Identity Card Issued at Differedange During the WW2 Occupation Showing Extensive French Language Deletion

2 Fr. Hotel de Ville
29 Oct 1940

Taxe Communale & Differdange
Crossed Out

Cancel:  Meldeamt Differdingen
[Differdange Registration Office]

All French text has been crossed out, because the occupiers strictly enforced their German-only language law.  Even the Coat-of-Arms on the cover has been crossed out.  Imagine the resentment that this law surely engendered among the Luxembourgeoise. 

You can read my earlier article entitled Luxembourg Communal Revenue Stamps: Currency Surcharges and French Language Obliteration during the World War II Occupation here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/93aox7ibddvj2k4/Luxembourg%20Revenues%20WWII%20Echternach.docx?dl=0

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

10 Fr. on 45c Range:  9000-10000 F

Type A + Type AA +90 with san serif Fr. (Unlisted in Barefoot)

3 Fr. on 50c Range: 2000-3000 F

Serifed Fr. and short, thin  arm on ‘3’ Type A base and Type AA +90

3 Fr. on 50c Range: 2000-3000 F

Serifed Fr. and long, thick arm on ‘3’ Type A flip +180 and Type AA +90

3 Fr. on 50c Range: 2000-3000 F

Serifed Fr.; long, thick arm on ‘3’ Type A flip +180; Type AA flip -90

3 Fr. on 50c  Range 2000-3000F used in 1930 on a 2210F Draft

Type A Base; Type AA flip -90 Garage Wengler, Ettelbrück 28 Jun 1930, payable 28 Mar 1931

3 Fr. on 50c Range: 2000-3000F Used in 1930 on a similar draft

Type A base and Type AA +90

Pétange—Use of Self-Adhesive Communal Revenues

 

Here is an example of an imperforate self-adhesive communal revenue used at Pétange to pay an identity card fee.  What other communes have introduced self-adhesives?

Rare Weiler-la-Tour communal revenue

 

Few would disagree that this 10F communal revenue, canceled with the cachet of the Administration Communale – Weiler-La-Tour, is among the scarcest of Luxembourg’s communal revenue stamps.  In some ways, its beauty flows from its simplicity enhanced by the commune’s elegant cachet.

Thanks to Bruno Vincent in France for sharing a scan of this fiscal gem from his collections of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg fiscals.  He publishes a beautiful, scholarly revenue blog entitled Collection Passion les Timbres Fiscaux at www.timbres-fiscaux.fr .  Be sure to have a look if you haven’t already enjoyed this fine blog!

Communal Meter Imprint from Mersch

 

3€ Population Tax
Meter Impression
19 May 2010

Once upon a time, the Mersch commune used beautiful pictorials.  Sadly, they have now been superseded by unattractive meter imprints, as seen above, produced by a franking machine.  These days convenience trumps beauty, that’s for sure.

This is what Mersch communals used to look like:

Which do you prefer?  Which would you collect?

5c 1898 Imperforate Effets de Commerce with U-shaped Ornament – 1902 Use

 

An issue of imperforate Effets on cream paper with a two-pronged u-shaped ornament appeared in 1898.  Barefoot claims that only six low denominations (5c, 10c, 15c, 20c, 25c and 50c) and two higher  denominations (1F and 10F) were issued.  However, my collection contains a few used examples of red-color denominations with values between 1F and 10F, albeit such examples are scarce.  So we really don’t know for sure how many denominations this issue included.  Perhaps a sufficient supply of denominations between 1F and 10F was available such that the intermediate denominations were printed but not widely distributed, as Barefoot lists the 2F50, 3F, 4F, 4F50, and 5F red as having been surcharged in 1920 (Barefoot No. 143, 144, 146, 147 and 148).

Here the lowest denomination—the 5 centime—is used on a bank draft by Chemiserie Strasbourgeoise J. Heymann for 72.25 francs dated 3 November 1902 and drawn on the Société Général Alsacienne de Banque Luxembourg in favor of a payee in Niederwiltz.  The stamp is pen canceled “J.H. 3 Nov. 1902.”

I previously posted a 1906 use of the 1898 imperforate one-franc red here.

10c Anchor Effets de Commerce – 1880 Use

The first set of the small Effets de Commerce revenues appeared in 1875, perforate 13 with typeset anchor ornaments.  It comprised 16 stamps, consisting of six blue denominations in centimes, nine rose intermediate franc denominations, and one 10-franc lilac-brown high denomination.  Used until the early 1900s, the centimes denominations are fairly common.

The use here of the 10-centime is on a bank draft from Au Coin de Rue Mersch-Adam dated 31 January 1880 for 150 francs payable by the end for February 1880 in favor of a payee in Remerschen and drawn on the International Bank in Luxemburg.  It was paid on 28 February 1880.  The stamp is pen canceled “Luxbrg. le 31/1. 80 Mersch.Adam.” 

Nicolas Mersch–Adam was a Luxembourg merchant, president of the Bureau de Bienfaisance, and co-founder of the Casino de Luxembourg.  I guess everybody knew which street corner “au coin de rue” referred to!

6-Franc Floret Effets de Commerce – 1927 Use

 

6-Fr. Floret Effets du Commerce 
used on a bank draft in 1927

According to Barefoot, 22 perforate Effets de Commerce revenues with floral ornaments appeared in 1922 with the tax increased to 10c per 100 francs. He lists nine centime denominations printed in green, nine intermediate franc denominations in blue, and four high denominations in red. Can we add any denominations to his listing? He also indicates that these stamps can be found perforate 11, 11x11½, and 11½. Do you agree? We'd better check our collections!

Here the 6-franc (for bank drafts ranging from 5,000 Frs. to 6,000 Frs.) is used on a draft dated
18 November 1927 for 5,060 Frs. from the Grand Garage Emile Dondelinger, Luxembourg - 7, Rue Schmitz drawn on the Banque Général du Luxembourg in favor of a payee in Glabach (Mersch), with the stamp pen canceled "E. Dondelinger 18 November 1927."

Who has the other denominations on drafts? I'd like to add scans of them to the website.

The three carmine & rose Chiffre d'Affairs high-denomination revenues

Courtesy of Martien Zwitserloot

Of the set of 25 chiffre d'affaires revenues listed by Barefoot, 16 are the low values printed in blue and light blue (5c to 5F), 6 are the intermediate values printed in orange (10F to 80F), and 3 are the high values printed in carmine and rose (100F, 200F, and 500F).  As the three high denominations are seldom seen, we show them here.

Barefoot incorrectly lists the dates of issue as "1926/8."  The pen cancels above are dated 14 and 15 November 1922.  Examples in my collection show cancels as early as October 1922.  The dates of these cancels are consistent with the date of the implementing decree, which was published in Mémorial on 2 September 1922.  The decree provides details of the many products that were subject to the chiffre d'affaires tax.

What we do not know is when these stamps could no longer be used.  Likewise, nothing has been reported about varieties of paper, color, or perforation (or whether denominations not listed in Barefoot's catalog exist).  Help us learn more about these stamps!

If you have all three of these beautifully executed high-denomination revenues in your collection, you are very lucky, indeed!