Artist's Proofs

Artist's proofs are die proofs of engraved stamps printed on a card measuring approximately 160 x 130mm (6.25 x 5 inches) and signed by the engraver. Beginning in 1964, the proofs were embossed with the seal of the French government printer, as well as lines and lettering in later years, and the quantity was limited to about 26 copies (8 beginning in 2000). The proofs are normally identical to the issued stamps except for the color and (usually) the absence of the engraver's name, which was added later. There is an excellent and detailed explanation of artist's proofs, as well as an extensive database of pictures, on Giorgio Leccese's website www.dieproofs.it.

Six different colors of each artist's proof were typically printed (three beginning in 2000). The colors and shades used vary among issues, but typically include black and a shade of blue, brown, violet, green, and red. Grey, yellow, and orange were also used occasionally. In terms of shades, the brown color might be orange-brown, red-brown, yellow-brown, or olive brown. Violet may be blue-violet or red-violet. Green colors are often a mixture of green and blue (i.e. aqua). Beginning in 2000, artist's proofs were printed only in black, blue, and light brown.

The catalogue lists the known colors of artist's proofs of St. Pierre & Miquelon for the period 1967-76. Clicking on the catalogue number takes you to the gallery page showing a photo of the center (stamp portion) of the proof where available. This allows viewing the different colors together on a screen and in a larger size than if the entire proof were shown. A selection of images of the entire proofs is shown separately. You can also navigate to a particular issue using the pull-out menu on the left side of the gallery pages, and to the next or previous page using the arrows at the top right of each gallery page.