Théodore Champion (14 February 1873 – 31 August 1954) was a Swiss cyclist,

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 ...

and

stamp dealer A stamp dealer is a company or an individual who deals in stamps and philatelic products. It also includes individuals who sell postage stamps for day to day use or revenue stamps for use on court documents. Stamp dealers who sell to stamp collect ...

, who was added to the

Roll of Distinguished Philatelists The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists (RDP) is a Philately, philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921. The Roll consists of five pieces of parchment to which the signatories add their n ...

in 1937.
Background notes on The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists September 2011
', Roll of Distinguished Philatelists Trust, London, 2011
Archived here.
/ref> He was born in Geneva and took French citizenship in 1948.

Cycling

Théodore Champion was among the first generation of Swiss cyclists. Four times - 1892, 1893, 1895 and 1896 - he was Swiss champion in the sprint. In 1895 he was also second in the Swiss Championship road race.

Philately

Theodore Champion was the son of a bank employee and a mother who collected stamps. With his brother Adrien he searched the bins of his father's bank for stamps. It was said that they sold their collection for a large sum of money to show their skeptical father the merits of collecting stamps. He moved to Paris in 1899 and was employed by

Alfred Forbin Alfred J. Forbin (13 February 1872 – 14 August 1956) was a pioneering French stamp dealer who wrote an all-world catalogue of revenue stamps that has never been surpassed. Early life Alfred Forbin was born in Paris on 13 February 1872."More ...

. In 1902 he bought Forbin's postage stamp dealership so that Forbin could concentrate on fiscal stamps.Birch, Brian. ''Biographies of Philatelists and Dealers''. 9th edition. Standish, Wigan: 2008, p.540. Champion was one of the founders of the

Paris Postal Museum Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, to which he left valuable pieces from his collection.

Tributes

Theodore Champion was shown several times on stamps: *Liechtenstein issued a special stamp in 1969 *Antigua 1993 *Montserrat in 2002 on a block of four stamps in honor of Rowland Hill

References

External links

Information about Champion's cycling career.
*http://www.theodorechampion.fr/ Website of the firm Théodore Champion. Signatories to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists 1873 births 1954 deaths French philatelists Cyclists from Geneva Swiss male cyclists French stamp dealers {{Switzerland-cycling-bio-stub