Belgium : Stamps

#11

#13

#16

#15 (was hiding)

It gets complicated and you have to check the watermark, paper & size of the stamp. An important feature is the number in the cancel that was only available at certain dates as the service expanded

Your #2 - 18 horizontal bars with 24 is an 1849 #2 from the main office in Bruxelles
Plus it looks like there is a color dot beneath the GT and the E which makes it a #2a PlateII on untinted paper
Watermark 1849

Your #4 - comes in thin & regular paper no CV difference.
To complicate matters there are 5 types of paper.
Looks like 18 vertical bars with an 82?. This would be PO 1850 Denderleeuw so it should be a #4
Watermark 1849

Your #7 - comes in thin parchment & thick paper.
17 horizontal bars #60 would be PO Herve
Watermark 1851

Your #11 - No watermark but 2 issue dates 1858 & 1861
Check the size 1858 = 18 X 21mm, 1861 = 17.5 X 22 mm.
The 1861 has thin & thick paper

Your # 15 - 3 issue dates
Mar 31 1863 - perf 12.5
Aug 6 1863 - perf 12.5 X 13.5

Then there's the marvelous "Medallion" issue! What an iconic and classic design 

I had a good accumulation of them for study on my desk last night. First thing to look for is to try to find any with the same Watermark as on the Epaulettes, namely a crown inside a frame. Please refer to detailed image of these watermarks provided by @falshung in previous post. According to the catalogs these are more scarce than the next watermarked issue, that simply has a crown without the frame around it. And I can witness the ones with the frame are indeed more hard to find! Of the accumulation of more than 200 medallions I had, only 1 of them to turned out to have the watermark with frame .... that's less than 0,5 % 

Here's my first page for the Medallions - watermark with frame around it. Exists on different papers and in various shades. I did not need to worry too much about just that! 

...and even more 'Medallions' 

The next printings were made on paper without watermark at all. These exists in different formats - 'arrondis' or 'allonges' - the medallion appears more rounded or more stretched/oval. It does take some training to see this with naked eyes, so it's easier to simply measure the dimensions. The 'allonges' version also exists on thick paper.

Does anybody know the reason for these format differences? I would not be surprised if the same plates were used, but with different printing techniques causing slightly altered formats. Alternatively printing on dry or wet paper can cause something similar. Anybody knows?

(Click on image for better resolution)

Thanks Rene - but I guess I should have clarified: I had prepared those custom pages in advance! Studying and organising those stamps and creating those pages all in one evening, that would have been quite an achievement   Unfortunately I am not that efficient...  Adding all those details often takes more time than to actually populate the pages later on   But that's ok, the pages suits my preferences and interests perfectly, so I think it is worth spending some time creating them.

That's how I do mine also. Take the time to fact check & add extra bits, and hopefully proofread them too!

and don't forget... expensive at times too!

The first stamps of Belgium all picture King Leopold I, who was made king when Belgium got her independence from the Netherlands in 1831. Interestingly the name Belgium is originating from the Latin word 'Belgae' which simply is the latin name for the 'Lowlands' - or the 'Netherlands'. This shows how the history of Netherland and Belgium is very closely connected, even the names of the countries essential means the same.

Another interesting sidefact - did you know that if coincidence and fortune had turned out slightly differently - Leopold would have been married to the Queen of United Kingdom? If so Queen Victoria II would not made to be Queen at all, and our beloved 'Penny black' would have had a different portrait, as well as all the thousands of other Victorian stamps we all love. Our 'Victorian' stamps would have been 'Charlottan' - doesn't sound as good, does it ?   Read more about Leopold and PRINCESS CHARLOTTE
Unfortunately for them, Charlotte died while giving birth to their stillborn son. So history continued as we now know it, Victoria being the "god-mother for all stamps" - and Leopold to become King of Belgium.
Well - he could in fact have become King of Greece instead, but it seems he was not keen on too much sunshine, souvlaki and ouzo



image uploader

Leopold was pictured on the 'Epaulettes' and the 'Medallions' as shown in posts above. Belgium made a last definitive issue picturing King Lepold I in 1865, the same year he died.
(Click for better image)



In fact, this issue was issued with different perforations in 1866-67, which is actually after their beloved King died. This goes to show how proud the Belgians were with their first King - or maybe they preferred picturing the old king rather than the new king for reasons none even could have known at that time. Foresighted? His son Leopold II goes down in history as head of one of the worst regimes known to mankind, "Free" State of Congo, but that's another story alltogether

My guess is LIEGE 26 ?? 11-12
The year would be further down, where the other postmark also start and overlap.  

COB



For those who read French.

Yvert/COB 56, 56a 56b  three (3) colors  Green, Dark Green, Yellow Green

i have learned from the France Sage  stamps that when it comes the green 'nuances" some are very apparent, while others are very subtle...

I need some second opinions....  colors from scanner look to me to be accurate representations

so, the 3 in the middle Grren (mint), Dark Green, Yellow Green (?)-

the two on the left faded/oxidized Dark green?? 
the two on the right... maybe also yellow green... or all 3 stamps on right are faded green....

If anyone has all three, please post

Thanks

ah! suppression of the pearl bands!  (I hadn't gotten that far, but that helps (and reduces somewhat the number of stamps I need to look at)

56 in my COB is listed as Green with just the56 a and 56b nuances also (I guess I didn't phrase that very well)

but, agreed, the German description is easier to follow

If you also have 56 ( Green ), if you could post that would give me an even better point of reference- Or do you not include that?

too bad you don't live down the street HA!!

Thanks!!!!