Why the so-called "Hulot Proofs" of the large Hermes Heads do not exist.
(The falsified Hulot signature on a large Hermes final proof)
by Louis Fanchini
(My good friend Louis Fanchini, the author of this article, has made many important discoveries relating to the large Hermes head stamps after his extensive research into the archives of the French mint and the postal museum in Paris and with the advice of French philatelic experts on the printing parctices employed during the time that the plates for the first Greek stamps were produced in Paris. One of these important discoveries was that the so-called Hulot Proof bore a fake signature of Hulot. This article presents convincing evidence which proves that this signature was indeed falsified. These so-called "Hulot Proofs", which we now call the "Final Proofs" and which have two blank spaces in their lower cartouche, can no longer be attributed to Hulot and may indeed have been printed by Albert Barre, the engraver of the dies for the large Hemes head stamps.)
1) Introduction:
In his work, The First Greek Stamp1, as well as in various articles2, our well known friend, Nicholas Asimakopulos, presented a final proof of the large Hermes heads of Greece, supposedly signed by Anatole-Auguste Hulot3 (Figure 4). Unfortunately, this final proof, named the “Rosetta Stone” of Greek Philately by NA, bears, in fact, a false signature of Hulot.
During the course of this article, we shall make a brief review of the proofs and & the history of the creation of the large Hermes heads of Greece in 1860/1861. We shall then detail the respective responsibilities of Désiré-Albert Barre4, Chief Engraver of the French Mint in Paris, who was in charge of the creation of the dies, and his Assistant, Hulot, who was responsible for the fabrication of the printing plates & the printing of the French postage stamps during this period of the 19th century. We shall then compare the false inscriptions & signature on the falsified final proof of Figure 4 with authentic writings & signatures of Hulot from official documents. Finally, we shall analyze the reasons why the conclusions arrived by NA are not correct.
2) Proofs of the Large Hermes Heads of Greece:
To this day, we know of two types of proofs of the large Hermes heads of Greece5: the progressive proofs, produced from an unfinished intermediate die, and/or from an isolated “cliché” issued from it (Figure 1 & 2) and the final proofs, produced from the original die, or from a “die serving as the original”6 (Figure 3).
a) Progressive Proofs:
The progressive proofs of the large Hermes heads come from the unfinished intermediate die engraved between August 1860 and January 1861. The values, inscriptions, borders and the flowers are missing. These printings allowed Désiré-Albert Barre to perfect the engraving of the medallion before the completion of the final die. To this day, 7 progressive proofs of the large Hermes heads, all of blue color (Figure 1), and 3 in black/sepia color on “Canson” paper, in recess printing (Figure 2)7 have been reported.
1Nicholas Asimakopulos, The First Greek Stamp, published by the author, 2005.
2Nicholas Asimakopulos, Greece: Hulot’s Proofs of the Large Hermes Heads, London Philatelist No. 109, January/February, 2000, and New Classification of the Large Hermes Head Proofs, Philotelia No. 606, January/February 2001.
3Anatole-Auguste Hulot (1811 – 1892) was named Assistant to the Chief Engraver in 1848. He manufactured the printing plates and printed the stamps of France and the French Colonies from 1848 to 1876. He was promoted to Director of Postage Stamp Fabrication on January 30th, 1860 and was removed from this function on July 30th, 1876.
4Désiré-Albert Barre, called Barre fils, (1818 – 1878) was the son of Jacques-Jean Barre. Following his father, Barre fils was the Chief Engraver of the French Mint in Paris from 1855 – 1878. During that period, he has created all the dies of the French & colonies stamps, as well as several dies for other countries, including the large Hermes head one for the first stamp of Greece.
5See the article of the author, Definitions of the terms PROOF and ESSAY and their application to the large Hermes head stamps, Philotelia, No. 644, May/June, 2007, available on the internet site of Louis Basel, (http://hermesheads.home.comcast.net).
6To protect the original die, the engravers used it to produce a matrix by striking a steel blank. From this matrix, they struck a “die serving as the original” which was in all points identical to the original. In most of the cases the “die serving as the original” was tempered and then used to fabricate the “flans” (“galvanoplasty”) or “clichés” (“coining press” method) which, after being assembled, formed the printing plate. Dr. Robert Joany, Les outils de fabrication des timbres-poste, Paris 1971, pages 4 to 6.
7 This other type of progressive proof is known since the sale of the last archives of the Barre family during the Claude Aguttes auction in Neuilly, France on December 12th, 2002. These 3 progressive proofs of black/sepia color on “Canson” paper were sold as part of the lot No. 19.
b) Final Proofs:
The final proofs of the large Hermes heads were produced in 1860/1861 and came from the original die or from a “die serving as the original” after two holes had been cut in the lower cartouche. These holes were destined to receive two small metal slugs which had on their face the desired value for the fabrication of the printing plates8. To this date, 28 final proofs of the large Hermes heads have been reported, of which 6 are in blue, 9 in black and 13 in reddish-brown (Figure 3).
3) Responsibilities of the Engraver and the Printer of Postage Stamps in France in the 19th Century:
The introduction of postage stamps in France was decided in 18489. The first French postage stamp, the 20 centimes black, type “République”, was issued for the first time on January 1st, 1849.
The production of the dies was entrusted to Jacques-Jean Barre (called Barre père)10, Chief Engraver of the French Mint in Paris. After the death of Barre père in 1855, his son, Désiré-Albert Barre (called Barre fils), succeeded him in this same position until 1878.
The production of the printing plates and the printing of the postage stamps were entrusted to Anatole-Auguste Hulot, Assistant to the Chief Engraver of the Mint. Hulot kept these same responsibilities until 1876.
a) Responsibilities of the Chief Engraver of the Mint:
The function of the Chief Engraver of the French Mint had been created in the 12th century by Henri II, King of France. The Chief Engraver was responsible for engraving all the dies and producing the matrices which were used in France for the production of money, medals and, after 1848, postage stamps. In addition, he was responsible for the engraving of the State Seal.11
This essentially artistic work of the Chief Engraver thus consisted of creating portraits or allegorical representations to illustrate money, medals and later postage stamps. He first produced a mock-up (sketched or painted) before engraving a die in steel which was used to strike directly the coins & medals and the “flans” (or “clichés”) of the printing plates used to print bank notes and postage stamps.
Désiré-Albert Barre, studied painting at the École des Beaux-arts in Paris, and learned the engraving skill under the tutelage of his father, Jacques-Jean Barre. He designed the mock-up of the large Hermes head which was accepted by the Greek government to illustrate the first postage stamps of the Greek Kingdom in 1860 and later engraved the corresponding dies (see paragraph 4).
After producing the dies destined for the fabrication of postage stamps, he printed directly from them, some proofs which allowed him to judge the esthetic quality and the accuracy of the rendering of his engraving work (see paragraph 2). He then performed the necessary retouching of the intermediate die to arrive at the original die.
8 This technique was used for the fabrication of the printing plates by “galvanoplasty”. The stamps of the large Hermes heads which were initially intended to be fabricated from galvanic plates, have in fact been fabricated from plates produced by the coining press method, the property of Barre fils. See paragraph 4.
9 According to Article 5 of the decree of August 24, 1848, “The Postal Administration is authorized to sell at a price of 20 centimes, 40 centimes and 1 franc, stamps or cachets whose placement on a letter is sufficient to pay the required postage”. Académie de Philatélie, Encyclopédie des timbres-poste de France, Paris 1968, page 3.
10 Jacques-Jean Barre (1793 – 1855) had been Chief Engraver of the French Mint in Paris from 1840 to 1855. His son, Désiré-Albert Barre, succeeded him in this function in 1855.
11 Henri Regnoul-Barre, Les Barre, graveurs généraux des Monnaies, créateurs des premiers timbres-poste français et grecs, Paris, 1978, p. 23.
b) Responsibilities of Anatole-Auguste Hulot, Assistant to the Chief Engraver of the Mint and Director of the Fabrication of Postage Stamps:
When the first postage stamps were introduced in France in 1848, the administration asked Hulot to produce the printing plates and to print the French stamps. Hulot had developed an electrolytic transfer method, called “galvanoplasty”, whose secret he guarded jealously. (This technique was already used in France to fabricate the printing plates used to print the bank notes). Using the Original Die or the “die serving as the original”, he first inserted the two metallic slugs bearing the desired value numerals12 and then struck in the coining press the required pieces of lead called “flans”. These were the only operations, with the mechanical adjustments necessary for the insertion of the die into the ferrule before striking the “flans”, that the Assistant to the Chief Engraver performed on the die13.
These “flans” were assembled as a plate of 150, and then submerged in a chemical bath where the transfer of copper was achieved by electrolysis. The copper plate thus formed is called a “galvano”. Two “galvanos” were assembled to form a complete plate of 300 “clichés”. Hulot was also charged with the task of printing the postage stamps which were produced by typography (relief printing).
Like every printer, Hulot produced numbers of essays from the printing plates which allowed him to calibrate his presses and to choose the mixture & color of the desired inks.
4) Fabrication of the Printing Plates of the Large Hermes Head Stamps in 1861:
On July 31st, 1860, the Greek Government ordered from the French Administration the necessary material for the fabrication of the first stamps of the Kingdom of Greece, as well as a certain number of stamps. Barre fils produced the original die which was sent to Hulot on February 1st, 1861 to fabricate the galvanic plates of the seven values. Three months later, Hulot refused to take a formal written commitment on the schedule of the delivery of the plates. The French Administration, in agreement with the Greek Government, withdrew from Hulot the responsibility for producing the plates and the stamps and assigned it to Barre fils on April 11th, 1861. Finally, the printing plates for the first large Hermes head stamps of Greece were fabricated by Barre fils who utilized the “coining press” method which was developed in 1858/1859 (and from which were produced the essays without value of the “Cérès 1858”)14. These 7 typographic plates were composed of 150 “clichés” each.
5) The False Inscription & Signature of Hulot on One of the Final Proofs of the Large Hermes Head:
a) Description and History of the Final Proof Bearing the False Signature of Hulot:
The final proof bearing the false inscription & signature of Hulot is of reddish-brown color. It has the following handwritten inscription: “Essai du timbre grec” (“Essay of the Greek stamp”), followed by the false signature of Hulot (Figure 4).
12The two metallic slugs bearing the desired value numerals were engraved by the Chief Engraver and inserted in the die in his Assistant’s workshop. Histoire des timbres-poste de l’Empire – Volume III, Docteur Jacques Fromaigeat, Paris 1969, pages 68 to 71.
13 Académie de Philatélie, Encyclopédie des timbres-poste de France, Paris 1968, page 7.
14 Docteur Pierre Bouvet, La commande à la Monnaie de Paris des timbres grecs à tête de Mercure, (17 Juillet 1860 – 26 septembre 1861), Paris 1937. See also, the study of the author, Large Hermes heads Paris printing: The exact quantities ordered and shipped to Athens in 1861 & 1876, Philotelia n°646, September/October 2007, available on the internet site of Louis Basel, (http://hermesheads.home.comcast.net).
This proof was not included in any important philatelic auction before 1974. It appeared for the first time on the market during the 307th auction of the Roumet firm in Paris on April 29, 1974 (Lot No. 1856, with a starting price of 200 French francs and it was knocked-down at 5,005 French francs). According to Ulysse Bellas, this proof had been resold, a few days later, for £80015, probably in England. It did not reappear after that until auction no. 117 of the Argyris Karamitsos firm in Thessaloniki on July 7th, 2000 (Lot No. 3, with a starting price of 15,000 €uro.)
During the 307th Roumet auction, another piece (a strip of 3, from a sheet margin, of the 1 franc vermilion, type “République” of France) bearing in the margin some false inscriptions attributed to Hulot, was similarly placed at auction. This piece has been expertised since and the inscriptions have been recognized as not being from the hand of Hulot.
This falsification of the Hulot signature is unfortunately not an isolated case. A certain number of proofs, essays and stamps of France, bearing false signatures attributed to Hulot were similarly placed at auctions at the end of the last century. Then, Jean-François Brun, one of the most renowned French experts, published in July 2000 on the internet site PhilFlash a note warning against these dangerous fakes (http://www.philflash.fr/philflash/flash009.htm). In fact, several philatelists, including very knowledgeable and competent ones, were duped before NA by these fakes. In particular, Ulysse Bellas, who was, however, usually so precise and methodical, reported the existence of this proof in his book without questioning the authenticity of the Hulot signature16.
b) Comparison of Signatures:
In the course of my researches at the Postal Museum and the Mint, both in Paris, I have been able to consult a large number of reliable documents written by Hulot and bearing his signature. I reproduce in Figure 5, twelve of these authentic signatures of Hulot from the period 1859 to 187717. The comparison of these authentic signatures (Figure 5) with that of the enlarged falsified proof (Figure 6) leaves us without any doubt.
15 Ulysse Bellas, La tête de Mercure - Généralités & Reconstitution de la planche des 20 Lepta, Paris 1978, page 12.
16 Ulysse Bellas, Ibid.
17 These letters can be viewed at the archives of the “Musée de La Poste” (French Postal Museum) and of the “Monnaie de Paris” (French Mint) both in Paris.
c) Other Elements of Comparison:
When we compare the word “timbre” (stamp) written on the falsified proof (Figure 8) with the same word in several official handwritten letters of Hulot (Figure 7), we are convinced again that they were not written by the same person.
d) Advice from the French Experts:
On several occasions, I have been able to consult with Jean-François Brun (a highly respected French expert of the classic French stamps as well as the fabrication processes used in France in the 19th century; he is a former President of the Académie de Philatélie of France). He confirmed to me that he has seen circulated false proofs and authentic proofs both with the fake signature of Hulot, not only on the Greek proof, but also on various proofs, essays and stamps of France. He has had the occasion to examine a large number of these during these last 30 years.
Raymond Beaussant, member of the Académie de Philatélie of France, and the specialist of the proofs and essays of the classic French stamps similarly confirms all of these points.
6) Conclusions:
As shown above, the inscriptions and signature on the falsified large Hermes head proof of Figure 4 are not from the hand of Anatole-August Hulot. It is so much more logical that Hulot had never made any proof because it was not his duty to do so and he had no need to do it. In fact, no proofs of French stamps ever existed which were produced by the Assistant to the Chief Engraver even though Hulot had printed all the stamps of France and its colonies for almost 30 years (1848 – 1876). Only the essays and the stamps produced from the galvanic plates, which had been fabricated by his galvanoplasty method, are the fruits of his labors as printer.
On the other hand, the respective responsibilities of the Chief Engraver, Barre fils, and of his Assistant, Hulot, were perfectly defined and known to everyone during this period. There is no reason that Hulot might have thought that he could fool others for a single instant about the paternity of the engraving of the first Greek stamp or of any other stamp. Thus, there are no “Hulot proofs” of the large Hermes heads.
Barre fils had produced these almost thirty known final proofs, like all the other large Hermes head proofs, probably before giving the original die to Hulot (from late 1860 to February 1st, 1861), in order to verify the result of his engraving work, and/or the aspect of the duplication of the original die (matrix and/or “die serving as the original”). These final proofs were printed before the die was tempered18 as the wavy lines 1 & 10 of the north/west corner are intact19.
This discovery does not detract from the immense knowledge and the enormous research work conducted by Nicholas Asimakopulos20 on the first Greek stamps, the large Hermes heads. I feel obligated, nevertheless to publish, for the community of passionate philatelists of the large Hermes heads, the results of my observations and researches on the history of the creation of the first Greek stamps, which still remain, after 150 years later, a subject of exciting research and which has not yet revealed all of its mysteries.
Finally, I would like to warmly thank my friend Lou Basel, not only for the English translation of this article, but also for his advices and for his outstanding contribution to the definition of the structure and the illustration of this article.
18 According to the letter sent by Hulot to Théophile-Jules Pelouze (President of Commission of the Mint and Medals of France), dated June 20th, 1862, the die of the large Hermes head, was tempered. Histoire des timbres-poste de l’Empire – Volume III, Docteur Jacques Fromaigeat, Paris 1969, page 53.
19 This hardening operation (or the striking of the matrix and/or the “die serving as the original”) is probably the cause of the break of the wavy lines 1 & 10 of the northwest corner of the die. We will come back with more details on this milestone of the manufacturing history of the large Hermes head stamps in an upcoming article to be published soon.
20 Through two works which he has published, the first, The Plate Flaws of the Large Hermes Heads of Greece, 1961 – 1886, HPSA, 1995, and the second, The First Greek Stamp, published by the author, Wyckoff, New Jersey, U.S.A., 2005. But also by the very great number of articles, from his pen, which have been published in numerous philatelic journals.
7) Bibliography: