Two Hundred A Franc

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31262, 7 January 1967, Page 5

Two Hundred A Franc

(Specially written /or "The Press" bv KENNETH ANTHONY) QTAMP collectors have always been specially interested in stamps with an unusually low face value. So

bearing in mind the present value of the French franc—about Is 5Jd —what possible reason could there have been for a stamp like this, worth just half a centime, or one two-hundredth of a franc? The reason for this curious stamp issued in 1919, lies in the history of French postage on newspapers. In 1878 a rate of 1c a copy was established —with an extra jc for papers over a certain weight. Odd half-centimes, however, were not actually charged. If a single over-weight copy was posted, the extra 4c was charged as Ic. But if the same person posted a number of copies—it was mainly newspaper publishers who

used the service—the halfcentimes were added up. From 1884, the Post Office decided that papers on which the extra postage had been paid should be marked accordingly—with a handstamped postmark or in manuscript. By the turn of the century suggestions were being made that a 4c stamp should be provided as a more convenient means of indicating the correct postage, suggestions which were reinforced in 1908 when the basic rate on newspapers was reduced to ic. Thirty years later this rate was still in force, surely one of the cheapest postage rates on record.