Some collectors call these French stamps the Sage series. Others call them the Peace and Commerce series.
The two names refer to the same stamps, a fascinating series issued by France during the last quarter of the 19th century. During these remarkable Belle Epoque years, the stamps designed by the winner of a contest represented France and her colonies with an allegorical depiction of Peace and Commerce straddling the globe.
The designer, Jules-Auguste Sage, won a contest sponsored by the French Ministry of Finance. The Ministry was responding to political calls for a new stamp design that would replace the Ceres stamps, which dated back to the first French stamps of 1849. We don’t know much of Monsieur Sage, but he may have been on the staff of the Bank of Paris or the Ministry of Finance.
The losing designs… apparently there were just a handful, one of which was the Champlain design later used for the pneumatic post.
The Sage stamps were released for 24 years. Collectors assign them to one of three different groups. The first Sage issues debuted March 27, 1876. Type II was first issued on July 20, 1876 and Type III, which is actually a reprise of Type I, was released between February, 1898, and July, 1900.
Specialists who focus on the differences between these three groups begin by looking at the type at the bottom of the stamp. Below “Republique Francaise” are the words JA SAGE INV.
The positioning of this text, and how it aligns, determines the group the series falls in. Where the “N” in “INV” is aligned below the “B” in “Republique” the stamp belongs to Type I and when the N is below the U it is a member of Type II.
Along with the actual Sage stamps and imperforates produced for the colonies were thirteen pieces of postal stationery.
For 24 of the most glittering years France has ever enjoyed, the Sage stamps carried the mail. When Van Gogh wrote to Gauguin and urged him to visit Arles, chances are one of them was affixed to the envelope.
When visitors sent mail from the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris, where the sparkling new Eiffel Tower served as the entrance arch, it was the Sage stamps they used.
And they were also in use when the Gare d’Orsay, now home to the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, was under construction.
These were peaceful and prosperous years for France, and, in retrospect, the Peace and Commerce allegory turns out to be highly prophetic and appropriate.
Collectors who pay close attention to the Sage stamps have much to consider. For instance, there was no 40 centime stamp issued in 1876… this denomination did not appear until 1878, so it is fruitful to hunt for the lone survivors of the Ceres series issued and used during these years.
And later, in 1925, when American expats including F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway called Paris home, a tribute was paid to the fabled design.
A Five Franc Sage stamp was issued in conjunction with the International Philatelic Exposition in Paris. This Type II issue exists as a regular, perforated stamp, as a commemorative block, and as an imperforate.
My thanks to the knowledgeable Napoleon, the nom de Plume for a well-versed collector of France stamps, for his help in researching this information.
