The Second French Empire was an Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France. Because of this political change, the inscription at the top of the French stamps changed from “Repub. Franc.” to “Empire Franc” in 1853. Todays stamp is one of eight different issues from 1953 and has a face value of 40 centimes. CV is approx. 2.600 €.