Franc to Euro

 Franc to Euro

France is a founding member of the European Union and one of the first countries to adopt the euro on 1 January 1999.  From 1999 until July, except for the Euro commemorative stamp, all stamps were printed in Francs only.  From July 1999 to the end of 2001, all stamps were printed with both Euro and Franc denominations. 3 Francs is equivalent to 0.46 Euros.  Starting from 2002, all stamps have been printed with only Euro denominations.  

Thoughtfully Made Cover to Show the Transition from Franc to Euro.

International Reply Coupons

IRC

I have recently hooked into International Reply Coupons collection.

France

Mauritius

Odd World - France

My French collection of Odd/Unique stamps

2023 Lifeline, by Prune Nourry

Embossed, Braille

Scented

Circle shaped stamps - Weight lifting MS

Special coating

Photochromic Ink

Under UV light appears a image of Siren-Mermaid (top left of the souvenir sheet)

Silver

Embossed
Pearlescent/glossy butterflies

Glitters

Issued in 4-5-2009, glitter used on planets and space telescope

Odd shape
Diamond shape stamp
2017 Butterfly, Rose embroidery picture stamps

Oval shape stamp, issued in 2011

2005 -100th Anniversary of Gordon Bennett cup

Heart shape

2003 Valentines Day stamps

2003 Valentines Day MS

Back side of the MS

Asterix miniature sheet

Recently I got a surprise from Ane, Germany. She sent me a beautiful Asterix miniature sheet issued by Germany this year, 2015.

Children my age are fascinated by Asterix as well as the Tintin series.  Both the comics heroes are courageous and both own a white fluffy dog. Tintin's dog is Snowy  and Asterix's dog is  Dogmatix. The comic strips were published in more than 100 languages!!! I have the entire Tintin series and most of Asterix's.

In many ways I feel these books to be somewhat similar. For example, in Tintin you have Cuthbert calculus, a genius and in Asterix you have Getafix. Same way Snowy-Dogmatix, Haddock ( Tintin's best friend) and Obelix ( friend of Asterix).  And I think both of them are originally French.

I am happy that I received the German miniature sheet of Asterix, would love to add the Asterix Miniature sheet issued by France to my collection.

The stamps depicted in the miniature are those of Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix. Other main characters are also depicted in the miniature sheet.

Petit Point - Embroidery stamp: Austria

Austrian Post issued a stamp in the year 2010 depicting a rose using the Petit Point embroidery. 

You all would be wondering what is "Petit Point"?  Well, Petit Point is a French word that means "Little stitch".  Petit Point embroidery is a type of embroidery on canvas ground, consisting of small 45-degree angle adjacent stitches. Usually, even a small embroidery rose like the one in this stamp consists of more than 1000 stitches.

     

July 29th : Birth Anniversary J R D TATA

The father of Indian Aviation, Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna recipient Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata was born in 29th July 1904 in Paris, France. His father was a Parsi businessman born in Gujarat, India and mother was a French woman, Suzanne.

He briefly served in French army before he coming back to India to join Tata Company.  In 1929, he renounced his French Citizenship and got Indian Citizenship.  

J R D Tata is the first licensed Indian pilot and he started first commercial airlines in India which later became Air India. 

The Tata Group of Companies include Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Titan Industries, Tata tea, Voltas etc.; all house-hold names in India. 

J R D Tata, the pioneer industrialist died in 29th November, 1993 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The above definitive stamp was issued in 2009 under the theme "Builders of Modern India". There is rarer commemorative stamp issued in 1994.