If The Cap Fits... Now

75 years old, the proud and defiant marianne definitives of France have been through 17 contrasting incarnations. They make great collectables, as stamps or postal history

- Alastair Gunn

Many countries have a female personification of the nation as a traditional symbol, but some make better philatelic use of her than others.

Britannia, for example, has appeared on plenty of British coins and banknotes, but her appearance on stamps is rare, because the nation’s default icon is of the King or Queen.

France, a republic for most of the stamp era, has a quite different tradition. Its female personification, Marianne, is not merely a symbol of France but more specifically a symbol of republicanism. She stands for liberty and reason, and the sovereignty of the people.

Marianne emerged as an icon during the French Revolutionary period of 1789-99, evolving from an allegory of Liberty. She is usually portrayed wearing the Phrygian cap, a soft conical cap with the tip folded over, mythically worn in ancient times by freed slaves. She may also wield the tricolore, the blue, white and red flag of the French republic.

Starting in 1944, Marianne has been portrayed on as many as 17 series of French definitive stamps, although this tally is arguable; some of the designs were identified as other mythical heroines, or lacked the Phrygian cap.

For ease of reference, Marianne stamps are normally named after their designers. But many came with an alternative soubriquet, alluding to the inspiration for the image or the intentions of the designer.

Initial immigrants

The first two Marianne designs were issued towards the end of World War II, when the liberation of France from German domination finally began to look inevitable.

The Marianne de Fernez series was issued by the French National Liberation Committee (in essence, the government-in-waiting) in Algiers in 1944. Prepared for use after the liberation of Corsica, they were progressively used on the island from January 1944 and on the French mainland from November 1944 until May 1945.