"French Colonies" is the name used by

philatelist Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is possi ...

s to refer to the

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

s issued by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

for use in the parts of the French colonial empire that did not have stamps of their own. These were in use from 1859 to 1906, and from 1943 to 1945.

First stamps

The first of these were small square stamps issued in 1859, depicting an eagle and crown in a round frame, with the inscription "COLONIES DE L'EMPIRE FRANCAIS". They were

imperforate For postage stamps, separation is the means by which individual stamps are made easily detachable from each other. Methods of separation include: # perforation: cutting rows and columns of small holes # rouletting: small horizontal and vert ...

(as were all Colonies stamps until 1881). A total of six values, 1c to 80c, appeared between 1859 and 1865.

Ceres

The next series appeared in 1871 and 1872, and borrowed the contemporaneous designs of France, with profiles of

Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...

and Emperor

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

. While some of the nine values can be distinguished from the French stamps by color or value, others are extremely difficult to identify. Several of an additional series of Ceres heads issued between 1872 and 1877 have a similar problem, and are distinguishable only by being imperforate, as was the Colonies part of the Peace and Commerce issue (Type Sage) of 1877 to 1880. Alphee Dubois 25c Colonies

Commerce series

In 1881, a new series, featuring "Commerce" alone and inscribed "COLONIES", was issued, perforated 14x13.5. The 13 values, ranging from 1c to 1fr, were in colors comparable to those used for France. In 1886 the 25c stamp, previously printed in yellow, was reissued in black on a rose-colored

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distrib ...

. Stocks of the Commerce issue were frequently

overprint An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a Postage stamp, postage or revenue stamp, postal stationery, banknote or Ticket (admission), ticket after it has been Printing, printed. Post offices most often use ...

ed by the colonies during the 1880s and 1890s.

Navigation & Commerce series

France began issuing stamps printed with the territory name in 1892 as part of the Navigation and Commerce issue. A series of common postage due stamps was issued beginning in 1884, with a last one appearing in 1906. Thereafter each colony used only its own stamps.

World War II

The concept was revived by the

Free French Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...

forces during World War II, who printed eight types of

semi-postal A semi-postal stamp or semipostal stamp, also known as a charity stamp, is a postage stamp issued to raise money for a particular purpose (such as a charitable cause) and sold at a premium over the postal value. Typically the stamp shows two deno ...

stamps in 1943 and 1944. After the Free French landed in Corsica and Southern France, the stamps were used in those areas, and became valid throughout France in November 1944. Finally, in 1945 a general issue of postage due stamps for the colonies was produced.

Postal stationery

Various items of

postal stationery A piece of postal stationery is a stationery item, such as a stamped envelope, letter sheet, postal card, lettercard, aerogram or wrapper, with an imprinted stamp or inscription indicating that a specific rate of postage or related serv ...

, in addition to postage stamps, were also produced for general issue to the French Colonies. A total of three

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

s were issued in 1876, followed by two different cards in 1880 and two in 1885. One reply postcard was issued in 1885. Six different

letter card In philately, a lettercard or letter card is a postal stationery item consisting of a folded card with a prepaid imprinted stamp. That it is folded over gives the writer twice as much room for the message compared with a postal card. The messag ...

s were issued in 1885 and two in 1890. Two postal stationery envelopes were produced and issued in 1889. Five different values of

newspaper wrapper In philately a wrapper is a form of postal stationery which pays the cost of the delivery of a newspaper or a periodical. The wrapper is a sheet of paper, large enough to wrap around a folded or rolled newspaper and with an imprinted stamp to pay ...

s made available to the colonies in 1889.

Higgins & Gage World Postal Stationery Catalog In philately, the ''Higgins & Gage World Postal Stationery Catalog'' is the most recent encyclopedic catalogue of postal stationery A piece of postal stationery is a stationery item, such as a stamped envelope, letter sheet, postal card, ...

References

External links

*https://mystampworld.com/indochina-french-offices {{PostalhistoryEurope French colonial empire Colonies, French