I have an interest in collecting stamps on selected narrow themes and have shared articles in the past. One theme is a natural extension of my microscopy hobby and keep an eye out for particularly interesting examples. The first day cover acquired recently is one of my favourites and shown below.
Issued by T.A.A.F - Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises.
Postmarked 1990 'T.A.A.F' - Dumont - D'Urville - T. Adélie
Credits - Editions J.F. Courbevoie, Ed. Farcigny, 92400 Courbevoie, France. The publisher has a well established website on the range of their philately items.
The stamp and cover celebrates marine protistology. Familiar copepods are shown but also an organism from a group that had not heard of, a chonotrich. The stamp detail shows the fine engraving together with a copepod and a map of the Kerguelen islands. If the paucity of information online is an indicator, the group has not been well studied and reported. A Bing search prompted a chuckle as the majority of the few image hits were for Chronotech watches! Even Google reports less than one page of images. Wikipedia has a single sentence entry quoted here in full: Chonotrichia is a subclass of phyllopharyngeid ciliates. These single-celled organisms are sessile at maturity and usually live on crustaceans as ectosymbionts.
The T.A.A.F is described in the Wikipedia entry for French Southern and Antarctic Lands as an 'overseas territory' of France. This includes the Kerguelen Islands and also Adélie Land. The postmark suggests the cover may have been franked at Dumont D'Urville, a station on Adélie Land, the sector of Antarctica claimed by France.
I also have a particular interest in finely engraved stamps rather than those using the now more common printing techniques. This is a fine example. They show the skills and artistry of the engraver and stamp designer. Kerguelen is also well figured.
The copyright of the cover and stamp, Editions Jean FARCIGNY EPP Cérès Editions (album-de-timbres.com) remains with the publisher and shown here at a modest resolution under 'Fair Use' for commentary and research.
Comments to the author David Walker are welcomed.