The first postage stamp was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1840 by Rowland Hill and James Chalmers. This stamp, the penny black, had a face value of a penny and revolutionized the postal system in that it was now up to the sender to bear the cost of postage and not the recipient as had been the case until then. Because it was now so cheap to send letters, even by 1840 a penny was not a lot of money, the change prompted an almost instant increase in the amount of mail. Other countries took notice and reformed their own postal system, amongst which Brazil in 1843, the United States in 1847 and France in 1849.
While the same change was proposed as soon as 1837 in France, it took nine years for the postal administration to change, following the 1848 revolution and the impetus of Arago. The first French stamp featured Ceres, the Roman divinity for agriculture and had a face value of 20 centimes or cents. The drawing of Ceres is from Jean Jacques Barre. The Ceres stamp was enough to pay for an envelope up to 7.5 grams to be sent anywhere in France. Shortly after was released a 40 centimes stamp color orange for bigger envelopes and a vermilion red 1 Franc stamp. However, the color of the 1 Franc stamp was too similar to the 40 centimes stamp and people were confusing them. This lead to a change in color for the 1F stamp from vermilion red to deep carmine. Today, the vermilion red 40 centimes stamp is the rarest of French stamps.
French Stamps Today
Stamp collecting is the number one hobby in France with more than two million people practicing it. Exotic islands, botanic, birds, stamp sheets, specimens or air post stamps are popular themes amongst French stamps collectors. Like in other countries, the value of French stamps is often determined by some type of unusual feature some stamps are known to exhibit. This is true for old and new stamps alike. For example, the 1989 stamp commemorating the Revolution designed by Folon is worth less than a euro, but if the signature of Folon is lacking the value of the stamp jumps to 180 euros. Similarly, if the face value of the stamp issued in 2004 commemorating the entente cordiale between France and England is lacking, the stamp can be worth 300 euros and up.
How old a stamp is also plays a big role in its valuation. There are three main periods in the history of the French stamp: the classic period from 1840 to 1900 ; the semi modern period, from 1900 to 1939 and the modern period from 1939 onwards. Stamps from the classical period are highly valued, especially the vermilion red 1 franc featuring Ceres from 1849-1850, which costs 90 000 euros new and 20 000 euros used. A bloc of four of such stamps sold for 820 000 euros at auction because one of the stamps was "t'te-b'che", printed upside down.
Interested in learning French lately? "Magnifique!" French language is such a rich language with a rich cultural background. If you can speak French, you are considered a person with such a great learning skill because speaking French is difficult. The pronunciation alone could take you months to master.
But this doesn't entirely mean it's impossible to learn French as a second language. This is one of the many reasons why many people easily gives up in learning the language or any other languages. But nothing can't be learned if motivation, patience and practice is put in to the act of doing it.
Think about how the rest of the world tries to learn the English language. They too have difficulties of their own but since they expose themselves to everything English as they learn, they come out eventually, successful. The same result happens with a native English speaker since the accent and intonation can both be easily distinguished if it's done by a native or not.
Online guides and free audio materials are helpful in learning the French language. There is much to it in the pronunciation of the French words that an English learner needs to learn and it is recommended that a person has to be exposed to French words, programs, songs and movies while on the process of learning.
To make sure you land yourself a good spot amongst native French speakers, make sure that you embrace the French alphabet and proper pronunciation. Having said this, we again go back to how practice should be done after French lessons. Nothing is better than putting to the test what you have learned so far. Even if this means you make mistakes. The truth is that you will never learn if you don't commit mistakes. But if you think you always do, don't worry, as long as you have the will to carry on, you will get over mistakes quick enough before you can say "Ces't la vie!"
Both Mat Depp & Shareen Aguilar are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.