Q6  member ESC240

I have recently acquired this probably philatelic cover, which appears to have travelled between Djibouti and Marseille (red rubber stamp), on route to Toulon (purple rubber stamp), and been posted at sea aboard the C.G.M.(?) Marion Dufresne (blue rubber stamp), as attested by the blue rubber stamp "signature" of her Master, C. Loudes. What interests me as an Egypt collector, however, is that the F2.30 French definitive has been cancelled on disembarkation at Port Said with a Paquebot mark I don't know, dated 7.10.91, diameter 26mm and date box of 21x11mm, before passing further through the Egpyian postal service with a Cairo AP./A.C.T.1 postmark of the next day. There are no backstamps, and the sealed envelope has no contents. Is this Paquebot mark a new one?

R1  Dec. 2005 member 239



I also have a cover with the same postmark.

R2 January 10, 2006 member ESC 383

I sold such a cover in the ESC auction about two years ago. I illustrate another one bearing Dutch stamps; on the back it reads "on board ms NEDLLOYD LINGE”. There is a curious detail: the datestamp at right reads 32.9.78, which has been corrected by the postmark at left, which reads 23.9.78.



R3 January 10, 2006 member ESC 534

I have a partial update to Q&A No 6/QC 215, page 95 (the QC version of this query): Concerning the blue handstamp "CGM MARION DUFRESNE", CGM signifies Compagnie Générale Maritime, a French maritime company created in 1973-77(by the fusion of the Messageries Maritimes company and Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. Marion Dufresne, the first vessel with that name, was a maritime research vessel usually working in the French and Austral Antarctic Territories (TAAF in philately). Her description and career (which ended in 2004)can be seen (in French) on

http://www.frenchlines.com/ship_fr_1225.php







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