Nomadic Encampment - 60 centime

Nomadic Encampment - 60 centime

Year
1940
Face Value
60
Mint Value
-
Used Value
-
Print Run
-
Themes
Sites and landscapes

Catalogs References

Michel
MR 112
Yvert & Tellier
MR 107
Stanley Gibbons
MR 91

Technical Details

Colors
violet
Perforation
13
Printing
Typography
Designer
René Cottet
Printers
Atelier de Fabrication des Timbres-Poste, Paris
This definitive stamp honors the social and domestic fabric of Saharan life by depicting a bustling nomadic encampment (frik) in the Mauritanian desert. The detailed line engraving illustrates an extended family gathered around a traditional tent structure, featuring women engaged in domestic work—including one carrying a basket on her head—alongside a kneeling dromedary being tended to, which carries a powerful message of community resilience, shared labor, and deep-rooted pastoral traditions. Produced under the federation of French West Africa (Afrique Occidentale Française), this issue reflects a colonial-era philatelic effort to document the authentic cultural landscapes and daily survival strategies of the Saharan interior. By elevating this intimate domestic scene onto an official postage stamp, the program celebrates the central role of family and livestock management in sustaining Mauritania's nomadic identity across the arid Saharan expanses.