Esch-sur-Alzette: the 5-franc on 1-franc Allegory surcharges

The Post-WW2 5F Surcharges

During the World War 2 occupation, the Esch-sur-Alzette Allegory communal revenue stamps were issued in Reich pfennig and Reich mark denominations.  When the occupation ended in 1945, surviving stocks of the pre-occupation 1-franc Allegory were surcharged to five francs.

The surcharge is known in three different fonts, as shown below:

Left:  sans serif

Center:  Thin '5'

Right: Fat '5'

 

The identity card seen below shows two of the surcharge with the sans serif ‘5’ used to pay the card issuance fee on 30 June 1945 for Mathias Roth, a master plasterer (maitre-plafonneur).  Notice that the French language, banned during the occupation, is again in use by the government.

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Here are the Esch-sur-Alzette German-language Allegories issued during the occupation:

Communal Revenue from the Former Commune of Clemency

Clemency5-franc Pictorial
Extract from the Civil Register
Administration Communale
28 April 1969

Dead countries?  Yes, but there are also “dead” communes.  Since 2012, Clemency has been part of the commune of Käerjeng, in the canton of Capellen.  The Käerjeng commune was formed from the merger of the Clemency and Bascharage communes.

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!