Paper Heritage - Algerian Railways - Control Overprints:

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This article deals only with the pictorial designs of the Algerian Railways (Parcel Post) issues. There were five pictorial designs, Gare de Philippeville, Renault Railcar, Micheline Railcar in an Oasis, Viaduct, Gare de Bone, the design for each value being shown in abbreviated form in the table below.

In addition to Yvert & Tellier, these stamps are listed by Maury (successor in this respect of the Dallay catalogue) and other, including privately-produced, catalogues. We have been able to add one or two varieties ourselves to those listed in the catalogues, probably because, for decades, these stamps did not receive the attention that they merit.

However, the principal purpose of this article is a study of the control overprint CONTROLE DES RECETTES, meaning 'Control of Receipts', applied to the majority of the stamps, presumably in the railways' accounts offices. In theory, all stamps should have this control but there are many examples of stamps which are found without the control. It has been suggested that stamps without controls are 'remainders', which seems very plausible. However, there were certainly some regularly-issued stamps, where the Control was accidentally omitted.

Above:
Left: Violet Control (the stamp has the listed variety 17F in the centre of the stamp, rather than at the right). The stamp in the commonest colour for this design, greenish-blue.
Centre: Without Control. The stamp is in the Deep Blue colour. Although this is, overall, much less common than the greenish-blue, it is the shade quite frequently encountered when the Control has been omitted.
Right: With Magenta Control. Very few stamps have this colour of Control.

Some values, mostly the scarcer ones, have not, so far, been reported without control, suggesting that, if they do exist, they will be rare. Some common values without control are found in large quantities, which reinforces the idea that they are remainders. It is very probable that lack of security, whether at the printers' or when the stamps were in transit to the railway offices, obliged the railway to apply the control to safeguard their revenue.

Left: Control in Bluish-Grey. Stamp has variety Surcharge Double, One Inverted.
Centre: Control in Grey-Black. Stamp is the Dark Green type, usually found on yellowish paper.
Right : Control in Blue. So far, this colour of Control has only been reported on this value.

For the majority of values, the standard colour for the control overprint is violet (deep to pale) or grey-violet. There are also several issues which have controls in a range of shades from grey to black, sometimes with a hint of blue or violet, leading, sometimes, to difficulty in deciding to which of these two main groups certain stamps should be assigned. The table below lists all the colours of which we have been made aware, thanks to the input of several collectors.

Key to Table
Columns 1 and 9 : Yvert et Tellier catalogue numbers
Column 2: Stamp design (see first paragraph of article for fuller description)
Column 3: Face Value of stamp
Column 4: Colour of stamp (We have added extra shades of some of the green stamps and of some of the blue stamps, where we know them to exist or, sometimes, suspect them to exist. If there is no positive comment against them, they have yet to be verified.
Column 5: A 'yes' indicates this stamp is known to exist, perforated, in the standard colour of handstamp Control, violet to grey-violet. A (yes) in brackets indicates that the stamp is believed to exist but not confirmed.
Column 6: 'No.C.' stands for (perforated) stamp without Control overprint. A 'yes' in this column indicates that it has been confirmed, a '??' means there is some doubt about its existence in this state.
Column 7: This column describes all other Control colours and varieties reported on perf stamps. Exceptionally, we have used this column to mention one Imperforate stamp known without Control, Yvert 91.
Column 8: This is a listing of Imperf Stamps. As far as we are aware, these are only known with the standard colour Control (as defined in Column 5 above). A (yes) in brackets means the standard control has been assumed by us but is not confirmed.

In 2006, an auction house offered FIFTEEN imperforate single stamps with moderately wide margins, which we had not previously seen listed. However, none of these were marginal copies, which tends to create some doubt about them. We have marked the column with ~~ in the case of these stamps.

C. or Cont. is an abbreviation for 'Control' throughout.

...	Algerian	Railways	Summary of Controls		.				..
Yvert.	Design	Face Value.	Stamp Colour	Viol.(p).	No.C.	Other C.		Imp.(V)	Yvert
83	Gare Phil.	0f 6	black	yes				yes	83	[ . ] [ . ]
84		1f 8	black	yes				yes	84	[ . ] [ . ]
85		2f 4	black	yes				yes	85	[ . ] [ . ]
86		3f	black	yes	yes			yes	86	[ . ] [ . ]
87	Renault	2f 2	bluish-green	yes					87	[ . ] [ . ]
		2f 2	grass green					yes		[ . ] [ . ]
88		2f 8	bluish-green	yes					88	[ . ] [ . ]
			grass green	yes						[ . ] [ . ]
89		3f 3	bluish-green	yes					89	[ . ] [ . ]
			grass green							[ . ] [ . ]
90	Oasis	4f 15	grey-lilac	yes					90	[ . ] [ . ]
91		5f 55	deep lilac	yes		+Imp.w/out cont		yes	91	[ . ] [ . ]
92		8f 25	deep lilac	yes				yes	92	[ . ] [ . ]
93		11f 05	bright deep lilac	yes	yes				93	[ . ] [ . ]
94		16f 55	bright lilac	yes	yes				94	[ . ] [ . ]
94A		16f 55	black	yes					94A	[ . ] [ . ]
95	Viaduct	2f 2	Orange	yes				yes	95	[ . ] [ . ]
...	.	..	.	..	.				..
98-109	set/12	manusc.surch		yes (12 v)					98-109
...	.	..	.	..	.				..
Yvert.	Design	Face Value.	Stamp Colour	Viol.(p).	No.C.	Other C.		Imp.(V)	Yvert
111	Gare Phil.	0f 9	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes	control in black			111
112		1f 8	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes			yes	112
113		2f 7	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes			yes	113
114		6f 3	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes	control in black			114
115		9f 9	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes			yes	115
116		13f 5	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes	control inverted			116
117		17f 1	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes				117
118		20f 7	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes			yes	118
119	Renault	2f 7	dull green/straw	yes				(yes)	119
120		3f 9	dull green/straw	yes	??			yes	120
121		4f 2	dull green/straw	yes				yes	121
122		5f 8	lilac/straw	yes	yes			yes	122
123		8f	lilac/straw	yes					123
124		10f 3	lilac/straw	yes				yes	124
125		12f 5	lilac/straw	yes					125
126		17f 4	greyish-lilac	yes	??			yes	126
...	.	..	.	..	.				..
Yvert.	Design	Face Value.	Stamp Colour	Viol.(p).	No.C.	Other C.		Imp.(V)	Yvert
130	Renault	3,2/2f 7	dull green/straw	yes				~~	130
			deep blue-green/straw	yes
131		4,1/2f 7	dull green/straw	yes	yes				131
			deep blue-green/straw	yes
132		4,6/3f 9	dull green/straw	yes					132
133		4,9/4f 2	dull green/straw	yes					133
134		5,2/3f 9	dull green/straw	yes	yes	control in black			134
135		6,2/4f 2	dull green/straw	yes	yes				135
136	Oasis	6,2/5f 8	lilac/straw	yes					136
137		7,4/5f 8	lilac/straw	yes	yes	control in black			137
138		8,4/8f	lilac/straw	yes	??				138
138a		surch.inverted		(yes)					138a
138b		surch double,	one inverted	yes					138b
139		9,6/8f	lilac/straw	yes	yes			~~	139
(139)		surch.inverted							(139)
140		10,7/10f 3	lilac/straw	yes					140
141		11,9/10f 3	lilac/straw	yes	yes				141
		surch.double,	one inverted	yes
142		12,9/12f 5	lilac/straw	yes	??				142
143		14,1/12f 5	lilac/straw	yes	yes			~~	143
143a		surch.inverted		yes					143a
144		18,6/17f 4	greyish-lilac	yes	yes	control in black			144
...	.	..	.	..	.				..
Yvert.	Design	Face Value.	Stamp Colour	Viol.(p).	No.C.	Other C.		Imp.(V)	Yvert
151	Renault	5f 2	emerald	yes	yes			yes	151
152		9f	emerald	yes	yes			yes	152
153	Oasis	7f 3	magenta	yes	yes			yes	153
154		9f 5	magenta	yes	yes			yes	154
155		11f 8	magenta	yes	yes			yes	155
156		14f	magenta	yes	yes			yes	156
157		18f 6	magenta	yes	yes	control in black		yes	157
157a	(var.13f 6)	18f 6 var.	magenta	yes				(yes)	157a
158		25f	magenta	yes	yes			yes	158
...	.	..	.	..	.				..
159	Gare Bône	12f 4	greenish blue	yes	yes			(yes)	159
			grey-blue	yes
160		18f 8	greenish blue	yes	yes			(yes)	160
			grey-blue
161		25f 2	greenish blue	yes	yes			yes	161
...	.	..	.	..	.				..
Yvert.	Design	Face Value.	Stamp Colour	Viol.(p).	No.C.	Other C.		Imp.(V)	Yvert
162	Renault	7f/5f 2	emerald	yes	yes			(yes)	162
163	Oasis	18f 5/18f 6	magenta	yes	yes	control inverted		yes	163
	Var. 13f 6			yes				yes
163a		surch.double		(yes)
163A		20f/18f 6	magenta	yes					163A
164	Gare Bône	15f/12f 4	greenish blue	yes	yes			~~	164
			grey-blue		yes
165		20F/18f 8	greenish blue	yes	yes				165
			grey-blue	yes	yes			~~
166		30f/25f 2	greenish blue	yes	yes			~~	166
			grey-blue	yes
...	.	..	.	..	.				..
Yvert.	Design	Face Value.	Stamp Colour	Viol.(p).	No.C.	Other C.		Imp.(V)	Yvert
167	Renault	8f /7f/ 5f 2	emerald	yes	yes				167
168		10f /7f /5f2	emerald	yes	yes	control inverted			168
169		10f / 9f	emerald	yes	??			(yes)	169
170		13f / 9f	emerald	yes					170
171	Oasis	8,3/7f 3	magenta	yes	yes			yes	171
172		10f 3/ 7f 3	magenta	yes	??				172
173		10,5 / 9f 5	magenta	yes	yes			(yes)	173
174		12f 5/ 9f 5	magenta	yes	??			~~	174
175		12,8/11f 8	magenta	yes	yes			yes	175
176		14f 8/ 11f 8	magenta	yes					176
177		15f/ 14f	magenta	yes	yes			(yes)	177
178		17f/ 14f	magenta	yes	yes	control double		~~	178
						control inverted
178a		surch.double							178a
179		19,5/18f5/18f6	magenta	yes	yes	control doubble			179
		13f 6 for 18f 6
180		21f5/18f5/18f6	magenta	yes	yes				180
		13f 6 for 18f 6
	21f 5 surch	inverted	magenta		yes
181		26f/ 25f	magenta	yes	yes			(yes)	181
182		28f/ 25f	magenta	yes	yes			~~	182
183	Gare Bône	17f/ 15f/ 12f 4	greenish blue	yes	yes			~~	183
			grey-blue
183a		17f in centre	greenish blue	yes					183a
184		22f/ 15f/ 12f 4	greenish blue	yes	yes	control in black			184
			grey-blue		yes
185		23f/ 20f/ 18f 8	greenish blue	yes	yes	control in black			185
			grey-blue		yes
186		30f/ 20f/ 18f 8	greenish blue	yes	yes				186
			grey-blue
187		35f/ 30f/ 25f 2	greenish blue	yes	yes			~~	187
			grey-blue
188		46f/ 30f/ 25f 2	greenish blue	yes	yes	control in black			188
...	.	..	.	..	.				..
Yvert.	Design	Face Value.	Stamp Colour	Viol.(p).	No.C.	Other C.		Imp.(V)	Yvert
189	Gare Phil.	1f / 0f 9	orange-yellow/toned	yes					189
189A		1f / 13f 5	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes	control in black			189A
		1f / 13f5	orange-yellow/toned			control in magenta
190		2f/ 1f 8	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes	cont.in Black;also Blue		~~	190
191		3f/ 2f 7	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes	control in black			191
192		7f/ 6f 3	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes				192
193		11f/ 9f 9	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes				193
194		15f/ 13f 5	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes				194
195		19f/ 17f 1	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes				195
196		23f /20f 7	orange-yellow/toned	yes	yes	control in black			196
196a		surch.double,	one inverted			control in black			196a
197	Oasis	13f/10f 3/7f 3	magenta	yes	yes			~~	197
198		15f/12f 5/ 9f 5	magenta	yes	yes			~~	198
199		19f/14f 8/11f 8	magenta	yes	yes	control inverted			199
200		24f/ 14f	magenta	yes	yes	control double			200
201		30f/ 28f/ 25f	magenta	yes	yes				201
202	Renault	14f/ 4,1/ 2f 7	dull blue-green/straw		yes	control in black			202
			dull blue-green/straw			control in blue
202a	14F surch.	double	dull blue-green/straw			control in black			202a
	14F surch.	double	dull yellow-green/straw			control in black
203		17f/ 10f / 9f	emerald	yes	yes				203
	left vertical	bar missing	from the 17F surcharge	yes
204		19f/ 9f	emerald		yes	control inverted		~~	204
			emerald			control in blue
			emerald			cont.in blue-grey
...	.	..	.	..	.				..

.

Additional control information on varieties:

1. The following controls exist on Imperf Between Pairs ( all vertical pairs ):

Yv. 84 1 f 8 Black : Top stamp with control, bottom stamp without control.
Yv. 84 1 f 8 Black : Top stamp with upright control, bottom stamp with inverted control.
Yv. 93 11 f 05 Bright Lilac : Top stamp with control, bottom stamp without control.
Yv. 94 16 f 55 Bright Lilac : Top stamp with control, bottom stamp without control.

2. The following stamps have been seen with normal ( violet ) controls :

Yv. 84a 1 f 8 Black : Stamp with Double Impression of Design
Yv. 90 var. 4 f 15 Grey-lilac : Stamp with Double Impression of Design **
Yv. 93a 11 f 05 Bright Lilac : Stamp with Double Impression of Design
Yv. 94a 16 f 55 Bright Lilac : Stamp with Double Impression of Design

** The Double Impression on Yvert 90 is not catalogued, but exists. We have not seen a copy of the 2f2 Bridge with Double Impression ( Yv. 95a ), but it probably has a normal control.

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