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Many of the things we learn are discovered  by necessity, convenience, accumulated experience or by our Social Activity...Our hobby is one of those activities where experience has a major role in it's development... I remember that when I started my "stamp" activity,all I can get from Laos stamps were those relatively unappealing stamps from the 80's and 90's...reality ,however,can be very deceptive, and behind those stamps,identical to many others in that time frame , rests a group of Extraordinary stamps from the 50's,60's and 70's (I used the word 'rests' because these are 'forgotten' stamps, they are not 'desired' how they should be..) and they reached this level ,not only by the enormous quality of the designs but also by the contribution of the usual group of French Master Engravers,in which we must highlight the continuous work (for more than 20 years..)  of Jean Pheulpin.... this post is a first small contribute to those designers and engravers , to their work and above all an effort to put Laos in the way of those who like Great designs and engravings (for those who don't know these stamps yet, of course...)...

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First I like to talk a little about  Laos recent history... French Indochina was occupied by the Japanese in WWII but French dominion returned in 1946.. in 1947 a New constitution created the kingdom of Laos as a territory ruled by King Sisavang Vong that became a part of the French Union in 1947...The Kingdom of Laos became fully independent within the Union in 1953 and in 1956 the state abandoned the Union...

Some of the stamps of this series ( for me, the 1st,2nd,3rd and 6th) are like rich and delicious delicacies that make us abundantly salivate , even before we start eating.. well , just click on the pictures and see for yourself  the beauty and grace of Marc Leguay's designs  and the softness of Pheulpin's Engravings...just beautiful..!!! Mioummm..! Delicious!!!! (I am also a fan of cooking..)..

the life of Marc Leguay is another great example of the number of French Artists (Africanists and Orientalists..) that ended their days in foreign lands, fascinated by foreign cultures and it is a pity that he was obligated to flee to Thailand  to escape the Political Regime imposed in 1975...he done much for Laos and for the Visibility of the country ,specially through his beautiful, beautiful postage stamps designs...

1955 "AIR MAIL / 'Ramayana' (Dramatic Poem)" (6) [Des (Marc Leguay)][Engr (Jean Pheulpin)][Recess (Paris)] Sc(C14,...,C19)

I decided to show the stamps individually , because they are all beautiful and all the work involved is something we must see in detail...we can easily say that Laos stamps are somehow like the "playground" of Marc Leguay, but there were in those days other great native designers like Chamnane Prisayane, and fortunately among the stamps I have to show today , many of them are from this Artist.. please spend some of your time looking to the 20c stamp scan...uuuhfff... beautiful...the bamboo leaves are just amazing and the entire stamp is really a Master piece..!!! the series run's about elephants but some of the images that build the background are sometimes very beautiful also... it is truly the Best elephant Series I know...

1958 "Elephants from Laos" (7) [Des (Chamnane Prisayane)][Engr (Jean Pheulpin)][Recess (Paris)] Sc(41,...,47) 

1959 "King Sisavang Vong" (4) [Des (Chamnane Prisayane)][Engr (Jean Pheulpin)][Recess (Paris)] Sc(52,...,55)

This series remains incomplete , the 1k stamp is missing.. here we've got a series dedicated to Education and the importance of Arts in Laos Culture...two of the stamps represent the Education igniting the flame of Knowledge and giving the student a key that open's many locks...in the other two stamps (remember the 1k is missing...) where stage Art is performed by Laos Artists...

1959 "Education and fine Arts" (4) [Des (Chamnane Prisayane)][Engr (Jean Pheulpin 5k)(R. Fenneteaux 2k)(J. Miermont 3k)][Recess (Paris)] Sc(57,58,59)

Left/Right] This is a Surcharged series of two stamps(already shown) ,one of 1955 and other of 1959... The tax is to help the Refugee fund  in the World Refugee Year ...
1960 "World Refugee Year" (2) Sc(B4,B5)

A incomplete series honoring the Death of king Sisavang Vong...the stamps represent some steps of a Buddhist funeral , so I think that the presence of Black and other sober colors is not a coincidence...I want to highlight the portrait stamp with Jules Piel engraving work (he had 78 years when he done it..) .. it is a beautiful work and what I like the most is the small detail of the light glowing in the king's coat.. (I'm sure that it is not easy for an engraver to achieve this effect so naturally .. remember that in the South East Asia Region Festive and Ceremonial clothes were made of silk or/and other glowing materials...)....

1961 "Funeral of King Sisavang Vong" (4) [Des (Chamnane Prisayane)][Engr (Jean Pheulpin 4k)(André Frères 9k)(Jules Piel 25k)][Recess (Paris)] Sc(66,68,69)

A series representing some of the Laos People...more of  Leguay's  work (actually,just the 3 Air Mail stamps...) and one engraver for each stamp...Vivid and bright colors are common in the empty backgrounds of Marc Leguay works of this period...but the emptiness of the backgrounds always contrasts with the detailed simplicity and versatility of his drawings and create as ending result "out of the ordinary" designs....I think that if there are Artists who deserve to be collected , Leguay is certainly one of them, together with Corrado Mezzana, Leonard Mitchell , some of the French designers and many others (remember that I'm talking about their work as stamp designers...)

1964 "People of Laos" (4) [Des (Marc Leguay 5k,10k,50k)(Thao tuan 25k)][Engr (R. Fenneteaux 5k)(Jean Pheulpin 10k)(Charles Mazelin 25k)(André Frères 50k)][Recess (Paris)] Sc(C43,C44,100,C45)

  

 [Left] a 1962 series about the eradication of Malaria...again we have just one of  3 stamps...2 of them are work of Leguay and the other is from Prisayane...
1962 "Malaria Eradication" (3) [Des (Marc Leguay)][Engr (Jean Pheulpin)][Recess (Paris)] Sc(75)
 [Right] another incomplete series of 4 about the Aid Laos have received through out the years...in this particular stamp, there is a commemoration of the American Aid...
1965 "Foreign Aid" (5) [Des (Ng Cam)][Engr (Combet)][Recess (Paris)] Sc(107)

To end this post , I have another beautiful work of Art... please see that details..really good..!

1971 "50th Anniversary of the Vientiane Rotary Cub" (2) [Des (Ky Phungchaleun)][Engr (J. Miermont)][Recess (Paris)] Sc(215)

This post ,like the others will continue to be in the blog Archive , and my hope is that with time it could bring more and more fans to Laos Philately, because I think that some of the best stamps we have in the Hobby are there .. Yes , from Laos...!

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