X5302

Celebrity Chefs

Julia Child

Cover Announcement 

This is the fifth and final Collins First Day Cover in the Celebrity Chefs series. Julia Child was an American chef, author, and popular television personality. She is credited with bringing French cuisine to American kitchens with her television program "The French Chef' which first aired in 1963 and her highly acclaimed cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."

My individually hand painted cachets show Julia and some of the French delights she enhanced with her cooking and baking talents. Pictured are croissants, French onion soup, Napoleon pastry, escargot, and the All-American favorite - French fries. Also shown is a glass of French wine. Child approached cooking with a flair and sound communication skills always ending with her tag line "Bon Appetit" which also appears in the cachet.

This is the last cachet in the series, so if you need any of the others to complete the set, now is the time. The cachet designs all feature portraits surrounded by some of the specialties of each celebrity chef. Both as individual covers and the set as a whole exceeded my expectations, and these are certainly the best cachets created for this interesting issue.

Julia McWilliams joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) at the beginning of World War II and became a top secret researcher working directly for the agency's head General William J. Donovan. ln 1944 Julia was posted to Ceylon where she met her soon-to-be husband Paul Child. In 1948 Paul was assigned to Paris as an officer with the U.S. State Department. It was there that Julia was introduced to fine French cuisine and as they say, the rest is history.

In an interview with the New York Times. she once described French food as "an opening up of the soul and spirit." Julia

Child is now ready, and it is an honor to conclude the set with this famous chef. Bon Appetit! Collins #X5302 at $15.00.