Lot 308
Sixty-seventh and Last Balloon of the Siege:...
Stamps and Postal History of the World | 5930
Auction: 29 March 2022 at 01:00 BST
£320
Description
Sixty-seventh and Last Balloon of the Siege: 1871 printed Gazette des Absents (edition 32) lettersheet to Niort, franked by Napoleon III 20c Empire, tied by Star mark with Paris Rue St. Dominique cds for 27 Jan (day before the surrender!), carried on the Balloon 'General Cambronne' which departed Paris on 28 Jan hours before the armistice, backstamped with Niort datestamp for 2 Feb, slight wear to opening otherwise very fine, offered with English translation of the original contents.
xxxThe last Balloon of the Siege carried the name of mot de Cambronne, merde; with merde being a humorous and rude substitute for detritus! The Newspaper le Gaulois wrote defiantly upon the end of the war that they were ''Forced into submission, exhausted and hungry, but not defeated''xxx
