Belgium 1934 Lion on Shield

Thanks for your input all. Firstly my apologies. Date of issue is
1936. There are definite differences in the paper. While apart from
the one stamp mentioned there is no evidence of flourescence there are
definite differences in thickness and texture. While the 10c is called
olive green in SG in my view the paler shades approximate to khaki
while the darkest is definitely some sort of brown. Also the 25c
( described as carmine in SG) is carmine(ish) but I have one copy that
is more like scarlet - and the 50c blue has also got more than 1
shade.

These stamps all came from different sources and I do not have
sufficient copies to do a proper study. However I find it strange that
a series of stamps which exhibit so many changes on so few copies has
not been extensively studied. It is now so far removed in time that
there is almost no chance of an original bulk accumulation coming to
light for anyone to do a proper " back to basics" study. I t seems
that the minute study of common definitives ( apart from the obvious
example of Machins) came to a halt in about 1900 !!

I will have to wait until more copies come into my possession as part
of bulk trading before I can take the matter further.

Thanks again fro your assistance.

Malcolm





On Feb 20, 10:40*am, "rodney" wrote:
"Rein"

these stamps were printed by the Post Office Printing Works in Mechelen
[Malines] in typography in printer's sheets of 4x100 probably. Unlike the
postwar definitives there are hardly any different *types of paper used -
certainly no fluorescence as OBA [optical brightening agents] as that type
of material turned up in the late 50-ies.

G'day Rein,
apologies to Malcolm for butting in,
I was trying to follow Malcolm's query,
and to me, it looked like several issues were
photolitho. Must be my scanner.

On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:01:35 -0800 (PST), malcolm
wrote:

Thanks for your input all. Firstly my apologies. Date of issue is
1936. There are definite differences in the paper. While apart from
the one stamp mentioned there is no evidence of flourescence there are
definite differences in thickness and texture. While the 10c is called
olive green in SG in my view the paler shades approximate to khaki
while the darkest is definitely some sort of brown. Also the 25c
( described as carmine in SG) is carmine(ish) but I have one copy that
is more like scarlet - and the 50c blue has also got more than 1
shade.

As mentioned previously. BTW, COB (Belgian Philatelists Catalog and
current pricing guide by most Belgian collectors) mentions them
between 1935-1937.

These stamps all came from different sources and I do not have
sufficient copies to do a proper study. However I find it strange that
a series of stamps which exhibit so many changes on so few copies has
not been extensively studied. It is now so far removed in time that
there is almost no chance of an original bulk accumulation coming to
light for anyone to do a proper " back to basics" study. I t seems
that the minute study of common definitives ( apart from the obvious
example of Machins) came to a halt in about 1900 !!

It is amazing what you can find if you look for them. I have hundreds
of these, maybe more. Same for the RR stamps. Shades galore. No
study done on them past 1900, like you mentioned. 1000s can be
purchased for almost nothing - the same with Belgian defins.

Try the Houyoux (Albert) set for shades. You'll go blind.

I will have to wait until more copies come into my possession as part
of bulk trading before I can take the matter further.

I'll have to look at the leg of the lion to see what you mean. If you
can post any scan, I may be of further help.

Tracy