San Andrés y Providencia, Colombia

This Colombian stamp of 1956 is one of many illustrations that postage stamps have been using as national sovereignity symbols.
This 5 centavos stamp took place in a larger series about the departments of Colombia, viewed through a landscape, an economic activity.

For the San Andrés y Providencia archipelago department, a map played the role, certainly for political reasons. If you click on the link I let you, you can see, on an article of the Wikipedia in English, a map that localized the archipelago at the larger scale of the Caribbean Sea : between the Colombian and Nicaraguan waters.

Since 1822, the possession of these islands by next-to-be Colombia opposed the States that were forming, uniting, dividing themselves in former Spanish Central and Southern Americas. In 1928, the dispute ceased with a treaty, but Nicaragua came back on it in the 1980's. Since 2001, the case is studied by the International Court of Justice.

Digression. In another bloodier case of territorial revendications on islands through stamps and philately : a British reader of Stamp Magazine dated may 2007, accused Argentina to continue its "philatelic propaganda campaign" about Falklands/Malvinas islands. The four stamps qualified were issued JUly 2004 to show four endangered species of fish, which are swimming in these islands' seas...

Lunch in Kenya

I took advantage of a friend's trip in Kenya to get a cover. He sent me back those four 2001 definitive stamps (year when swiss printer Courvoisier ceased).
The 5 shilling stamp shows an avocado and the 35 one a coconut. The total franking is 80 shillings, around 0,85 or 0,86 euro.

Cancellation says « MOMBASA / 17 JAN 2007 / KENYA ». Mombasa is the second largest and main port of this country.

Let's eat, now we have some appetizer and dessert.

Where do you find these personalized stamps ?

Late March 2007, Dominique announced an auction on eBay : one sheet of personalized stamps. The main stamp was the commemorative "Bicentenary of the Cour des comptes" (Court of Financial Auditors) attached to personalized label for the 20th anniversary of the Regional Chambers of Financial Auditors.

This wednesday afternoon, the beginning price on 2 auctions is set at 280 euros and 400 euros the sheet of these stamps (5,40 euros of actual postal value), that are normally for the Regional Chambers mail use...

Since I am not a speculator (but I'm thinking...), I simply wrote to the Regional Chamber of Languedoc-Roussillon and asked for some advice regarding its activities. And I received this enveloppe franked by a franking machine.

Did my letter arrive after the stock of personalized stamp was exhausted ?
Did this Chamber have these stamps ?
Might I have written specifically to have these stamps ?
What are the conditions the employees received to use them ? (And were they authorized to give them to an eBay seller ?)
Worse : are the Regional Chambers the ones that made this stamps be printed by the postal printer (Phil@poste Boulazac) ?

French philately nowadays : enough questions to write a book.

Marianne des Français on a book cover

Since I am at looking for stamps on non-philatelic books... I just see a stamp-look-alike cover in a bookshop. On a book entitled Tous Français. Immigration, la chance de la France (Everyone's French. Immigration, France's luck), the Marianne des Français is printed, the one from the definitive series, without the leaves and the birds.


.
Amazon.fr website for the cover and WNS website for the stamp.

On the back of the book, is written "All rights reserved" : who concluded the agreement ? Designer Thierry Lamouche or Phil@poste ?

Two stamps of France in Mr. Bean's book

Saturday, April 7th, gare de Lyon in Paris : holidays finally ! I was buying some magazines for the 3h30 of TGV journey when my eye caught the cover of this book :

Photograph found on the amazon.fr website (and available in English)

On the right side, you can see a stamp issued in France in June 2006, one of the six members of the Personnages célèbres annual serie about about Mozart's operas. Each stamp reproduced a costume's design found in the archives of the French National Library (Bibliothèque nationale de France). The costumes were put in front of a golden background by stamp designer Valérie Besser. The Mr. Bean's book used a character from The Abduction from the Seraglio.

The book is the holidays diary of comic character Mr. Bean, played by British actor Rowan Atkinson (watch him in the TV series The Blackadder, it's better I think). Bean tried to discover France and sent some post cards franked with another 2006 French stamp : "Antibes - Juan-les-Pins", designed and engraved by Pierre Albuisson.

Phil@poste (responsible for the French stamp designs and selling) must have authorized the reproduction of these stamps. They were not chosen by chance : Albuisson's one won the Grand Prix de l'Art philatélique (Main French philatelic art prize) in November 2006.

End of holidays

I'm back from the sunny (and rainy) Montpellier, in Southern France. I'm sorry for your waiting.

In the following days and weeks, two EFO, generously sold by the philatelic post office of Montpellier, some nice and surprising covers (even one of those is revolting).

See you soon.

New Zealand's new postal tarriffs

On The Stamp Collecting Round-Up, Don Schilling wrote about the June postal tarriffs increase in New Zealand. After the 2004 0,40 dollar became 0,45, five cents more in two months : 50 cents for the ordinary letter.

The New Zealand Herald reader's reactions are full of angryness againt this inflation (like anywhere else in the world in this sort of case).

Formally, I remark that the next-to-be 50 cents for a letter in New Zealand is equivalent to 0,27 € thank to XE.com convertor. Half the price of the French post for a 20 gramms letter inside the country.

But, a remark from the Herald's readers make me look at numismatic pages (particularly an article of the Wikipédia in English) : the 5 cent coins were demonetised in 2006. So, it is some months that, in New Zealand :
* either the public has been giving up 5 cents to the post office at each buy of one stamp,
* either the post gave up this 5 cents,
* or both parties agreed to buy/sell enough stamps to make the total price at an giveable amount of existing coins.

Anyway, the NZ post found definitively a solution to that next June 2007.

When stamps can be useful, not speculative

Like Eric, I received late March's New Year's presents of Phil@poste, the part of the French post that produce and sell stamps. I am less enthusiastic then him.

The engraving reproducing Mozart enfant of Jean-Baptiste Greuze is for me flat and insipid, photocopied... Where is the engraver's hand ? The two annual engravings offered to its members by the Art du timbre gravé association are stronger.

Then, the Happy New Year special mini-sheet... Again an another pre-personalised mini-sheet that must be the event of the month... and that will nourrish the speculation (aDominique's article on the Blog philatélie). An advice to the French post : let human's hands engraved and let the philatelists personalized themselves this kind of sheet by selling them with white seals se-tenant.

What will I do with this two presents ? Certainly, archived them. Perhaps use them as a card and postage stamps. Yes, because stamp is to send mail. But, philatelic speculation seems to be à la mode in France.

Whereas this proposition I did (and that lasts till 21st april), I am suspicious of the stamps like pre-personalized mini-sheet or Harry Potter issued last March in France. But, if some know how to use them... :

I found this cover thank to a school (collège is a junior high school). It is franked with four "Harry Potter" : 4 times 0,54 € = 2,16 €. The content weighted between 100 and 250 grams (2,11 € is the exact cost). It contained a little book of poetry, that was written by students during a competition. This competition was organized by the Poésie en liberté association in junior and high schools of the département of Seine-Saint-Denis. One book was sent to each principal of the département to make them know of the existence of the competition.

Concerning my previous topic : a litterary for youngs association promove its activities by using litterary topic stamps, during the week of these stamps' issue. BRAVO !

Note : I know I won't be earning lots of money with this cover but it pleased me very very much more than the Poste's presents.

The mourning of Nehru

Here is a stamp I like very much : the one issued at the death of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964. Independantist leader in British India alongside Gandhi and Prime Minister of the Republic of India from 1947 to his death.

The picture is strong since it links the leader with his people : a great man watching far away in front of an attentive crowd.

Copa del Rey de baloncesto on Spanish machine stamps

While in my France, machine stamps are often the same (pale) blue-yellow kinds, the Spanish Correos has generalized illustrated stamp machines. It even has got a philatelic program : see the etiquetas issued since 1997 on the Correos' site.
This two etiquetas used at a post office desk (since printed with the date of use) used the same illustrations about the Copa del Rey of basket-ball. I found them already separated, but at the same stamp dealer in the passage des Panoramas.

Dated on the same day (27 March 2000), they must have been used on the same letter (I wish I could have in its entire... snif). They franked a 17 gramms recorded letter, certainly from Spain to France : 705 pesetas for the expeditor (nowadays 4,24 € at the final official pesetas/euros rates).

Thanks to those who can tell me in which towns I can find the churches visible in the background ?