Of this I possess only the 2 c., and have never seen any others; but there may be a full set. Very badly lithographed, on thin, hard paper, imperforated, or pin-perf. 13 1/2 x 13, very badly. No portion of the design is sunk into the paper, and the whole stamp is dreadfully smudged. The network is much too dark, so that the lettering does not stand out from it. The E of POSTES has all three tongues blunt. Of the lower inscription, only the letters CENT are readable ; the rest are smudged. The P of POSTES is only 2 1/2 mm. from the inside edge of the frame. This coarse forgery is not likely to deceive anyone who has once seen the genuine stamps.

These are commonly called “reprints,” but, as the type of the inscriptions had to be reset, they are evidently what philatelists would call, or ought to call, “forgeries.” They were made for a Hamburg dealer in 1885. They are said to be always with inverted burelé, but I fancy I have seen one or two with normal burelé, and these would probably be accidents. They are engraved in épargne, like the originals, with the same perforation, 13 1/2 x 14 1/2 The chief test is the P of POSTES, which is only 2 1/2 mm. from the edge of frame, instead of 3 mm., or more.