Pre-stamped postcard - Dominique Piazza - International

To mark the 150th anniversary of the postcard in France, La Poste is reissuing 10 cards illustrating the golden age of the postcard (i.e. up to the 1920s) with a stamp used at the time on the reverse, making them ready to mail and travel as pre-stamped cards at the international rate. Named after its inventor, a young entrepreneur from Marseilles, Dominique Piazza (1860-1941), it was invented in August 1891. It was the first card with photographs, thanks to phototyping, "a process for the mechanical reproduction of images by transferring a photograph onto a glass plate covered with a layer of bichromate gelatin". This process enabled the production of an enormous number of cheaply printed clichés. His invention, which was not protected by a trademark, was soon copied extensively. This very early card is therefore extremely rare.

Carte postale photographique, copie d’après une carte originale créée en 1891 par Dominique Piazza (1860-1941), collection privée - Droits réservés. Timbre Sage 10c type II (YT89) de 1877, dessiné par Jules Auguste Sage et gravé par Louis Eugène Mouchon. Carte pré-timbrée à validité permanente / La Poste, 2022.