Stamps from France

France, like England, has had stamps for a long time.  And like England, they started doing them with images Emperor Napoleon (Napoleon III, not the first Napoleon).  But they quickly ditched that theme and went to more symbolic images.

Our oldest French stamp is from 1878, Scott 92, which shows "Peace and Commerce".

I'm not sure why there is the difference in color.  Since the stamps are over 100 years old, let's just assume one lightened as it aged.

The symbolic theme continues with the 1901 Scott 113 showing "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity",

 This continues with the 1927 Scott 129 showing "Liberty and Peace".

There was a series of stamps called "The Sower" starting in 1903 that lasted decades. Scott 138 is postmarked 1906.

Scott 159, 162, 168 are from 1907, while the slightly more detailed image of Scott 146 is  1926.

Again, we have two stamps that appear to be the same (Scott 168), but differ in color and detail.

We also see this in the 1936 Scott 267 ("Peace with Olive Branch") which certainly seem to be different shades of red.

The 1944 Scott 383 shows an image of Iris.

The 1945 Scott 534 shows an image of Ceres.  Ceres is on stamps all the way back to 1870.

In 1945, there was a series of stamps showing an image of "Marianne", the French national symbol.

A 1954 stamp, Scott 708, shows a "Farm Woman"

Back to Marianne in 1955, Scott 753, 755, 756.

This continues, with Marianne and the Ship of State, in 1959, with Scott 927.  This image was reprinted in 1960 in different colors.

But, again, there seems to be a different printing, variant colors and detail, for the Scott 927.

There is another series of stamps showing the "Coat of Arms" of various French cities.  We have Scott 739 (from Saintonge, 1954), Scott 902 (from Lille, 1958), and Scott 1095 (from Paris, 1965).

France, of course, also has a large number of colonies.  For many of these, France provided postal stamps.  For example, after World War II, France took control of Saarland, an area on the border of Germany and France.  1n 1949, they issued a Saar stamp.

Saar eventually (1955 or so) became a part of Germany (again).

The French occupied, and administered, part of Libya called Fezzan and Ghadames, issuing stamps in 1946.

In terms of colonies, French Equatorial Africa in 1946 issued Scott 166

French Guiana, in 1947 issued Scott 193

French Morocco, in 1947 issued Scott 221.

 Reunion, in 1947, issued Scott 249.

French Polynesia, issued Scott 183 in 1958.

French Southern & Antarctic Territories, had Scott 2 in 1955 (Rockhopper Penguins) and Scott 13 in 1959 (Skuas).

But also, France was occupied by the Germans for much of World War II.  During that time, the Vichy government issued stamps (but apparently not postage stamps) honoring a volunteer regiment that fought against the Russians.