Philatelic WebTV in France

Since the end of last February, the French philatelic Timbres Magazine plays a WebTV : TV Timbres (timbre means stamp in French). Now it's only some interviews, but I think it is a good idea to broadcast the philatelic hobby to a larger public.

The double-DVD Des courriers très spéciaux (from Timbres Magazine's site)

The genesis of TV Timbres began in 2005 when Timbres Magazine's redactor-in-chief Gauthier Toulemonde decided to go post himself letters from foreign countries (letters bought by readers) during aventurous journeys and to keep a movie from it. In 2005 Mr. Toulemonde went to Clipperton Island where French adventurer Jean-Louis Étienne was studying the local ecosystem. The DVD shown above presents a trip to Russian polar station of Barneo and the difficult and usual postal round in canoe upon the Maroni River in French Guyana.

The films are amateurish, but for a first step, the idea is here and I like it very much. Plus some bonus clips : a little philatelic lesson about tropical stamps by Michel Melot (accessible on TV Timbres), a day with engravor Pierre Albuisson.

Since I didn't know the former French show Télé-Philatélie of Jacqueline Caurat et Jacques Mancier, TV Timbres is the very first philatelic show I discover and I have always dreamt to watch a Daguin machine functioning.

TV Timbres' clips are viewable on Timbres Magazine's website.