Blacksmith

Blacksmith

Year
1960
Face Value
60
Mint Value
-
Used Value
-
Print Run
-
Themes
Crafts

Catalogs References

Michel
MR 175
Yvert & Tellier
MR 152
Stanley Gibbons
MR 144

Technical Details

Colors
Multicolor
Size
26 x 40 mm
Perforation
13
Designer
J. Barde
Printers
Atelier de Fabrication des Timbres-Poste, Paris
This definitive stamp highlights Mauritania's historic caste of skilled artisans and traditional manufacturing techniques by focusing on a blacksmith (forgeron). The design depicts a craftsman seated cross-legged on the ground, intently using a traditional pump drill to bore into a piece of material, with a classic desert encampment faintly visible on the horizon. This illustration carries a powerful message of manual precision, technical mastery, and economic self-reliance, honoring the vital social and utilitarian role that metalworkers and woodworkers have historically fulfilled within Saharan communities. Within the Mauritanian cultural context, the stamp celebrates the resilience of indigenous crafts, elevating these age-old, generational trade secrets as key components of the new republic's material heritage and national identity.