Parcels

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Today I will return to the Belgium stamps.. I have still plenty to enter the collection  and I like them very much.. 

I will start with some stamps from King Leopold I .. Until now I have only presented King Leopold II stamps , because the reigning period (with postage stamps, of course..) was much greater than in the case of his predecessor..1849 to 1865 (King Leopold I) and 1867 to 1905 (King Leopold II)...

Let us start with the last series of King Leopold I , from 1865 .. One important fact that should be highlighted is that the stamps were printed in two different kind's of paper .. Thin (1865) and Thick (1866)  papers...in each case the same values are repeated (10c,20c,30c,40c,1Fr).. each one of this values have a different frame and Vignette design's ... ( it is curious to see the similarity between these frame designs and the one's from the Romanian 1872 Paris and Bucharest Prints.. there are differences , of course , but the overall simplicity of the design is there...)..another important aspect for the distinction of the two different issues of these stamps is the perforation .. in the Thin paper we have Perf 14.5x14 and in the thick paper we've got Perf 15...

The second stamp is only presented as a curiosity , because in the end it is equal to the first.. Yes originally it was a blue 20c Thick paper.. what happened to it ?? I don't know but i can speculate .. perhaps a prolonged exposure to sun light (but in this case , shouldn't the Postmark be also somehow vanished..?? Perhaps it was marked after the stamp was already in this condition..??).. I have two more old stamps of other origins and countries , with the same problem..both were cataloged as being Ultramarine blue , but this one was simply blue.. I think this is not important , but...)

All the 4 stamps presented are from Thick paper.. the last stamp, judging only by the sensibility of my fingers should be  a thin paper stamp, but the perforation clearly state  otherwise..I'm not in the ' point ' yet, I have much to learn with this 'sensibility thing' ..

the last two stamps , are in fact two shades of Grey 10c Thick paper..

 1865/1866 "King Leopold I" (10) [Engr (De La Rue)][Typo (Brussels)] Sc(19,19,18,18)

These beautiful stamps are Train Parcel stamps ... for those who don't know , the study of these stamps is highly developed by Belgium and foreign Philatelists..stamps for this purpose begin to be issued in 1879 and I think that in the 1980's they were still issued...

The initial thing to be known is that the Belgium railway was commissioned to transport Post parcels.. these parcels could be delivered in a train station, a postal office or a Telegraph office..  for each of these cases , one proper cancellation was used.. in the train station, these large cancellations were used together with hexagonal Marks.. in the Telegraph station Octagonal marks were used...

As we can see , all of these stamps were cancelled in train stations, being the lemon 80c stamp (Beautiful, beautiful...!!) marked with an hexagonal mark..

So, a person carries the parcel until the train station , where a small piece of bureaucracy was attached to the parcel with some of these stamps and corresponding cancellations... 

As i said before , the first series of these stamps was issued in 1879 , the 2nd in 1882 , the 3rd in 1895 and these stamp are from the 4th series , of 1902/1914.. the 3rd and 4th series share exactly the same designs.. however , there is a distinctive difference between the two series.. in the 3rd , the Designer's name appears below the inferior frame..in the 4th this is omitted..

there are some strange errors in the date of some of these cancellations..(on is from 17.. and other is from 2014(?)..) .. after a quick look at the stamps we see that the Fr values have a different design , with a winged train wheel in the center.. 

1902/1914 "Parcel Train Stamps" (20) [Des (Poortman)][Engr (Poortman)][Typo (Malines)] Sc(Q29,Q30,Q33,Q34,Q36,Q38,Q39,Q40,Q41,Q42,Q43,Q44,Q45)

I don't know if the designer is Maurice Poortman (it is possible , because he retired in 1943 , so he should have 20 or so Years when he designed these stamps.. I have to ask somebody for this info...)

these are stamps from 1915 and represent important buildings and constructions in Brussels and other cities and important dates in Belgium History.. The 2nd stamp is showed here just as a comparison with the 3rd (it is already in the collection and appeared in an earlier post about Belgium stamps..), because I think that are visible the differences in the designing or coloring of the vignette.. in the 2nd stamp the sky and the clouds appear more highlighted and the building with a more light black or black grey .. in the 3rd stamp the sky and clouds are faded and the building in a bright black.. i think this is notorious ( together with the beautiful Crown Perfin of the 2nd..)..

the 5th (65c)  was put together with these stamps but it was issued five years later , in 1920..  

1915/1919  "Various Designs" (7) [Recess (Waterlow and Sons Limited, London)] Sc(116,118,118,117,139,119) 

the Recess Printing was latter made in Haarlem..

here we have a nice pair of a stamp from 1919 with two parallel perfins (.N.C.N.) .. there were two printings of this stamp, differing in the sheet composition(10 stamps in the first , 100 in the 2nd..) and in the dimension of the stamp, with a very small difference.. I cannot detect these small differences in dimension, with the simple tools I use.. the stamps from the first printing are much more scarce..

1919 "Le Perron De Liege" (1) [Recess (Enschedé & Sons, Haarlem)] Sc(123)

These are stamps of one of the several King Albert I Definitive series...At first , I had some problems finding the correct match of colors with the colors in the Catalogs.. Finally , I saw that the color in the catalog is the color in the small square of the Value numeral...for instance, the third stamp appear in the catalogs as Bright Blue , but the stamp itself is a grayish blue or Dull grey blue or something like that.. only that small square presents the bright Blue that we are after...The name of the Designer and engraver George Montenez , appears below the inferior Frame..

1921/1925 "King Albert I" (8) [Des (George Montenez)][Engr (George Montenez)][Recess (Enschedé & Sons, Haarlem)] Sc(162,...,167)

This is a complete series that present's us paintings of Kings  Leopold I and II and of King Albert I.. I must tell that for me this stamps are a small disillusion..before I have them , I saw some detailed pictures of one of the stamps , highlighting  the qualities of the engraver... I was not expecting that in reality the stamps were printed in a very thin paper that doesn't match the quality of the engraver work.. it deserved a thicker and better paper...

1930 "Centenary of the Independence" (3) [Engr (Jean Debast)][Recess] Sc(218,...,220)

The first three stamps , again from a King Albert I Definitive series, show us another excellent work of Jean Debast in the engraving.. now I have just one stamp missing in the collection , the 10Fr , of course...The 4th stamp is from the King Albert I Mourning series...

1931/1932 "King Albert I" (8) [Engr (Jean Debast)][Recess] Sc(229,232,233)

1934 "King Albert I Mourning Series" (1) [Photo (Malvaux, Brussels)] Sc(257)

I have presented here the first stamp, but this one seems to have a small difference in the coor.. not significant... these are stamps from 1934 and they commemorate the Brussels International  Exhibition...nothing to say about them...

1934 "Brussels International Exhibition" (4) [Photo] Sc(258,259,261)

We have reached the point in time where there is not much to talk about the different series that show up at our front.. Maybe that's one of the main reason for my preference for stamps from 1900 to 1930.. but it is natural that Commemorative stamps begin to appear more often than they do in earlier days...

first we have a pair of a series from 1947..

1947 "International  Film and Belgian Fine Arts Festival" (1) [Photo] Sc(373)

1951 "AIR MAIL" (2) [Photo (Malvaux, Brussels)] Sc(C13)

Complete series commemorating the International Exhibition of 1958...

1958 "Brussels International Exhibition,1958" (4) [Des (E. Meert)][Engr (L. Janssens)][Recess] Sc(500,...,503)

Perhaps someday in this Year of 2015 i will make another post with Belgium stamps, now with emphasis in the Parcel Train stamps.. I've got many and diverse...

For now , it's all, until next time

SeeYou

the King, the City and the Perfin..

New Entries

In November 2013 I was still in that period of time when there was  some financial availability to acquire some stamps that I desire in that moment.. I have in my collection some King Leopold II stamps , without the famous label attached... I remember reading in some catalog that stamps without that specific label have much less cv.. So, I bought some of them in a beautiful lot , with others from King Albert I and some complete series from the 40's and 50's..

Now it is time to present them and give them a place in the collection.. 

I remember one more time that there could be some light disturbances in the size of the stamps , but that is only because I made individual scans of the stamps ( during the classification), and then , to present them here I connect all the pictures and they could appear to be of different sizes.. but I assure you that they are have the right dimensions...!!(I'm jokin'..)

This is a beautiful stamp, full of incredible details, the frame is spectacular...for a better  appreciation , I ask you to give more attention to the brown 35c stamp.. the details are much more visible.. the designing work is of the Omnipresent ,at this time, Eugene Mouchon and of H. Hendrickx.. Of course , as it happens with almost the definitive series in my collection, the high value stamps are missing.. I really don't care , perhaps someday I could buy them...

1893/1900 "King Leopold II" (11,1) [Des (Eugene Mouchon)(H. Hendrickx)][Engr (A. Doms)][Typo] Sc(66,65,67,68,69,73)

Another king Leopold II series , with the king a little bit older... the two 25c stamps are in fact two different stamps, with different codes... we have the ultramarine Blue and the Deep blue 25c.. it is also a beautiful stamp , this time designed by Henry Meunier..

there are two catalogs that I need to buy rapidly.. the Scandinavian and the Belgium and Holland Catalogs.. there are always new details and varieties to know..

1905/1911 "King Leopold II" (7,7,7) [Des (Henry Meunier)][Engr (M. Ellis)][Typo] Sc(85,86,87,87a,88)

what happened to this stamp..?' the white color in the back of the King's head it isn't normal, I think .. I have already this stamp in the collection and I'm only presenting it here to ask for help in the identification... it could be the 10c presented above (without the attached label..) ,but with that white color issue... If You know something , please comment.. perhaps it is something I am missing , in the catalogs.. I don't know..

These stamps are older than the other ones presented before.. (I should have presented these first , but all that talk about the attached label , made me showing the others ..)

The numeral series and the King's stamp are presented in the same series in Scott Catalog, for example... I think it is a good idea, but I separated the two of them...
The numerals are really Master works...when I showed the 1893 stamps I said that the Design was of Eugene Mouchon and H. Hendrickx... well now We know who is the 'Frame Wizard'.. these frames are really spectacular and the similar appearance with the ones of 1893 led me to conclude that Eugene Mouchon had designed the King's Head and H. Hendrickx , the frames...In this case all the work frames , numerals and King's Head's  are work of H. Hendrickx..

Now, talking of the King stamps, we can say that all the values have different frame designs .. The first three stamps are only variations in color of the 10c stamp.. Catalogs tell us that there was a different printing with Aniline colors... well, this is still 'out of my league', and if any of the stamps presented are from this printing , sorry, I could not identify it...
1869/1870 "Numerals" (4,4,4) [Des (H. Hendrickx)][Engr (A. Doms)][Typo] Sc(28,29,30)
1869/1875 "King Leopold II" [Des (H. Hendrickx)][Engr (A. Doms)][Typo](32,32,32,33,37,34)

Here ,at the left , we have some stamps from a series representing the Coat of Arms of the City of Antwerp..The Green on Red of the 1st stamp  is not very visible , but the Red on Light blue and blue on Red of the 2nd and 3rd stamps are easily seen...these stamps were issued with the inferior label attached..

1894 "Arms of Antwerp" (3,1) [Des (H. Hendrickx)][Engr (V. Lemaire)][Typo] Sc(76,...,78)

Now and just to finish the post , I would like to make some considerations about the 1883 King Leopold II stamp presented at the right..there are no doubts about the correct identification of the stamp, but it presents also a perfin 'SG'.... I was digging a little yesterday , and I couldn't find anything.. however I find a stamp of Sudan 1922 that has the same perfin , so I'm confused.. I will left here a link to a Perfin group .. I will ask them for answers and perhaps in the future buy some of the books and catalogs available..

SeeYou

Update...[ I already have the answer from the Perfin question... Thank you to the Facebook Perfin Club that gave me this answer  20 minutes after I asked... I will quote "  The 1997 catalog of Belgium Perfins is still current. That looks like S54 with 15 holes in the S and 14 holes in the G with a period between. Soc. Generale pour Favoriser l'Industrie Nationale (Brussel/Bruxelles) Two of the e's have acute accents but I won't bother with those.".. ] updated 05/12/2014  20:50H

Hermes & The Herald

New Entries

In the last few weeks , I've been working hard in this Blog... I think I managed to pass the desired idea , that all the stamps shown here are new entries on my collection... This is correct... However , preparing the posts is not an easy task... to classify 20 , sometimes more stamps in a day has not been easy for me , I sometimes work 8 or more hours to do that...As you know , I am currently unemployed , so that is time well spent for me , but I am starting to fell like if it is a real job, with a little of stress also..!. I would like to have such a job , but "feeding this hungry animal" (The Blog!!) has keep'n me away from other hobbies, duty's, and above everything , from my real Life of Unemployment and limited financial horizon..

What I am trying to say is that there will be less posts , not because of stamps ( I have thousands waiting for classification...) but because of Time or the lack of it..!

Thank you ..

7 stamps from the set 17 "Mercure (1938/1942)" ; Hermes , Mercury or Mercure is represented along with the Caduceus..note that the upper label says "Republique Francaise"..we will see that posterior stamps have the label "Poste Francaise"

Perf: 13.5 x 14

SG(620,621,623,624,625,626,629) Sc(355,356,359,360,361,362,368)

stamp of the set 4 1942 "Mercure (1942)" , with the label "Poste Francaise" ...

Perf: 13.5 x 14

Sc(458)

despite the similarity , it is not Hermes that is represented in this stamp.. it is a Herald or a figure with the purpose of gathering the attention of a crowd ( most of the times , using musical instruments..) to transmit  some kind of message;

from a set 6 1936 "Paris International Exhibition", it is a stamp of no significant value...however , there is a similar stamp, only differing by the color , that is of Great value, according to Yvert 2013 catalog [YV 325A 50c Rouge Carminé] ... I must say that one of my greatest difficulties in Philately is to determine variants of colors.. By the catalogs , this is a Orange Red ( it values nothing..) but the Carmine Red values MNH € 12500.00... I think that the difference is not obvious .. it is very, very difficult..!! 

Perf: 13.5 x 14

SG(558) Sc(318)

from the set 19 "Marshal Pétain 1941/1942"

Perf: 13.5 x 14

SG(721) Sc(440)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_P%C3%A9tain   

Let us pass to Belgium stamps and to one of the most famous sets; it represents King Albert I during a visit to the trenches at one of the Fronts of the I World War , in 1918.

from the set 14 1919 "King Albert I at the Trenches" (invented name , once again..)

Perf: 11.5

SG(238) Sc(125)

King Leopold III is represented and the stamps are from a set 11 "King Leopold III (1936/1951)[Left Profile]"; the stamps are from 1951 and 1950 respectively..

Perf: 13.5 x 14

SG(749,752) Sc(288,289)

Complete set  "King Leopold III (1938/1941))"

Perf: 14 x 13.5

SG(746,747) Sc(310,311)

from a set 15 "King Leopold III (1936/1951)[ Right Profile]"

Perf: 13.5 x 14 and 11.5 respectively

Sc(295,308)

from a set  7 "King Leopold III (1944/1957)"

Perf: 13.5 x 14

SG(753,757) Sc(289,293)

from set 5 "King Baudouin (1952/1958)[Right Profile]"

Perf: 11.5

SG(1394,1396a) Sc(447,449)

from set 2 1962 "The Rights of Man".

Perf: 11.5

SG(1831) Sc(585)

These stamps from South West Africa, have the particularity of being emitted in a time when the issue of bilingual stamps was normal in this region ; .these are single stamps , one of each language.

Perf: 14 x 13.5

SG(76) Sc(111a,b)

SeeYou

The King, a Boat, a Prison and the Palace

New Entries

Today I have two stamps from San Marino ; the first one belongs to a set 37 1921 "Numerals".. As you can see the stamp has some rust spots , but the overall condition is not to bad..there is nothing special to say about the stamp, and without a National catalog it is really impossible to tell more..

Perf: 14

SG(73)  Sc(41)

this stamp show us "The Rocca " that is the State Prison.it is a ,somehow, beautiful stamp, and it belongs to a set 19 1929. The set was issued between 1929 and 1935 ; International catalogs , don't give names to these series of definitive stamps, so I gave it one "Views from San Marino (1929/1935)"

Perf: 12

SG(152)  Sc(122)

One more time , I wish to say that I am not an expert in any of the countries I collect ( and I collect them all!!) .. Your comments are really very appreciated and I will make special updates to these posts, with the corrections You find (if they are valid , of course!!)...This task of providing You a Online View over the Day to Day New entries in my small collection, exposes my lack of knowledge and other (I like to think they are small..!!..) attitude problems.. I think that in the end it will be a good project..

Here are 5 stamps of the Definitive set 18 1922 "King Albert I (1922/1927)" ; of the stamp of 25c , I could say that there are two colors associated with it.. Magenta and violet.. this one is the violet and the differences in catalog value are small ( I think..!)

Perf: 14

SG(349,353,355,356,364) Sc(147,148,150,151,158)

First I must say that the 75c and 1F stamps could be treated as individual series; the 1st was issued in 01/06/1932 and the 2nd

in 15/06/1931; the others belong to a definitive set 8 1931 "King Albert I (1931/1932)". I really don't like those postmarks with letters( they almost incapacitate the stamp..!) [there is nothing like the old and traditional circular postmark...]

Perf: 14

SG(582,583,585,586,590)  Sc(228,227,230,231,235)

stamp from Set 3 1946 "Ostend-Dover Mail-boat Service Centenary" 

Perf: 13.5 x 14

SG(1174a)  Sc(368)

stamp from set 4 1934 "International Exhibition, Brussels." 

From my small experience , I could say that a stamp like this could have different varieties associated..for example , stamps that only were sold in the Exhibition itself, special postmarks, etc ( in other countries , some of these varieties exists in events like this one...) .. it's the kind of detail you only get through National catalogs..  

Perf: 14 x 13.5

SG(660)  Sc(259)

To finish for today I have a stamp of the series 10 1905 "King Leopold II and  Arms of Belgium (1905/1911)" [one more time , the name doesn't exist...I invented one!].. 

Perf: 14

SG(108)  Sc(84)

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