Luxembourg Revenue Stamps: Effets de Commerce--The 1928 Arabesque Provisional Surcharges

In 1928, Luxembourg surcharged the 45c and 50c 1917 small green Effets de Commerce revenues for provisional use pending production of the new 1928 Effets de Commerce definitives. Barefoot in Benelux Revenues [2nd ed.] lists only a 2F on 45c, 2F on 50c, and 3F on 50c. But other denominations exist (below, I show a 10F on 45c). Moreover, the abbreviation Fr. for Franc is found both serifed and sans serif, and the numerals differ in minor respects.

But even more interesting are the pairs of arabesque squares used as part of the surcharges. A small arabesque obliterates the denomination of the stamp; a larger arabesque obliterates the monetary range.

The orientation of each arabesque can vary. In theory, the following orientations are possible, such that many different pairings of the small and the large arabesques could exist.

Small Arabesque Types


Type A base	Type A +90	Type A -90	Type A +180

Type A base flip	Type A flip +90	Type A flip -90	Type A flip +180

Large Arabesque Types


Type AA (base)	Type AA +90	Type AA -90	Type AA +180

Type AA (flip)	Type AA (flip) +90	Type AA (flip) –90	Type AA (flip) +180

Abbreviations of Franc


Serifed	Sans Serif

Due to the paucity of material available for study, we may never know the full range of possibilities. If you have these surcharges in your collection, I’d be grateful to add scans to my small database! In particular, I would like to know whether other revenue stamps were surcharged to denominations between 2F and 10F or to more than 10F. Here are examples from my collection and the collection of Martien Zwitserloot in The Netherlands.

2 Fr. on 45c Range: 1000-2000F	2 Fr. on 45c Range 1000-2000F

Serifed Fr. Type A base and Type AA Flip -90	Sans serif Fr. Type A base flip and Type AA +90