On La Poste’s website they seem to distinguish a subclass of stamps called “Beaux-timbres”. I doubt this means literally beautiful stamps, since that’s a judgement call. I assume “Beaux” in this instance means something else, like non self-stick, or commemorative, or new release. Can you translate this philatelic expression into English?
Thanks.
Though I’m not a philatelist, I am francophone.
The difference is a stamp (“timbre”) is for the usual postal purposes, and a “beaux-timbre”, an attractive stamp, is a commemorative/special issue affair.
But they use the word “commemorative” to describe those kind of stamps. There must be a further distinction.
A “speculative issue”, perhaps? A speculative issue is a stamp released for collectors, not for a legitimate postal need. Though they are denominated (have a postal value attached), they are generally not used for actually mailing things. There are a lot of variations here; I have some printed on steel (to celebrate the opening of a steel mill in, I think, Qatar), others that are holographic, some printed on colored foil. Since they are not intended for postal use, they are generally not prized by “serious” philatelists, but many can be very interesting.
“Commemorative” just means that the stamp was issued to celebrate some person, place, or event, and are usually issued for a limited time. The steel stamps I described are commemorative, but not issued for postal use.
I was a stamp collector as a child in the 1960’s, at a time when many former colonies around the world (especially in Africa) were becoming independent. Many of them latched onto the idea of flooding the market with artistic postage stamps, at a time when full-color stamps were quite a novelty. Lots of those stamps were issued in sets with a variety of preposterous denominations that nobody was ever really going to use for postage.
Well, BwanaBob, I poked around a little more and uncovered a site dedicated to French philately. Here is specifically an article that may be of value: https://www.lemonde.fr/mondephilatelique/article/2020/07/26/isy-ochoa-un-beau-timbre-c-est-une-palette-chatoyante-et-une-composition-qui-font-que-le-regard-s-eternise-dans-l-image_6047312_5470897.html
It’s an interview with painter Isy Ochoa, who has had 60 paintings made into stamps. Early on in the article, he basically says a “beau-timbre” is a stamp that is visually attractive and compelling to look upon. A lot of words to say, “A beautiful stamp is a beautiful stamp,” in essence. Skimming through the rest of the article, I don’t find anything to contradict this notion. What I do also see Isy Ochoa saying (loosely, from memory):
“The esteem of stamps could be boosted by adding a sense of nobility to writing.”
“The stamp should make people want to write.”
“It should be trendy to write to a friend.”
The implication seems to be that these “beaux-timbres” should be used, and the only distinguishing feature of a “beau-timbre” from a regular stamp is that they are very attractive to look upon.
Lemonade.fr seems to be dedicated towards the art of philately, so if you find a way to get in touch with the site’s operator (Pierre Julien) and both of you can (or will) cross the language barrier, you’ll get an answer that’s as authoritive as it’s going to get if this remains unsatisfactory to you.
(Or push comes to shove, perhaps you could post a link to the article itself?)
Thanks for the find!
Nitpick: Isy Ochoa is referred to as a woman in that article, not a man.
In this case, I made a typo. No offence or presumption was meant to Isy Ochoa, who has made some very fine paintings that look pretty nice as stamps, I have to admit.