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Auction: 18054 - The 'Hermione' Collection of France, 1849-1950
Lot: 796

France
1929 Tourist Issue
"Pont du Gard"
20f. perforation 11, imperforate at top, an extraordinary pair from the upper right corner of the sheet, unmounted mint; superb. The only multiple recorded featuring this variety, of which only five stamps are recorded; the most important item of this iconic stamp. Roumet certificate (1979), signed Calves. Spink Maury 262Aa, €23,000+. Photo

At the beginning of 1929, the General Commissariat for Tourism asked the postal administration to issue a series of postage stamps representing French monuments. Between 1929 and 1931 five stamps were issued, among them the 20 francs "Pont du Gard". Issued on 15 May 1929, this stamp quickly became a prestigious issue of semi-modern philately.
Initially flat typographically printed in sheets of 50 examples without dated corners, from 1931 it was printed in rotary typography in sheets of 25 examples with dated corners.
During the flat printing, in 1930 an error during the handling of paper required the use of another perforation machine. This error could have gone unnoticed if the perforation had been the same ... But the used machine applied a perforation 11 instead of the 13.5 perforation, thus a stamp with perforation 11, very sought after, was born.
However, the story of this fabulous stamp does not finish here. A misplaced positioning of the sheet during the perforating process gave birth to one of the great rarities of semi-modern postage stamps of France: the perforation 11 executed on three sides only.


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Sold for
€40,000