of these scarce itemswe recommend the English version of theLehmann's publication "Swiss Red Cross &Franchise Stamps 1870/71" available at 16,,(2.30) post free, from The Amateur Col-lector Ltd.

QUANTITIES OF STAMPS ISSUED

1965 PRO JUVENTUTE:5c. 18,272,000 20c. 12,387,000

10c. 15,859,000 30c. 5,490,00050c. 5,884,000

RECESS PRINTED ON PHOSPHOR PAPER BY THE PTTPRINTING WORKS.

NEW POSTAL RATES IN AUTUMN?

THE 1960 BUILDING 40C., 50C., 60C., 90C., FR.1.-ON ORDINARY PAPER ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE ANDHAVE BEEN REPLACED BY THE SAME VALUES PRINTEDON PHOSPHOR PAPER. IN FACT , CONSIDERABLECHANGES IN THE BUILDING SERIES ARE ANTICIPATEDIN THE AUTUMN, FOLLOWING THE CHANGES IN POSTALTARIFFS NOW UNDER CONSIDERATION. FOR THISREASON THE SPRING PUBLICITY ISSUE CONTAINSONLY TWO VALUES AND THE EUROPA HAS BEEN BROUGHTFORWARD. FURTHER PUBLICITY STAMPS WILL BE IS-SUED IN THE AUTUMN AND THE PRO JUVENTUTE SETWILL OF COURSE BE ISSUED IN DECEMBER BUT THE

DENOMINATIONS WILL DEPEND ON THE NEW TARIFFS.

Ùl EWISSUES

EUROPA 1966ON SEPTEMBER 26TH, 1966 A 20C AND 50cEUROPA PAIR WAS ISSUED. THE MOTIF RE-PRESENTS A STYLIZED BOAT WITH SWELLINGSAILS AND WAS DESIGNED BY GREGOR AND JOSEFBENDER. BOTH STAMPS WERE RECESS PRINTEDON PHOSPHOR PAPER BY THE PTT PRINTINGWORKS.

SWISS ALPSALSO ON SEPTEMBER26TH, 1966A FURTHEFSTAMP IN THE "SWISSALPS" SERIES WASISSUED. THE DENOM-INATION IS I D C A N DIT SHOWS THE FIN- -STERAARHORN. THE HIGHEST PEAK IN THE BERN-ESE ALPS. IT WAS DESIGNED BY HANS THöNIAND ROTOGRAVURED ON PHOSPHOR PAPER BYCOURVOISIER.

PRO JUVENTUTETHE 1966 PRO JUVENTUTE WASISSUED AS USUAL ON DECEMBERIST. THE STAMPS CONTINUETHE SERIES "NATIVE WILDANIMALS". THE ANIMALS DE-PICTED ARE AS FOLLOWS: 5C

ERMINE; IOC SQUIRREL; 20c

FOX; 30c FIELD HARE; 50C

CHAMOIS. THE ARTIST WAS

HANS ERNI. ALL FIVE STAMPS

WERE ROTOGRAVURED ON PHOSPHOR

PAPER BY COURVOISIER. THE

USUAL FR.5.- BOOKLET WAS ALSO

ISSUED.

PUBLICITYTHIS YEAR'S PUBLI-CITY ISSUE HAS BEENSPLIT INTO A SPRINGANC AUTUMN SERIES.THE FIRST PART WILLBE ISSUED ON MARCH13TH AND WILL CON-SIST OF TWO STAMPSTHE IOC. REMINDS MOTORISTS THAT BLINDPEOPLE CAN BE RECOGNISED BY THEIR WHITECANE. THE 20c. SHOWS THE FLAGS OF THEEFTA MEMBER COUNTRIES AND MARKS THE TERM-INATIONS OF INDUSTRIAL CUSTOMS TAX BET-WEEN THEM. THE IOC. WAS DESIGNED BY J.MAUERHOFER AND THE 20C. BY R. MUMPRECHT.BOTH STAMPS WERE ROTOGRAVURED ON PHOS-PHOR PAPER BY COURVOISIER.

EUROPA 1967ALSO ON MARCH 13TH APPEARSTHIS YEAR'S EUROPA ISSUE,A 30C. VALUE. THE ISSUEWAS BROUGHT

FORWARD BECAUSE OF THE PENDING CHANGESIN POSTAL RATES (SEE LATERON THIS PAGE). IT WASDESIGNED BY THE BELGIANARTIST 0. BONNEVALLE ANDADAPTED FOR SWISS USE BYJ. MAUERHOFER. IT WAS