vikingeck
Member 
Posts: 3,261
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
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Post by vikingeck on Dec 30, 2019 13:11:46 GMT
Now we all like to get best value for postage costs when mailing. Many of us will use job lots of mint stamps acquired below face value from collections to make up rates. This is not fraud as the stamps would have the face value as originally purchased. I have recently had a couple of letters with small items bought on ebay or Delcampe from collectors in France, where the sender seems to really taken gross advantage of La Poste . Users in France can still use stamps denominated in Francs on their mail (based on a conversion from 1999 of 6.56 Francs to the Euro). The recent rate to UK from France was 0.96 Euro, so a 12f stamp is more than enough surely ?  Well La Poste accepted it ! However in 1959 France devalued the Franc to 1/100th of its value. This stamp issued in 1956 is not a 12f stamp, it is a 12 centime stamp and as such = 0.015C of a Euro So the sender's cost would be about a penny! Quite a bargain! Here is another cover with a 1.70 New Franc stamp supported by 5.50F from 1946 . The apparent postage of 7.20F would be more than the required 0.95 Euro, but if we divide the two small stamps by 100 due to the revalued currency from 1959, the sender surely has only paid about a quarter of the real postage rate = 0.26 Euro. Again La Poste accepted it  Which other Euro nations still allow their previous currency stamps to pay postage? Does Belgium still allow it? I believe Spain no longer does, which others ? |
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Post by dgdecker on Dec 30, 2019 15:44:16 GMT
I have recently got a few French covers with a mixture of Euro and Franc denominations. I thought it unusual and was not sure if was permitted.
now I have my answer.
thanks for the tidbit of new knowledge.
David
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 6,588
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Dec 31, 2019 16:25:17 GMT
Well La Poste accepted it ! However in 1959 France devalued the Franc to 1/100th of its value. This stamp issued in 1956 is not a 12f stamp, it is a 12 centime stamp and as such = 0.015C of a Euro Here is another cover with a 1.70 New Franc stamp supported by 5.50F from 1946 . The apparent postage of 7.20F would be more than the required 0.95 Euro, but if we divide the two small stamps by 100 due to the revalued currency from 1959, the sender surely has only paid about a quarter of the real postage rate = 0.26 Euro. Again La Poste accepted it Which other Euro nations still allow their previous currency stamps to pay postage? Does Belgium still allow it? I believe Spain no longer does, which others ? I have seen several times (mostly by stamp dealers who can then spend some of their penny-stock at much higher value) such usage of "Anciens Francs" stamps. It seems that most letters are machine-cancelled without the machine being programmed to check for the age of the stamp, i.e. whether the stamp was issued in old Francs. I think if you tried using a high-denomination stamp from the late 1950s (say an airmail stamp that had a face value of 100 Fr or more) it might be noticed, but even then I doubt it. As I have posted recently, old Monaco stamps in Francs seem to pass the filter too. It is still indeed formally allowed (in France, Andorra and Monaco) to mix Francs and Euros. In Germany, this is no longer allowed. There was a grace period from 2002 to 2004, I believe, during which people were building covers with stamps in Marks, in Euros and some from the 1999-2001 period with the double denomination. I kept a few such ones. I don't know about the other Eurozone countries. |
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