French post in Egypt

Four French post offices worked in Egypt (in Alexandria , Cairo , Port Said and Suez ) ^[1] , but only two (in Alexandria and Port Said ^[2] ) remained after 1890 and only stamps were issued for them (about stamp issues see the next section).

Alexandria

The French post office in Alexandria opened on May 1, 1837 ^[1] (according to the Encyclopedia of the History of Post, in 1830 ^[3] ). In 1857-1876, French postage stamps were used ^[2] . Since 1852, a numbered dotted rhombic figured postmark with the number "3704" , indicated by , was used at the post office, and in 1863, correspondence was canceled by a number stamp with the number "5080", composed by ^{[2] [4]} . The post office was closed on March 31, 1931 ^[2] .

Cairo

A French postal office was opened in Cairo in November 1865 ^[1] . In 1872, it was transformed into a post office. For cancellation of mail items, a numbered dotted rhombic figured stamp with large numbers "5119" ^{[4] was used} . The post office was closed in March 1875 ^[1] .

Port Said

The French Post Office in Port Said was opened in June 1867. ^{[1] [2]} In 1867-1899, French postage stamps were used. At the post office, a numbered dotted rhombic figured stamp with the number "5129" was used. The post office was closed on March 31, 1931 ^[2] .

Suez

A French postal office was opened in Suez in November 1862 ^[1] . A numbered dotted rhombic figured stamp “5105” with large numbers was used ^[4] . The post office ceased operation in December 1888 ^[1] .

France issued postage stamps for each of the two post offices (in Alexandria and Port Said), usually at the same time and with the same general characteristics, with an inscription or overprint for the first post office of the word fr. “ALEXANDRIE” (“Alexandria”), and for the second - “PORT-SAID” (“Port Said”).

The first issue came out in 1899; it was an overprint of the name of the post office (indicated above) on the that were in circulation at that time , for a total of 15 denominations from one centime to five francs . The shortage of 25 centime face value stamps in Port Said led to the appearance of an overprint of the new face value on 10 centime stamps: “PORT SAID / VINGT / CINQ” (“Port Said / Twenty / Five”). Several of them were additionally overprinted with the number “25” in red.

The first postage stamps to be labeled with the data of post offices were French postage stamps of the 1900 model, the which was changed to include the names of post offices. Postage stamps of 15 denominations were issued in 1902 and 1903.

In 1919, the supply problem associated with an increase in the volume of forwarded correspondence (due to the devaluation of the gold franc ^[1] ) prompted the administration to use Port Said postage stamps in Alexandria .

In 1921, a new face value was printed on postage stamps in Egyptian currency at the rate of approximately 2.5 centimes per mile ^[5] . Several types of overprints are known. In Alexandria, the local overprints look like “4 Mill.” (“4 Mill.”), Etc., while in Port Said - “4 / Milliemes” (“4 / millema”), with the number dialed typographic grotesque . Soon after, both post offices received overprints made in Paris ; overprint text: “4 / MILLIEMES” (“4 / milema”), etc. On the new issue of overprints in 1925, black stripes were added to seal the denominations in French currency.

In 1927 and in 1928, reprints of stamps of previous drawings were made, but with different denominations in miles, ranging from 3 m to 250 m.

In 1928-1930, the joint issue of surcharge stamps was used in both post offices ^[2] .

• Alexandria-1 // Large Philatelic Dictionary / N. I. Vladinets, L. I. Ilyichev, I. Ya. Levitas ... [and others ] ; under the general. ed. N.I. Vladinets and V.A. Jacobs. - M .: Radio and communications, 1988. - P. 12. - 40,000 copies. - ISBN 5-256-00175-2 .
• Porta-Said issues // Large Philatelic Dictionary / N. I. Vladinets, L. I. Ilyichev, I. Ya. Levitas ... [ and others ] ; under the general. ed. N.I. Vladinets and V.A. Jacobs. - M .: Radio and communications, 1988. - S. 229. - 40,000 copies. - ISBN 5-256-00175-2 .
• United Arab Republic: Explanation of the scheme. 3. The city of Port Said. 4. The city of Alexandria. // Philatelic geography (foreign countries): Reference book / L. L. Lepeshinsky. - M .: Communication, 1967. - S.? - ?. - 480 p.
• Stanley Gibbons Ltd: Various Catalogs
• Rossiter S., Fowler J. The Stamp Atlas: A Unique Assembly of Geography, Social and Political History, and Postal Information. - 1st edn. - L. , Sydney: Macdonald, 1986. - 336 p. - ISBN 0-356-10862-7 . (eng.)

• AskPhil - Glossary of Philatelic Terms: Egypt, French Offices
• Egypt (French Post Offices ) . A — Z of postal authorities. Encyclopaedia of Postal History . Stampsite: The Encyclopaedia of Postal Authorities. - Information on the stamps of French mail in Egypt in the database “Encyclopedia of the history of mail. Encyclopedia of Post Offices. " Date of treatment March 17, 2010. Archived November 20, 2008.
• Alexandria (French Post Office) A — Z of postal authorities. Encyclopaedia of Postal History . Stampsite: The Encyclopaedia of Postal Authorities. - Information on the brands of French mail in Alexandria in the database “Encyclopedia of the history of mail. Encyclopedia of Post Offices. " Date of treatment March 17, 2010. Archived November 20, 2008.
• Port Said (French Post Office ) . A — Z of postal authorities. Encyclopaedia of Postal History . Stampsite: The Encyclopaedia of Postal Authorities. - Information about the brands of French mail in Port Said in the database “Encyclopedia of the history of mail. Encyclopedia of Post Offices. " Date of treatment March 17, 2010. Archived October 14, 2008.