France - Please Help Identify

Greetings to all, I got a cover from France to US with one stamp(?) that I cannot find in the Scott catalog. The 2 stamps to the right are I believe France semi-postal B693, but the blue item on the left has me puzzled. Could it be vended postage?

you are spot on, it is indeed a vended postage label.

[EDIT: Kuhli beat me to it! ]

ATM/CVM stamp, the basic background design first appeared in 1990. They are listed in the Y&T catalog, but not in Scott.

kuhli & khj, thanks, once again scf comes to my rescue!

Would the mixed usage be considered unusual?

hi, not sure why you think the two stamps are semi-postals? they are listed in y/t as part of a set of six cat. no 3264, issued in 1999.

regards
martyn

Hi Martyn,
French stamps with two values, one of which is for something other than postage e.g. Charity are listed as semi-postal in Scott.
I think they are the only catalogue that do this though.

Those 2 stamps on the right ARE semi-postals.

Y&T (France #3264) lists the semi-postals together with the regular postage stamps . Scott (France #B693) separates the semi-postals from the regular stamp listings.

You can tell it is a semi-postal because the denomination is inscribed as 3,00F+0,60F. 3 francs are applied toward postage, and the 60 centimes is for charity.

Why do americans always have to do things different to the rest of the world, I have collected stamps for over 40 years now and only since coming into contact with americans have these type of issues been called semi-postals. Scott is the only catologue that I have ever heard of that does this. These stamps may give money to a charity but they can ONLY be used for postage nothing else

They don't always do things different from the rest of the world. But this is one thing that the Scott catalog does that most catalogs don't. I'm not sure it equates to generalizing all Americans. Some American collectors separate semipostals from their regular postage section, some don't. Some Americans collect ONLY semi-postals.

If you want to say that about any culture, it's not that difficult to pick thousands of different things about each and every group.

Is there something wrong with doing things differently? Isn't that what makes each and every one of us special, each group special...? Quite a few inventions and discoveries were made from Americans because they "did things differently". I really don't understand why this is a bad thing.

I don't think there's anything incorrect about the term semi-postal. First time I heard it, I understood what it meant immediately, and I was under 10 at that time. It basically means that part of the stamp cost is for postage, and part for other purposes -- exactly as indicated on the stamp. Different language, different cultures, you can expect certain things may not be called the same. I find these difference interesting, rather than an indictment.



The stamp was FIRST used to provide money to charity when bought. After that, it can only be used for postage or collecting. You've ignored the fact that when purchased, the stamps were used for charity. The remaining value of the stamp can be used for postage.

Just my honest opinions.

k

I would say you can't blame Americans as they are led by what Scott decides to do but any serious collector of France wouldn't use Scott anyway as it can only be described as basic at best much as is SG.

Here is a link showing the complete booklet and stating that it was a Red Cross item. http://www.phil-ouest.com/Timbre.ph...graphes_1999
The set showed images from famous French photographers.

Well, I can honestly say that I have learned a lot from this discussion. I will also continue to use Scott catalogues (notice the not American spelling there?) and when they won't do, I will try to find out in this great forum what is missing. khj - well said!

As AnthonyUK noted, the Scott and SG standard worldwide catalogs only touch on the basic stamp issues.

Scott never intended their WW catalog to be anything but a decent coverage of worldwide stamps. Same for SG Stamps of the World. Both are convenient for the WW collector without being too overwhelming.

There is no question, that to get more information, you will need to have access to specialized catalogs for specific area/time/type, or know someone/group who is already knowledgeable. The specialized catalogs are great, but if you are just getting into an area, they can be quite overwhelming and actually make things difficult for the beginner. Today, I still consult Scott first for my Scandinavia, before I open up my FACIT. Likewise, I also use Scott first for my France and French Colonies, before I consult my Y&T or Ceres. The stamps I need to consult the specialty catalogs, are a distinct minority.

A lot of times, it is an issue of convenience, or simply what you are used to. Because I am used to Scott, I find things much faster in Scott. A serious collector may still use Scott/SG, but realize that they cannot rely only on Scott/SG. And of course, we use what catalog we actually have in hand, not the catalog that is still on our "wish list".




As it turns out, Scott actually spells it "catalogue"!

Enjoy your stamps, regardless of what you call them and which catalog you use!

k

Two thoughts come to mind.

The U.S. Postal Service didn't issue any semi-postal stamps until about 15 years ago, with the Breast Cancer Awareness stamp.

Second, when you read some of the old stamp publications that are archived online, it is not uncommon to read of displeasure (and maybe even disgust?) at the perceived fleecing of collectors with the proliferation of semi-postal offerings.

At least some collectors at the time seemed to feel targeted, and perhaps that feeling swayed Scott's editors? More likely, it was just their penchant for breaking out every category they could think of. Occupation pneumatic airmail postal tax? NDCRA1, anyone?

It's funny; we, Continental Europeans, say that are British people who do things differently from the rest of the world...