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In a rare move by Royal Mail it has been revealed that April 6, 2004 will see a joint philatelic issue of a single stamp with France’s La Poste to mark the centenary of the signing of the Entente Cordiale.
Traditionally Great Britain has rarely issued joint philatelic issues (some countries do it on a regular basis) and it is 10 years since anything similar happened when the 1994 Opening of the Channel Tunnel designs were similar to those issued by France (see illustration). Prior to that a joint issue with Australia was undertaken in 1988 to mark the bi-centenary of settlement in Australia.
Speaking about the planned tie-up a Royal Mail spokesperson told STAMP MAGAZINE: ‘On April 6, with La Poste, we’ve decided we are going to issue a special stamp. We were attracted to doing a joint issue. It’s a unique thing that’s being done as a one-off with one country’.
As yet exact design ideas for the single stamp haven’t emerged but it’s known that the stamp will be printed inn gravure by Walsall Security Printers and that the issue will be backed up by a first day cover, presentation pack, stamps cards and a coin cover.
The Entente Cordiale was originally signed on April 8, 1904 and was designed to solve a variety of colonial disputes between Britain and France.
• For more on GB stamps go to www.royalmail.com or for more on France stamps go to www.laposte.fr