The Benelux Countries
Belgium
Belgium is a new country with a long history. It was formed in 1830, following a revolt by the poorer southern provinces against the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its first King Leopold was a Saxe-Coburg relative of our own royal family who took the throne in 1831.
The Belgian Post Office began investigating pre-payment by stamps in 1841, with a visit to London to see how it was done. But it took until 1849 for stamps to appear. These were the Epaulettes – one of the world’s great classic stamp designs with a 10c brown and a 20c blue.
They were produced by Jacques Wiener, with advice and assistance from Perkins Bacon and for years it was believed that Wiener – a skilled engraver – had made the original dies. It is well known that H Robinson, of Perkins Bacon engraved Belgium’s second issue, the Medallions. But then a single die proof of a 40c Epaulettes stamp turned up, signed H Robinson. So he may have created the other two values as well.
The Epaulettes remain affordable enough to explore the various shades. Another popular avenue is to collect the different numeral cancels – there are 136 of them. Simple quality is harder to find. Margins are always close: the cliches have very little space between them. And cancels are usually heavy.
The first Medallions came out late in 1849 and the series ran until 1865, with four
