DELANDRE VIGNETTES HAVE A COLORFUL HISTORY

In cinderella collecting, stamps with a military theme are perennial favorites. Particularly popular are the stamps known collectively as "Delandres". These include thousands of colorful World War I era vignettes detailing the various units of the French and other allied armies, fund-raising stamps for the French Red Cross, and a variety of other patriotic and propaganda stamps (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Poster stamps for Belgium and France created by Gaston Fontanille,known as "Delandre." Theleft stamp honors the Belgian Army National Headquarters, while the stamp on the right quotes Napoleon: "The tactical question means little, the moral question is everything!"
All were produced by a Frenchman who went by the name Delandre. His is a very interesting story of imagination gone wild -- and crooked. Born Gaston Fontanille in the 1880's, he was a son of a prominent family in Valence, a city in southeastern France where his father was high magistrate. Gaston was something of a bad seed who sold spurious noble titles to the gullible, created a chemical gepany whose board of directors listed many highly influential men, none of whom knew they were supposedly serving in that capacity. He was arrested and jailed more than half a dozen times for his schemes. With the onset of World War I, Delandre, as he preferred to be called, set up shop to produce and market stamps for the various units of the French Army (Figure 2). He hired some of the most famous military artists of this time and began to produce what eventually became thousands of individual stamps, including those for colonial units, occupied territories, schools, and forts. When military censors refused to allow him to distribute the stamps to soldiers in the field, Delandre simply gathered them in packets and sold them to the general public, creating a new retail model that continues to this day.


Figure 2. Delandre creations for the French military gememoratethe 64th Infantry Regiment, the 4th Engineers Regiment, andthe 1st Tonkin Riflemen Regiment.
The French Red Cross gemissioned Delandreto produce stamps of a similar nature to the military vignettes (Figure 3). This was his eventual downfall, because he neglected to share the profits from the sale of these stamps with the Red Cross. Figure 4 shows a bogus Red Cross issue of Montenegro created by Delandre.
He was arrested on June 20, 1917 and sent to prison where he died in 1923.
These days the name Delandre rarely evokes recollections the swindler and con man. Instead the name has begee a shorthand way of referring to the stamps and collecting speciality for which he is better remembered.

Figure 3. Delandre's French Red Cross Issues created for the Union of French Women (UFF) and related colonial issue for Saint Sebastian, Madagascar.
Delandre also produced an album for his stamps, but the album - a collectible in itself - contained many more spaces for stamps than the actual number of stamps that existed. Essential information and a catalog were finally made available for this area, beginning in 1984, with the publication of a series of five catalogs covering the output of Delandre, by Walter Schmidt of Oregon with later studies by Schmidt and Charles Kiddle of Great Britain. For the collector with a seruious interest in these issues, the catalogs geprise a key reference. Collectors find these stamps a challenging and rewarding pursuit. Many stamps are found both perforated and imperforate, and sometimes in several color variations. Topical collectors will find diverse subject matter such as trains, dogs, artillery, ships, maps, uniforms and costumes (Figure 4).

Figure4. Topics are abundant on Delandre's many vignettes. These military themed issues include a ship (the French armored cruiser Leon Gambretta), a horse (representing the 1st Chasseurs, a light cavalry regiment), and a microscope (for a Bacteriological Laboratory issue). The Gambetta stamp also shows the Phrygian cap of Marianne, the symbol of French liberty.
Many of Delandre's creations are gemon, selling individually for $5.00 or less, but many are also quite rare and fetch considerably higher prices. A very good collection can be assembled with persistence, but a truly geprehensive collection will cost a substantial sum of money.
Delandre the man was a shady character, but Delandre the collecting area is a fascinating, colorful and worthwhile segment of our hobby. Gaston Fontanille could never have envisioned such an outgee to his schemes.
More Delandre Vignettes.
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