Late August and early September 2017 on SébPhilatélie and in France

Tuesday 22 August: How to inkjet-print cancellations in Malaysia.
Interesting postcard received from Malaysia, sorted 29 June 2017 at the national mail center (Pusat Mel Nasional).

Stamp on fauna of the country and a cancel that be read (thank you Hasbullah and Postcrossing).

The cancel is shaped in the traditional round datestamp and can be read despite behing made of small black inkjet points. A model for British Royal Mail, the United States Postal Service and a few others.

Friday 25 August: Is electronic money the future of India?
After the harsh, surprising and - for many Indians - desperating demonetisation of the two highest banknote denomination last November by Prime Minister Modi. It was followed by weeks of daily problems for consumers, entrepreneurs, rural workers,... facing the lack of currency.

The Reserve Bank of India continues to print notes and issued new ones. Here the new 200 rupee one of late August 2017.

But among solutions found by them and encouraged by the federal government were electronic means of payment, through phones, direct from one bank account to another. To help this transition the governement proposed to use the Aadhaar, equivalent of the national social security number in many countries such as France, unique to a person from his birth onwards.

However the Supreme Court advices against this last point for fear that the right for privacy couldn't be respected: administrations being able to investigate people thank to the Aadhaar.

To be continued...

Saturday 2 September: To pay more to get the actual stamps of France?
After better looking and complete reissue of stamps at Paris-Philex exhibition in May 2016, I think the French philatelic service will again do it on the week-end of the 23rsd of September.

While the educative animated series has a lot of appeal, La Poste chose cinema pre-filming prep... (via Phil-Ouest.com).

For the 30th anniversary of the TV educative series Il était une fois... la vie (Once upon a time... was life) by Albert Barillé and, in 2018, the 40th of Il était une fois... l'homme, one stamp will be issued... not very connected to the series themselves but for three of their characters.

Entitled Hello Maestro! the stamp is in fact a commercial for the website established a few years ago from these series.

Do you wish to get stamps with the characters in action, explaining how the body works (...la vie) or the history of mankind (... l'homme)?

You'd have to buy the 9.80 euro collector (prepersonalised) booklet, meaning 2.50 euro above the postage value of the stamps.

Sunday 10 September: Initiation on recognising fraudulent stamp in Gibbons Stamp Monthly.
The September 2017 issue of Gibbons Stamp Monthly proposed three articles on false stamps: from pioneer Edward Loines Pemberton's writings told by Michael Peach to a tsunami of current Machin  definitives by Edward Klempka, through the Empire during King George V's reign with Dickon Pollard from Murray Payne dealership.

Wednesday 13 September: speaking of French reissue policy...
Finally and officially the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2024 Summer Olympic Games to Paris. The French post being a sponsor, a commemorative stamp was already issued last May 2017.

To mark the final honor around a fifth of that stamp printing was overprinted in blue with an Eiffel Tower, the cathedral of Lima (where the IOC Congress too place), the name of Lima and the date.

Hurry and dip deep: these stamps will be sold by complete sheet, only in actual places and for two weeks...

Again a speculation debate to come?

Weeks #2017.32 and 33 on SébPhilatélie

Monday 7 August: Should a stamp be altered to gain value?
A philatelic philosophic question that encompass traditional to today's commercial philately: should a stamp be altered to gain value?

Uncancelled and unfolded or folded on cover? How would you collect such a stamp? (Correos website).

Thoughts from many examples that make philately more famous than miles of new or cancelled stamp albums: from the alleged burning of the second known One Cent Guyana to the Spanish origami stamp of July 2017, and remembering many flowering-able stamps.

Saturday 12 August: No holidays for the French philatelic service.
Once upon a recent time Phil@poste, the French philatelic service, never issued stamps in August and was light with one or two touristic stamps in July.

The « sweet bitter intensity of chocolate », one of the 12 stamps by Cécile Gambini for The Taste booklet, issued Saturday 5 August 2017 (via Phil-Ouest.com).

This year a complete illustrated adhesive booklet was issued the first weekend of August and the first day of issue of Le Havre's 500th anniversary stamp happened past Thursday the 31st.

Hopefully other news happened in French Philately outside new stamps: French young philatelists gathered medals at the international exhibition in Bandung, Indonesia.

Tuesday 15 August: French and communists pastimes for British collectors.
Did you know The Association of Scottish Philatelic Societies edits stamp games to discover foreign language vocabulary?

The board of the stamp game in French createed by StampIT of The Association of Scottish Philatelic Societies.

This Summer its Youth Development - Stamp ID section added the French edition, joining Japanese and Spanish. The Language of Stamps board games can be freely downloaded and print-it-yourself on the ASPS website or solid games can be ordered.

In London from 17 October to March 2018 the British Museum will exhibit the communist part of its collection of banknotes. An interesting exercice to see how communist states have illustratede their ideals to the public.

This 1975 banknote of Somalia pictured all the roles a Somali woman should do: exhausting totalitarian multitasking or opening them the world? (British Museum via The Guardian).

The collections of the British Museum are a wonder thank to generations of curators and donators. It even includes postcards sent or bought by them like this Guardian article reminded last year. As for the banknotes the curator explained the differences for historians between the country and population as they are pictured on cards and as they eventually were.

Thursday 17 August: The 2017-2018 RPSL program.
The program of Thurday exhibitions and conferences was published on The Royal Philatelic Society London website.

The touch of the new President Patrick Maselis is quite visible, an interest in Belgium, Africa and Monaco, along established customs to invite other Societies to present their members' collections, from German postal historians to the philatelic academy of Russia.

First event, Thursday 14 September: The West Indies from the Queen's Royal Philatelic Collection, presented by its Keeper Michael Sefi.