2018-10-12 Fri

Belgium issued a set of twelve special charity stamp is the year 1933. The highest denominated beautiful blue and white stamp features Madonna.

Surtaxed Belgium stamps for the period 1933-1935 were issued to fund the ongoing fight against Tuberculosis, as well as various other charities. However, the special issues among these were the stamps issued in order to raise money for the continuing effort for the reconstruction of the Orval Abbey.

The stamps of these set depict different landscapes and architectural features of the abbey along with the different paintings. The Madonna stamp, however, is the most eye-catching one. The stamp features Madonna in the centre surrounded by the Arms of Seven Abbeys along with a coat of arms below. The bottom of the stamps is inscribed with the name of the country flanked by the denomination of 10 Fr at left and the surcharge value of 40 Fr on the right.

Due to the tremendously high denominations of these Belgium stamps, along with the fact that they were issued at the height of the Great Depression, they are very scarce and expensive today.

Image Courtesy: https://colnect.com