COVER N. 260 - FRANCE

Postmark: 96º Congrès de la Fédération Française des Association Philatéliques 71 Chalon-sur-Saône - 1er Jour -  26.05.2023
Posted on the 26th May; Received on the 5th June 2023

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For some reason "Eric" seems to be a rather recurrent name here on this blog of mine..., in fact, anyone visiting these posts will have already noticed that there is no shortage of  "Thank you Eric" messages in several of the blog's entries.

I should note, however, that this is a case not of double or plural personality, but of my being lucky to have been counting on the continuous and generous support of multiple "Erics", ever since I started this pages. 

For the sake of privacy, I never mention the family name of the friends with whom I exchange correspondence, but I'm sure that when I say "Thank you Eric" he, to whom the message is addressed, knows it.

Both have more than the name in common, in fact: the covers I get from my Eric friends are always immensely interesting, and the one I got today just goes to clearly prove it. 

So, let me just repeat myself..... Thank you, Eric! It is always a great pleasure when a totally unexpected cover pops up inside my letterbox.

The Fédération Française des Associations Philatéliques (French Federation of the Philatelic Associations) was established on the 5th of June 1922, in Paris, then adopting the name of Fédération des Sociétés Philatéliques Françaises (Federation of the French Philatelic Societies).

Quoting directly (but for the translation) from its site:

The FFAP aims at federating the associations of philatelists and collectors, ensuring their connection with their partners, and managing associative philately.

The FFAP federates almost 600 philatelic associations organised into 20 regional groupings and a specialised philatelic associations grouping (the GAPS), for a total of approximately 25.000 members.

The FFAP federates:

- Local generalist associations mostly organised trough geographical affinity, or, occasionally, by professional affinities. These associations are in turn organised into Regional Groupings.

- National associations specialised by collection type, organised into a grouping of specialised associations, the GAPS.

A full centennial of activity promoting philately is of course matter to be celebrated and on the occasion of the 96th Congress of the FFAP, that took place at Chalon-sur-Saône between 26 and 29 May, La poste issued the two commemorative items and postmark that can be seen on the cover that Eric so kindly sent me.

The 1,16 stamp, issued on 26MAY2023, is dedicated to the town where the congress took place,  Chalon-sur-Saône, and is illustrated with a view of  a couple of buildings at the river front, of note being the fact that the building closer to the viewer is occupied in the corner by the town's tourist information office (you can run, but you cannot hide with Goggle maps, nowadays... 😀).

 The other image on the stamp is that of the statue of  Chalon-sur-Saône's most famous son - Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (1765 – 1833), the man that paved the way for us to keep forever enduring memories of people, places and events, by devising the first permanent photographic process, which he named heliography, given that the light from the sun was used to ensure the exposure of the photo sensitive surface coated with bitumen of judea diluted with lavender oil.

The in-taglio printed stamp is accompanied by a se-tenant vignette with the effigy of another of the region’s illustrious personalities, Marguerite Boucicaut (1816-1887), born in Verjux, just some 13 km as the crow flies from Chalon-sur-Saône.

 Mme. Boucicaut was a rather wealthy person who devoted a good deal of her fortune to philanthropic actions  throughout France in general and her birthplace in particular, having left in her will instructions for the financing of the construction of a town hall,  a school and an asylum for the destitute at Verjux and of a institution for the supporting mothers in need, in Chalon-sur-Saône. (source: the stamp release notes in Philinfo).

The Congress was also the moment for la Poste issuing a new LISA (Libre-service d'affranchissement.) stamp, this time devoted to the 35th Montgolfiades at Chalon-sur-Saône, which will take place in the coming weekend of 23-25 June and which will, no doubt, be a jolly good occasion  for putting to great use the legacy of Nicephore Nièpce!

The commemorative postmark replicates Chalon-sur-Saône Coat-of-arms.