Luxembourgian Philately: The 1935 15-stamp Aid-for-Intellectuals semi-postals used on nine covers

Monday, March 06, 2017

The 1935 15-stamp Aid-for-Intellectuals semi-postals used on nine covers

The Swartz-Hensgen Correspondence

In 1935, Maury Swartz, the well known stamp dealer from Kayl, corresponded with Mr. Hensgen, the Luxembourg-Grund prison chaplain. Over the four-month period from June 25th to September 30th, Swartz used all 15 of the Intellectual semi-postals (they were sold at double face value) on a nine-letter correspondence. We do not know exactly what the covers contained, but they appear to be more commercial than philatelic.

I corresponded with Swartz in the 1950s, when he was living in Silver Spring, Maryland, but by the time that I acquired the covers in the 1960s from the Fred Wilmar collection in a Wolffers San Francisco auction, I had lost contact with him. Wilmar served in the United States Army in Luxembourg during World War 2. After the war he returned to Moraga, California, where he developed a fine collection of Luxembourg stamps and postal history, including these covers.

Here they are to enjoy:

20F+20F
Surgeons