The Philatelic Database - Stamp Archive

Paris Opera, Palais Garnier (circa 1893)

Madagascar: Definitive series (1930-1944)

The definitive series of 1930-1944 was unusual, as French colonial sets went, in that four of its designs were typographed, while the fifth was recess-printed.

Stamps of Tunisia: Pictorial issues (1926)

A pictorial series had been issued in 1906, with small designs for the low values and double-sized designs for the higher values.

1794 Letter from Prisoner-of-War in Cuba

Geoffrey Lewis. Since 2002, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba has been the location of various combatants captured in Afganistan. When was the start of Cuba’s association with prisoners-of-war? Go back 104 years to 1898. Cuba was the scene of the Spanish-American War. A ...

France: The Marshal Pétain Issues (1941)

The 1 franc issue pictured is one of four recess-printed stamps issued in 1941 with the portrait of Marshal Pétain as head of state. The Third Republic came to an end on 10 July 1940. The inscription ‘Republique Française’ (French Republic) ...

Stamps of France: The First Issues (1849)

The French ‘Penny Black’ made its début on New Year’s Day 1849. Although French postal administration closely observed the working of Uniform Penny Postage in Britain and the efficacy of adhesive stamps, eight years passed before the necessary legislation passed.

Stamps of Moheli: The First Issues (1906-12)

Moheli, the fourth island of the Comoros, did not adopt its own stamps until 1906 and therefore avoided many of the permutations, which characterised the other islands’ issues. Like the others, however, it had a rash of provisional 5 and 10c. ...

Stamps of Obock: The First Issues (1892)

The Antiquarian. I discovered this brief note in the Philatelic Monthly (1892) concerning Obock. As Philatelic Database is always delighted to add obscure and interesting information on dead countries. I thought this would be of particular interest to collectors of French ...

Millésime

Marginal marking in use between 1876 and 1826 on sheets of French stamps to indicate the year of printing. A Millésime pair indicates a gutter pair with the millésime printed on the gutter margin between the two stamps. Their use ...

Le Style francais

Rodney A Perry. Something of a stroll down memory lane for me this issue, and the first occasion on which I have featured covers from a foreign country. The article is prompted as a consequence of having recently sorted and classified ...

Automatic Postal Devices in Paris (1910)

“The Antiquarian” I discovered this interesting article in an English newspaper, The Standard published in 1910. It should be of great interest to French postal historians. “Monsieur Millerand, the new minister of Public Works, who has the department of Post and Telegraphs ...

France Post (La poste)

La Poste (French site & English site) is the mail service of France, which also operates postal services in the French Overseas Departments of Réunion, Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana, and the territorial collectivities of Saint Pierre and Miquelon and ...

Lozenge Cancellation

Cancellation in the shape of a diamond, usually of bars or dots, found on early stamps of France and Netherlands & Colonies.