After that worldwide chocolate roundup a few days ago, I certainly have chocolate on the brain – lots of recommendations from readers and still my own chocolate drawer filled to the brim with new bars to taste. (Might need another roundup soon!) It seems like I am seeing and smelling chocolate everywhere. Even in my mailbox.
A little envelope arrived today from France. In it were two sheets of stamps resembling a chocolate bar. There is even artwork around the perforations to represent the wrapper’s foil – so fun. Ten 56 centime stamps to a sheet, each with a different image related to Le Chocolat – cocoa pods, someone biting into a bar, a cup of hot chocolate and most important of all perhaps, one that says Bayonne 1609. About a month ago, my friend Chloé Doutre-Roussel (chocolate maven herself) sent me a link for an article in Le Point, announcing France’s new chocolate stamps. They were designed to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first arrival of cocoa beans at the port of Bayonne in France, near the Spanish border. Definitely worthy of a celebration! I unfortunately could not be in Bayonne for the festivities, but asked a friend in France to mark her calendar for May 25th when these stamps would be available at post offices throughout the country.
Well, there are some serious chocolate fans and/or stamp collectors in the town of Chalon-sur-Saône! Sold out, and the post office is still waiting for more chocolate stamps to come in. So I asked my mother-in-law to go to her local post office and send some on. That same day, I received an email from her that read, “Got the stamps! But boy oh boy does my handbag smell of chocolate!” Oh, did I mention… the stamps SMELL like chocolate too?!
First thing I did when I opened the envelope this morning was put the sheet to my nose. Lo and behold, they smell like chocolate! I don’t know for how long these stamps will be available (nor for how long the aroma will last!), but if you live in France, it’s worth a visit to your local Poste to get a whiff – or if your friends (or mother-in-law) live there, have them check. Otherwise, you can order them online. In case you are wondering – no, the stamps don’t actually taste like chocolate too when you lick them!
Here in Switzerland, we have some fun stamps too – cheese, potatoes, a Swiss army knife and chocolate too of course. Only thing is, they all smell like… stamps.
Tags: Chocolate, France, Stamps, Switzerland
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June 19th, 2009 at 18:58
Soit ils en ont eu peu et en ont fait la pub soit… je ne sais pas mais il n’y en a toujours pas
C’est chouette que ta belle maman ai pu en trouver!!!!!!!
June 19th, 2009 at 19:05
Merci ma Stéphanie d’avoir essayé de trouver ces timbres chocolatés. J’espere que ta poste les recevra bientot pour que toi aussi tu en aies !
June 19th, 2009 at 20:54
Stamps that make you feel hungry?…………*thinks* Stick to the diet! Stick to the diet! eight kilos gone, four to go don’t break now.
Chocolate stamps, that smell like chocolate, you have to take your hat off to the ideas department of the French Post Office.
BBE
June 21st, 2009 at 00:01
BBE, think of it this way: chocolate –> enjoy the aroma without the calories! Good luck for those 4 kilos, 8 down already, bravo ! And yes the French post office definitely had a fun, creative brainstorming session. Chapeau indeed !
June 21st, 2009 at 14:21
What a fun idea having stamps with a fragrance. Just think that you can send a letter and tell people that they have an extra treat….chocolate!!! From your photography it looks as if the stamps are really chocolate. Once again I have to say bravo to the photos….sorry that the computer is not scratch and sniff!!!
June 22nd, 2009 at 00:05
Next they should make some with photos of lavender in Provence, scented of course!
I didn’t know there were such lovely Swiss stamps…
June 22nd, 2009 at 17:04
Lani, now wouldn’t that be cool – a computer screen that is scratch and sniff !
Amanda, that is an awesome idea – stamps that have the aroma of Provence’s lavender fields. But of course ! Or how about those that smell like Brittany’s salted butter caramels, haha! Mmm, I would buy those for sure!
June 23rd, 2009 at 00:59
These are fabulous!
June 24th, 2009 at 19:05
where are the teethmarks?!
June 25th, 2009 at 10:59
Solo Road Trip, LOL ! Teethmarks came post-photo shoot! What else was I to do with an open bar of chocolate and stamps that only smelled like chocolate? Just wait for the next chocolate round-up…. !
June 27th, 2009 at 18:59
That’s the coolest chocolate. I don’t think we will EVER receive any mail if we use that.
June 28th, 2009 at 11:18
[...] This post was Twitted by womanontheroad [...]
June 29th, 2009 at 23:06
Only you would find Chocolate scented stamps Kerrin…and even more to the point; lick a hard to find stamp to see if it tasted like chocolate too
July 26th, 2009 at 11:02
Fantastic French chocolate stamps! First before reading, I’ve looked at the first picture and thought it was some real chocolate bars you wanted to sent by mail! Lol! I’m a chocolate addict!
July 27th, 2009 at 17:32
Mademoiselle Le K, a fellow chocolate addict ? Lovely to meet you !
There’s plenty of chocolate to enjoy on this blog, that’s for sure. And always more to come. So funny that you thought the first picture of stamps was real chocolate – fooled you ! haha!
February 20th, 2010 at 21:34
Wow these are cool a must have for chocolate addicts.
February 22nd, 2010 at 19:23
Wah des timbres en chocolat, je ne savais pas que ça existait, j’aimerais bien en avoir quelques une maintenant pour compléter la collection de mon père ou les goûter ^^’.
March 5th, 2010 at 16:36
i really love choclates and i really really love this post
March 7th, 2010 at 17:03
Nice collection!