Luxembourg Revenue Stamps: February 2020

The 1928 Effets de Commerce
Arabesque Surcharges

Shortly before the newly designed Effets de Commerce issue appeared in 1928, remainders of at least four of the old 1914 Green Flower-ornament (5% tax) issue were surcharged with new values and ranges showing 10% tax. The old value was obliterated with a small arabesque and the range with a larger arabesque. See the example illustrated below.

The arabesque surcharges apparently were needed to supplement the supply of certain values of the 1922 Flower-ornament issue. Barefoot (2nd ed.) lists just three arabesque surcharges. I have recorded a fourth. Others not yet reported might exist.

2F on 45c (Barefoot 190)

2F on 50c (Barefoot 191)

3F on 50c (Barefoot 192)

10F on 45c (author's collection)

3F Arabesque surcharge (tax 10%)

on the 50c 1914 Flower-ornament issue (5% tax)
S flip+180
L +90
Serifed '3 Fr'
Used 3 Aug 1929

Orientation of the Arabesques

The arabesques can appear in eight orientations: 0 degrees (base), rotated 90 degrees left, 90 degrees right, and 180 degrees, and likewise when the arabesque is inverted (a "flip" in my parlance). With 8 possible positions for each of the two arabesques, 64 different pairs are statistically possible. But without large multiples or access to government records, the pairs that were actually created in the surcharging operations cannot be fully determined.

To help identify the pairs, I have tabulated the possible orientations for both the small and large arabesque.

Table 1.—Small Arabesque Orientations (S)