A spectacular double-censored 1945 Allied Nations semi-postal cover to Sweden!

 

The four-value semi-postal set thanking the Allied Nations for liberating the Grand Duchy appeared on March 1, 1945, and remained valid until June 1, 1946.  First day covers are plentiful, but despite the lengthy period of validity, we seldom see any other uses of these stamps.  Perhaps the 11.50 F supplement that was added to the 8.50 F face value of the set was a deterrent during the frugality that characterized post-World War II reconstruction.  But here's an exception.

On March 12, 2006, I posted another exception, an O.A.T. cover that you can see here, which was posted October 19, 1945 to New York City.

This double-censored, registered, special delivery cover was posted by the Echternach postmaster, August 10, 1945, to his counterpart in Avesta, Sweden. 

On the front, we see the red German occupation registry label still in use.  And on the back we see the pre-World War II Luxembourg-Ville bridge cancel dated August 11, 1945, and the Avesta receiver dated 43 days later, September 22, 1945.  From Avesta, the cover was forwarded to Krylbo, a nearby train station.  In both Luxembourg and Sweden, the censors opened and resealed the cover. 

Curiously, applying the pre-October 1, 1945 UPU postal rates, the 10.45 F franking (the 8.50 F set plus 1.25 F and 70c definitives)appears to leave the cover underpaid by 5c (perhaps the sender did not want to destroy the six-stamp arrangement he had created?):

• 2.50 F   20 g UPU letter
• 3.00 F   Registry fee
• 5.00 F   Special delivery fee

The contents are also interesting.  They include the August 10, 1945 letter from the Echternach postmaster to his Swedish counterpart that accompanied the cover, and a Swedish registry receipt postmarked at Avesta, July 7, 1945.  Presumably the receipt was saved by the addressee for what undoubtedly was his letter to the Echternach postmaster requesting the cover. 

 

Luxembourg stamp dealer J-G. Paquelet writes to a Canadian counterpart in 1898

 

Stamp dealers used to exchange stamps by the hundreds and thousands.  Here's a letter written in English by J. G. Paquelet at the turn of the century to a dealer in Canada:

                   Luxemburg              June 6th '98

Dear Sir

Your price list July in hand.  Please send me 1000 or 2000 Canadian stamps, 10 to 20 varieties equally mixed and you will receive 1000 or 2000 Luxemburg stamps in same mixture.  All stamps in good condition.

I should be glad to have 500 to 1000 South and Central America and Newfoundland in exchange for better values of Luxemburg.

Yours very truly

J. G. Paquelet

Comptoir de Timbres to Luxembourg

Luxembourg-Ville, June 6, 1898 to London, Ontario, Canada,
received June 18, 1898.

And here's his 1898 buying list, which he sent worldwide (and in this instance, 10 days after sending a card to A. F. Wicks, Esq. in Canada).

You'll notice he was offering 1000 "Cartes postales usées, 5 valeurs, le 100, 1 fr. 75; le 1000, 12 fr."  I'll take 10,000!

 

 

Luxembourg-Ville, June 16, 1898 to Colchester, England,
sent at the five-centime UPU printed matter rate

The five Grand Duke Adolphe Reply Cards

 

Introduction

For postal stationery enthusiasts, properly returned reply cards present significant challenges.  There just aren't many available.  So over the past 50 or so years, I've diligently pursued acquiring them whenever they've come on the market.

At an FIAP show in Seoul, Korea earlier this year, I noticed a Nicaraguan postal stationery exhibit in the court of honor.  Guess what -- none of the double cards was shown returned from abroad.  This has motivated me to share some of the scarce Luxembourg reply cards in my collection, hoping philatelic jurists will recognize the challenge acquiring these cards presents.  Many of the great Luxembourg stationery collections (including that of Costerus) have lacked uses of the reply cards.

Let's start with the Grand Duke Adolphe postal stationery that appeared between 1895 and 1906.  You'd think reply cards from this era would be plentiful.  Yet they're not, and those that appeared in 1906 as part of the third G.D. Adolphe stationery issue are among the scarcest in my collection.

The Three G. D. Adolphe Postal Stationery Issues

The first G.D. Adolphe stationery issue appeared on May 4, 1895, consisting of 5-centime and 10-centime single and double cards with the abbreviation “N.B.” (Latin: nota bene) printed in the bottom left margin along with instructions in French and German specifying that the front of the card is reserved exclusively for the address.

In 1903, a second Adolphe stationery issue appeared, this time just with 5-centime single and double cards.  The "N.B." notation of the first issue  is absent.

Last, in 1906 a third Adolphe issue appeared with 5-centime and
10-centime single and double cards that show two lines for the sender's address at the left front margin.

The G.D. Adolphe stationery was superseded on July 25, 1907, by the first Écusson issue.

Postal Card Rates:  1895 - 1909

The 5-centime card paid the domestic postal card rate and the UPU printed matter rate; the 10-centime paid the UPU postal card rate, the treaty postal card rates to Belgium and France, and until October 1, 1902, the treaty postal card rate to Germany.  On that date, the German treaty rate was reduced to 5 centimes.  On October 1, 1907, the German treaty rate was again set at 10 centimes until the rate increases of May 10, 1920.

Luxembourg demonized the G.D. Adolphe definitives as of January 1, 1909.  Presumably the demonitization applied to the stationery as well.

(a) 5c+5c Reply Card -- First Adolphe Stationery Issue (1895)

 

Uprated with a French 5-centime adhesive and returned from Tours-Gare to Luxembourg-Ville in 1898 at the French treaty and UPU postcard rate!

Tours-Gare, France, March 18, 1898, to Luxembourg-Ville
stamp dealer, J. G. Paquelet, received March 19, 1898

 

Returned from Luxembourg-Ville to Kayl in 1900

(a round trip in just six hours!)

Message Card - Kayl, September 24, 1900 (7-8 a.m.)

Transit Luxembourg-Gare (8-9 a.m.)

Received Luxembourg-Ville (10-11 a.m.)

Luxembourg-Ville, September 24, 1900 (12-1 p.m.), to Kayl

 

Returned from Wiltz to Diekirch in 1901

Incoming cancel:  Wiltz, February 21, 1901

Wiltz to Diekirch, February 25, 1901

 

Returned from the Luxembourg-Ulflingen TPO
to Diekirch in 1901

Luxembourg-Ulflingen TPO to Diekirch, August 28, 1901

 

Returned from Clervaux to Luxembourg-Ville in 1903

Clervaux, June 21, 1903

Incoming transit cancel:  Luxembourg-Gare, June 16, 1903

 

Previously posted

Uprated and returned from Tunis, Tunisia to Diekirch, March 8, 1896, here.

Uprated and returned from 's-Gravenhage, Holland to Larochette, July 27, 1901, here.

 

(b) 10c+10c Reply Card -- First Adolphe Stationery Issue

 

Returned from Neufchateau, Belgium in 1897

 Incoming cancel (May 4, 1897)

Neaufchateau, Belgium, May 17, 1897, to Luxembourg-Ville

 

Returned from Arlon, Belgium in 1897

Incoming cancel (May 20, 1897)

Arlon, Belgium, May 20, 1897, to Luxembourg-Ville

 

Returned  from Paris, France in 1899

Paris, France, August 16, 1899, to Luxembourg-Ville

 

Returned from Magdeburg-Sudenburg, Germany in 1900

Magdeburg-Sudenburg, July 16, 1900, to Luxembourg-Ville

 

Returned from Metz, [then in] Germany in 1900

Metz, Germany, August 4, 1900, to Luxembourg-Gare

 

Returned from Wien, Austria in 1901

Wien, August 31, 1901, to Luxembourg-Gare

 

Returned from Trier, Germany in 1902

Trier, Germany, August 30, 1902, to Luxembourg-Ville

 

Returned from Blankenberghe, Holland in 1905

Blankenberghe, Holland, August 12, 1905, to Luxembourg-Ville

 

Returned from Rome, Italy in 1906

Rome, September 25, 1906, to Welcheid
(Post: Ettelbruck, September 27, 1906)

 

Returned from Einsiedeln, Switzerland in 1906

Einsiedeln, Switzerland, December 21, 1906, to Obermartelingen (Post: Perle, December 23, 1906)

 

Returned from St. Gilles, Belgium in 1908

(Very late use)

St. Gilles (Ch. de Charleroi), Belgium, July 21, 1908,
to Luxembourg-Ville, July 22, 1908

 

Previously posted

Returned from Ragaz, Switzerland to Hamburg, Germany, May 31, 1900, here.

 

(c) 5c+5c Reply Card -- Second Adolphe Stationery Issue (1903)

 

Returned from Mulhausen [then in the German Alsace-Lorraine] to Luxembourg-Ville in 1905 at the
5-centime German treaty rate effective in 1902

Mulhouse, December 9, 1905, to Luxembourg-Ville

 

Returned from Clervaux to Mersch in 1907

Clervaux, February 16, 1907, to Mersch

 

Previously posted

Uprated and returned from Leipzig, Germany to Trier, Germany, May 26, 1904, here.

 

(d) 5c+5c Reply Card -- Third Adolphe Stationery Issue (1906)

 

Used from Diekirch to Strasbourg, [then in the German Alsace-Lorraine], in 1909

This very scarce reply card was apparently used as a message card from Diekirch, January 11, 1909, eleven days after the demonitization of the G.D. Adolphe definitives.  It is the only used example I've seen.  There was none in the Costerus collection.

 

(d) 10c+10c Reply Card -- Third Adolphe Stationery Issue (1906)

 

Returned from Longwy-Bas, France,
to Luxembourg-Ville in 1908

A proper use of this very scarce card from Longwy-Bas, July 18, 1908, to Luxembourg-Ville.  This is the only example of this reply card that I've seen.  There was none in the Costerus collection.

 

Conclusion

The first G.D. Adolphe issue was used for almost a decade.  Despite the long usage period, the reply cards are uncommon; however, the diligent collector will almost certainly eventually acquire them.

However, the second issue is scarce, and the third issue very scarce, making the acquisition of proper uses of these three cards problematic.  We do not even know the quantities printed, exact dates of issue, or extent of distribution of these two issues.  The third issue was short-lived, appearing about a year prior to the appearance of the first Écusson issue on July 25, 1907.  Consider yourself privileged if you have examples of one or more of these reply cards in your collection!

The message cards from these five double cards are less scarce.  Apparently, the reply card often was not used, and very few of those that were used may have been saved.

 

 

Another 5-franc Three Towers official sole franking

 

 

On December 13, 2008, I posted a registered COD cover to Belgium with the 5-franc Three Towers official nicely (and exactly) paying the postage and fees. 

Recently, I was pleased to find the 5-franc Three Towers stamp overprinted officiel used as a convenience sole franking paying the 4.20-franc postage and special delivery [EXPRÈS] fee on a cover from the Luxembourg Commissariat Général for the Grande Saison Internationale de l’Eau à Liége en 1939.  Sent from Luxembourg-Ville to the Commissaire Général adjoint de l'Exposition de l'Eau in Liege, Belgium, March 11, 1940 (11:00-12:00 a.m.), the cover was received at Liége, 8:0o-9:00 p.m. later that day for special delivery to the addressee.

First 10c G.D. Adolphe Reply Card used from Switzerland to Germany!

 

In my collection of Grand Duke Adolphe postal stationery is this curiosity -- the 10c reply card from the first G.D. Adolphe message-reply card issue used from the resort town of Ragaz, Switzerland, to Hamburg, Germany, May 31, 1900.   The oval chop is that of the Hotel National Restauration S. Banz in Ragaz.  There are three June 2nd Hamburg receiving cancels.

Of course under UPU regulations, the 10c Luxembourg stamp imprint was only valid for return postage to Luxembourg, but the card was not taxed.  The poorly struck rectangular auxiliary mark seems to concern finding the delivery address in Hamburg, although I'm unsure of its significance.  Comments?

 

Second 5c G.D. Adolphe Reply Card used
within Germany

Sometimes lightening strikes twice.

After posting the unusual use of the 10c Luxembourg reply card shown above, I discovered the card shown below in the bourse of the fine Exposition Philatélique Internationale 'MonacoPhil 2009,' held in the Principality from December 4th to 6th.

The 5c Luxembourg reply card was posted from Leipzig, Germany, May 26, 1904, to Trier, Germany (just a few kilometers from the Luxembourg border), where it was received the next day.  No penalty was charged for use within Germany, perhaps because the Luxembourg-German treaty rate in 1904 was five centimes.

I would like to find a citation to the UPU rule that provided that reply cards could only be returned to their country of origin.  Who can help?  Even better would be an example taxed for return to a country other than that of origin.  But would the rule even apply to cards used in a country that had a treaty rate with the country of origin?  Here the blue underscoring of 'Réponse. - Antwort' and the stamp in blue crayon suggests that the German postal clerk was aware of and accepted the use of the Luxembourg reply card within Germany.

First G.D. Adolphe 5c+5c Message-Reply card transits the three BENELUX countries in 1901

 

Message card

* Luxembourg-Gare, July 21, 1901

* 's-Gravenhage [La Haye], Holland, July 22nd [majuscule D.114]

 

Reply card

* 's-Gravenhage, Holland, July 27th

* Luxembourg-Gare, July 29th, 7-8 a.m.

* Larochette, July 29th, 2-3 p.m. (incoming)

* Larochette, July 29th, 3-4 p.m. (outgoing)

* Brussels, Belgium [arrivée & majuscule '27']

 

Message

Reply

Wiltz to the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek in 1896

 

5c+5c first G.D. Adolphe Message-Reply card (uprated)

Wiltz, September 28, 1896, transit Luxembourg-Gare the same day and Pretoria, October 24th, received at Waterval-Boven, Z.A.R.
[Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek], October 25, 1896.

During the South African gold rush era, Transvaal was known as the South African Republic or Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek until 1877 and again from 1884 until 1900 when it was annexed to Great Britain as The Transvaal.