Are These Fake France Stamps? Or Just Decoration?

HI all

I recently received an envelope from France that has me confused.

Can anyone familiar with French stamps tell me if this was just someone trying to spiff up an envelope with stamp-related labels, or does the postage actually add up to the correct rate for a letter from France to the US?

I originally flat-out thought some of the stamps are fakes. The ones with "codes" could just be badly printed, but as you can see two of the older designs are clearly labels. The three along the right side have blue along their edges and also look off.

Am I overreacting? (aka: making a fool of myself publicly so everyone else can see?)

You can still use pre-Euro French stamps from the post-1960 period for postage (there's a complicated calculation of value). You can't use pre-1960 stamps such as the Mercuries and the older Marianne. Don't know about the others, but it all looks highly dubious. Worth keeping for that reason, although I'd treat the seller with caution.

That's quite a potpourri of items on your cover. The Marianne stamps appear to be cutouts of illustrations. Then there are the old, invalid franc-denominated stamps. The homemade computer stamp certainly looks like a photocopy. The "coat of arms" item looks like a pressure-sensitive reproduction/fake of a genuine, old stamp.

The "soccer" computer stamp and the "chameleon" stamp appear to genuine. So, one has to wonder if they are "skips" or re-used.

GeoffHa - thankfully, the cover was not from a stamp dealer ;-)

I had a parcel from a French dealer that threw in an illegal usage of a pre-1960 stamp. The fact is that (a) checks are likely to be limited; and (b) nobody working in La Poste will have been around in the days before de Gaulle revalued the franc.

There is never a discredit in asking a question.
The foolish thing is to have a question, and not ask it.

What a cracker of a cover! Philatelic Hijinx.
Someone with too much time on their hands, or a happy prankster.
The two top stamps appear genuine and prepay the article, the rest is decoration.
I like it.

Is that just because of currency issues, or something else?

You haven't, as far as I know, been able to use pre-1960 stamps since the currency change that revalued the French franc (100 old francs were equivalent to a new franc).

Pre-1960 french stamps are still valid for postage (except Petain issues and a few more)
Mercuries and old Mariannes are quite legal.
But you have to respect the rules : 1€ = 656 old francs or 1 old franc = 0,0015€
Of course some people don't respect them and "confuse" old and new francs.
And most of postmen are too young to make the difference,as GeoffHa did say.

vayolene - thank you - I hadn't realised that. Some challenging calculations there!

List of stamps that are not valid.(Demonitized) Also surcharged stamps after the liberation are not valid.

http://www.lemarchedutimbre.com/for...ge=92446&f=3

Thanks Vayolene!...Always something to learn here at SCF.