Hermes Heads at ParisPhilex

At ParisPhilex which took place from June 7th till June 10th, l'Académie de la Philatélie was notably present with a exposition of rare philatelic items and some were related to our loved Hermes Heads.

First of all there was this presentation :

Matrix

test punch

Indeed a test punch of the ony medaillon, turned to the right and a matrix obtained from the test punch, and since it's a negatif, the head is turned to the left. These were engraved by Désiré-Albert Barre.

Matrix

detail of the matrix

detail of the test punch

test punch

A second piece of high interest was the electrotype in pure copper of the 30 lepta of the Big Hermes Head, with 150 images of the stamp.

It was conceived in 1875 by the Charles Derriey enterprise under the supervision of Désiré-Albert Barre. A complete electrotype contains 300 images and was built of two separate parts of 150.

As said in french : a unique piece !

Due to the lighting present in the big hall and in the exposition room it was not easy to take a picture rendering the design clear and well.

I present all pictures I took and let you appreciate them in fonction of the ligthing.

Thanks a lot Mr. Louis Fanchini for making your acquaintance during the stampshow and showing me these philatelic treasures !