As a direct consequence of the COVID-19 health crisis, and like other countries, all philatelic events scheduled in France from March 2020 have been cancelled or postponed to later dates. Among them were three events in which it had been planned to issue new variable value stamps or vignettes LISA.

The major spring philatelic event, the 41st Salon Philatélique de Printemps, was to be held from March 27th to 29th in Dole, in the Jura department, eastern France. The city has previously hosted the Timbres Passion 2007, during which a vignette LISA dedicated to Louis Pasteur was released (see article, published in VARIABLE 7). Given the virus crisis, the CNEP (Chambre syndicale française des Négociants et Experts en Philatélie), organizers of the spring and autumn fairs, decided to cancel this philatelic event ... but not the related issues.

Indeed, Phil@poste announced the release of the 'Dole' engraved stamp (right), another great work by Yves Beaujard, together with a special vignette LISA. The CNEP, for its part, had scheduled its usual commemorative 'block'. The stamp was released on its scheduled date of March 30th, and the customized block was distributed from April by the associated stamp dealers.

Phil@poste also prepared two special pictorial postmarks for the Salon Philatélique de Printemps, a general one and another for the first day of issue of the 'Dole' stamp. It was not possible to mail any postal items on these dates, so their use was limited to commemorative material.

Furthermore, the rolls of labels had already been manufactured and delivered to the local La Poste prior to the covid 19 lockdown. After several weeks of uncertainty over this issue and with the post offices operating at reduced staffing levels and opening hours, the management of La Poste announced that it would accept orders received for stamps with this design. The orders were finally printed by postal employees at an IER LISA 2 kiosk installed in the Dole Grevy post office during the second half of June 2020.

The design of this LISA issue is by Bruno Ghiringhelli, designer of several issues including three designs for LISA released in 2011 (Philaouest 2011 in Montlouis-sur-Loire -article and VARIABLE 21-, Journées Européennes du Patrimoine in Aix-en- Provence -article and VARIABLE 22-, and Facteur rural à bicyclette 1894 in L'Adresse Musée de La Poste -article and VARIABLE 23-).

The design brings together two outstanding buildings in the city, the 'Le Doubs et la Loue', an ornamental fountain located on Place Grévy, and the church of Saint-Jean-l'Évangéliste, a heritage site which is part of the French monuments historiques.

		Left. The sculpture was created in 2000 by the painter and sculptor Pierre Duc. Two figures representing Le Doubs and La Loue, the city's two rivers, are sitting on the equator of a globe-shaped structure. Below. The Saint-Jean-l'Évangéliste church was a project designed by the architects Anton Korady and André David-Cottet, and consecrated in June 1964. The great monumental bronze grille surrounding the building is the work of the sculptor Maurice Calka.

With the IER LISA 2 kiosk installed in the post office, the variable value stamps released in Dole with this design include the usual (and annoying) 2D Datamatrix code plus the La Poste logo both located on the right hand side of the labels.

Inland economic mail - CC    ECOPLI	Inland priority mail (D+2) - DD    LETTRE VERTE
Inland priority mail (D+1) AA    LETTRE PRIORITAIRE	International priority mail IP    LETTRE PRIORITAIRE INTERNATIONALE

Inland tracked 'Ecopli' mail - CC    ECOPLI + bar code label 'Sticker suivi'

After the Salon Philatélique de Printemps, the annual general assembly of Philapostel, initially scheduled for May 21st to 23rd at the Azuréva resort in Ronce-les-Bains, was delayed until mid-October, finally ending up as a video conference due to the continuing lockdown situation. The planned LISA issue has been postponed until the 2021 assembly, which will be held at the same place as the scheduled 2020 event.

Paris-Philex 2020, the major philatelic event of the year announced for mid-June, was also cancelled, and some of the scheduled activities have been postponed until a planned -and as yet uncertain- Salon Philatélique d'Automne which will be extended to five days, from November 4th to 8th ... the authorities and the health situation allowing. The FFAP scheduled its annual congress during the Paris-Philex event. Both the congress and the release of the associated vignette LISA have been delayed until November.