Luxembourg year 1928/30 stamps Official – officiel stamps MH set

Luxembourg year 1928/30 stamps Official – officiel stamps MH set

That’s a great request, as the Official stamps of Luxembourg from that era represent a specific period of postal history!

The Luxembourg Official (Service) stamps issued between 1928 and 1930 were created by overprinting existing definitive postage stamps with the word “OFFICIEL” (or sometimes a combination of the French “OFFICIEL” and German “DIENST-MARKE” in earlier periods). These stamps were used exclusively for official government mail.

Luxembourg Official Overprints (1928–1930)

The “Officiel” stamps issued around 1928 to 1930 are part of the last major series of Official stamps issued by Luxembourg before the practice was discontinued.

• Base Stamps: They were generally based on the contemporary definitive stamps of Grand Duchess Charlotte, which feature her portrait or a landscape/national scene (like the Clervaux castle issue).
• Overprint: The large, distinctive overprint is “OFFICIEL” in a sans-serif capital font.
• Catalogue Reference: In the standard Scott Catalogue (used widely in North America), these Official issues are listed in the “O” series (e.g., O153 to O165 for the main 1928-1930 set). In the Michel Catalogue (used widely in Europe), they would be found under the Dienstmarken (Service Stamps) section for that era.
• Values: The set included various denominations to cover different postal rates, up to higher values like 2 Francs (2 Fr).

Key Issues to Note:

The stamps in this set that are often sought after are the ones based on the 1928 Landscape set, particularly the higher values that are less commonly found used on cover.

• Scott O159 (10c on 10c, 1928-35 definitive base): This is one of the more common official stamps from the era.
• Higher Denominations: Stamps like the 2 Fr value often based on a picture of the Clervaux Castle are generally more desirable as higher denomination Officials were used less frequently.