Always on the lookout for innovation, Philaposte, the philatelic arm of La Poste, launched a scented stamp featuring the baguette de pain on May 16, the day on which Saint-Honoré, the patron saint of bakers, is celebrated. In partnership with the Confédération nationale de la boulangerie-pâtisserie française (CNBPF), this stamp diffuses a scent reminiscent of the smell of a bakery.
Designed by Grenoble-based artist Stéphane Humbert-Basset, a regular contributor to La Poste, 594,000 copies were rotogravure printed at the French group's printing plant in Boulazac, Dordogne.
The ink on this stamp contains scented capsules, created especially for the occasion by a supplier and Philaposte's R&D office. " The stamp doesn't exactly reproduce the smell of a baguette, which is almost impossible to capture, but it does diffuse the scent of a bakery, recalling the smell of croissants, loaves of bread, brioches...", explained a spokeswoman for La Poste.
Short runs overcome the technical difficulties of scented prints
The technical difficulty of this type of printing lies in preserving the scent throughout the print run. To guarantee the quality of the capsules before printing, the 594,000 stamps were printed in shorter runs than a conventional stamp.
La Poste regularly produces scented stamps, such as strawberry, mint or forest scented. And these Special editions can have a significant marketing impact. "When we released the first chocolate-scented stamp in 2009, it met with unexpected international success, recalls the spokeswoman. This new stamp, also emblematic of France (and already out of stock, editor's note), has enjoyed almost similar success, with articles appearing in major English-language press titles such as The Times or Herald Tribune ."
La Poste also produces stamps with embossing, hot foil gilding or textured paper (such as the stamps depicting the Aubusson tapestries), again at the Boulazac printing works.
The next stamp with a special finish will honor the Philex 2024 trade show, s alon for collectors and philatelic enthusiasts from May 30 to June 1. Then at the end of June, the 90th anniversary of the French Air Force will be celebrated with a midnight blue stamp with gold hot foil stamping.
