Postage meter

I am perfecting my philatelic English : the label "Franking machine" became "Meter" (label "Machine à affranchir" dans mon blog en français ; empreinte de machine à affranchir ou EMA means "franking machine's mark").

Another postage meter of French Polynesia

After a lot of walk because of a 3-day (and counting) strike in Paris public transport (fresh air, cold sun, stinky cars,...), I am dreaming of hot sun, white sand and quiet ocean : back to postage meter on covers sent by the Post and Telecommunications Office of French Polynesia.

This time, the meter was printed by a more standard meter machine. O Pacific franc is the value (1 XPF = 0.00838 € or 1 € = 119.32 XPF). This currency, linked to the French franc, then the euro, was created and has been used in French oversea territories in the Pacific Ocean. Today, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, French Polynesia. The central bank is the Institut d'émission d'outre-mer (approximatively Oversea's Issue Institute).

Hong Kong Machin deconstructed

In April 2007, Adrian presented the Machins of Hong Kong, including the commemorative minisheets issued for great historical and philatelix occasions.

In february 1994, for a philatelic exhibition, the 5 dollars green figuring Queen Elizabeth II's sculpted effigy by Arnold Machin is deconstructed. How many steps are necessary to print this series?


The effigy / I don't know yet / a first colored background with a central white zone and Hong Kong in chinese characters / a second color filling the central zone and the effigy (see the $1.30 on Adrian's blog).

First step inside the Hong Kong Machinmania.


Update :
Adrian sent me technical intels about this minisheet : printed by Leigh-Mardon, an Australian security printer, in lithography (offset in French philately) on a fluorescent coated paper. Thank you.

Daffy Duck on stamps on stamp

Interlude with a third Looney Tunes' character on an United States stamp :


It is a stamps on stamp because Daffy Duck is watching at his incoming mail franked with the two first Lonney Tunes stamps :


No cancellation by Toon Post, it seems.

USA's non denominated but permanent valued stamps

In Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Belgium, etc., stamps are sold with non denominated values printed, but that can be always be used for a certain service : generally the first rate of the prioritary letter.

In the United States, these for-one-service value stamps exist and are useful : you don't have to remember the exact postal rate. However, their monetary value don't evolve : it is the value of their issue. After two or three rate changes, the expeditor can be puzzled when the USPS bring back one of his letter, estimated underfranked with a "first class mail" stamp.

That's why the Forever stamp was in May 2007 a postal revolution in the United States : finally, the federal Congress authorized the existence of a stamp whose monetary value will always suffice for the simple letter postage rate.

How can our US citizen know if he can stick alone his old "first class mail" stamp ? The Virtual Stamp Club found a help page by the USPS (pdf file).

Autumn philatelic show in Paris

Already told by Dominique on Blog philatélie, from Thursday 8 till Sunday 11 November happens the Salon philatélique d'automne, one of the most important French stamp dealer's happening. It is organized by the Chambre française des négociants et experts en philatélie (CNEP, French Chamber of Dealers and Experts in philately).

Like every year, La Poste and its French overseas associates issued some stamps. Concerning France : beautiful engravings by Martin Mörck for a joint issue with Greenland. The artist was there on thursday and friday. A lighthouse minisheet engraved by Pierre-André Cousin is eye-catching too. When Phil@poste wants to produce great intaglio printed stamps, it can!

Concerning this new issued, like some British collectors wrote, postal operators will continue to issue lots of stamps if people buy them. And La Poste desks were the most crowded of the show. because 90% of my bought stamps will finish on mail, I enjoy the large choice tht will be proposed to my correspondents, but can I have international rate stamps for a change?

Mörck was - artisticly speaking -on the counter of the Art du timbre gravé association too. This association promotes the engraved stamps and offers its members artwork from an engravor. This year is a ice landscape, one of Mörck's favorite personal topic.

Speaking of ice, two blocks of Artic ice were exposed at the Greenland Post stand and are melting very slowly. Maybe, the last drinks of happy dealers will be Arctic cold this year.

Like every year, it's what I found by surprise. No official collection. This year, I fall into British and Commonwealth stamps, soon to be shown here for the winter. It is one of forgotten thing connected to that that made me return a second time : I wanted a strange trip to Tristan Da Cunha philately... ne demandez pas pourquoi.

Finnally, at the Autumn Show, you finish by seeing collector's expositions put on the external wall, behind pillars for some. Today, philatelist Jacques Bidet was there to present an exposition rich on stamp projects by Henry Cheffer whose Marianne is commemorated by a French booklet.

And, in France, Paris is not alone to be philatelicly alive, don't forget to read the calendar of the French Federation of philatelic associations (FFAP).

a blog in French to read

I propose you to read this blog in French, including its Fiscal and social-postal stamp part : Presentation of some stamps and letters (one of the thematic entrance).

Postage meter of the Office of Posts and Telecommunications of French Polynesia

Here is the post paid meter printed on mail containing philatelic announcements sent by the French Polynesia's Office of Posts and Telecommunications.

The OPT is independent from La Poste, France's historic operator. However, the OPT relies on Phil@poste, La Poste's philatelic service, for printing Polynesian stamps.

(yes, I am short today, but I am so hooked uo to the Queen's stamps...)

The Royal Philatelic Collection told by Nicholas Courtney

A beautiful book, complete, well-written, and that quotes all its sources page by page, that's what this authorized history of the Royal Philatelic Collection is.

(picture taken from the website of the publisher Methuen)

Believing the biographic note, Nicholas Courtney is not a philatelist. It's just a writer, passionate by history and the Royal family. He had access to the Philatelic Collection, and received the help of every philatelic curators and libraries you can find in London : Royal Archives, Keeper of the Collection, Royal Philatelic Society London, British Library.

The book follows the main actors who has been constituting this collection, since Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh until Queen Elizabeth II (to only names Royals), illustrated by items of the Collection.

This wealth of referenced informations is a dream for an historian philatelist, but moreover, for a young French philatelist, the book is not hidden in a corner of a stamp dealer or send with a big price tag during a sale after the emptying of a collection. Published in 2004, he is available right now at amazon.com for 39,95 dollars (27,51 €), and used at amazon.co.uk.

I hope for great French philatelists, specialised but readable by all public writer, to see their books be published and made available like that in France. I will certainly have to wait Godot... or Mister Brun (who will certainly receive my visit soon for his second edition of Faux et truqués about stamp falsification, that he has the kindness to print again).

Béziers, where did your beauty go?

This picture reminds me the pictorial cancellations that longly marked mail posted in Béziers, in Southern sunny France : the old bridge, the cathedral, etc.

Last Summer, passing through Béziers, I sent myself a letter :

Beurk...

For those who seek the significance of new French cancellation codes, Claude Jamet and others continue the listing (be careful : pdf file).