Andorra artist's proof stamp Andorra artist's proof stamp

French Antarctic Artist's Proofs

Artist's proofs of approximately 350 stamps of the French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FSAT) were printed during the period 1960-99 (including vignettes and "negative" proofs), resulting in about 2,100 different color proofs (350 x 6) and 9,100 total proofs (350 x 26). Over 1,000 images of FSAT artist's proofs of this period and the period from 2000-2019 are shown.

The most common topics for French Antarctic artist's proofs are ships, birds, marine mammals, explorers and other people connected with the French Antarctic, and landscapes. There are also a significant number of artist's proofs showing fish, maps, minerals, plants, settlements, and other topics.

In the period 1960-99, four engravers produced the lion's share of FSAT stamps: Pierre Béquet (about 95 stamps), Claude Haley (about 50 stamps), and Claude Andréotto and Jacques Gauthier (about 40 stamps each). These four engravers together engraved almost two-thirds of FSAT stamps during this period and Pierre Béquet engraved more than a quarter of them by himself. To put this in perspective, the 220 stamps engraved by these four engravers during the period 1960-99 exceeded the total number of engraved stamps produced by New Caledonia (215), Andorra (215), St. Pierre & Miquelon (195), French Polynesia (160), or Wallis & Futuna (130) for the same period.

A number of stamp series from FSAT stand out for their design or engraving. These include: