France. ATM issue 65 Salon Philatelique automne

Every year, during the first half of November, the Chambre syndicale française des Négociants et Experts en Philatélie (CNEP) organizes the largest annual philatelic event in France, the Salon Philatélique d'Automne.

The 65th Salon d'Automne was held from November 3rd to 6th 2011, in the usual exhibition hall at Espace Champerret, in Paris.

The Salon 2011 brought together more than 80 stands of philatelic dealers and specialist press, 11 European postal administrations (Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, San Marino, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Nations and Vatican), plus the United Kingdom as the guest of honour, as well as the Overseas departments and territories of France (Mayotte, New Caledonia, Polynesia, Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, TAAF, and Wallis and Futuna).

During the 4 days of the autumn's fair, La Poste released different philatelic issues, with their associated postmarks. The CNEP put its usual annual block on sale, as well as a special folder or 'collector', commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast of the television program 'Télé-Philatélie', dedicated to philately, and presented by Jacqueline Caurat, who was present in the Salon. The French association Art du Timbre Gravé organized a massive autograph session, with the presence of 26 stamp designers, and the exhibition of the 12 works participating in the Prix René Cottet, dedicated in 2011 to the UK. The FFAP organized a philatelic exhibition and there were the awards of the 61 Grand Prix de l'Art Philatélique, plus competitions, demonstrations, and more... A wide and comprehensive offering for the thousands of visitors that come each year to this important philatelic event.

For more information on the previous annual Salons d'Automne, you can read the articles devoted to the events of 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, also published in VARIABLE 3, 7, 11, 15 and 19.


Stand of the United Kingdom philatelic service	Autograph session with stamp designers


The Phil@poste stands

As in 2009, Phil@poste released two special vignettes d'affranchissement for the Salon d'Automne 2011, with the distinction that one of the designs was issued with two Monétel LISA 1 distributors, using mechanical printing, and the other design with two IER LISA 2 XP postal kiosks, using thermal printing. Both issues are dedicated to the UK, as the guest of honour in 2011, 40 years after it was the first guest of honour at the Salon in 1971.

The first design, issued by the 2 Monétel LISA 1 machines, is by Louis Briat. It's a composition showing some of the most important monuments of London and Paris. On the left, London is represented by the Big Ben, St Pancras Station and Tower Bridge. On the right, Paris with the Pont Neuf, the Tour Eiffel and the Gare du Nord.

The self-adhesive labels are printed offset in 4-colours by Phil@poste. The label size is 80 x 30 mm., and incorporates a phosphorescent vertical strip at each edge of the design. The total production was 40,000 labels, although the number of ATMs finally issued is unknown.

Considering the distributor used for the issue, its programmed prefixes, and the current postal rates on the date of issue, the basic set for this design is made up from 4 values - E 0,55 EUR - 0,60 EUR - P 0,77 EUR - LETTRE 1,00 EUR, corresponding to the basic rates for economic domestic mail (E), priority domestic mail (without prefix), priority international mail (P),
and priority domestic mail for letters above 20 g. (LETTRE). The minimum face value programmed was 0.55 EUR.


E - Inland post *Economique / Ecopli*	Inland post *Prioritaire*

P - International Priority mail - *Prioritaire*	LETTRE - Inland letters above 20 g.

At the request of users, Monétel distributors can provide receipts showing a list of the ATMs issued, and these are printed on a similar self-adhesive label to those used for the stamps.

Receipts with the list of stamps issued considering the prefixes set, and the total.
Below, blank label and imprint test - TEST IMPRIMANTE

St Pancras station in London (left) and Paris Gare du Nord (right) are the terminals for the Eurostar train, connecting the two cities through the Channel Tunnel, and the theme for one of the 65 Salon d'Automne special postmarks, depicting both railway stations and the Eurostar train.

The second design, also dedicated to the UK, was issued from the two IER LISA 2 XP, using thermal printing. The composition by Claude Perchat shows the UK 1840 Penny Black - the first stamp issued in the world and the first French stamp - the 1849 Cérès, respectively.

In this case, the labels are printed offset in 4-colours by Phil@poste on thermal self-adhesive paper. The label size is 80 x 30 mm., and incorporates a phosphorescent vertical strip at each edge of the design. The total production for this design was also 40,000 labels, and the total stamps issued are also unknown.

Unlike Monétel distributors, the IER LISA 2 postal kiosks are configured with a wide tariff program allowing customers to obtain ATMs with up to 20 different texts (on the date of issue), as well as stamps with no text, just a value.
As with the other design, the minimum face value programmed in the two kiosks was 0.55 EUR, although there are ATMs of this design with smaller face values.

The following images show ATMs with the minimum face values for the first weight step and for the most common text and shipment types, both for domestic and international mail, with the current postage rates on the date of issue.


Test label	Inland economic mail - ECOPLI

Inland mail - LETTRE VERTE	Inland priority mail - LETTRE PRIORITAIRE

International priority mail LETTRE PRIORITAIRE INTERNATIONALE	Inland priority mail - Small parcels MINI MAX

International priority mail - Small parcel PETIT PAQUET PRIORITAIRE INTERNATIONAL	Registered domestic mail, first security level R L1

Phil@poste prepared different special postmarks for the Salon, 2 of which were primarily used with the ATM issues.


Claude Perchat (left) and Louis Briat (right), the ATM designers, participated in the autograph sessions at the *Salon d'Automne*.