Belgium’s First Stamp Issue

Following on from his previous article on France’s first stamp issue, Michael Burzan now turns his attention to the first issue of Belgium, with its iconic epaulettes’ portrait.

Chronologically dated between the first issues of France and of Bavaria in Old Germany, the kingdom of Belgium brought its first stamps into circulation on 1 July 1849 (Figure 1). It took more than eight years for the realisation of the issue from the first preparations. Businesspeople in particular had demanded a simplification of the postage system, as had been successfully undertaken by Great Britain with the postal reforms and the introduction of stamps in 1840. An inspector from the Central Belgian Post Office, Louis Bronne, was commissioned to travel to London in February 1841 to investigate the functioning of the postal reform and the credibility of the alleged financial benefits, as stamp expert Sergio Sismondo has recounted in a study. The commissioner returned with an extremely positive report recommending swift…

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Stamp Collector (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 2024

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