Episode 1 of 4

First Issue of the Ceres Series

Name: First Issue of the Ceres Series
Start: 1849-01-01
Location: France

When: 1 January 1849
Where: France
Part of: France issues its first postage stamps, the Ceres series

France issued its first postage stamps on 1 January 1849, featuring the head of the goddess Ceres facing left in a medallion.

The first stamps of France were issued on 1 January 1849. The design featured a medallion depicting the head of the goddess Ceres facing left. This issue established the Ceres series as the nation's first postage stamps, setting the precedent for future postal designs.

Sources

Postage stamps and postal history of France Wikipedia, revision of 2026-01-08

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.