France: Postal History (Covers, Postcards, etc.)

Sarrebourg, Moselle Department, Lorraine (German:  Lothloringen), France
September 11, 1940
Occupied France

I believe this envelope contained printed matter, like a small magazine or pamphlet. 

Although not exactly a cover, this card is definitely from France.  I picked it up in Aix-en-Provence along with many other items two weeks ago at the market, with my friend Chris (Beryllium Guy).  The grey, slanted front appears to be, but is NOT an attached label.  It is PRINTED on the card made to APPEAR as if a label has been attached, possibly for marketing appeal. Note the "Jusq'au Bout/1918" printed lower right corner.

Can anyone shed some light on it?  It definitely looks like it may be telegraph related..... 





Thanks in advance,

Jim Wentzell
stampguyaps177-681

Here's another card that (seemingly) made it through the mails.

I cannot work out if the sender, probably a tourist, was trying to pull a fast one of the French Postal System or he just forgot to put a postage stamp on.

It seems like someone, hopefully, paid the Tax !!

I guess one might call it a Cinderella cover !! 

I received the following cover in today's mail. I haven't opened it yet but, considering the sender, it's full of stamp advertisements. They like to recycle their stock of older French stamps. Anybody notice something unusual?



So, we have a mixed franking of old French Francs with a 0,01 Marianne Euro stamp to get the rate just right, but the blue stamp on the top right which conveniently folds over the side of the envelope so it's not too obvious is actually a Monaco issue. So not valid for postage from France! This is not the first time this dealer cheats with the postage on their mailings, but their usual trick is to use stamps from the 40s and 50s in old Francs that have been devalued by a factor of 100.

Received in today's mail, from a stamp dealer in Paris, this envelope of advertisements, where they again do an illicit mixed franking between Monaco and French stamps:

FDC - France 1983 - Bicentennial

A recent discovery...
A letter dated 8 October,1859,sent from the court in Villefranche to Lyon.Possibly the address or recipient was unknown and the letter was returned,judging by the cancellations on the back of the envelope ?

Great posts, anglobob and kasvik!  I am going to tag Xavier (hrdoktorx), as he is very knowledgeable about France, and may be able to help identify the auxiliary markings on this cover.

Boulogne Sur Mer, France
April 25, 1894

A postal card, really and not a cover, but I think it fits.

A cover from the 1919 Congress of Versailles Peace Conference (Versailles Congrès de la Paix). The peace conference was convened among the members of the Allied & Associated Powers to decide the terms of peace between the allies and Germany after the Armistice agreement that ended World War I. It is dated on May 7, 1919, which is the day the terms of peace were completed and presented to the German representatives.



The cover bears a 1918 Red Cross semi-postal stamp (Scott #B11). It is addressed to Théodore Champion, a well-known philatelist and stamp dealer at the time, and one of the founders of the Paris Postal Museum.

A postcard from the 1937 Paris International Exposition, officially designated as the International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life (Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne). The exposition was held from May 25th to November 25th of 1937 in Paris. The card bears a full set of France exposition stamps (Scott #315-320), issued in 1936, and an October 12, 1937, exposition cancel.



The postcard was sent to Stuttgart, Germany, and unfortunately bears a picture of the German Pavilion. Note how the flag is not shown distinctly.








Tensions had already arisen in Europe at the time of the exposition and there was some concern regarding the presence there of both the German and Soviet delegations. These tensions were exacerbated by placing the pavilions of Germany and the Soviet Union directly across from each other. Each country tried to make their pavilion larger and more imposing than the other. The organizers ultimately rejected the height and style of the initially proposed pavilion of the Soviet Union, so the German pavilion ended up being slightly higher than that of the Soviets, but I think the Soviet pavilion ended up being more imposing. The face-off can be seen in a postcard and a picture from brooklynstereography.com/2018/12/08/exposition-internationale-paris-1937/ from the exposition.

The Bolshevism Against Europe International and Universal Exposition (Le Bolchevisme Contre l'Europe Exposition Internationale et Universelle) was purported to be a World's Fair, but was actually a propaganda tool used by the German and Vichy France governments to promote anti-Bolshevist sentiments in occupied France during World War II. The exposition was intended to show the perils of communism and provide a venue for countries to exhibit how they have suffered from the Bolshevik scourge and how they are fighting to exterminate it. In addition to Vichy France, six other governments participated in the exposition: Germany, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Spain, and Portugal. It was held under the auspices of the Anti-Bolshevik Action Committee (CAA), led by Paul Chack. The exposition began on March 1, 1942, and was initially held at Wagram Hall (La Salle Wagram) in Paris.



Although promoted as an exposition, the Bolshevism Against Europe campaign was actually a traveling exhibition, with the primary propaganda elements being circulated to various regions throughout France. It was held in Paris from March 1st to June 15th of 1942; in Lille during July of 1942; in Bordeaux during October and November of 1942; in Lyon from March through May of 1943; in Marseille from October through December of 1943; and in Toulouse in May of 1944.


The cover shows the "Bolshevisme Contre Europe" cancellation from March 30, 1942. It has both the Wehrmacht censor tape and red handstamp.