France’s 2025 stamps: a lot of details, too much writing & even more love
Better go get yourself a strong coffee and a plate of snacks, it’s time to explore France’s 2025 stamps. And damn you France, stop being so fascinating so I can post faster. I checked the word count and was a bit embarrassed to discover i wrote over 7,000 words and the year isn’t even half done. To think, I used to moan over 3,000 word papers in university. Maybe I should have taken a BA in philately.
There is so much substance to the French stamp program! Stamps are often referred to as the perfect country ambassadors, and France sees that as a challenge. There are a number of things to note when looking over the year:
- 2025 is an important year – its the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the liberation of the concentration camps. France has a number of releases dedicated to this.
- engraved stamps include some incredibly fine work. Each stamp posted here will expand to an extra large size allowing you to examine the details. I normally shrink the stamps down to a manageable size (to improve loading speed for each page), but it seemed almost sacrilegious to do this to France’s engravers.
- about half of France’s stamps are engraved.
- yes, I’m still fangirling over Elsa Catelin. She returns with one stamp so far.
- As of June, there are two aviation themed stamps.
- check the margins in the sheets. The French post office includes details that make me think of little Easter egg surprises. Another reason to keep the scans super sized.
- check out the links for a deeper dive into the subjects.
- France is addictive – you have been warned.
Now, off to France. Allons-y my philatelic friends.
Cheers
Catpaw
January
Solidarity with Mayotte: La Poste Group Mobilised Alongside the French Red Cross
1 stamp, sheet of 10
offset
The first stamp of the 2025 year is dedicated to aiding the Department of Mayotte. Mayotte is a small French territory off the coast of Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean. It was devastated in Dec, 2024, by what was called the most powerful cyclone to hit the region in 90 years. Funds from this stamp will go to the French Red Cross to help in the rebuilding.
This stamp uses the latest Marianne stamp – Marianne de l’avenir (Marianne of the Future) with Mayotte island decorates the margins.
To help the victims, the La Poste Group and its subsidiaries, GeoPost, an international parcel delivery subsidiary, La Banque Postale and CNP Assurances have decided to support the action of the French Red Cross by donating 200,000 euros. In addition, the day after the disaster, La Poste, La Banque Postale and CNP Assurances immediately took the decision to collect donations for the benefit of the affected populations. To do this, Internet users just have to go to the www.laposte.fr www.labanquepostale.fr www.cnp.fr
Solidarity with Mayotte: La Poste Group mobilised alongside the French Red Cross | The ink square
Designer: Olivier Balez
Balez designed the latest iteration of the Marianne series. On his website, he has uploaded the preliminary ideas he sketched out on an envelope. Marianne – Olivier Balez Olivier Balez Check out the page to see the evolution of his interpretation of this iconic French stamp.
Engraver: Pierre Bara
Pierra Bara’s name should be familiar to collectors. He has designed and/or engraved around 28 stamps for France, Monaco, Andorra, French Polynesia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon and TAAF
Release date: January 2, 2025
Winter Mushrooms
booklet of 4 stamps
offset
This set features two mushrooms that thrive in the chilly winter months in France.
Velvety collybia, a small orange or light brown mushroom that is resilient to cold. Found among dead wood.
Oyster mushrooms are found attached to dead wood, especially birches. Like it’s collybia cousin, it can be found growing in the cold.
Designer: Bruno Ghiringhelli
Cover photos: © Stéphane Bouilland, Serge Daens/ © Naturimages and © Mint Images/Andia.fr.
Oyster mushroom photo: © Mint Images/Andia.fr
Velvety collybia photo: © stamp André GILDEN / Naturimages
Landscape photo on the sheet: © Laurent CHEVALLIER / Naturimages.
Release date: January 2, 2025
Grande Soleil – The Big Sun
booklet with 12 stamps
photogravure
The this set explores both art and the sun through they eyes of 12 artists:
- Aube à Montserrat, André Masson : Private Collection © Adagp, Paris, 2024 /Bridgeman Images
- Capriccio, Venice, William Turner : Calderdale Museums Service, West Yorkshire, UK © Calderdale Borough Council /Bridgeman Images
- Liberté, Jean Lurçat : Musée Jean-Lurcat, Angers, France © Fondation Lurcat/Adagp, Paris 2024 /Bridgeman Images
- Impression, sunrise, Claude Monet : © musée Marmottan Monet / Studio Christian Baraja SLB
- Sunset in Champagne, Armand Guéry: Private Collection Christie’s Images/Bridgeman Images
- The Sun, Edvard Munch: University of Oslo, NorwayPhoto © O.Vaering/Bridgeman Images
- Circular Shapes. Sun, Moon, Robert Delaunay: © Christophel_wha. WHA_056_0165
- Cotopaxi, Frederic Edwin Church: © Detroit Institute of Arts/Bridgeman Images
- Seascape, John Everett: © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London / Bridgeman Images
- Sunset, Orange Sky, Félix Vallotton: © Christophel_heritage.2855337
- Sunset, Emil Nolde: Sprengel Museum, Hanover, GermanyPhoto © NPL – DeA Picture Library/Bridgeman Images
- The Harbor at Sunset, Opus 236 (Saint-Tropez), Paul Signac: Private Collection Christie’s Images/Bridgeman Images
Cover
- Sunrise, Claude Monet: © Musée Marmottan Monet / Studio Christian Baraja SLB
- Sunset in Champagne, Armand Guery: Private Collection Christie’s Images/Bridgeman Images
- The Sun, Edvard Munch: University of Oslo, NorwayPhoto © O.Vaering/Bridgeman Images
Designer: Valérie Besser
Release date: January 6, 2025
Jean-François Millet 1814-1875
1 stamp, cancel, sheet of 9, info sheet
intaglio
Gleaners oil on canvas. Currently held at the Musée d’Orsay:
The Gleaners was an oil on canvas painting done by Francois Millet in 1857. He depicts a group of three gleaners at work. Gleaning was the process of scouring fields for sheaves that might have been left after harvest. This was only allowed to the poorest in the society and a license was required. Therefore, anyone who was gleaning was a desperate, miserable person. This image was first meant to be an art of nature. However, Millet sought to depict the hardships that the impoverished faced in society while still showing nature.
Tom Gurney The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet This article offers a brief, but interesting look at the painting.Millet’s drawings, like his engravings, had a significant influence on the generation of avant-garde artists that emerged in the 1870s-1880s – Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin or Vincent Van Gogh -,as well as on the official proponents of academic naturalism – Jules Breton and Léon Lhermitte. This fruitful and seemingly paradoxical line of descent reflects the complexity of his work. There is both a realism which drastically sweeps away all academic conventions, a certain idealisation related to a synthetic search for form in which there are the seeds of a powerful aesthetic evolution, and a strong link with the tradition of the great masters.
Drawings by Jean-François Millet | Musée d’Orsay
Millet’s art previously appeared on a French stamp in 1971 with designer Pierre Gandon’s Jean-François Millet (1814-1875) “The Winnower”.
Designer and engraver: Sarah Lazarevic
I unravel issues with creativity, always driven by the desire to enrich the final creation by promoting dialogue and exchange
Valérie Besser – Info
Release date: January 20, 2025
Chinese New Year – Year Of The Snake
2 stamps, 2 sheets of 5, info sheet
photogravure
You can read more about the series and the artist here Retrospective look at France’s Lunar New Year stamps.
Artist: Chen Jiang Hong
Chen has created all the stamps in the current lunar cycle for France. Born in Tianjin, China, he has made his home in Paris since 1987. He is a graduate of both the Beijing School of Fine Arts and Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris. He has also published a number of children’s books including Dragon Flower, and the Tiger Prince.
Layout: Bruno Ghiringhelli
Release date: January 20, 2025
Valentine Stamp 2025
Philately and baking come together in an act of transmission and sharing, whether savoring a dessert or sending a letter, thus awakening unique emotions.
Pierre Hermé
2 stamps, souvenir sheet of 5. 2 sheets of 12, 2 sheets of 24
photogravure
Stamps have a mild rose scent
A different company is invited to design LaPoste’s annual “Heart” stamps for Valentine’s day. This year Maison Pierre Hermé Paris created a pair of macaron hearts.
From the TIMBRE CŒUR 2025 press release:
Pierre Hermé, heir to four generations of Alsatian bakers and pastry chefs, founded Maison Pierre Hermé Paris in 1997. Celebrated in France, Japan, and the United States, the chef, who was voted Best Pastry Chef in the World by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy in 2016, has brought flavor and modernity to pastry. With “pleasure as his only guide,” Pierre Hermé invented a universe of tastes, sensations, and pleasures. His original approach to the pastry craft led him to revolutionize even the most established traditions. His work and boldness make him a key name in French gastronomy today.
In this spirit of creation and innovation, Pierre Hermé designed the 2025 Collection of the famous Heart Stamp for La Poste. The two resulting stamps are based around the House’s iconic flavor combination, Ispahan, which blends the suave and floral scent of roses, the delicate sweetness of lychee, and the tangy vibrancy of raspberry.
This initiative celebrates the encounter between philately and haute pâtisserie, two disciplines deeply rooted in French culture. By combining tradition and modernity, La Poste and Pierre Hermé Paris pay tribute to French crafts and gastronomic excellence. The subtly scented stamps capture notes of rose in their hearts, becoming missives with a sweet scent. All that’s left is to take out your finest pen to write your message, adorned with the new Pierre Hermé Paris Heart Stamp.
Fun trivia: LaPoste tags these stamps as Olfactory stamps / Timbre olfactif
Designer: © PIERRE HERMÉ PARIS
Release date: January 27, 2025
Celebrating 100 Years Together – French Red Cross #NFTimbre3
NFTimbre3
NFT + 1 stamp
offset
30,000 copies released
Money raised from sales will be sent to the French Red Cross.
La Poste and the French Red Cross, 110 years of shared history. On May 25, 1864, the French Red Cross was created, a long and wonderful story that belongs to society as a whole. On August 11, 1914, in the face of the suffering of war, Raymond Poincaré, President of the French Republic, signed the decree authorizing the postal administration to issue the first “surcharge” stamp. La Poste thus committed itself to the French Red Cross, enabling it to act daily.
Communiqué de presse Décembre 2024 CÉLÉBRONS 110 ANS ENSEMBLE – #NFTimbre3
Designer: Pascale Montenay for the Creativestories studio using AI
Creativestories.fr designed LaPoste’s second NFT
Release date: January 27, 2025
February
Pierre Dac 1893-1975
1 stamp, cancel, sheet of 15, infosheet
intaglio
LaPoste published this rather enigmatic press release about Dac:
“Is it better to pass on to posterity or to inherit it at the post office?” Before leaving us on February 9, 1975, due to a lack of good manners, Pierre Dac asked himself the question. La Poste provides the answer through a stamp paying tribute to the “king of the crazy” and the resistance fighter who became, in London, one of the “French who spoke to the French”. Born on August 15, 1893 in Châlons-en-Champagne, André Isaac began by pursuing studies that he was unable to catch up with. Mobilised in 1914, he spent four years on the front where he was wounded twice. In October 1922, he made his debut as a singer and invented a form of absurdity that inspired Pierre Desproges, Coluche, Gorafi and many others. In 1935, he became the pioneer of comedy programs with La Société des Loufoques and La Course au Trésor. On May 13, 1938, he created L’Os à moelle, a weekly newspaper with sales of 400,000 copies. He published the first “classified ads” there. In 1940, determined to join Free France, he spent eighteen months in Spanish prisons before joining Radio London, where he multiplied songs and editorials against the occupier. “Bagatelle sur un tombeau”, in which he replied to Philippe Henriot, was studied in schools. In 1947, he invented the “Schmilblick”, then met Francis Blanche. They wrote and performed Le Sâr Rabindranath Duval and Signé Furax, the most listened to soap opera in the history of radio. From 1966, Bons baisers de partout, with Louis Rognoni, was also a success. Finally, in 1972, he published his Pensées. They have crossed generations, demonstrating that “nothing that is finished is ever completely finished until everything that has been started is completely finished”.
PIERRE DAC 1893-1975 | The ink square
Dac was a beloved comedian, a self described “King of the zany” and Resistance hero during WW2.
Pierre Dac, whose real name is André Isaac, was also one of the great voices of Radio London, in the programme “The French speak to the French”. He tried to reach London in 1941 but was arrested and imprisoned in Spain and France. It was in 1943 that he spoke for the first time at the microphone from the British capital, where he used humour to counter Vichy propaganda.
In May 1944, he put aside his wackiness for a moment to respond to Philippe Henriot, who worked on Radio Paris, a German propaganda radio station. The latter directly targeted him in an anti-Semitic diatribe that ended with these words: “France, what can it mean for him?” Pierre Dac replied by recalling the story of his brother, who died on the battlefield during the First World War.
“If, by chance, your steps lead you to the Montparnasse cemetery, enter by the door of the rue Froidevaux, turn left into the alley, and in the sixth row, stop in front of the tenth grave. It is there that lie the remains of what was a handsome, brave and joyful boy, mowed down by German shells, on October 8, 1915, during the attacks on Champagne. On the modest stone, under his name, first name and regimental number, we read this simple inscription: died for France at the age of 28. That, Mr. Henriot, is what this means to me, France.” He adds: “On your grave, if you have one, there will also be an inscription. It will be worded as follows: Philippe Henriot, died for Hitler, shot by the French. Good night, Mr. Henriot. And sleep well, if you can.” Philippe Henriot was killed by the Resistance a few weeks later, after the Liberation of Paris.
“His posterity is incredible”: fifty years ago, the comedian Pierre Dac disappeared
Designer and engraver: Elsa Catelin
My favourite engraver. ‘Nuf said.
Release date: February 10, 2025
Juliette Gréco 1927-2020
1 stamp, cancel, sheet of 15, info sheet, souvenir folder
photogravure
Singer, interpreter of the greatest French authors, actress, woman of convictions. For 70 years, she contributed to the influence of French culture in the world, as a result, she received all the distinctions of the Republic. JULIETTE GRÉCO 1927-2020 | The ink square
Its impossible to condense down this woman’s amazing life and achievements in just a paragraph or two. Survivor of Gestapo terror (she punched an officer on the nose), her sister and mother dragged off to Ravensbrück and she was sent to the women’s prison in Fresnes at the age of 15.
Released a few months later, all she had were the blue cotton dress and sandals she’d been wearing when she was rounded up. It was the coldest winter on record and she had no home to return to. So Gréco walked the eight miles back into town.
Miraculously, both mother and daughter made it through Ravensbrück. After the liberation, Juliette went every day to the Lutétia hotel, where survivors were arriving. One day, among a crowd of skeletal, liberated prisoners, she spotted them. “We held each other tight, in silence. There were no words for what I felt at that instant.”
Obituary: Juliette Gréco dies aged 93
She would go on to be the voice of post-war France. You can read more on her truly extra ordinary life here: Obituary: Juliette Gréco dies aged 93
Designer: Patte et Besset
Photograph: © The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld / Roger-Viollet
Release date: February 10, 2025
Melody Of Birds
12 stamps in booklet
photogravure
Designer: Christelle Guénot
Guénot’s first designs for LaPoste was the 12 stamp booklet Romanesque Art. Since then she has added over 70 stamps to her impressive portfolio.
Layout: Bruno Ghiringhelli
Release date: February 17, 2025
Cats
4 stamps on souvenir sheet, cancel, souvenir sheet, info sheet
photogravure
- cheetah
- lynx
- tiger
- black panther
Designer: Vincente Exbrayat
Home | Vincente Exbrayat Paintings and Illustrations
Release date: February 24, 2025
Lucie Randoin 1885 – 1960
1 stamp, sheet of 10, info sheet
photogravure
- 2nd woman to enter the Academy of Medicine in 1946
- member of the Academy of Sciences
- secretary general of the SSHA in 1942,
- president of the Society of Biological Chemistry in 1945.
- Commander of the Legion of Honor
Lucie Randoin has devoted her career to the study of physiology and nutrition. It highlights the existence and roles of vitamins B and C, and develops the concept of food hygiene. She created the profession of dietician with one of her colleagues. A great scientist who has fallen into oblivion, discoverer of vitamins B and C… his stamp is distributed throughout France
Designer: Éloïse Oddos
Freelance illustrator Oddos has an impressive stamp portfolio, beginning with her 2016 Louise Labé (c. 1524 – c. 1566) release. This is her 21st stamp design.
Release date: February 24, 2025
March
STAMP FESTIVAL 2025, the Stamp Does Acrobatics
1 stamp on souvenir sheet, info sheet, single stamp, sheet of 10, cancel
photogravure (souvenir sheet) and intaglio (single stamp)
The annual spring stamp festival took place between March 8 and 9 and featured stamp shows across the country. This year’s theme was Street Arts – acrobats.
I made a stamp for France! ;:))) I’m not going down since! Every time I see it, touch it, get your pictures taken in the mail 😅 and beyond when I stick it in my mail I jump for joy 💌🥳 As with every stamp I create, I created this time too a philatelic memory I present to you here. Marie-Laure Drillet (@marielauredrillet) • Instagram photos and videos
Souvenir sheet designer: Marie-Laure Drillet
Drillet has created over two dozen stamps for LaPoste. She grew up on the island of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.
Marie-Laure Drillet analyzes romantic relationships and happily mocks many annoying clichés. Her work is both figurative and narrative. Her thematic exhibitions (So Sweet Lies, To Make Love Last, Les gourmandes, Tous les hommes, T’inquiète…) denounce stereotypes about both women and men. Her work is fiercely humorous and shows an astonishing tenderness and an unexpected conviviality.
Biography – Marie-Laure Drillet
Single stamp designer and engraver: Louis Gent
Gent’s first stamp was the 2021 Napoleon stamp for Andorra. This is his 13th stamp design.
Release date: March 10, 2025
Maurice Ravel 1875 – 1937
1 stamp, sheets of 15, info sheet
photogravure
Maurice Ravel was a French composer, pianist and conductor known for his musical craftsmanship and inventive orchestration. Born in 1875 in Ciboure, France, Ravel had his first piano lessons with Henri Ghys and studied composition with Charles-René, both at the Paris Conservatoire. Though considered one of France’s greatest composers, Ravel struggled during his early years to gain recognition. His music was often criticized for being overly sophisticated and lacking in emotion. However, today he is recognized as one of the most significant and influential composers of the early 20th century.
Maurice Ravel: The French Composer and His Music | Maurice Ravel
Ravel was previously featured on a French semi-postal stamp in 1956. Designed by Michel Ciry and engraved by René Cottet .
Designer: Stéphane Manel
Illustrator Manel is best known for her portraits.
Layout: Aurélie Baras
Photos: © by Boris Lipnitzki / Roger-Viollet and signed by Maurice Ravel
Edges of leaves: Boléro Orchestre (autograph manuscript)”, 1928, Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Release date: March 10, 2025
Asterix
12 stamps in booklet
photogravure
The popular comic Asterix has appeared on stamps a number of times over the years. France released both a 50th and 60th anniversary sets.
Designer: Etienne Théry using ASTERIX ® OBÉLIX ® IDÉFIX ® / © 2025 Les Éditions Albert René / Goscinny-Uderzo
Release date: March 10, 2025
Emmanuel Mounier 1905 – 1950
1 stamp, sheets of 15, cancel, info sheet
photogravure
philosopher, educator, Catholic theologian. 120th anniversary of his birth in Grenoble.
The stamp uses a portrait of Mounier created by sculptor René Iché in 1947.
Layout: Ségolène Carron
Carron is relatively new to the stamp design world. Her first stamp, Elsa Triolet, Author, appeared in 2021.
Art: René Iché, using Portrait of Emmanuel Mounier, January 18, 1947, © Adagp, Paris, 2024, from ap. photo from the AAEM collection
Release date: March 24, 2025
National Necropolis Of Chasseneuil-Sur-Bonnieure
45°49’24.35″N, 0°26’19.56″E
1 stamp, sheet of 12
intaglio
Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure National Cemetery was put up to honour both soldiers and the1465 Resistance members who were killed fighting the Nazis. It was built shortly after the end of the war.
This necropolis spans over two hectares. Most of the 2,255 soldiers and resistance fighters buried here were from Southwest France. This cemetery’s distinctive feature, however, is that it is perched on a hillside. A large-scale refurbishing project involved refacing the memorial, renewing the plantations and building a car park. In 2000 and 2001, a sizeable promotional drive involved publishing a flyer, providing visitor-information boards, and refurbishing the reception area and memorial crypt.
The Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure National Cemetery and Memorial | Chemins de mémoire
Designer and engraver: André Lavergne using a photo by © Stéphane Méril, © Fernand Poncelet architect.
The stamp is made from a photograph of the place. André Lavergne reinterpreted this photograph in engraving to create the design of the stamp. We find black in direct carving as well as green, blue and ochre-red in transfer.
André Lavergne dedicates the Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure stamp – Engraved Stamp Art
Release date: March 24, 2025
8th Biannual Philatélique De Paris Spring Fair
poster showing stamps and banknotes available at the fair.
I’m including this because I’m pea green with envy. The stamps offered during the show are listed below. Sigh…. One day I’ll make it to one of France’s glorious Philatelic fairs. In the meantime, I’ll have to live vicariously through their special stamps.
Release date: March 27, 2025
Spring Philatelic Fair
The next four stamps were sold during the the March 27, 2025 show, with an official release date of March 31.
80th Anniversary of the 1945 Mazelin Ceres Stamp
two pages in booklet form
typography
The model designed by Mazelin, inspired by the first French Ceres stamp of 1849, was of great finesse, but the printing of the stamps in letterpress was disappointing.8 stamps were issued from 1945 to 1947 (as well as one with overprint), including 5 denominations in 1945.Issued at face values corresponding to the lower postage rates, they were withdrawn from sale between 1946 and 1949.
Booklet – 80 years of Mazelin’s Ceres – Spring Philatelic Fair 2025 – La Poste
Designer: Arobace using the orignal drawings by Charles Mazelin and engraving by Henri Cortot
Release date: March 31, 2025
Place De La République – Paris
1 stamp, sheet of 15, cancel, infosheet
intaglio
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the modest Place du Château-d’Eau had no idea that it would become one of the largest squares in Paris. It was part of the gigantic plan to transform the capital led by Haussmann under the Second Empire. In 1865, major work was undertaken to clear the square and give it its rectangular shape. It was necessary to absorb part of the Boulevard du Temple and raze the numerous theatres that made the reputation of the “Boulevard du crime”. Under the Third Republic, the square definitively took its current name (1879). A competition was organised to provide the place with a monument dedicated to the greatness of the Republic. It was won by the Morice brothers: Léopold for the statute, Charles for the basement. At the inauguration, on July 14, 1883, Parisians discovered the colossal bronze statue of Marianne, towering from its 9.50 m height over a 15 m high stone base where stone allegories of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity were seated.
In 2013, the 3.5 hectares of the square changed its face again. The part intended for cars is reduced in favor of a large pedestrian area. At the crossroads of ten streets and boulevards, the Place de la République, with Marianne in its center wearing the Phrygian cap symbol of freedom, has naturally become a gathering place where people share moments of joy or sadness, where they demonstrate, where they meditate and celebrate. Stamp – Spring Philatelic Fair – Place de la République – Paris – Green Letter – La Poste
Place de la République has an interesting writeup on the history of the area.
Designer: Ségolène Derudder using a photo from ALAMY/HEMIS
This is Derudder’s 4th design for LaPoste. Her 5th stamp was supposed to be the EUROPA 2025 stamp, but it was pulled by LaPoste. You can read more here EUROPA 2025.
Engraver: Line Filhon
Release date: March 31, 2025
Poster “Plane Flying Over Paris”
4 stamps on special souvenir sheet
intaglio
The graphic uses designer Achille Ouvré’s original engraved stamp from 1936. It was nicknamed “the flying whale”. Here are two samples from the 1936 release.
The nickname becomes clearer if you take a close look at the tail which looks more like a whale’s fluke than an airplane tail. This is because it lacks a vertical stabiliser, meaning it would never get off the ground without a crash. If you compare the tail to this 1930 airmail, its easier understand what’s missing and how the Ouvré airplane is impossibile.
Nice bit of philately trivia for you.
Designer: Emmanuel Vedrenne using the original postage stamp Airplane flying over Paris by Achille Ouvré
Illustrator and engraver: Achille Ouvré
Release date: March 31, 2025
Centenary Of The International Stamp Exhibition
4 stamps on sheet,
typography with red hot foil stamping on the frame
This is the last special release commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 1925 International Philatelic Exhibition. It uses the original Jules-Auguste Sage design that appeared at the 1925 exhibition. 40,000 copies were issued and sold out by the close of the show.
Designer: Valérie Besser
Artwork: Jules-Auguste Sage
Engraver: Louis Eugène Mouchon
Release date: March 31, 2025
150 Years Of The Opera Carmen
1 stamp on souvenir sheet, souvenir folder, info sheet
intaglio
Carmen premiered March 3, 1875 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. Composer Georges Bizet died a few weeks after its debut.
The work was first premiered at the Opéra-Comique, but it broke with the plays that were usually produced there by its description of the working-class reality, the absence of obvious morals and the psychological complexity of the characters. It received a mixed reception from the public, which considered it scandalous and vulgar, but it inspired the current of Italian verismo, the most illustrious representative of which was Puccini. Among the admirers who nevertheless made their voices heard were Théodore de Banville, Nietzsche, Wagner, Brahms and Tchaikovsky, thus preparing an international success. After Paris, the work was presented in Vienna and then in New York in altered versions since Bizet’s unexpected death prevented the publication of a definitive version of the score. The greatest singers have since played the role, from Minnie Hauk to Maria Callas and Teresa Berganza. The opera has also inspired many films such as Otto Preminger’s Carmen Jones or Jean-Luc Godard’s First Name Carmen.
150 YEARS OF THE OPERA CARMEN | The ink square
Carmen made a guest appearance on a stamp dedicated to Bizet in 1960. Designed by Charles Mazelin and engraved by Jacques Combet.
Designer and engraver: Sarah Lazarevic
Lazarevic is an engraver, typographer and graphic designer.
She produces intaglio engravings on copper and steel, and digital engravings for banknote printing About | Sarah Lazarevic – Engraver, Typographer and Graphic Designer
Stamp image: Ebon Theodora Vilhelmina Strandin in the role of Carmen, 1922 © akg-images
Bloc Background: Don José, officer of dragoons, drawing by Percy Anderson © British Library / Aurimages
Cover of the score of the “Carmen” by Giorgio Bizet © Heritage images / Aurimages
Drawing on the square of Seville © Alamy / Hemis
Release date: March 31, 2025
Collector 4 – The Squirrel
4 stamps on souvenir sheet
offset
Little red squirrel.
Michel Chardin was interviewed by L’écureuil roux about this set of stamps. It’s an excellent interview, so take the time to visit it Interview Michel Chardin | Ecureuil roux
For as long as I can remember, nature has always been a part of my life and wild animals are kind of like a second family. In the 2000s, when I was already practicing a little bit of wildlife photography, I decided to devote myself fully to it and it became a passion.
The rest is a fairly classic path with the attendance of photographic exhibitions and the membership of clubs including that of the ASCPF, the oldest French photographic association which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year
Interview Michel Chardin | Red Squirrel
Photographer: Michel Chardin
Chardin is a nature/wildlife photographer. His work previously appeared on the 2024’s Deer 4 stamp sheet and Red Fox 4 stamp sheet. Both were part of the Collector series.
Zenfolio | CHARDIN
Release date: March 31, 2025
April
Spring Mushrooms
4 stamps in a booklet
offset
Morel Morel Mushroom Identification: What to Look For and What to Avoid – Mushroom AppreciationMorel Mushroom Identification: What to Look For and What to Avoid – Mushroom Appreciation
Hairy coprin (Coprinus chevelu), nicknamed drops of ink. The black liquid this mushroom exudes was once used as an ink. Hairy Coprin: Finding, Recognizing and Preparing It – Mushroom Hunters
Quick note: If you aren’t an expert mushroom hunter, please do not eat any mushrooms you gather. Many an unwary person has become ill or died because they picked the wrong mushroom.
Designer: Bruno Ghiringhelli
Photo credits: © Stéphane BOUILLAND, © Christian BAVOUX, © Walter BARTHELEMY, © Didier LANEURIT/Naturimages and © Stéphane VITZTHUM/Biosphoto.
Release date: April 1, 2025
Pasquale Paoli 1725 – 1807
1 stamp, sheets of 9, info sheet
intaglio
The Corsican Patriot – PAOLI, Pascal, Philippe, Antoine (also known as Pasquale Paoli) – napoleon.org
A bit hard to condense his achievements down so take a look at the link above.
Pasquale Paoli is remembered as U Babbu di a Patria 1, a visionary statesman, whose ideas of freedom and independence continue to inspire generations.PASQUALE PAOLI 1725 – 1807 | The ink square
Designer and engraver: Pierre Bara used the “portrait of Pascal Paoli” by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), Oil on canvas, London 1797 (c) Collectivity of Corsica – Museum Birthplace of Pascal Paoli.
Release date: April 7, 2025
The Poitevin Marsh
1 stamp, sheets of 12, souvenir folder, info sheet
rotogravure, souvenir folder offset
If the “Green Venice” is the most emblematic part of the Marais Poitevin, it represents only a third of the 110,000 hectares of the regional natural park, the 2nd largest wetland in France, which stretches between Niort and the Atlantic.
Because the Marais Poitevin has three faces. The wet marsh, first of all, and its maze of canals lined with alders, poplars and pollarded ash trees with strange silhouettes that stare at the banks. Here, between two stops in the ports and charming villages, the marriage of water and lush vegetation is celebrated in all shades of green. A radical change of scenery with the dry marsh where immense plains enraptured on the ocean stretch endlessly, protected by dikes and crisscrossed by large canals. With the Aiguillon Bay or maritime marsh, here is the infinity of the ocean with its tides, its salt meadows and its mudflat that are a delight for migratory birds.
THE MARAIS POITEVIN | The ink square
Designer: Raphaële Goineau
Goineau specialises in marine paintings. Since September 2021, she has been the designated painter for the French Navy.
“I am lucky enough to be able to board the ships of the French Navy and take my brushes around the globe.” Plein Air Painter | Peintre de la Marine | Raphaele GOINEAU
Photos:
© photos Christian Kerihuel / Naturimages, Stefane Gautier / Naturimages
Jean-Loup Grosse / Naturimages
Frédéric Spada / Naturimages, Stéphane Bouilland / Naturimages
Martial Colas / Naturimages, Alexandre Cuomo / Naturimages
Alain Balthazard / Naturimages
Christophe Brochard / Naturimages
Serge Deboffle / Naturimages.
Release date: April 7, 2025
France Pavilion – Expo 2025 Osaka
1 stamp, cancel, sheets of 12, info sheet
photogravure
The 36th World Expo is taking place in Osaka Japan, 55 years after their first expo. It runs from April 13 to October 13, 2025 and hosts 160 countries. This year theme is Designing the society of the future, imagining our lives of tomorrow
Designer: Yukiko Noritake
Paris based, Japanese illustrator was picked to design this cross cultural stamp. She posted a few thoughts about the design on her Instagram page:
The Osaka-Kansai Expo has begun!
I had the honour of working on the illustration of the France Pavilion for the stamps issued by the Post Office of France to commemorate the World Expo.
Inspired by the pavilion’s theme, “Hymn of Love”, he painted the impressive central staircase as a ribbon to represent the bonds of friendship that bind France and Japan. Japan, which continues to be at the root of my heart as my roots, and France, which is the stage of my life, are special places for me. As an illustrator, I am very happy to have been able to contribute to the connection between the two countries.
Yukiko Noritake (@yukiko.noritake) • InstagramPhoto & Video
Release date: April 14, 2025
1945 Liberation of the Camps
memory of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camps.
2 stamps, sheets of 15, info sheet
photogravure
Its been 80 years since the horrific sights of the camps were revealed to the world.
On July 23, 1944, the Majdanek extermination camp, located in occupied eastern Poland, was liberated by Soviet troops. This is the first discovery of a death camp. On the Western Front, the same revelation took place on 25 November with the liberation of Struthof, in annexed Alsace, by the American army. As the Allied armies advanced, thousands of concentration and extermination camps of all sizes were liberated, the last being Terezín, Czechoslovakia, on May 8, 1945.
The SS tried to destroy the evidence of their crimes, for example dynamiting the gas chambers of Auschwitz. They also threw the detainees on the roads, hungry and frozen, to other camps further away from the front. Of the 700,000 people interned in January 1945, nearly 300,000 died during the last months of the war.
General Eisenhower, who visited the Ohrdruf camp on April 12, 1945, was disgusted and brought in film crews to bear witness to the Nazi barbarism.
The liberation was not the end of the torment for the deportees. In the camps, supplies and medical care are improvised and undersized. Fearing the spread of the typhus epidemic that was raging in the Bergen-Belsen camp, the Allies kept the deportees in place for several weeks. 13,000 of them died of typhus and their general state of exhaustion.
Finally, when they returned, the survivors – deportees, resistance fighters and Jewish deportees – were confronted with the difficulties of returning to normal life. It was a time to celebrate fighters and heroes rather than victims.
1945 LIBERATION OF THE CAMPS 2025 | The ink square
Remember, every day is a good day to fight a Nazi. Even the smallest pushback has a ripple effect. Not everyone can fight the big battles, but each of us can resist.
“We are only a handful, we are counting on you.”
Esther Senot, a survivor of Auschwitz
Designer: Stéphane Humbert-Basset
Humbert-Basset designed the immensely popular scratch and sniff La Baguette de pain Francaise stamp last year. His stamps have won both the Grand Prix de la philately 2021 and the Trophy for the most beautiful stamp 2021.
Release date: April 28, 2025
French Red Cross “Hand In Hand, Let’s Unite Our Generations To Build Tomorrow”
1 stamps in booklet
photogravure
Funds raised from this issue will go to a variety of projects across France.
Designer: Justine Chanal
Chanal must have burst a few buttons keeping her participation a secret:
This is not an April Fool’s joke!
I had to keep it a secret for several months, but it’s official! 🍾 I collaborated with and, for the creation of a booklet of 10 stamps! For each booklet sold, €2 in donations are given to the Red Cross.🤩 I am very, very proud to share with you this project for which I did the illustration and graphics. 👶🏻🧒🏾👩🏻 🦰👨🏿👵🏽 We have worked to make the intergenerational dimension of the actions carried out by the French Red Cross visible. I loved this collaboration from A to Z! A big thank you for their trust 💗.
JUSTINE CHANAL 〰️ illustratrice (@justine.chanal) • Instagram photos and videos
For the lucky visitors, she did a signing on April 25.
Release date: April 28, 2025
May
Collector – One Piece Youth Series 2025 – The Four New Emperors
new series
2 info sheets, cancel – I’m not quite sure how to categorise this. They are more fun sheets rather than info sheets.
offset
This new series premiers with three sets of stamps focuses on the manga series One Piece. This follows the adventures of pirate Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat crew as they travel the Grand Line hunting for treasure. Created by Eiichiro Oda, the running saga encompasses 111 volumes, an animated tv series and a number of films. It is one of the most successful manga series ever created.
The first release for this new set, The Four New Emperors, features members of the Straw Hat crew
Designer: Emmanuel Vedrenne using original works by ©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei Animation
Release date: May 6, 2025
One Piece Booklet Youth Series 2025 – Straw Hat Crew
12 stamps in booklet
photogravure
Straw Hat Crew and their ship
Designer: Mathilde Laurent using original works by ©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei Animation
Release date: May 6, 2025
One Piece Youth Series 2025 – Monkey D. Luffy
1 stamp, sheets of 15, cancel, info sheet
photogravure
The last in this set features Monkey D. Luffy, captain of the Straw Hat crew.
Designer: Mathilde Laurent using original works by ©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei Animation
Release date: May 6, 2025
The Great Moments of French History – Victory of May 8, 1945 – 80 Years
one stamp on souvenir sheet, souvenir folder
intaglio
On April 30, 1945, when Soviet troops were only a few hundred meters from his bunker and there were only a handful of old men and teenagers left to defend Berlin, Hitler committed suicide with a bullet to the head. Admiral Dönitz, whom the dictator had designated as his successor, first sought to sign a separate peace with the Americans and the British, then, faced with their refusal, resigned himself to capitulation. On 7 May 1945, in Reims, in a college that General Eisenhower had transformed into a headquarters, General Jodl signed the act of capitulation which was to come into force on 8 May. Among the signatories, France is represented by General François Sevez. Even though a Soviet officer was present in Reims, Stalin was angry. He demanded a second German capitulation, in Berlin, to Marshal Zhukov. This will take place on May 8, shortly after 11 p.m. As de Gaulle had imposed General de Lattre de Tassigny, the German Marshal Keitel was astonished, on entering the room, to meet him at the victors’ table: “What? The French too!? In fact, by refusing the defeat of 1940, by creating Free France and by rallying the Resistance behind him, de Gaulle placed the country in the victorious camp and restored its honour. Three days earlier, it was the French army of General Leclerc that had seized the eagle’s nest in Berchtesgaden. On May 8, at 3 p.m., de Gaulle gave a radio speech: “This is the victory of the United Nations and it is the victory of France. Honor to our people whom the terrible trials have not been able to reduce or weaken. While the bells of all the churches in the country rang out at full speed, the crowd took to the streets to express an “immense joy full of tears” (Albert Camus).
THE GREAT HOURS OF FRENCH HISTORY VICTORY OF MAY 8, 1945 – 80 YEARS | The ink square
Designer and engraver: Christophe Laborde-Balen using photos “The crowd on the Champs Elysées on the evening of the capitulation of Nazi Germany”, “Parisians men and women sitting with the soldiers on the army Jeep already full in Paris, France, May 8, 1945” © Keystone France/GAMMA RAPHO
Laborde-Balen began designing and engraving stamps for the French post office in 2015. Among his designs was the impressive The Beast of Gévaudan last year.
Release date: May 9, 2025
EUROPA 2025: National Archaeological Discoveries
1 stamp, sheet of 15, cancel
offset
Œnochoé de Lavau
This Greek oenochoe, wine pourer, on the stamp was discovered in 2015 at Lavau, near Troyes. It was found in a Celtic prince’s tomb dating to the 5th century BCE. The excavation of the tomb was directed by Bastien Dubuis.
The excavation carried out between October 2014 and April 2015 in Lavau in the Aube, on the “Zac du Moutot”, made it possible to study the heart of a monumental funerary complex founded at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age and abandoned during Late Antiquity. This necropolis will be, towards the middle of the Ve s. BC, the burial place of a person whose very high rank is signified by the size and unusual architecture of his monument. This burial, along with that of Vix, is one of the most impressive manifestations of the Celtic “princely phenomenon” and, in this respect, the best documented collection in France.
The Princely Tomb and Monumental Funerary Complex of La Madeleine | Inrap
The Greek wine jug was not the original stamp designed for the EUROPA contest. The post office was set to release a dinosaur stamp designed by Ségolène Derruder and was to be LaPoste’s first linocut stamp.
Shortly after the stamp was announced, there was a flurry of complaints about choosing a dinosaur for an archeological theme.
The visual shows a dinosaur skeleton, an animal that appeared 240 million years ago and disappeared 66 million years ago. This has nothing to do with archaeology, whose objective is to study the human being through all the material remains that have survived over the centuries. A discovery in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, in “Timbres magazine”
After many “Sulphurous comments” were lobbed at the stamp, the post office hastily replaced it with the Œnochoé de Lavau. This might explain the lack of details normally found on LaPoste’s info page.It took a bit of digging to figure out what it is and supply some decent info.
Hopefully the dinosaur will be repurposed for future release. It’s such a happy looking dino!
Designer: Philaposte layout using a photo by © Renaud Bernadet / INRAP
Release date: May 12, 2025
Collector DC
4 stamps on sheet, cancel
offset
Superman, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Batman
Designer: ALL DC characters and elements (c) & TM DC. WB SHIELD: (c)&TM WBEI. (S25)
Release date: May 19, 2025
Claude-Henri De Rouvroy – Count Of Saint-Simon 1760-1825
Nobleman of the ancien regime, real estate speculator, “utopian” socialist and theorizer of the bureaucratic state…
In many ways a fitting embodiment of the spirit of the Super-Enlightenment collection, his thought and life bridge temporally, spiritually and intellectually the 18th and 19th centuries. In the span of his career he moved from active support of the anti-clerical French Revolution of 1789, to vociferous criticism of the resurgent Restoration Church to advocacy of his own renewal of Christianity in Nouveau Christianisme (1825). In his economic beliefs he traversed the apparent divide between the “rationalist” 18th century and the “romantic” 19th century. Thus the early 19th century found him publicizing the liberal economics of the haute bourgeoisie, and the end of his life proposing a centralized economy that aimed to satisfy the needs of all members of society, especially the “poorest and most numerous,” denouncing all inherited wealth along the way. His legacy was ultimately ensured by the Saint Simonians, led by Prosper Enfantin, who took inspiration from his work and went in directions he would not have recognized.
Claude Henri de Rouvroy de Saint-Simon (1760-1825) | The Super-Enlightenment – Spotlight Exhibits
Designer: Bruno Ghiringhelli using the Portrait of the Comte de Saint-Simon, Ravergie Hippolyte (b.1815) / Bibliothèque de L’Arsenal, Paris, France © Archives Charmet / Bridgeman Images.
Release date: May 19, 2025
Éric Schwab 1910-1977
1 stamp, sheet of 9, cancel
photogravure
French photojournalist and war correspondent. He photographed the unphotographable.
Eric Schwab, photographing the unspeakable | Correspondent this link takes you to the AFP archive holding Schwab’s Holocaust photos. Be aware, they are graphic. Not everyone can look at them.
Schwab, who worked for AFP, which had been founded the year before, was an accredited war correspondent with the U.S. Army working with American journalist Meyer Levin. They accompanied the troops as they advanced from camp to camp, capturing proof of the extent of what had gone on there.
It was Schwab who took the pictures of heaps of bodies and skeletal, hollow-eyed survivors that haunt us 70 years later.
A hellish assignment for any journalist, but it was acutely painful for the German-born Schwab because his Jewish mother had been deported in 1943. At the time, he did not know her fate. She did survive, and he would find her, at the end of his journey with the troops, at Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia.
Photos by first eyewitness document concentration camps
Schwab would move to New York City after the war and worked with AFP until the mid 1950s. From there he began working with a number of agencies, such as UN, UNESCO, WHO, FAO, ILO, focusing on their work with refugees.
His last project, Vanishing Paris, was left uncompleted with his death in 1977.
Designer: Valérie Besser © photo Schwabb
Release date: May 26, 2025
The Piton De La Fournaise Reunion Island
21°14′33″S 55°42′32″E
1 stamp, sheet of 12, cancel, info sheet
photogravure
The Piton de la Fournaise, with its active volcano, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2010
The area of Pitons, cirques and remparts of Reunion Island coincides with the core zone of La Réunion National Park. The property covers more than 100,000 ha or 40 % of La Réunion, an island comprised of two adjoining volcanic massifs located in the south-west of the Indian Ocean. Dominated by two towering volcanic peaks, massive walls and three cliff-rimmed cirques, the property includes a great variety of rugged terrain and impressive escarpments, forested gorges and basins creating a visually striking landscape. The property harbours the most valuable natural habitats and the species assemblages they support remaining on the Mascarene Island group. It protects key parts of a recognized global centre of plant diversity and features a remarkably high level of endemism across many taxa. Thereby, Pitons, cirques and remparts of Reunion Island is the most significant and important contribution to the conservation of the terrestrial biodiversity of the Mascarene Islands.
Pitons, cirques and remparts of Reunion Island – UNESCO World Heritage Centre
Designer: Geneviève Marot using photo © Michel Barberon / OnlyFrance.fr. – Leaf outline: © OnlyFrance.fr.
Release date: May 26, 2025
June
First Airmail Link Casablanca – Dakar 1925
mixed offset and intaglio
Designer: James Prunier using a photo by the Latécoère Foundation
Layout Nicolette Humbert
Engraver: Line Filhon
Release date: June 3, 2025
Camille Flammarion 1842 – 1925
Designer and engraver: Louis Genty using a photo Musée de la ville de Paris, Musée Carnavalet Paris, © Archives Charmet / Bridgeman Images
Release date: June 10, 2025
Brodine Flowers
photogravure
Designer: Gérard Lo Monaco
Layout: Alice Amoroso
Release date: June 10, 2025
Colmar 98th Congress Of The Federation Of Philatelic Associations
intaglio
Designer: Sandrine Chimbaud using photographs of Place de la Cathédrale © Jérôme Birling / City of Colmar
Engraver: André Lavergne
Release date: June 10, 2025
Jean D’ormesson 1925 – 2017
photgravure
writer, journalist, philosopher and academician
Designer: Marc-Antoine Coulon using photo Kaï Junemann
Release date: June 16, 2025
Alexandre Grothendieck 1928-2014
photogravure
Designer: Faunesque
Release date: June 16, 2025
French Inventions
photogravure
Images:
- “the calculator” © Musée des arts et métiers-Cnam, Paris/ photo J-C Wetzel
- “the balloon” © Florilegius / Aurimages
- “the folding umbrella” CC0 Paris Musées / Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris
- “The Sewing Machine” © Bridgeman Images
- central © panel Bridgeman Images, Florilegius / Aurimages and “le cinéma” ©PVDE stamp / Bridgeman Images
- “the radio” © T.Besset
- “the phonautograph” © Heritage Images / Bridgeman Images
- “le digicode” ® photo C.Carrière, registered trademark belonging to the company CDVI
Designer: Sylvie Patte and Tanguy Besset
Release date: June 16, 2025
July
Summer Mushrooms
offset
Designer: Bruno GHIRINGHELLI
Photo credits: © Emilie PANDREAU, © David GAULTIER, © Frédéric GRIMAITRE, © David GREYO, © Michel LEFEVRE /Naturimages.
Release Date: July 1, 2025
Oceans
photogravure
Designer: Etienne Théry using an Hemis.fr photos ©
Release Date: July 7, 2025
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