COVER N. 349 - FRANCE

Postmark: Bicentenaire du Rugby à XV 1823-2023 1er Jour Paris 08.09.2023

Posted on the 8th September; received on the 28th November 2023

_________________________________________________________________________________

A long place kick on this cover made it finally cross the goal post almost three months later.... and this time it was CTT, the Portuguese postal services provider  who should take a penalty for spoiling a perfectly nice FDC with an unjustified mechanical postmark. At least the stamps aren't affected by it, since, luckily, (or perhaps purposely, with the intent of not harming the first day mark....) it was applied upside down on the envelope....thank you for being slop, Mr. operator!

For the sake of efficiency and the blog author's laziness, I’ll just echo the notes that I wrote for a similar cover (#328), which, in turn, replicated what I had already commented on cover #320:

The 10th Rugby World Cup took place in France from the 8th September to the 28th October 23 and although the stamp on the cover makes no mention to it, I suppose La Poste issuing it cannot be dissociated from this fact, which, coincidentally, occurred in the same year that Rugby Union is celebrating its 200th anniversary, as generally recognised.

So, on the first day of the tournament 08SEP2023, La Poste issued the single 1,80€ stamp celebrating the 200 years of Rugby Union, in its most common version, which is played by teams of 15 players (there is also a seven players version), which can be seen on the cover, postmarked with the First day of issue mark, issued at the city of Lyon.

Contrary to covers #320 and #328, both with postmarks from Lyon, this cover has a First Day cancellation from Paris.... plus a mechanical "address cancellation" 😀 applied in Lisbon at the  Letters Processing Centre - South, which I believe is located at Cabo Ruivo.