5 Fr. Adolphe Bridge Paperfold!

 

5 Fr. Adolphe Bridge

Paperfold

P. 11½ x 11

Luxembourg-Ville I

18 Oct 1930

Prifix 134c

Collecting Post-1960 Incoming Mail to Luxembourg (Congo, San Marino, Ethiopia, Swaziland)

Add some sparkle to your Luxembourg collection with incoming commercial mail from the last 50 years or so.  Such mail is scarcer than you might think, partly because meter imprints and stickers have largely supplanted the use of stamps by businesses and at post office counters. This is a sad development for postal history collectors, as I've yet to see a meter sticker that qualifies as artistic or aesthetically pleasing.   

But with the likes of Delcampe or Jim Forte's www.Postalhistory.com website (350,000 worldwide covers), you'll still find many beautiful covers from 1960 onward franked with "real" stamps.  Even a small collection of these can be quite satisfying.

Here are examples:

Congo

Lubumbashi, 

Democratic Republic of Congo

29 July 1967

Airmail to Rodange 

2F Fishing Industry

4F Pyrethrum Harvest

10F Cotton Harvest

24F Soldier and Flag 

San Marino

Republica di San Marino, U.F.

28 Feb 1966

Registered

Luxembourg-Ville transit

5 Mar 1966 to

Esch-sur-Alzette

6 Mar 1966

80L Baillet Latour, Olympics

130L Dante

Ethiopia

Airmail - Registered - Special Delivery

in 1985

 Addis Ababa

16 Aug 1985

transit Luxembourg 1

19 Aug 1985

to Vianden 9400

19 Aug 1985

Swaziland

Airmail Picture Postcard

in 1972 

Mbabane, 6 Nov 1972

to

Luxembourg-Ville

Market in Manzini

WW2 Occupation Parcel Cards from Gœbelsmühle

Parcel cards (Post-Paketkarte) used in Luxembourg during the WW2 German occupation provide a fertile field for specialization and research.  Sadly, little has been written about these cards, inviting their study by collectors who are bored by the many philatelic creations that pass for the country's WW2 postal history.

If you collect these parcel cards, you'll quickly appreciate their postal history significance as they exhibit unusual rates, special auxiliary labels, unusual occupation frankings, COD and money letter services, the Germanized occupation cancels and much more. 

 Gœbelsmühle--Two Types

 

Consider for example picturesque Gœbelsmühle in the Bourscheid commune--today with a population of just 17 and a beautiful old railway station on the CFL line.  Yet its postal history dates back at least to 1905, when the village was issued a double-circle cancel.

Pre-Occupation Parcel Card Used
During the German Occupation

WW2 Handstamp
Gobelsmuhle in Gothic Letters
with Manuscript date
14 March 1941

Gobelsmuhle to Kuntzig
10 kg Zone 1 ~65 km = 65 Rpf.
Kuntzig [bs], 14 March 1941

Hindenburg Médallion franking
overprinted 'Luxemburg'

Hindenburg franking valid 
until 12/31/41

Göbelsmühle Reich Parcel Card
Overprinted for Bettborn (Moselland) Use

Bettborn to Esch-Alzig

22 March 1943

5.5 kg Zone 1 = 35 Rpf

Delivery fee = 15 Rpf

5 Rpf overrated
Delivery fee refunded [red b/s]

Reich Hitler-head Franking

Valid beginning 1 August 1941

The reference for German parcel cards generally during this period is:

Paul-Jürgen Hueske, Der Paketdienst im Deutschen Reich 1933-1945 (Infla Bücherei 47, 2001).

Goebelsmühle
Kraus No. 73

 

New publication! Entiers Postaux Illustrés Mondorf-les-Bains 1927-1930 by Jean-François Montagne

 

Luxembourg postal history scholarship is greatly enriched by Jean-François Montagne's splendid study of Luxembourg's first postal viewcards -- the beautiful artistic series of Mondorf-les-Bains views that appeared between 1927 and 1930

Scope:  This detailed, profusely illustrated 180-page tome encompasses the precursors, essays, issued cards including the surcharges, varieties and uses.

Montagne's innovative technical analysis of the cards:  Through systematic observation and measurement, Montagne reveals all of the secrets these cards contain.  His technically precise research findings are nicely summarized in many reader-friendly charts and diagrams. 

Even if you are an advanced collector, you will gain a wealth of knowledge from Montagne's impressive study, surely adding immensely to your enjoyment of these cards. 

He shares with us this précis of his work:

"Ces trois séries de neuf cartes, six en incluant les trois séries surchargées en 1927 et 1930, sont ici étudiées sous un nouvel angle et sont passées à la loupe.

Quelques découvertes ont donné certaines pistes, et cela a permis de découvrir les secrets de fabrication de ces séries et de démontrer que, contrairement à ce qui était admis jusqu’à présent, la feuille d’impression comportait plus de neuf clichés.

A la lecture de cette étude d’environ 180 pages, vous découvrirez le cheminement ayant permis la découverte de la composition de la feuille d’impression. l'ensemble des différents états des trois séries est détaillés. Les essais sont aussi détaillés."

Contact the author for details to obtain your copy!

montagne.jf@outlook.fr

A Couple Sample Pages

Page 25

 Page 107

 

Mourning cover from Schloss Hohenburg, Lenggries, mourning the death of G.D. Marie Adélaïde

Mourning the Death of  G.D. Marie Adélaïde
in 1924

Grand Duchess Marie Adélaïde died age 29 on 24 January 1924 at Schloss Hohenburg, the Nassau-Weilbourg family residence, near Lenggries, Bavaria.

The 10pf. cover seen here was posted during the period of mourning at Lenggries on 5 March 1924 and bears the Schloss Hohenburg P.B. imprint on the reverse flap.