Andorra And Its Stamps

Andorra has stamps and postal service from two countries; spain and france. How does someone who lives there know which stamps to use when mailing?

I believe one can use either

Peter

The stamps are used for international mailing as local post is free in Andorra.

Hi ,Andorre has it's own stamps in Euro
http://www.timbres-de-france.com/co...rre-2018.php
The same tarifs as France,also Monaco is the Same.

http://www.pese-lettre.com/tarifs.php

In order to make this clear, in Andorra you have to use Andorran stamps. Stamps of either France or Spain are not allowed and yes, mail inside the country is free.

Peter

Wow - I had not idea about free local mail. How does a tiny country like that afford it, or is it financed by Spain and France. It leads me to wonder if there is any other country with free post?

Andorra is a tiny country (408 sqkm, 79.000 inh), tucked between France and Catalonia (by now, under Spanish occupation), whose heads of states are the President of France and the Catalan Bishop of la Seu d'Urgell (just 20 km from Andorra). This comes from an agreement of 1276.
As traditionaly, the country was very poor and the taxation level very low, it hadn't money to build a postal system. This was not a problem until early XXth century. On the Rome 1906 UPU congress, the Spanish PO took the responsibility of providing a postal service to Andorra.
In 1930 the dual Spanish/French PO system was stablished. The Spanish PO issued its first Andorra stamps in 1928 and the French one did in 1931.Both were overprinted Spanish or French definitives.
As far as I know, the free domestic mail, was one of the services provided by both PO. Anyway, this is not so expenssive due to the country's size, and now it should be near zero. Anyway, the yield produced by the philatelic sales of both PO should be more than enough to cover for the Andorra domestic mail.
As Andorra is a turistic and shopping resort for people from Catalonia, Spain and Southern France, a lot of postcards were sent from there. On the time of old currencies (pesseta and franc) the normal thing was to buy stamps on your currency (pesseta on the Spanish PO, franc on the French PO).
I've got a lot of postcards circulated from Andorra to my city, Barcelona (the big city closest to Andorra) and all of them bear Spanish PO stamps. I guess, the opposite should happen to postcards sent to Tolouse, in Sothern France.
There's some information abour Andorra Postage and stamps, mainly written in Catalan (Andorra's national language), French or Spanish, languages on which I have a good command, being the first my own one.

Before they had the euro, they had two currencies -- francs and pesetas. So could you use stamps in both currencies to mail a letter? Has anyone got one of these mixed frankings?

Actually, Andorra, until very recently didn't have a currency on their own. They simply used French francs or Spanish pta; there wasn't a Bank of Andorra. The first Andorra currency are the Andorra euros.
As for the postage, you either used (or use) French or Spanish PO stamps, and post on their own postboxes. I'm not aware of mixed franking, although they might be some (I've never seen one!), it wasn't the normal thing. I've first hand information on Andorra postage and philately because a good friend of mine (from my city) is an expert on them.

So, now that they have the euro, is it easier to send a mixed franking?

Before the euro, was the postage rate the same for spanish or french stamps? Or was it different?

The postal rates of French and Spanish PO were different on the franc/pta time and are different today, as in both cases letters from Andorra bearing stamps from their own PO were, and are, considered domèstic mail.
So, a letter from Andorra to France, pays domèstic rate if using Andorra French PO stamps and foreign rate if using Andorra Spanish PO stamps. The oposite happens with Spanish PO. Inside euro-zone each country has its own postal rates.
If you post a letter in a post box of the French PO of Andorra, bearing Andorra Spanish PO stamps, it will be considered "foreign mail" and stamps no-valid. Is the same of using French stamps in Spain. So there's no point on mixed franking. It's not a question of currency but of whose PO is.