French stamp to honor maker of Laughing Cow cheese

By Denise McCarty

A new stamp from France will honor the Bel Group and its wedges of spreadable cheese. La Poste will issue this €1.08 stamp April 19, the first in a new series saluting industrial heritage.

In the United States, these cheese wedges are sold in a round box under the name The Laughing Cow.

The triangular stamp is designed to look like the cheese wedge, and it will be sold in a pane of eight that resembles the round box.

La Poste described the issue as “a nod to the famous triangular cheese of the Bel Group,” adding that “to evoke The Laughing Cow is to share laughter and see faces light up all over the world.”

The stamp design depicts a daisy and includes the company’s name in French, Groupe Bel, and the year it was founded, 1865.

The firm’s United States website says: “In 1865, Jules Bel began cheese ripening and trading in France’s Jura region. Following his death in 1904, his son Leon Bel took over the business. In 1921 Leon trademarked The Laughing Cow, and the tasty, affordable, portable potential of processed cheese was born.”

Stephane Humbert-Basset designed the stamp. Philaposte printed it by gravure in a quantity of 420,000 panes of eight. Each pane measures 135 millimeters by 150mm (about 5.3 inches by 5.9 inches).

The €1.08 denomination pays the green letter rate, an economical rate for delivery that is slightly slower and more environmentally friendly than first-class mail.

For more information, write to Philaposte Service Clients, Z.I Avenue Benoit Frachon, BP 10106 Boulazac, 24051 Perigueux Cedex 09, France, or visit the La Poste website.

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