French cancels - 01 e Paris numbered stars (étoiles chiffrées) - 21 to 30

In this 3rd part, I present the French star cancels 21 till 30

See also: https://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.com/2023/02/french-cancels-01-c-paris-numbered.html
and : https://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.com/2023/02/french-cancels-01-d-paris-numbered.html

nr 21:
Rue St-Antoine (July1863 à fin till end of March 1876)

étoille chiffrée 21

nr 22:
Rue du Helder (July 1863 till December 1868)
Rue Taibout (December 1868 till end of March 1876)

nr 23:
Rue du Faubourg St Antoine (July 1863 till869)
Rue Aligre (1869 till end of March 1876)

nr 24:
Rue de Clery (July 1863 till end of March 1876)

nr 25:
Rue de la Harpe (July 1863 till 1867)
Rue Serpente (1867 till end of March 1876)

nr 26:
Gare du Nord (July 1863 till end of March 1876)

étoile chiffrée 26

nr 27:
Rue St Dominque Gros Caillou (July 1863 à 1870)
(Rue St Dominque) Gros Caillou (1870 till end of March 1876)

nr 28:
Rue Cardinal-Lemoine (July 1863 till end of March 1876)

nr 29:
Rue Mouffetard (July 1863 till 1865)
Rue Pascal (1865 till 1873)
Rue Monge (1873 till end of March 1876)

nr 30:
Boulevard/t. Mazas (July 1863 till end of March 1876)

Since some post offices changed location, but remaining to use the same star number,
only letters with star cancel and date cancel can give exclusion of where and when the cancel was used.

to be continued...

French cancels - 01 d Paris numbered stars (étoiles chiffrées) - 11 to 20

Part 2 : star numbers 11 to 20
see also : https://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.com/2023/02/french-cancels-01-c-paris-numbered.html

nr 11:
Rue de l'Echelle (July 1863 till 1865)
Rue St Honoré (1865 till 1873)
Place du Théatre-Français (1873 till end of March1876)

nr 12:
Boulevart/d Beaumarchais (July 1863 till end of March 1876)

étoile chiffrée 12

nr 13:
Hotel-de-Ville (July 1863 till May 1871)
Rue de la Tacherie (1872 till end of March 1876)

étoile chiffrée 13

nr 14:
Rue du Faubourg-St-Martin (July 1863 till 1865)
Rue de Strasbourg (1865 till end of March 1876)

étoilee chiffrée 14

nr 15:
Rue Bonaparte (July1863 till end of March 1876)

étoille chiffrée 15

nr 16:
Rue Neuve-Bourg-l'Abbé (July 1863 till January 1865)
Rue de Palestro (January 1865 till October 20, 1873)
Rue Turbigo (October 25, 1873 till end of March 1876)

étoille chiffrée 16

nr 17:
Rue Tirechappe (July 1863 till 1869)
Rue du Pont Neuf (1869 till end of March 1876)

étoille chiffrée 17

nr 18:
Rue de Londres (July 1863 till 1869)
Rue d'Amsterdam (1869 till end of March 1876)

nr 19:
Rue d'Angoule du Temple (July 1863 till 1867)
Boulevart/d Richard-Lenoir (1867 till end of March 1876)

étoille chiffrée 19

nr 20:
R.St-Dominique-St-Gn, 56 (58, 53) (July 1863 till end of March 1876)

Since some post offices changed location, but remaining to use the same star number,
only letters with star cancel and date cancel can give exclusion of where and when the cancel was used.

to be continued...

French cancels - 01 c Paris numbered stars (étoiles chiffrées) - 1 to 10

In this post, I would like to present all of the different star cancels.

see also : https://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.com/2023/02/french-cancels-01-b-paris-numbered.html

nr 1:
Place de la Bourse (July 1863 till end of March 1876)

étoile chiffrée 1

nr 2:
Rue St Lazare (July 1863 till October 1872)
Rue Milton (November1872 till end of March 1876)

étoile chiffrée 2

nr 3:
Pl. de la Madeleine (July 1863 till end of March 1876)

étoile chiffrée 3

nr 4:
Rue d'Enghien (July1863 till end of March 1876)

For this cancel, not only 'star 4' was used, but also 'star 24'.
However, the '2' of the '24' was omitted, and resulted in a deformed spot where the 2 used to be.

étoile chiffrée 4

nr 5:
Boulevart St Martin (July 1863 till July 1865)
Rue de Bondy (August 1865 till September 1872)
Boulevart Magenta (September 1872 till end of March 1876)

étoile chiffrée 5

nr 6:
Sénat (July 1863 till 1871)
Palais du Luxembourg (1871 till end of March 1876) 

To see the diffence with the '9' star, several types of markings underneath the 6 were used. (see later posts)

nr 7:
Rue des Vlles-Haudtes (July 1863 till end of March 1876)

Two variations on the size of the '7' - normally 6.5 mm (var 1: 5.5 mm - var 2: 5 mm)

pair of étoiles chiffrées 7

nr 8:
Rue D'Antain (July 1863 till end of March 1876)

nr 9:
Rue du Faubourg-St-Honoré (July 1863 till May 1867)
R. Montaigne (June 1867 till end of March 1876)

Similar to the '6' start, serveral types of markings underneath the 9 were used, to see the difference with the '6' cancel (see later posts)

nr 10:
Petite Rue du Bac (July 1863 till 1865)
R. du Cherche-Midi (1865 till end of March 1876)

From nr 10 on, the cancels have two dots (in stead of 3 only left and right of the number, on the central horizontal line, due to the size of the central 2-digit number.

Since some post offices changed location, but remaining to use the same star number,
only letters with star cancel and date cancel can give exclusion of where and when the cancel was used.

to be continued ...

French cancels - 01 b Paris numbered stars (étoiles chiffrées)

Although the song 'Stary stary night' by Don McLean, about 'The Stary Night', a Van Gogh's painting, was painted in France, it has nothing to do with today's topic on the French postal 'star' cancels.

The numbered stars with numbers, used in the Paris capital region between 1863 and 1876 are a beloved collectors' item by both French and foreign collectors.

Let us take a closer look at the place the cancels were used.

Map of France and location of Paris capital region

Detailed map of the Paris capital region
 - centre is Paris city

The stars are numbered from 1 to 40.
For that last number, until the 80's of the 20th century, there was no information if the 40-cancel was real or not. Since then, only few copies have been found. The location of the 40 is the same as office 35.

On this map of 1863, by the French geographer Henriot, you see the aproximate location of all 40 district offices.

List of District offices

Etoile N°1	Place de la Bourse
Etoile N°2	Rue Saint Lazare
Etoile N°3	Place de la Madeleine
Etoile N°4	Rue d’Enghien
Etoile N°5	Boulevart Saint Martin
Etoile N°6	Sénat
Etoile N°7	Rue des Vieilles Haudriettes
Etoile N°8	Rue d’Antin
Etoile N°9	Rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré
Etoile N°10	Petite rue du Bac
Etoile N°11	Rue de l’Echelle
Etoile N°12	Boulevart Beaumarchais *
Etoile N°13	Hôtel de ville
Etoile N°14	Rue du Faubourg Saint Martin
Etoile N°15	Rue Bonaparte
Etoile N°16	Rue Neuve Bourg l’Abbé
Etoile N°17	Rue Tirechappe
Etoile N°18	Rue de Londres
Etoile N°19	Rue d’Angoulême du Temple
Etoile N°20	Rue Saint Dominique-Saint Germain
Etoile N°21	Rue Saint Antoine
Etoile N°22	Rue du Helder
Etoile N°23	Rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine
Etoile N°24	Rue de Cléry
Etoile N°25	Rue de la Harpe
Etoile N°26	Gare du Nord
Etoile N°27	Rue Saint Dominique-Gros Caillou
Etoile N°28	Rue Cardinal Lemoine
Etoile N°29	Rue Mouffetard
Etoile N°30	Boulevart Mazas
Etoile N°31	Corps Legislatif
Etoile N°32	Rue de la Sainte Chapelle
Etoile N°33	Gare d’Orléans
Etoile N°34	Rue de Chaillot
Etoile N°35 (40)	Salpétrière **
Etoile N°36	Boulevart du Prince Eugène
Etoile N°37	Boulevart Malesherbes
Etoile N°38	Rue des Feuillantines
Etoile N°39	Rue des Ecluses Saint Martin

* at that time, Boulevart was written with a T at the end. Now it is 'Boulevard', with a D.
** the number 40 was used only between Nov 1866 and Dec 1866

to be continued ...

French cancels - 01 a Paris numbered stars (étoiles chiffrées)

In my introduction to this theme, I gave a brief list of types of cancels, used in France between 1852 and 1876.
(see : https://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.com/2023/02/french-cancels-00-introduction.html) 

In this and the following posts, I will go backwards, step by step, starting with the 'least' variations.
This means, the more I will post, the more possible variations of cancels will appear.

Starting with the most 'limited' number of variations, we go to Paris in the late 19th century.

In 1863, a lot changed in the French postal system.
The districts in Paris that were using diamond shaped cancels with several letters (in roman and sans sérif (bâton) fonts), changed their cancels to star-shaped cancels with a number.
Outside Paris the cancels that were using diamond shapêd cancels with 'small' numbers, changed to diamond shaped cancels with 'large' numbers. (see later posts).

The cancels are known as the 'étoiles chiffrées' - numbered stars. Not to be confused with the 'logsanges chiffrés' - numbered diamonds, that were used mainly outside Paris.

star with number

diamond with (large) numbers

For the small numbers (1 to 40) it is sometimes difficult to see the diffence.

The stars have numbers 1 to 40 (only) - the dots are smaller than the diamonds with large numbers.
The stars have 'large' nubers, so all cancels in small sized numbers are diamonds (petit chiffres).
All 'large' numbers above 40 are diamonds (gros chiffres).
Especially with multiple cancelled stamps - or incomplete stamps, it is sometimes difficult to see which type it is?

star 8 - étoile 8

Star canels without number (étoile muette) are older (1852)

In the same year, the 1st internation post conference was held in Paris too.
This event was topic of a Belgian stamp of 1963 : 

1963 - centenary of 1st post conference in Paris

to be continued...

French cancels - 00 Introduction

The longer I collect, the more I am intrigued by the endless cancels that can be found on stamps.
Some time ago, the internet had the discussion whether there are more 'doors' or more 'wheels' in the world.
For us, collectors, I would like to pose a new question... are there more 'stamps' or more '(postal) cancels' in the world ?

1849-1852

From 1849 on, french stamps were cancelled with a grid-shaped cancel.
In French they are called 'grille' (grill/grid).
As the shape of this grid is a diamond, ('losange' in French), the first cancels are called 'losagne(s) grillé(s)'.
These type of cancels are seen in black, blue and red, and although very old and interesting, they don't offer much variation for the advanced collector.

losange grillé noir (black)

losange grillé rouge (red)

losange grillé bleu (blue)

Till 1852, these cancels were used to devalue the stamps.

1852-1863

In 1852 a similar cancel was introduced, this time a diamond shape made out of 8 x 8 dots.

losange 'muet' (mute)

For the french colonies, a mute grid was used - no indication inside the diamond.
And within France, the diamonds got a letter or number in the middle of the cancel.
For the offices in Paris (district offices) at first a letter of combination of letters were used with roman fonts (1852-1854) - the type 'roman'.

losange romain

They were replaced by letters 'sans sérif', the so called type 'bâton'. (1854-1863)

losange bâton

In my later post, I will come back on those type of cancels.

For the rest of France, and later also in the colonies, the diamond cancels were assigned with a number.
Till 1863 those numbers were 'small' (petits chiffres - in French)

losange 'petit chiffre'

These 'small numbers' are subject to later posts.

1863-1876

In 1863, after reorganising the list of 'small numbers', and with the opening of new post offices all around France and its outside territories, the small numbers were replaced by large numbers.
(gros chiffres).

As this is such an elaborated collecting, I will come back on this later on.

losange 'gros chiffre'

Within Paris, the local districts changed their diamond cancels with a star shaped variation.
These cancels are known as the 'étoiles chifrées' (numbered stars).

étoile chiffrée nr6

Also these cancels will be presented in a later post.

From 1876 on

Finally, from 1876 on, the system of numbers cancels was replaced by cancels with a city name, date, hour ... 

I realise that this rough indication of cancel types of the late 19th century is far from complete.
Numerous late use of cancels of the older type can occur on later stamps.

The purpose of the articles that will follow this introduction, is to help collectors that are not familiar with the french stamps and their cancels, and maybe to find new collectors for this more than interesting part of postal history.

small and lager number cancels

To be continued...