St. Helena ... where?

 

Raymond Thill of Rumelange, who we remember as the maker of many attractive first day and first flight covers, addressed this 13-franc cover posted February 19, 1951, to "Stamp Brokerage Co.,
St. Helena."  Initially, I thought: "Wow!  What a spectacular South Atlantic ocean destination.

St. Helena Island

Upon closer inspection, I noticed "U.S.A." typed at the lower left corner of the cover.  Next to it was an Omaha, Nebraska receiving cancel dated March 8, 1951.  And above it was the manuscript notation: "No such company at St. Helena, Nebr." plus "Try California."

Saint Helena, Nebraska
Cedar County
Population 86

After having cleared customs at New York City and transited through Omaha on its journey to "St. Helena," the cover stopped at Saint Helena, Nebraska, in the United States heartland on March 12, 1951.

Saint Helena, California
Napa County
Population 5,950

Five days later, on March 17, 1951, the cover reached its final destination -- Saint Helena [pronounced "Saint he-LEE-na"], California, amidst the beautiful March greenery of the Napa Valley wine country, undoubtedly a refreshing change from the late winter bleakness of Saint Helena, Nebraska.

The cover is also remarkable for its franking.  The 10-franc General Patton commemorative is seldom seen on commercial mail.  Here it pays part of the 13-franc rate for a 40-60 g UPU surface letter (9 F) plus the 4-F UPU registry fee. 

As a used single, off cover, Prifix currently prices the stamp at 55 euros; Scott 2008 is more conservative at $37.50.   Issued on October 24, 1947, the stamp was valid until December 31, 1951. 

I'm pleased to have it on a commercial cover, even if that cover didn't go to St. Helena Island!

Incoming mail from British India 1898-1911

 British India

Formally the British Indian empire existed for ninety years -- from 1858–1947.  It consisted of large parts of most of the countries in South Asia.

British India was established in 1858 out of the East India Company lands as a colonial possession of the United Kingdom directly ruled by the British Crown. Indirect control was exercised over of the remaining princely states of Baluchistan, Hyderabad, Kashmir, Mysore, Rajputana, and Travancore.  The term British India also applied to parts of  Burma.

The earliest card seen here was sent to the 1890s Luxembourg stamp dealer J-G. Paquelet.  Two others are from the correspondence of Diekirch's Charles Schaack; the fourth is from present day Bangladesh, and the fifth from  correspondence of the Carmelite cloister in Luxembourg-Ville.

1-anna Queen Victoria postal card

Bombay, July 1898, to Luneville, France,
forwarded to Luxembourg-Ville,
received August 9, 1898.

 

1-anna Queen Victoria reply postal card

Shembaganur Madura, July 26, 1905

Transit:  Sea Post Office, July 29th

Arrival: Diekirch, August 14th

 

 

1/4-anna King Edward VII Postal card

(uprated with a 1/2-anna definitive)

Bandura, Hashnabad, Dacca [today: Dhaka, Bangladesh]

January 14, 1905

Transit:  Sea Post Office, January 20th

Arrival: Luxembourg-Ville, February 4th

 

 

1-anna King Edward VII postal card

Darjeeling, July 21, 1909

Transit:  Sea Post Office Bombay-Aden A, July 24th

 

1-anna King Edward VII postal card

Tangasseri Travancore, July 25, 1911

Arrival:  Luxembourg-Ville, August 12th

Outbound mail to Sumatra (1901) & Java (1924)

 

Luxembourg-Gare [B], March 10, 1901, Singapore, April 7, 1901,
to Palembang, Sumatra, April 11, 1901

Palembang, a scarce destination in the then-Netherlands East Indies, is the capital city of South Sumatra Province of today's Indonesia.  It's the second largest city in Sumatra after Medan and the seventh largest city in Indonesia.

 

Rodange, June 28, 1924, to Bandoeng, Java, July 23, 1924

Bandung [Bandoeng], another scarce destination in the then-Netherlands Indies,  is the capital of today's West Java province of Indonesia.  Although badly foxed, this card from the philatelic correspondence of Rodange's Adolphe Fischer is nonetheless precious for those of us who appreciate the scarcity of
pre-World War II mail from Luxembourg to any Asian destination.

World War II: the rare 20-Rpf. rate to Slovakia

 

At page 63 of the Basien-Hoffkamp rate book, we see several obscure special Luxembourg postal rates that were in effect during the 1940 to 1944 World War II occupation.  And thanks to the work of Dieter and Fernand, we know that these include a 20-Rpf., 20-g letter rate to Hungary and Slovakia.  But when I was last in Luxembourg, one of the local collectors remarked:  "We never see uses of any of those rates."  Well, wow!  Here's one.  It documents the 20-Rpf. letter rate to Slovakia.

This remarkable 50-Rpf. registered cover emanated from Differdange, September 1, 1941 [Differdingen [b] cds, transit tourist cancel Luxemburg [e]].  It is addressed to 'Poste restante, Kasihan (Slovakei)' and was censored in Vienna [censor tape 'g'].  Apparently unclaimed, it was returned to Luxembourg endorsed  Zurück, unzulässig!  The Differdingen [c] backstamp dated September 8, 1941 documents its return.

The 50-Rpf. sole franking correctly pays the 20-Rpf. letter rate and the 30-Rpf. registry fee.  Absolutely precious!

Are there any Luxembourg post-World War II first day covers to really love?

 

 

In my days as a philatelic novice in the 1950s, I used to service my own first day covers for Luxembourg new issues. Later, I subscribed to a service in Peoria, Illinois, that sent me the new issues on first day covers with primitive cachets. Eventually, I discovered the better quality first day covers that Raymond Thill in Rumelange prepared. Thereafter for many years, I acquired the new issues on Thill first day covers, and after Thill retired, those that the FSPL prepared.

All of them, along with others acquired in general postal history collections I’ve bought, repose in a filing box. I seldom open the box as they seem to have little postal history significance. They are really just philatelic souvenirs, much like the medals and certificates we receive as exhibitors at stamp shows — nice to receive, and pleasant to look at once or twice, after which they are put away and forgotten.

So I shocked my philatelic friends recently when I purchased the 1945 Octave semi-postal issue first day cover shown above. And by (some) first day cover standards, it is nothing special. The overall condition is only average, there is no cachet or special cancel, and it was addressed with a rubber stamp. Why would a Luxembourg postal historian care enough to acquire it at considerable expense?

Well, the answer is quite simple — rarity. In over 50 years of scrutinizing the Luxembourg cover market, this is the first time I’ve seen this elusive first day cover offered for sale. The semi-postal stamps themselves are seldom seen used on covers of any sort. They catalog $165.20 as used singles, off cover, in Scott 2008. Moreover, most often used examples have been cancelled to order in Luxembourg-Ville. But here we have the set used on the first day of issue — June 4, 1945 — from a small spa town on the French border, postmarked with the uncommon Mondorf-les-Bains [a] Type 52 Belgian- style cancel. It is also the first day of use for this cancel, which the FSPL handbook lists as having been used only from June 4, 1945 to April 17, 1947.

I can only surmise that at the time, the Ungeheuers, who were still operating their stamp store from Mondorf, prepared only a small number of first day covers for this issue. Surely they must have thought that in the immediate aftermath of World War II, very few collectors would be able to afford this high face value set of stamps. After all, the country was just starting to recover from over four years of harsh German occupation and the recent devastation wrought by the Battle of the Bulge. Moreover, in 1945 first day covers were just beginning to attain the popularity that they would enjoy from the 1950s onward.

Certainly there is enough history associated with this first day cover to love it a lot! And for those who cannot find it in their philatelic heart to love any first day cover, the € 475 valuation in the current Prifix catalog should provide some consolation. Indeed, in my opinion this is the scarcest post-World War II Luxembourg first day cover. I love it -- a lot!

Luxembourg’s Pre-World War II Occupation Cancellers Used After October 1, 1940, on the Hindenburg Médaillon Definitives Pending Issuance of Reich-Style Cancellers

 

Echternach-Ettelbruck railway cancel, October 19, 1940

As of October 1, 1940, the Reich mandated use of the 16 Hindenburg Médaillon definitives surcharged ‘Luxemburg.’ And from that date forward, the Reich also began replacing Luxembourg’s
pre-occupation cancellers with Reich-style cancellers having German-language spellings for the town names. As this process was not completed for several months, an interesting collection can be put together of Luxembourg’s pre-occupation cancels used on or after October 1, 1940, on Hindenburg covers and loose stamps.

During this transitional period from October 1, 1940 into the early months of 1941, you can find many examples of continued use of the pre-occupation bridge cancels (FSPL Types T33 & T34). However other possibilities also exist. For example, when the occupation began, Clemency was still using its single circle canceller (FSPL Type 31). Similarly, villages which had never been issued a bridge canceller, such as Arsdorf, continued to use their Type 32 double circle cancellers. And, although seldom seen, the rectangular railroad cancels in use at the time of the occupation also were used for a short period after October 1, 1940, before being replaced by Reich-style oval railroad cancellers.

The cover at the top shows a sole use of the 25-Rpf. Hindenburg paying the postage on a very fine censored UPU-rate cover to Berne in neutral Switzerland, posted on October 19, 1940. What makes this cover even more compelling is the post-October 1, 1940 use of the pre-occupation Echternach-Ettelbruck railway cancel. Certainly this must be among the last uses of this cancel before it was replaced with a Reich-style oval railway canceller.  Additional examples appear below.

T33 Bettembourg Oct 15 1940	T33 Dommeldange Oct 30 1940	T34 Walferdange Nov 7 1940

 

 

T33 - Eschdorf, October 16, 1940

 

T33 - Weiswampach, October 15, 1940

 

T33 - Rambrouch, October 16, 1940

Marie-Adélaïde ‘Aux longs Cheveux’

 

 

Card No. 509 (2^o Livre D'Or)

The Chocolat Guérin-Boutron company published this striking picture of the teenage Marie-Adélaïde with long flowing hair on one of its many delightful advertising cards.  And then on June 14,  1908 Luxembourg 'issued' these four poster stamps with a similar portrait of the future Grand Duchess.  Prifix somewhat cryptically refers to these as "précurseurs de caritas sans valeur d’affranchissement." 

While they had no franking value, we find them adorning covers and cards, as shown below:

Echternach, March 15, 1909 to Antwerp, Belgium

 

Dommeldange, June 15, 1908, to Brabant, Belgium
(Second day cover)

But, alas!  When the next Caritas precursors appeared in 1914  showing the six princesses (the 'Colonies de Vacances' set), Marie's long hair had been shorn.  (That's Marie second from the right.)

German Censorship of Luxembourg mail before the May 10, 1940 Occupation

 

 

German censor cachet

Mersch, April 10, 1940, to Neurath [post: Neuerburg], Germany

The Reich officially established its mail surveillance system by directive issued on April 2, 1940 and published on June 8, 1940.  As a consequence, incoming mail to the Reich from Luxembourg was already subject to censorship when the Grand Duchy was occupied on May 10, 1940.  Here is an example of such censorship during the twenty-day period between April 2nd and May10th. 

Some writers state that German censorship began even earlier.  What is the earliest date that incoming mail to the Reich from Luxembourg was censored?

Life before the advent of e-mail --- a 1961 visiting card penalized for including a handwritten message exceeding 5 words!

 

Visiting (or calling) cards were sent unsealed, often at the end of the year, in accordance with the prevailing social norms.   And in Luxembourg up until 1991, three different postal rates applied to these cards, depending on the whether (or how much) handwriting was included with the card. 

When this visiting card was posted from Petange to Septfontanes [Simmern] on December 7, 1961, the rates were:

30c - no handwritten message

1.00 F -  handwritten message of not more than 5 words

2.50 F - handwritten message of more than 5 words

It appears that the sender paid only the 30c rate for a business card without a handwritten message, using the 30c+10c 1961 Caritas semi-postal as the sole franking.   The 4.50 F postage due charged the next day at Septfontaines suggests that the card contained a handwritten message exceeding five words.  Based on this assumption, the penalty would have been double the 2.20 F deficiency or 4.40 F (which amount was apparently rounded up to 4.50 F). 

Let's be glad postal clerks are no longer inspecting visiting cards to count any handwritten words that the sender may have added to the printed card! 

 

Special Delivery to Monaco in 1955

 

Commercial covers franked with Luxembourg's annual Caritas stamps are attractive and often elusive.  Here four denominations of the 1955 Caritas Folklore (3rd series) semi-postals are used on December 8, 1955, just three days after issuance, in combination with the 8 F denomination of the 1952 Helsinki Olympics commemorative set to exactly pay the 16 F concession rate to France & Monaco for a 20-g registered, special delivery letter, thus:

3 F postage (as of 5/1/53)

5 F registry fee (as of 5/1/53)

8 F special delivery fee (as of 7/53)

 

Monte Carlo b/s, December 10, 1955

Gavilán Argentinian Cigarrillos

 

In Spanish, "cigarrillo" means "little cigar."  And like cigars (and unlike cigarettes), cigarillos are wrapped in whole-leaf tobacco, as seen in the photo above.

I recently added to my Cinderella collection the Gavilán cigarrillos 20 cts 'coupon' shown above.  It features a quaint reproduction  of Luxembourg's 1921 five-franc Adolphe Bridge commemorative (an "Estampilla de LUXEMBURGO").  The tiny card measures just 52 mm. x 72 mm. with the 'stamp' printed in violet like the issued stamp.

The Spanish text reads:

ESTE CUPÓN ES SÓLO DE CONTROL PARA ESTA MANUFACTURA Y NO TIENE NINGÚN OTRO VALOR [in English:  THIS COUPON IS ONLY FOR THE CONTROL OF MANUFACTURING AND DOES NOT HAVE ANY VALUE].

And at the lower left:  MÁQUINA 22 [MACHINE 22] and V. F. GREGO, MANUFACTURA DE TABACOS 'PARTICULAR.'

Here's the real stamp:

Did Gavilán print other coupons with stamp reproductions?  I don't recall seeing their coupons before, and I'm still unclear about how to translate the quotation at the top of the coupon:  "Para que no emigre tanto oro Argentino."  Surely some readers can help!