Belgium Mustache
Bud's Big BlueBud's Observations
I think Hercule Poirot’s cousins all worked in the post
office. Otherwise, how can you account
for the frequent place/date cancels, some as neat as the famous Belgian
detective’s mustache? Well, maybe not. But I like on-line visits to Belgian
towns, and speculating about what happened there on the day of the cancel. A
complete 16 line cancel from Namur is on supplement page 2, something of a rarity.
Belgian regular stamps tend to be rather drab, enlivened
somewhat by the 1893-1913 detachable labels (dominical labels) which, if they were
included on an envelope, no Sunday delivery would be attempted by the post
office. This presumably kept church-goers happy. But since it’s devilishly hard
to find covers with the stamp and label intact, I suspect most folks sinfully
ripped them off. BB, being pious, insists on label-attached stamps.
Semi-postals from Belgium, however, and their railway stamps
are stunning. Included in the supplement
pages are promotional materials for some of the semi-postals (page 4) and railway receipts for parcels with
stamps attached (page 6, 7).
Census: 549 in BB spaces, 99 tipped-in, 179 on supplement
pages.
Overall, I rate Big Blue's coverage of Belgium "good". But BB has an annoying trait of dropping a series too early with cheap stamps on the table. This was especially noticeable with the Parcel Post (Railroad) stamps. Also, Belgium's surcharged stamps seem to have a harder time making it into Big Blue. ( I've noticed this "surcharge shortage" with other countries too.)
Belgium Blog Post and Checklist
Page 1 (Click on page to enlarge for examination.)
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Comments appreciated!
Since the scans were made I've added 16 stamps including three souvenir sheets, straightened up the semi-postal section, and transferred some of the tip-ins to the supplement pages.
ReplyDeleteBud is it possible that your 83 Scott is in fact a Scott 62?
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your calling this to my attention and will make the neccesary changes.
ReplyDeleteI found yet another placement error. On Belgium page 1, row 2, #52 is in the space where #45 should be. The change has been made.
ReplyDeleteToo bad, the "Epaulettes" are missing...
ReplyDeleteYep!
Delete