Advertising covers for 2 Val D'Isère hotels in France

Lovely advertising covers from hotels in Val D'Isère, France. Hôtel Bellier and Hotel de Bellevarde. Both covers and from the mid 50's. Would fit nicely in a ski or mountaineering stamps collection.

Hotel Bellier is still in activity today. The hotel is a 3 stars hotel, located close to the ski stations all commodities downtown Val D'Isère.

This French Letter Should Have Been Postage Due

Sometimes in 2011 I received this letter. I was very surprised because I didn't have to pay for it. This is an obvious postage due letter. Grossly underpaid by the Delcampe seller who sent it. Luckily for him, it went through without any problem.

French Franc postage stamps are still valid for postage, except for a few notable exception such as the Petain issues. So what is the problem then?

The problem is that the sender used 4.50 old French Francs, which amount to 0.05 New French Francs which equals to .... 0.01 euros. So he underpaid by 0.57 Euros! This letter should have been franked with 380 FF, not 4.50!

What a way to save money! But I wouldn't do it. Seems it didn't bother that seller tho.

France Coat Of Arms FDC (YT #951) from 1953

My father collects France and when I was a little kid (and before I started to collect stamps) I was fascinated by France's coat of arm stamps. Nothing to do with history or heraldry. As a 7 year old I was just finding them pretty. And there we so many issues of them.

Here's a pair on a FDC. I got this one (and a few others coat of arms FDC's) in a large lot of French first day covers I bought a couple of years ago. Some of these are quite nice looking and make for a nice colorful collection.

If you want a kid to grow interest in philately I'd say these are pretty cool. He can learn about the meaning of each coat of arms (that mean a bit of knights and armor in the mix since most of them come from the medieval period).

And anything's better than Mickey Mouse CTO stamps from Sand Dunes don't you think?

Yvert et Tellier #951 on FDC: Picardie region coat of arms stamps and woman dress in folkloric clothes.

Vintage 40's Bulova Watches Cover From Canada

Before Christmas I bought a few covers from sportster on eBay. This seller specialized in Canadian stamps and covers and he has a nice selection of advertising covers (and more). Great service by the way, fast and everything. Highly recommended.

This is an advertising cover for X.P. Mayhew jeweller, located in Stirling Ontario. They advertise themselves as an authorized distributor for Bulova watches. This jewellery store is still around today (but now located in Picton).

The cover is dated from the mid 40's.

I fancy 40's watches. Watches had a lot of class back then. But then again, I love the 1930's to 50's design and architecture.