COVERs N. 642/43 - FRANCE

Postmark: Croisssant au Beurre 1er Jour 25 - Valence / Paris 07.10.2025 

Posted on the 7th October September; Received on the 14th October 2025

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What could be more French than say... Champagne? La Baguette? Escargots? Michelle of the Resistance?

A clue: it gets its name from its shape and, fresh from the baker's, just by itself or blessed with a slice of cheese, or ham, or both, alongside a cup of warm coffee, can do wonders to revitalise your spirit, after a good night sleep or a sleepless night....

Yes, you've guessed it...: Mesdames et Messieurs, je vous donne (drum roll, please), Le Croissant au Beurre!

And I had it double for breakfast today, for I got two wonderful covers, just in time for my morning cup of coffee, from Eric and Roland, to whom I could not be more grateful. Un grand Merci, les amis!

I am not an expert in croissants (although I expertely like to eat them....), so I did a bit of research as to their origin and it seems they can be linked to an Austrian pastry, called kipferl, which was introduced in France by an Austrian artillery officer, August Zang, in the last years of the thirties, of the eighteen hundreds.

Herr Zang started selling kipferls in the bakery he opened in Paris, to such a success that soon they were hitting the shelves of bakeries in a locally developed iteration, fashioned out of a yeast-leavened dough rich in butter, which, when expertly worked out, would produce the delicious laminations that fall everywhere on the table and on one's body with each new bite of the crscent shaped contraption.

The croissant, that fabulous monument of puff pastry, was thus born and its fame would cross rapidly cross borders, so much so that I do believe that it is one of those products that might be bought in all of the earth's continents, with the exception of Antarctica (and then again, there is a couple of French bases south of the Antartcic circle, so, there must be a croissant there, somewhere). 

Celebrating this edible piece of French culture and gastronomy, La Poste issued, on 07OCT2025, a  2.10 € stamp illustrated with  a photo of a croissant.

Of note is the fact that the stamp is scented, and it theory it should evoke the smell of a freshly baked croissant on the inquiring nose. Still, to me (and Eric also felt more or less the the same, he tells me) the scent it radiates makes me think more of  a  cross between  vanila and caramel than of the smooth, fatty smell of butter.

Another fact worth mentioning is that Eric went through the trouble of traveling to Valence, to get the First day Postmark, for Valence is the place where the annual  Best Croissant au Beurre Contest took place this year, and La Poste chose to issue it in connection with the Contest.

That said, the cover that Roland sent me has the First Day postmark of Paris, so I ended up getting two different first day postmarked covers. Neat!

Now... where did I put my cholesterol pills....?