Topsy-turvy stamps (part 2)...
I noted in a previous article about stamps with a tête-bêche alignment that they have frequently been produced intentionally, since around 1900, for booklets where the blank borders of the cut-down sheets could be utilised as a selvage for sewing, stapling or glueing into individual booklets. Unlike the original French 20c Cérès mishaps which are notable accidental rarities, modern tête-bêche stamps are produced by the million, although not generally seen in that state at post office sales counters.
One postal authority which has appeared to release them, judging by their frequency and often low cost in the philatelic market place, is that of Switzerland. And I now have not just a typical tête-bêche pair of William Tell definitive stamps from that country to illustrate this philatelic feature, but a complete sheet which would have been cut into blocks of six (three horizontal, two vertical) and, by including the plain border or margin, would have been made into booklets, perhaps with other values printed the same way, and bound between stiff paper or card covers printed with postal information, or in later years some form of advertising.
Image + words © Ed Buziak 2018.
@postalhistory #postalhistory #têtebêche #postage #stamp #Switzerland #printing #philately #collecting
