COVER N. 527 - FRANCE

Postmark: Musée de La Poste Paris 28.10.2024 

Posted on the 28th October; Received on the 4th November 2024

_________________________________________________________________________________

Another French cover with a single stamp issue joins the fold, thanks to Roland. Merci bien.

I have to confess I had never heard about the "Planches de Deauville" until I tried to get some information on the stamp Roland used on this particular cover.

If proof needed be that stamps can foster knowledge, than one should look no further. In fact, time and time again, I have to go and search for information (on the internet mostly, these days) on a particular item being highlighted in a stamp, because I am not familiar with it.

Such is, then, the case of the Planches. As I understand it, Les planches are a 643 m long boardwalk promenade in front of an amazing Art Deco building comprising bars, shops and  250 bath cabins (les Bains Pompéiens) , each one of them nowadays being named after an actor/actress in connection with the American Film Festival of Deauville that has been taking place in the city every year since 1975.

This interesting infrastructure was inaugurated in 1924, having been conceived by Architect Charles Adda (1873-1978).

For its centenary, la Poste has issued a single 1,96 € stamp issue, on 22JUL2024, illustrated with an head-on photo of a section of the boardwalk and bath cabins, on which the official logo for the centenary celebrations replicating the art deco dividing screens (for lack of a better word...) that define the entry to each bath cabin  was superimposed in white.

The stamp was cancelled with the nice pictorial postmark of the Paris Postal Museum, featuring a stagecoach in action.