COVER N.5 - France

Postmark "Service des Obliterations Philatélliques"; Boulazac - posted on the 27th May, received on the 31st.
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Today was a fine day.  Mid morning and the familiar noise of the postman bike stopping by my door sounded like a good omen, so I grabbed the mailbox key and went outside to check.

Lo and behold,  the box was full and of the the several letters I did receive today (accompained by the unavoidable supermarket publicity leaflets), three were particularly welcome, since they were the first letters received in connection with my having joined a cover circuit club, in this case the London Cover Circuit.

Even though all three came from France, I'm sure that now, with the help of the members of the club, I will be greatly enhancing may odds of enlarging the geographical scope of my cover collection. Thank you very much for this nice cover, with very interesting stamps and postmark.  Roland.

The stamps on this cover are both 2014 issues.

The stamp on the right, with a face value of 0,98€ depicts an aerial view of the Seine River and the Ille de France with the Pont des Arts in the foreground.  This stamp is part of a joint Franco-Chinese issue of a 2 stamp set themed on “Rivers”, its companion stamp being denominated at 0,66€ and depicting a view of the  Qinhuai river, as it crosses the city of Nankin (or Nanjing).

This set was issued to commemorate the 50^th anniversary opf the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and the People’s Republic of China.

The China connection is also present in the stamp on the left side, part of a 4 even priced (0,61€) stamp mini-sheet set, dedicated to “Bears”. It depicts that most gracious of all bears, the Ailuropoda melanoleuca  or “Panda Géant” (Giant Panda) which as everybody knows is a vulnerable species, only present in the wild in China. The other stamps on this set are the  “Ours Andin”, the Spectacled or Andean Bear (Tremarctos ornatus); the “Ours Kermode”, the Kermode Bear (Ursus americanus kermodei) and the “Ours Polaire”, the Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus).