Welcome to our website!

 In 1949, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the first French postage stamp, a group of British philatelists set up a pioneering  specialist  philatelic society devoted to the study of the stamps of France and the then French Empire. From small beginnings, the France and Colonies Philatelic Society now unites over 300 collectors in Britain and overseas in the many and varied delights of the stamps and postal history of la Francophonie.

The Society provides an extensive programme of meetings in several locations, holds an annual Philatelic Weekend, publishes a well regarded and authoritative Journal and series of monographs as well as several more extensive specialist philatelic books, operates a magazine circuit, two thriving exchange packets and three postal Auctions a year. It is a friendly and informal group to which non-members are welcome to attend any of our meetings.

This year we mark yet another major step in the life of our Society as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of its launching in 1949. The ‘offcial’ celebration of our platinum anniversary took place after the AGM held at Charlecote on 2nd March. If you were unable to attend the celebration please free feel to pour yourself a glass of champagne and toast the Society’s health in your own armchair.
Our longest standing member George Nash (N° 30) was invited to contribute to the Journal's anniversary edition as has Bill Mitchell (N° 50), who likewise contributed an article. Bill served the Society for many years as Auction Secretary and has been a regular contributor to the Journal and this has been recognised by being presented with the Long Service Award.

JUNE 1st AUCTION CATALOGUE AND IMAGES ON-LINE
Another bumper auction. Please note that postal history and stamps (the main categories) appear in several sections so do read the full catalogue. Unusually strong in taxe stamps this auction, some good early postal history, much at quite low reserves, plus some first flights which we haven’t had for some time. Enjoy! A reminder that unsold lots are posted on the website a week after auction closes. Send your surplus material for sale to Steve Ellis: less common items particularly likely to sell. Lots are available to Members Only. Application for membership is available here.  AUCTION CATALOGUE available here.

SAFEGUARDING THE FUTURE OF THE JOURNAL: AN APPEAL FOR A NEW MANAGER/EDITOR
Producing the Journal for the France & Colonies Philatelic Society is an extremely rewarding job especially for someone who enjoys creative work on the computer. Who amongst us does not experience satisfaction and a touch of pride upon the completion of an attractive page of writing-up on which our stamps and covers can then be mounted? Working with text and images to create the Journal and using the same skills as when writing up a page of stamps can be equally fulfilling but, of course, it will be on a larger scale.

We are looking therefore for someone who can commit themselves to producing three Journals a year. Currently the Journal is published using InDesign software but it could equally be produced using another desktop publishing programme or by someone with moderate Word skills; the choice would be that of the applicant based on a system with which they feel both familiar and confident. A broad awareness of French philately would be useful but in-depth knowledge is not essential. If there are problems concerning the specialised content of articles there are members who can be called upon to give assistance.

The Journal is the most important service that the Society offers. It unites our members, wherever they may live, like no other service we offer does. If the Journal is to continue, we are now pleading for someone to take over the reins as otherwise the April 2020 edition will be the last one. If you wish to volunteer or if you require any further details of what is involved, please contact Mick Bister by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

ANSWERS TO THE CHRISTMAS-NEW YEAR QUIZ 
The answers to the question “Which eight stamps of France issued between 1965 and 2015 feature the Union Jack?” are as follows (Yvert & Tellier numbers):
1450 1965 40c 20e anniversaire de la Victoire
1709 1972 50c + 10c Personnages célèbres – Louis Blériot
2050 1979 1F20 Election de l’Assemblée des Communautés Européennes
2888 1994 4F30 50e anniversaire du débarquement en Normandie
3196 1998 3F 80e anniversaire de l’Armistice
3587 2003 0,50E Championnats du monde d’athlétisme, Paris
3666 2004 0,50E Élargissement de l’Union Européenne
4248 2008 0,55E Grands projets européens, Erasmus
4954 2015 0,68E 70e anniversaire du 8 mai 1945
You will see that there are in fact nine, the additional one was spotted by one of our eagle-eyed contributors! Miniature sheets featuring flags on the borders did not count as the question asked which stamps featured the flags. Congratulations to the three winners who each got eight answers correct (nobody got all nine!) so they each win a copy of the recent Marianne l’Engagée miniature sheet:

JOIN OUR PHILATELIC FORUM 
You can join our Forum without being a member of the Society - just contact the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.with your name and preferred password and you will be supplied with a username - you don't have to be a member!.