State property
In 1848, he was chosen to make the first postage stamps of France, to be issued on 1 January 1849. From 1848 to 1851, the entrepreneur Hulot worked in a "régie": the French postal administration was responsible for the financial risks and paid for all necessary expenses which Hulot must prove (Barre's drawings and engravings, manufacturing of the printing material, the printer and his workers, paper, ink and gum). A decree transformed the "régie" into a firm on 7 April 1851. Hulot was then the owner responsible for all risks and benefits, but the galvanos and matrix remain State property. He was paid 1.50 franc for each thousand stamps ordered and delivered to the postal administration.