Lot 50067 – Italian States, Parma – 1859 « Provisional Government » Issue, a stunning assembly of 69 items

Italian States, Parma – 1859 « Provisional Government » Issue, a stunning assembly of 69 items, including two copper engraved plates of the 40c and 80c, the former showing the characteristic short « 4 » of « 40 » of the Sperati reproductions, following with four ‘die’ proofs of the plate of 80c on pelure paper, two mounted on card and one with the paper in orangish shade, this with circles in pencil outside the design to highlight and notes for retouches and a red cross denoting that it was excluded; one 80c negative matrix as the basis for making the definitive printing clichés, which was retouched with gouache and dated in August 1941 with ms « bande double et laterale bien » suggesting that he was satisfied with the frame of the design, three glass clichés in brown-black and bistre, two of larger format dated Feb-36, the « (1) » with « 22° x 5% x 2′ voile leg. dos » indicating that he used a light filter, a 5% of a chemical substance with a exposure to light during 2 mins under 22°C, the « (2) » in bistre with « pas verm » presumably not being the vermilion colour preferred by Sperati to obtain contrasts (or « pas verso »?), and in this case using a 6% of the chemical and a 2 mins 30 secs exposure, two clichés on celluloid of February and March 1941, one with 3 mins exposure under 18°C, 27 essays or ‘die’ proofs on white wove paper of the 40c & 80c, with multiple impressions up to far or impressions in different colours and also combined with cancellations; a second section is dedicated to postmarks with three types of cancellations including Parma small & large cds’s and framed « Assicurato » with three glass clichés dated in 1929 and 1941, nine clichés on celluloid and some essays on paper. An absolutely unique archive including two copper plates which are exceptional artifacts in the Sperati archive; furthermore, these plates prove that, in addition to what it is stated in the B.P.A. handbook, Sperati not only used photolithography, but also typography to reproduce Parma, both techniques demonstrated in this lot with also the negative matrix of the 80c. The Postal Museum in Paris only possesses 131 clichés or matrices for all Italian States and Italy, and no copper plates, and the clichés of Parma are for the 20c only.