French for "head-to-tail" or literally translated as "head-to-head," tete-beche refers to pairs of stamps joined together with one image upside-down in relation to the other. A tete-beche pair may be joined vertically or a horizontally. Many tete-beche issues are produced intentionally for collectors, however, high valued issues were the result of a printing error made during production. The error occurs when a die or cliche is positioned incorrectly for one or more stamps. It has been suggested, however, that printer Anatole A. Hulot intentionally inserted some of the cliches upside-down as a control for the detection of forged sheets. The 1849 French Vervelle Tete-Beche pair was named after Ernest Vervelle, a Parisian delaer, who bought an ungummed sheet of the stamps in 1895 from the effects of printer Hulot. It has a value in today's market of $500,000.
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