French Guadeloupe. 1852, May 12. Cover from Pointe à Pitre to France, endorsed “Par Steamer Voie d'Angleterre”, paying the double weight letter rate not exceeding 15 grams with 10c. bistre, a remarkable strip of five with predominantly large margins, barely touched at left, 25c. blue, deep colour in two well margined examples, and 1fr. carmine pair showing very good margins, all tied by French roller grid in France, with neat “Pointe-à-Pitre/(Guadeloupe)” c.d.s. alongside, together with framed “PD” and French entry at Calais. Just one 25c. adhesive at right is affected by tone spot and vertical crease resulting in a small tear, which are so minor as to be of not significance whatsoever on this incredibly rare cover. Illustrated on page 15 of the “Les Correspondances des Colonies Françaises-La Guadeloupe” by Dubus, Pannetier and Marchand.. On 13 June 1851, the French Postal Administration announced that postage stamps were to be experimentally used to prepay postage in various Colonies including Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Reunion and Indian settlements. The stamps applied on correspondence originating from these colonies had to be cancelled on arrival in France. The major purpose of issuing French stamps was that of prepaying the 1fr. 50c. rate to France. The use of postage adhesives was a failure in this early period, since this practice was not compulsory and the population was not familiar with the use of postage stamps; on the other hand, the correspondence carried by British means, but also addressed to France, caused accountancy difficulties in the colonial post offices. In the “Gazzette Officielle de la Guadeloupe” of 25 October 1851 was announced the sale of postage adhesives as from 10 November 1851 in the Basse-Terre, Pointe à Pitre, Le Moule and Grand-Bourg post offices. Two consignments sent to Guadeloupe, as per Martinique, dated October 1851 and end of August 1852, included each 2,500 examples of the 10c., together with 9,000 of the 25c. and 5,000 of the 1fr. denominations. When the second consignment had been exhausted, the experiment definitely ended. The 10c. value issued to the colonies presents a strange enigma because there apparently was little intended use for this value, except for the 35c. rate by private ship.. This absolutely spectacular cover is one of the greatest gems of the French Colonies. First of all, as a result of its most important feature: the only cover recorded bearing the three values of the first issue of France used abroad. The extremely rare usage of the 10c. denomination confirms a very important added significance as only three covers are known in Guadeloupe bearing this value, of which two are franked by a strip of five (the other cover recorded, of less importance, which bears the 10c. strip of five and 1fr. single, was sold in December 2007 by Spink in New York for US$ 57,500, hammer price, in the sale dedicated to the Grand Prix D'Honneur collection of Guadeloupe formed by Edward J.J. Grabowski). Cert. Calves. Dallay 1, 4, 6. Ex Borromeo d'Adda..
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