Thursday, 27 April 2017

France 1945 - Sarah Bernhardt

Regarded as perhaps the most famous actor of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Sarah Bernhardt appeared in numerous stage plays and some early motion pictures. Born 22 October 1844 in Paris, Sarah never had aspirations to be an actor as a child. She actually wanted to be a nun. This was due in large part to the fact that she was raised in a convent. Sarah's mother considered her a burden to her lifestyle and had her placed in said convent at a young age. 

But Sarah's wily nature wasn't really suited to the sisterhood, a fact noticed by a friend, the Duke of Morny (Napoleon III's half-brother and one of her mother's lovers). He believed that acting would be the perfect vocation for her energetic disposition. So at the age of 16 she entered the Paris Conservatoire. For one reason or another she didn't do well at the Conservatoire, and she left in 1862. But it seems her time there, however unsuccessful academically, gave her the acting bug. Calling upon the help of the Duke of Morny again, she was accepted into Comédie-Française (France’s national theater company). Interestingly, again she did not excel. In fact, her on-stage presence was considered somewhat lack-lustre. Be it stifled or unsuited to the requirements of the Comédie-Française, Sarah rebelled, and even went so far as to slap a fellow actress. Consequently, her contract was terminated in 1863.

This might seem like the end of a potential acting career. But not for Sarah! She tried a different theatre company, the Théâtre du Gymnase-Dramatique. This was the beginning of sweeping changes in her life. She managed to remain with this theatre company for a time - impressive for Sarah! Then during this time she gave birth to her only child, Maurice. Perhaps this event helped settle her or she became happier with her place in the world, but something in her changed. 

In 1866, Sarah's acting career truly began. She signed a contract to work with the Odéon Theatre. Her reputation quickly grew and in 1869 she starred in a one-act play Le Passant (The Passerby) by François Coppée, in front of an audience including Napoleon III.

Sarah had at long last found her true niche. By 1880 she assembled her own travelling theatre company and embarked on a world tour, which included Europe, Australia, Canada and the United States. She became especially popular in the United States. This tour made her an international star.

Sarah was always excited by new technologies. And around the turn of the century a new-fangled idea was being bandied about. The idea of motion pictures. Sarah latched on to the idea and she appeared in some of the earliest movie productions. These movies included a 1900 version of Hamlet (in which she played Hamlet) and La Tosca in 1908.

In 1905 Sarah injured her right knee while on stage in South America. This injury never healed and for ten years she battled with the pain it caused, until the leg became gangrenous and had to be amputated. But this didn't stop her. She continued to act, often while seated, or if need be while wearing a prosthetic leg (which she despised!). She also took up writing. Her memoir My Double Life was published in 1907. Her first novel Petite Idol followed in 1920. She also wrote a manual for aspiring actors, The Art of Theater in 1923. Sarah Bernhardt died that same year. After her death she was immortalised with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A fitting salute to a truly amazing woman!

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On 16 May 1945 France issued a stamp in honour of Sarah Bernhardt. This truly gorgeous stamp was designed and engraved by Pierre Gandon based on a painting by Bastien Lepage. The stamp has a face value of 4f with a 1f surcharge for the benefit of the Grand Coq in Pont-aux-Dames. a retirement home for dramatic artists. 


The attention to detail in this engraving is staggering. Sarah's hair has so much life and energy, one expects it to start moving about. Ans Sarah's clothing has been superbly rendered.



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Notwithstanding the details, there is another very interesting aspect of this stamp. Something rather strange. Do you see it? Let's look down at the bottom right of the stamp.



The stamp clearly has the name Mazelin as the engraver. Why is this so? Did I make a mistake earlier in attributing this stamp to Gandon? No, I wasn't wrong. Gandon did indeed engrave this stamp. So why isn't his name on it? Well, to answer that we need to remember when this stamp was engraved.

At this point in 1945 World War II was drawing to a conclusion, and in France the Vichy Government had been deposed. Anything done within the Vichy Government was now considered faux pas. This included stamps that Pierre Gandon engraved for the Vichy Government, particularly the Tricolour Legion. Click HERE to see my blog on these stamps. As punishment for his work for the Vichy Regime, Gandon had been banned from working for the France Post for a period of three months by the new administration. But Gandon had to keep working to bring in an income. So to deal with this situation his friend and fellow stamp engraver, Charles Mazelin, agreed to put his name to the stamp. Interestingly, to this day, the Stanley Gibbons France catalogue  still attributes the stamp to Charles Mazelin!

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There is one last interesting note I'd like to include. Whilst searching the net for information on Sarah Bernhardt I found a nice image of Gandon's artist proof for this stamp. Interestingly, the proof does not include the 1f surcharge. It was obviously added later, probably by an in-house engraver? Or was Gandon called upon to alter the design to include the surcharge?



Until next time...


Saturday, 22 April 2017

France 1943 - Lac Lérié and the Meije

Paul Almásy , born 29 May 1906 in Hungary, was a professional journalist and  photographer. Initially Almásy had planned to pursue a career in the diplomatic field, but after working as a correspondent in Morocco in 1925, he realized his love for journalism. After working several years as a journalist he started toying with the idea of taking his own photos for his articles. This proved to be an excellent idea. In 1935 he travelled to Latin America as a correspondent for the Swiss publisher Ringler & Cie. There he began taking photos to compliment his writing. Consequently, his photographic career bloomed.

After moving to France in 1938, Almásy travelled extensively as a journalist and photographer. He visited Africa, Asia, Alaska, and even the Arctic! And not only have his photos been used for journalistic purposes, his work has illustrated some 400 books. 

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On 5 July 1943 France issued a stamp featuring Lac Lérié (Lérié Lake) and the Meije from a photo taken by Paul Almásy. The stamp was designed and engraved by Pierre Gandon.


This lovely stamp features Lac Lérié (Lérié Lake), a mountain lake in France, located some 2,450 metres above sea level west of La Grave, in the department of Hautes-Alpes. The lake sits on on the plateau of En Paris (or Enparis ). 

From the lake one is able to view the spectacular Mejie Glacier. The elegant way in which Gandon has illustrated the glacier is truly eye-catching, and deserves a close-up...


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Today walks around the lake are quite popular. And I can see why. The vistas are magnificent!



Until next time...

Tuesday, 18 April 2017

Gabon 1969 - Philex-Afrique

In 1969 the city of Abidjan hosted the 2nd Philex-Afrique. Abidjan is the capital of Ivory Coast. The construction of a new wharf in 1931 gave the city a huge kickstart. So much so that by 1933 it was designated the capital of the then French colony. Incidentally, Abidjan is considered one of the most populous French speaking cities in Africa.

On 14 February 1969 Philex-Afrique was officially opened. To celebrate the event an omnibus series of stamps was issued in 14 African countries with a continued affiliation with France as either an colony or former colony. Unlike most omnibus issues which exhibit the same design, this issue had a different design for each country. And the format was an interesting stamp on stamp design. Each country's design features a fresh new stamp design complimented by a reproduction of of an old stamp placed in one of its four corners. 

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One of these countries was Gabon. Gabon can be found on the west coast of Central Africa. Gabon gained independence from France in 1960. The Gabon stamp was designed and engraved by Albert Decaris.


This stunning stamp design pays homage to Gabon's primary economies over time. The 1933 stamp at bottom left illustrates Gabon's first primary industry of logging. Decaris has beautifully reproduced this lovely classic stamp. See below for an example of the original stamp along with an enlarged version of Decaris' reproduction.



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The main portion of the stamp illustrates Gabon's current primary industry. Oil. Oil represents 43% of Gabon's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Decaris has done a superb job here making modern machinery eye-caching and appealing.




Until next time...

Friday, 14 April 2017

France 1959 - The MS 760 Paris

Watching the movie Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines as a kid fascinated me. Seeing the fantastic array of early aircraft got me well and truly hooked on aviation history. Since that day I've been captivated by the evolution of aircraft and the talent behind the different designs that grace our skies.

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The French aircraft company Aéroplanes Morane-Saulnier has a rather interesting history. It was founded in 1911 by Raymond Saulnier and the Morane brothers, Leon and Robert. The first plane this company produced was the Model A (also called the Morane-Borel), a monoplane design. This design used a wing-warping mechanism for control. This method of controlling the aircraft was developed by the Wright Brothers and first used on the Wright Flyer  in 1903. The Model A proved to be a cut above the rest when on 26 May 1911 it won the Paris to Madrid Race. The winning pilot was Jules Védrines. Below is a great pic of a Model A c. 1911.


The success of the Morane-Saulnier company continued with the Type G, the first commercially successful design, This was another monoplane with wing warping technology. This series of aircraft had a very successful racing career, setting numerous records. Originally a two-seater, the Type G was tweaked a bit and turned into a single seat fighter plane, known as the Type N. Speaking of fighting, it is interesting to note that the Morane-Saulnier company played a significant role in the development of the technology allowing a machine gun to fire through a propeller without destroying it, using what was called a Synchronisation Gear. This revolutionary technology changed the face of aerial combat in World War I.

In the early 1950s, responding to the needs of the French Air Force, the Morane-Saulnier company began designing jet trainers. Their first design, the MS.755 Fleuret, was not as effective as hoped, so they went back to the drawing board. What resulted from this was the sleek-looking four-seat aircraft, MS 760 Paris. This aircraft was used by the French Defence Forces, and it was also sold to Argentina and Brasil for use in their Air Forces.
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On 16 February 1959 France issued an airmail stamp featuring the MS 760 Paris. Incidentally, this was the last stamp issued in a series of airmail stamps that began in 1954. The stamp had a face value of 300f and it was designed and engraved by Pierre Gandon.


The detail is of lovely design is excellent. We can even see the four people sitting in the cabin.


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In 1960 the franc was revalued and called the "New Franc".100 Old Francs became 1 New Franc, or NF. With this revaluation new airmail stamps were required. This lovely stamp was re-issued with a new 3f value.



Until next time...


Wednesday, 12 April 2017

Saarland 1948 - Airmail stamps

Nearly 250 km long, the Saar River meanders through the breathtaking countryside of France and Germany. Travelling along this river one would expect to see stunning forest landscapes, canals, old bridges, and the occasional village. The Saar River also boasts.the UNESCO World Heritage Site Völklinger Hütte, and the famous Saar Loop at Mettlach. Over time the river has played a vital role for industry in Saarland, being used to ship raw materials for the coal, iron and steel industries. And the fertile banks of the Saar were perfect for wine growing, which continued up till the early 20th Century. For more on Saarland check out THIS blog post. 

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On 1 April 1948 a set of three airmail stamps were issued for Saarland (Saar Protectorate). One design was used for all three values. The designer was Albert Decaris. René Cottet engraved the design. It is a stunning design, featuring the silhouette of a plane flying over the Saar River.




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I love this design, and while studying it I grew curious as to what type of plane the silhouette might be representing. The main problem I faced was, does the silhouette accurately represent the plane it is supposed to be depicting? And for that matter is it an actual plane being represented? Assuming the silhouette is accurate, and that the plane has two engines, one on each wing, I didn't have much luck finding a match. But if we perhaps extend artistic license a bit and go with the possibility of the plane having two engines per wing, then I may have found a possible match. The plane could possibly be a SNCASE SE.161 Languedoc. 


As I say, this is merely a possibility. I have found no definitive evidence either way. If anyone out there can shed any light on what type of plane the silhouette might represent, I'd love to hear from you.

Until next time...


Wednesday, 5 April 2017

Central African Republic 1962 - Butterflies

Accidental finds can produce quite a rush of excitement. This was certainly the case for me when a few weeks ago, I received in the mail a set of Albert Decaris stamps from Central  African Republic. It was a difficult set to find by itself, so I settled for one that included other sets from that particular year. After I removed the Decaris set from the batch, one of the sets included caught my eye. It was a set of four butterfly stamps. Merely for curiosity sake, I had a closer look at these stamps. I was surprised and rather happy to discover the name Gandon at the bottom of each of the stamps. This particular set was printed in Photogravure and all four stamps were designed by Gandon. Regular readers of my blogs will know I collect all the stamps of a particular artist, whether designed, engraved or both. Basically everything to which they contributed. Besides, I think these stamps are rather nice, and to practice a bit of the French I'm learning - J'adore les papillon (I love butterflies).

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On 18 November 1962 a set of four stamps under the theme of butterflies was issued for use in Central African Republic. The set was designed by Pierre Gandon. Normally I provide some information on each stamp, then feature the actual stamp. Considering this set consists four different species of butterfly, to describe each would make the blog somewhat long. Instead I will make the name of each butterfly a hyperlink to the relevant Wiki page. If you feel inspired to read more about it, simply click on the name and you will be sent straight to the page. That said, let's look at some stamps!



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Until next time...