Diekirch -- Pre-WW2 3F 'Deivelselter' Pictorial Used on a Child's Identity Card

Prior to World War 2, Diekirch issued a beautiful set of pictorials.  From the Zwitserloot collection, here is the 3F Pictorial showing the ancient Deivelselter monument used on an identity card dated 5 September 1939 for a sixteen-year-old girl from Diekirch.  This is the first I've seen of an identity card for a child.  Her family may have had the card issued out of concern that the German occupation was imminent.  

All pre-1940 uses of communal revenue stamps are scarce.  This is a nice discovery!

Courtesy of Martien Zwitserloot

The ancient Deivelselter monument

 overlooking Diekirch

Den Däiwelselter bei Dikrech ass e megalitheschen Ensembel deen 1815an e Koup gefall war an 1892 restauréiert gouf.

De 7 Meter héije Steebou ass keen Altor, wéi den Numm et suggeréiert, mä et soll sech ëm e Graf aus dem 2. Joerdausend virun eiser Zäitrechnung handelen. Den "Däiwelselter" ass deemno dat eelst Monument zu Dikrech.

Op der rietser Säit vun der Strooss vun Dikrech op Miedernach, kuerz nom Waasserreservoir, weist e Schëld op den Ufank vum Trëppelwee fir bis dobäi.

Nom Däiwelselter ass d'Informatiounsblat vun der Gemeng Dikrech genannt ginn: "Den Däiwelselter".

[From Wikipedia in Luxembourgish!]

Luxembourg-Ville -- Newly Reported Design

Previously Unreported Design

 

100F

Taxe Communale 

 

Martien Zwitserloot reports the discovery of this attractive 100F communal revenue from Luxembourg-Ville.  

 

I wonder why we haven't seen it before, as it is from the pre-Euro era.  When was it used?  Are there other denominations?

 

 

 

Pétange - The new and the old

Pétange has a history of using well designed communal revenue stamps.  Here are two newly acquired items showing the Pétange commune's commitment to artistic excellent!

Old Pétange Pictorial

Two Types Used in Combination

 

  10F 'TAXE COMMUNALE' with

50F 'Taxe Communale'

20 May 1981

 

New Self-Adhesive 'B' Rate

Coat of Arms

 

 Used 4 Nov 2009

Rumelange - Two types of the Miner Allegory Issue recorded

 

 

Rumelange

Miner Allegory - Two Types

'25 F' Printed (in green)

as part of the design

'25 F' Added in black,

and in a different font 

What other denominations were issued in these two styles?  I also have the 5F with the denomination printed as part of the stamp design.  Does the 5F also exist with the denomination added later in a second printing step?

Differdingen - WW2 Communale Revenue Use

Differdingen

World War 2 Occupation

French Text Stricken

Pre-WW2 2F Hotel de Ville

with 

'Taxe Communale' & 
'Differdange'

striken

Cancel:

  'Meldeamt Differdingen'

 

 

 Identity Card

29 Oct 1940

French language meticulously striken

during the first year of the WW2 occupation!

Esch-sur-Alzette --- 6.40F Miner issue recorded, used in 1953

6.40F Miner Issue

New here is the 6.40F denomination of the Esch-sur-Alzette Miner issue. The '6' of '6,40' is in bold with the stamp in blue, used here on 5 Jan 1953.

Recorded so far are the following denominations of this issue:

• Rouletted: 20F red, 50F orange, 70F Peacock blue
• Perforate:  5F violet, 6.40F blue, 10F green, 20F red

But surely there must be many other denominations.  Help add to this listing by sending me scans from your collection! 

You can read more about the Esch-sur-Alzette Miner issue here.

Luxembourg-Ville --- Scarce Surcharges on the 1923 Town View Issue

 

The Town View 

Surcharges

3.20F Surcharge 
on 1F Town View

Courtesy of Martien Zwitserloot

We often find the 1-Franc and 3-Franc (and less often the 2-Franc) Town View issue from the 1920s.  The set exists with small and large numerals.  But what we seldom find are the Town View surcharges.

Seen here from the Zwitserloot collection is the 1-Franc Town View (tall numeral) surcharged to 3.20-Francs.  The surcharge is unlisted in Barefoot, Benelux Revenues (2nd ed.), and this is the only reported 3.20-Franc surcharge on this issue.

5.00F Surcharge
on 1F Town View

 Courtesy of Martien Zwitserloot

Also very scarce is the 1-Franc Town View (tall numeral) surcharged to 5-Francs. It is listed in Barefoot, who dates it to 1936. The surcharge is also found on the 1-Franc Town View (short numeral).

It would be helpful to have information from government records of the tax rate increases that prompted surcharging this issue.  Of course, scans of uses on documents would be especially welcome!

Erpeldange - Three Coats of Arms issues reported

Luxembourg Arms

Commune

d' Erpeldange

Canton Diekirch

2F Uprated to 10F in Manuscript

Thanks to Bruno Vincent for sharing this
beautiful old communal revenue
from Erpeldange

100F

Modern Erpeldange
Coat of Arms 

50F Green
Key Type

Not as beautiful as the other two!

Luxembourg-Ville - Why is the 6.40F Horseman so scarce?

6.40F Horseman
(Horizontal Lines)

Used 5 Apr 1956

Many of the Luxembourg-Ville Horseman communal revenues with horizontal-line background shading are not too difficult to find.  Curiously, Barefoot in Benelux Revenues (2d ed.) lists only the 6.40F, which in my experience is very scarce, much scarcer than the 5F purple, 10F green, 20F blue, 50F brown (two shades), 70F blue, or even the 100F orange. Denominations higher than 100F I have not seen.

But thanks to Martien Zwitserloot, you will see above the 6.40F used along with the 30F Dimension on a birth certificate dated 5 April 1956.  I show a similar use from 1959 here.  I wish we knew more about the quantity printed, the rate for which it was used, and its period of validity.  It was preceded by the 3.20F diagonal-line Horseman surcharged to 6.40 Frs.  Perhaps this rather unusual rate was short-lived and the need satisfied by the surcharged issue.  More research is needed.

Bourscheid - 25F Key Type Uprated to 250F by Manuscript

If you collect the communal revenues, you'll have an opportunity to acquire the unusual, the unique, and the curious without endangering your bank account.

Here the 25-franc Bourscheid key type as been uprated by a factor of 10 to 250 francs by the manuscript insertion of a red zero.

Thanks to Martien Zwitserloot for sharing this stamp from his outstanding collection of Luxembourg revenues.

Pétange -- 5F surcharges on 2F Hotel de Ville (previously unreported)

2F Red Hotel de Ville
with large 5 [F] surcharge

 2F Red Hotel de Ville
with large 5 Frs. surcharge

Used on a residency certificate
(signed by the mayor) and dated 16 Jun 1954.
Courtesy of Martien Zwitserloot

Hosingen - Mysterious old 1F Pictorial Discovered

The Mysterious Tower!

Hosingen
1F Pictorial

Courtesy of Martien Zwitserloot

This previously unreported Hosingen communal pictorial was discovered by Martien Zwitserloot, who shares my love for these old pictorials from the communes. 

Who knows the history of this ancient tower?  Does it still exist?

On January 1, 2012, the Hosingen commune was merged with the Consthum and Hoscheid communes to form a new commune -- Parc Hosingen.

Mertzig - 100F Key Type showing 3 different cancels!

Administration Communale
* Mertzig *

Coat of Arms cancel
with two stars
 

 Administration Communale
Mertzig

Small Lion and Crown cancel
with no stars
 

Administration Communale
* Mertzig *

Large Lion and Crown cancel
with two stars

Special thanks to Martien Zwitserloot in the Netherlands for sharing these Mertzig cancels.  Beautiful cancels from the communes add to the richness of a communal revenue collection!

New Coat of Arms Design from Sanem on self-adhesive 'A' rate stamp

Sanem Self-Adhesive Coat of Arms

Communal Revenue

Here is the newly designed and very attractive Coat of Arms communal revenue from Sanem.  Notice that it pays a categorical tax rate ('A') and is self-adhesive.  Also, the commune name is no longer shown as Sanem-Belvaux; now, it's just Sanem.  I wonder why?

Thanks to Martien Zwitserloot in the Netherlands for sharing this beautiful communal revenue. Those of you who collect only postage stamps should be a little bit jealous, I think!

Is the 500F key-type the highest communal revenue denomination?

Contern - 500F Key Type

What fees did this 500F Contern brown and blue communal revenue pay?  

Are there any key-type or pictorial communal revenues in denominations that exceed 500 francs?

Stadtbredimus and Waldbredimus communes added!

New Additions

 

Stadtbredium and Waldbredimus

Stadtbredimus

10F Red
Key Type

Waldbredimus

10F
Key type

What other denominations did these communes use?  Did they ever issue pictorials?  The addition of Moselle valley communes Stadtbredimus and Waldbredimus brings to 95 the number of communes whose stamps are documented on the blog.

Esch-sur-Alzette Miner Issues -- Three Currency Formats

Value in Francs shown as

 "XX" or "XX,--" or XX.--

Which formats do you have in your collection, and on which denominations?  

I've only seen a period used after the value on the rouletted issue.  Perhaps this format only occurs on that issue, as the European custom is to place a comma after the larger unit of currency (in this case, francs).

Esch-sur-Alzette -- 3F Surcharge in 1940 on 5F Commercial School Pictorial

3F Surcharge on 5F
Ville d'Esch sur Alzette
Ecole Industrielle & Commerciale
Pictorial

The school shown on the stamp.

24 Feb 1940

 
Used on an Identity Card

Newly discovered, this attractive old pictorial has been surcharged from five francs to three, and pays the fee for issuance of an identity card on 24 February 1940.

When did the unsurcharged stamp appear? Who was the designer? the printer?

 

Much documentation of Luxembourg's communal revenues remains to be done. Can you help? Municipal archives would be an excellent source of information. Write to me at arsdorf@gmail.com with scans and new information!

During the WW2 Occupation, Differdange’s Hotel de Ville becomes the Stadthaus

"Taxe Communale" becomes "Gemeinde-Taxe"

 

during the WW2 Occupation

In their zeal to Germanize the Grand Duchy, the WW2 German occupiers transformed French-language administrative paperwork into German-only documents. Their efforts to purify language use even extended to the communal revenues, as shown above. 

Even though the basic stamp design is the same, the building shown on the stamps is designated the “Hotel de Ville” on the pre-occupation stamp at left, but becomes the “Stadthaus” on the stamp at right, which is also surcharged from francs to Reichpfenning. "Tax Communale" is now "Gemeinde-Taxe" and of course, "Differdange" has become "Differdingen". But some bureaucrat forgot to obliterate the "1 Fr." denomination!  Silly as it seems, this was often done during the first year of occupation, before stamps in the German-language were issued.

Beles WW2 German Occupation Communals—genuine or bogus?

Sanem-Belvaux WW2 Communals

Real or Fake?

 

 

During the WW2 German occupation, the administration for Sanem-Belvaux apparently issued an attractive set of communal revenues. Curiously, they were denominated in pfenning, not Reichpfenning—which was the occupation currency—and bear the name Beles, which of course is German for Belvaux. 
 
Were these stamps actually used? I’ve never seen uses or used examples. The mint set of four is shown above.

The design is strikingly similar to this pre-WW2 Sanem-Belvaux communal revenue:

During the occupation, the nearby commune of Esch-sur-Alzette issued communal revenues with denominations less than one mark denominated in “Pf.” However, denominations of 1 mark or more were denominated in Reichmark.

Combination Municipal and National Revenue Stamp Use in 1959

Combination Fiscal Franking!

Civil Register Extract
 

6.40F Luxembourg-Ville Communal
(horizontal shading)

used in combination with the

30F Timbre de Dimension