This is a retraction — with a correction.

I have asserted that this oval Jules Gaillard stamp is from the 1890s, but I am wrong.

This stamp was in use in the 1920s, and here’s evidence: A lid with this stamp and the date “1926.”

There’s more evidence than this, of course. I’ve seen suspiciously 20th century construction on pieces with this stamp, and TJFRANCE’s Gaillard stamp timeline has long asserted that this stamp is from the 1920s-1930s. But this lid is positive tangible proof — the first and only such proof I have found — and it gives me the confidence to retract my prior time estimate and issue this correction.

I’m in the process of correcting my Gaillard timeline and all the Jules posts on the site. (And there are several.) I think I’ve gotten the Gaillard field guide straightened out, but my Jules posts are going to take some time to rethink and rework. I’ve pulled them back for the moment and I am re-publishing them when I think they’re ready. And that’s just the start: there’s a linear version of this stamp that I need to consider as well, and then similar linear versions for Dehillerin… sigh.

I apologize for my mistake. My Gaillard research was some of the first I did for the site; I went back to try to confirm what I recall seeing, and I can’t locate the information I remember. I must have misread one of the old business almanacs. I’m sorry it took me so long to address this and I regret my error.