Odd stamps : 02h Silver / golden stamps

Another gold foil stamp came to my attention, right at the moment that a good friend of mine was in Luxemburg.
In 1923 a statue was inaugurated, as a remembrance for the victims of the first world war, in Luxemburg, and those who volunteerd for Luxemburg in that time.
However, during the second word war, the nazis took down the momument.

It was fully restored in 1984, and is now a symbol of independence for the people of Luxemburg.
The sculptor, Nicolas (Claus) Cito, born in Luxemburg, and educated in Brussels, never saw the complete restauration, as he died in 1965.

Claus Cito, by August Macke (1906-1907)

The figure, a golden lady ("Gëlle Fra", in Luxemburgish), is inspired by Niké, the greek godess of Victory, it is a gilden bronze statue, on a 21 meter tall granite obelisk.

Gëlle Fra (Golden Lady)-monument

100 years after the first inauguration of the monument, the Luxemburg postal office, emitted a stamp to commemorate and honour the statue and the scultor.

No better way to do so, was to emit a stamp with golden overprint.
Thanks to my friend Eric, I got a postally used stamp.

postally used Gëlle Fra-stamp

But even greater was my surprise, when we met for real, and the gave me a commemorative sheet of 4, with a certificate of authenicity.

100 years of the 'Golden Lady'

this certificte states, that real gold was used

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 08 c

A very nice sheet was issued only recently by the postal services of Luxemburg.

2007 - Luxemburg - The Vichten Mosaic

The Vichten mosaic depicts the ancient Greek muses. It used to adorn the reception hall of a Roman villa in Vichten but can now be seen in Luxembourg's National Museum of History and Art.

Dating from around 240 A.D., the mosaic of Vichten, which has an area of 61.3 m2 and is in an excellent state of preservation, shows in its main area the mythological and literary subject of the nine Muses, daughters of the supreme God, Zeus, and of the goddess of memory, Mnémosyne.

The Muses, defined around 700 BC by the Greek author Hésiode:

Thalie, Muse of comedy
Euterpe, Muse of music and lyric poetry

Thalia and Euterpe

Terpsichore, Muse of dance and dramatic choirs
Melpomène, Muse of tragedy

Terpischore and Melpomène

Clio, Muse of history
Uranie, Muse of astronom

Clio and Urania

Polymnie, Muse choir singing and harmony
Erato, Muse of love poetry

Polymnia and AErato

Calliope, Muse of epic elegiac poetry, in the company of the prince of poets, Homer.

central stamp

real mosaic

The eight « exterior » Muses are oriented on an axis towards the middle of the central medallion. The depiction of the clothing and other attributes of the different personalities, identified by latin inscriptions included above each medallion, is very detailed.
Two by two, they are joined on one octagonal stamp.
The central stamp is not octagonal.

back side of the Vichten sheet (Lux 2007)

This supberb mosaic used to adorn the reception hall of a Roman villa in Vichten and was rediscovered in 1995 on the site of a new agricultural operation in Vichten. Archaelogical resarch found the foundations of one of the most remarkable Roman villas ever discovered in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

detail real mosaic

After it's discovery it was carfully removed and it can now be seen in Luxembourg's National Museum of History and Art.

Currency Today : Euro Common Design 01 b

After a long introduction, finally the TOR-coins.
TOR stands for Treaty of Rome and eurocollectors often refer to TOR-emmision to indicate this special issue of the 2 euro coins in 2007.

Each participating country can issue one commemorative 2 euro coin per year.
Until now all coins have a mutual design for the value.
The 2 euro on the european map is uniform for all countries.
The front side is different for all countries.
One special issue is allowed per year.
But next to that special issue, there is the possibility to have one common issue for all countries.

In 2007 the first 'common design' was issued.
This in remembrance of the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome in 1957.


The design shows an open book, (with the treaty), the text "Treaty of Rome" in all individual languages, the year 2007 and the name of the issuing country.

TOR Belgium

The first coin is the most interesting one : Belgium


1. Because of all national languages in Belgium, Europe is "EuropA" in Dutch and German and "EuropE" in French. To avoid language problems, EUROP A/E is on the belgian coins.

2. As it was impossible to print 'treaty of Rome' in the 3 national languages, an original solution was found... "Pactrum Romananum Qvuinquagenarium" (the latin translation) can be found on the coin.

3. However the country's name again is in French, Dutch and German again

4. Scale : mint master mark of Romain Coenen (from 2008 on all belgian coins)

5. Head of Archangel St Michael, patron saint of Brussels

Another unique coin is the coin from Luxemburg

Luxemburg has a law that says that the head of state (i.e. Grand Duke Henri of Luxemburg) should always be present on the coins. This is a problem with a 'common design' for all european countries. But the luxemburgians (or Lëtzebuergians) found an elegant solution to that problem.

A small circle was added with the Grand Duke's face.

1. The Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg appears on the coins facing to the left. He was not featured on the Luxembourgish franc as he only became Grand Duke in 2000 following the abdication of his father, Jean. Jean's portrait on the francs showed him facing to the right and it is common in a number of countries for successive monarchs to alternate the direction they faced on coins. Other euro coins issued by member states which are monarchies show their monarchs facing to the left, in common with the effigy on their legacy currencies.

2. Lëtzebuerg is the name of Luxemburg in the national language.

3.    the cornucopia, a French mintmark, since all luxemburgian coins of 2007 and 2008 were minted in France

4. Also a mint master mark : hunting horn with waves : from the french mint master : H. Larivière




Third coin : the Netherlands

Few special marks on the Dutch coin

1. Sailboat, master mint mark of Maarten Brouwer.
Since 2003 on the dutch coins

2.  Mercury's wand : mint mark of the royal dutch mint


last coin for this post .... are 5 coins : Germany

Next to the year 2007 : 5 different letters can be found on german coins :
They refer to the state and city they are minted. In fact we're talking about 5 different coins.

A: Berlin
D: Munich
F: Stuttgart
G: Karlsruhe
J: Hamburg


to be continued...

Theme : Volkswagen Beetle - 13

In 2001, the smal country of Luxemburg, made me happy.
Luxemburg always makes me happy, but this time, it was for a special reason.
A small booklet with 12 auto-adhesive stamps was issued, dedicated to the Postal Services of Luxemburg.
Depicted were two cars that were used by the postal services.
One was the Citroën 2CV, the other one the Volkswagen Beetle.

Being in the middle of two big countries in Europe (France and Germany). A set of stamps with the most famous cars of both countries, wasn't a bad idea at all.

Altough there are 2CV collectors, I will focus on the Volkswagen Beetle, as it 's my topic.

VW Beetle, used as postal vehicle in Luxemburg

On the booklet there are 6 stamps with the Citroën 2CV and 6 with a Volkswagen Beetle.
The Citroën has a facevalue of 0,07 €; the Volkswagen 0,45 €

inside the booklet

outside the booklet

I was lucky to be in Luxemburg at the time of issue.
This made it possible to find (and buy) two additional first day covers.

First day cover with two different stamps

First day cover with two 'beetle stamps'

First day cancel

Europe : CEPT - 04 "1958"

The 1958 emission of Europe CEPT - stamps was issued in 8 countries.
Switzerland didn't join that year.
All designs are similar, except for Turkey who made its first contribution to the CEPT program.

On the design a white stylistic dove is on top of an "E".

Luxemburg emitted 3 stamps, as it also did in 1956 and 1957.
This year the set isn't the most valuable of the whole emission.

Luxemburg 1958 - mint

France 1958 - with a beautiful cancel on the 20F

Belgium 1958 - mint

Italy - both cancelled in 1958

The Netherlands - with a very nice cancel 'TERNEUZEN' in 1958

Germany and Saarland, with nearly the same designs.

Turkey, participating for the first time, chose a diffent design.
A branch is growing out of a trunk. Symbolizing the new Europe growing from a cut three (probably refering to the rebuiling of Europe after the second World War.

Turkeys first contribution to CEPT

Theme : 1st issues : 02 Luxemburg

Guillaume III had very few direct dealings with Luxembourg for most of his reign. On February 5, 1850, he appointed his brother, Prince Henri, as his lieutenant in the Grand Duchy, and Henri took on most of the responsibilities of a governor. Prince Henri became a very popular personality as he governed Luxembourg under this authority until his death on January 13, 1879.

Indeed, Guillaume III (or Willem III) is the same ruler as the one in The Netherlands at that time.
He was the 963rd Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain in 1842, the 777th Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1882 and the 72nd Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword.
 
He died in Het Loo in 1890.
Of William III's legitimate children, only three reached adulthood, two sons from his marriage to Queen Sophie and one daughter from his marriage to Queen Emma. Because Wilhelmina (his daughter) had not yet reached adulthood, Emma became regent for her daughter. She would remain regent until Wilhelmina's eighteenth birthday in 1898. Because the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg could only be inherited through the male line at the time, under Salic law, it went to Adolphe, the former Duke of Nassau.

The first Luxemburgian stamp was emitted in 1852, same as in the Netherland.
The picture of Willem III, Guillaume III, is facing to the left on the Luxemburg stamp, and to the right on the Dutch stamp.

n° 1 of Luxemburg - cancelled (1852)

Europe : CEPT - 02a "1956"

In 1956, the so-called European Community for Carbon and Steel, also coordinated the first emission of common design european stamps.
In order to spread the idea of european integration, a common design stamp was one way to distribute the idea throughout Europe.

For this first series, the 'construction' of Europe was the main theme.
In the design, the word EUROPE is shown as a newly constructed building.
The design was made by Frenchman Daniel Gonzague.
6 countries participated and in total 13 stamps were issued.
Belgium, West Germany (BRD), France, Italy, Luxemburg and the Netherlands.
Luxemburg mint is the most expensive part of this set, and has the key values.