This is what philatelists, these stamp collectors, call the “First Days” postmark. “We put a special stamp on the stamp [sur lequel on peut lire « Rosa Bonheur, 1822-1899 » et la signature de l’artiste, NDLR] », comments Joëlle Rozier, head of the mail and parcels market in Gironde and Lot-et-Garonne within the La Poste group.
“There is a different stamp for the first two days of sale,” she explains. The “First Days” mention will disappear from the stamp when the product is available nationwide, that is to say from Monday, March 7th. This gives more economic value to the stamp.
Bruno Faure, member of the philatelic association of Bordeaux-Bouscat, was there at the opening of the post office to buy the stamps. For him, “it is part of the history of France”. “I took twelve,” says another collector, who preferred to remain anonymous.
An animal lover
“She was very interested in animals in her work”, assures Isabelle Beccia, in charge of institutional mediation at the Museum of Fine Arts in Bordeaux, present that day for a short presentation of the life of the artist. The one who was the daughter of a Bordeaux painter is best known in the United States, she had herself adopted a lion. For Isabelle Beccia, Rosa Bonheur was “considered a remarkable woman of her time”.