The pneumatic post of Paris

Abstract

Apart from the standard items of postal stationery that have just been described, there have been three groups of other issues. The first are those for withdrawals from the Caisse Nationale d'Epargne in the rue St Romain and consist of reply-paid forms, part for the applicant to complete and part for the Caisse to return to him with authority for a withdrawal. They appeared in 1884 as joined cards and then as folded forms with varying texts between 1890 and 1904 all with a black Chaplain stamp of30 centimes. In 1909 the Sower stamp replaced the Chaplain design as had happened with the standard postal stationery and similarly abdicated in favour of the Chaplain stamp in 1921 at a value of60 centimes, increased to 1 franc in 1925, to 1.50 franc in 1928, and to 2 francs in 1939. [excerpt]