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 250 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.

  FUTURE EVENTS  

THE NORTHERN GROUP will meet on 26 October 2024 – at Ravenfield Parish Hall, Birch Wood Drive, Ravenfield, Rotherham S65 4PT. For more details This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Roger Clapham or telephone on 01709 527673.

ZOOM MEETINGS 
There will be a ‘Show and Tell’ on 12 November and Mick Bister will be showing ‘Colonial Exhibitions of France from 1894 to 1931’ on 11 February 2025.
Contact either This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Chris Hitchen if you would like to participate in any of these meetings either as a presenter or viewer. Presentations will start at 2:30 PM London time and the room will be open at 2:15 PM. Any further information please see below or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

ANNUAL PHILATELIC WEEKEND 6-8 March 2025. Details can be viewed here. In the interim please contact David Parmley either by telephone on 07464 926250 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.if you have any queries. Full details will be available in the December Journal.

Regrettably THE WESSEX AND LONDON GROUP MEETINGS are in abeyance for the foreseeable future. Zoom meetings are planned later in the year.

  JOURNAL 305 

The AUGUST Journal and SEPTEMBER Auction Catalogue will be dispatched or sent digitally in the next few days.
Articles include:

Obituary - John Hammonds (Chris Hitchen)
Marianne de Muller Part 6b: the 20 franc issue (YT 1011B) – Booklet Printings and Postal Usage (Mick Bister)
There’s No Business Like Show Business – Connections on French Stamps - Part 7 (David Parmley)
    •  Due to space constraints the full article on Josephine Baker is included here.
Precursors of the French postal card - Part 4: French postal cards issued by the German occupiers (Frans Jorissen)
The Suez Canal Stamp Forgeries by Saatjian -  Part 1: Introduction and the 5c Forgery (Paul Grigg)
Why I collect what I collect - People, Places and Incidents on miniature works of art (Jill Whitten)
Shorter Items - including Questions and Answers
•  The 25F Marianne à la Nef Colour Proofs of 1959 (Shivshankar Nair / Mick Bister)
•  A Type Sage query Martin Taylor / David Parmley / Paul Watkins / Mick Bister)                  
•  ‘La Poste enfantine’ (Martin Taylor / Mick Bister)        
•  Cancellations on ‘Navigation and Commerce’ issues (Stan Fairchild / Peter Kelly)
•  The 1849 Notice (Martin Taylor / Mick Bister)
•  A helpful postmaster at Réunion (Peter Kelly)               
•  1949 Type Pasteur (Richard Broadhurst)   
•  Ebolowa - Another Resurrected Cameroun Datestamp (Marty Bratzel)
•  Geoff Gethin Award 2024
Reports of Meetings                 
•  48th Annual Philatelic Weekend, 7 - 9 March 2024 (David Parmley /  Peter Kelly)
•  Minutes of the Annual General Meeting, 8 March 2024 (David Parmley)
List of Recently Published Articles (Maurice Tyler)
New-issue listings from Gibbons Stamp Monthly: April - July 2024 (Michael Round)
Books Noted (Maurice Tyler)
Bookshelf (Compiled and reviewed by Michael Round
•  La philatélie à Tahiti - Tome 2 1958 - 2008 by Christian Beslu
•  Timbres de Distributeurs, France,  Yvert & Tellier
Advertisement for
•  Europhilex 2025
•  Abacus Auctions - John Gibson’s Collection of the Sudan; France and Colonies: The Early Issues

A selection of images from Journal 305 are illustrated above in the slider. 

THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to to Journal WE ARE ALWAYS IN NEED OF ARTICLES, large or small, if you have something of interest please consider sending it for inclusion in a later edition. Type your text in Word or plain text, add any images, scanned at 300dpi as separate jpeg attachments and email them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 ZOOM MEETINGS 

All Zoom meetings are available to view here  

Those members interested in joining please advise Chris Hitchen by email  to let him know whether you would simply wish to view displays or whether you would be able to give a display as well. Those without a webcam can of course still view the displays but will not be seen by others.

Information on Zoom meetings will only be sent to those who express an interest, however the programme will be advertised on the website. Read more

Subject to sufficient offers we will run another Show and Tell meeting with the participation of anyone who cares to join. Here’s our idea for how it will work:
•  1. Scan a stamp, several stamps, cover or several covers or any other item philatelically related to France or its colonies. Save each item as a separate JPG file. (That is important. PDFs don’t work as well.)

•  2. Prepare a short description that will explain why you like the items you scanned – technical details, design quality, postal rates and routes, markings, social history of the writer or recipient, or anything else you would talk about if you were given five minutes to explain this to a group. Be sure it is obvious which part of your description applies to which JPG file.

•  3  Send that description as a Word document or just put it in an email along with the JPGs to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Mick will then put together a PowerPoint presentation with everyone’s scans and at least a portion of your written description. When we hold the Zoom meeting, you will be able to speak to the group about your “stuff” when it appears in the PowerPoint show.

There will be no indication of ownership in the PowerPoint file, so don’t let that limit you when you make your selection. The more of us who participate, the better it will be, of course.

The website will always have the latest information so members will need to consult that regularly to see what is going on. When things improve then Convenors will arrange meetings as soon as practical. It may well not be feasible to advise these in the Journal in advance. Details of convenors is here.  Please consider using the FORUM in the meantime - perhaps share your latest acquisitions or any query or comment you may have. If you have not registered as a member, please contact the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your preferred password and a Username will be provided.

JOIN OUR PHILATELIC FORUM 
You can join our Forum without being a member of the Society - just contact the Website Manager with your name and preferred password and you will be supplied with a username - you don't have to be a member!.

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Please note: The information displayed in these pages is copyright. The images used are used with permission from the owners’ of the material. Permission for the use of any material within these pages must be sought from the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.and must be quoted in references.