Tag: Luxembourg stamp

With the Kingdom of the Netherlands breaking down along Germanic and Frank lines the German area of Luxemburg was left shrunken and rudderless. This was righted by a Luxembourger politician and a new line of Germans. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The new guy sure is old. That was okay. The day to day running of the Duchy was in the hands of the much younger prime minister, who is actually from Luxembourg. The old guy also had proved good in a crisis and had a male heir as nature intended. Long Live the Old Guy. No not viva el old guy. We are German. Do your Belching over the border  in their um … Luxembourg province.

Today’s stamp is issue A7, a 10 Centimes stamp issued by Luxembourg in 1891. It was part of a 10 stamp issue in various denominations displaying Grand Duke Adolphe. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents in its cancelled state.

Luxembourg was left much shrunken in the 19th century. Prussia had taken a part and Belgium had taken the French, or Belch, speaking part. The small Duchy had as its Grand Duke William III. He was also the King of Holland, so that grabbed the bulk of his attention. When he died, he lacked a male heir so his empire passed to his daughter Queen Wilhelmina. The shrinking proved that having the Dutch rule was not working. Luckily there was a provision in the rules of the Duchy that disallowed a female to reign as long as there was a related male to take the job. For this reason the Duchy passed to a 7th cousin once removed. Adolphe was a German who had formally served as Duke of the German Duchy of Nassau in nearby Rhineland. Nassau had been absorbed by Prussia so Adolphe was out of a job.

Adolphe had proved adept in a crisis. In the insurrections of 1848, he quickly returned to Wiesbaden, Nassau from Berlin to find a crowd outside the palace demanding change. He walked alone in full uniform through the crowd in a friendly manner and entered the Palace. From the balcony, he announced that he accepted all their demands and the insurrection turned into a celebration. He did not actually enact the demands but survived.

For the country to survive and thrive was the job of Prime and Foreign Minister Paul Eyschen, an actual Luxembourger. He served for over a quarter century and kept the Belgians at bay by allowing the Germans to keep  troops at the country’s large fort while paying lip service to Holland and maintaining neutrality in any conflict between Germany and France. This was obviously a tight rope to balance on. At the same time the economy was changing to a more industrialized model that required much economic and educational reform. Luckily Eyschen had spent much time in Berlin and had studied Bismarck’s reforms in these same areas. He enacted successfully the needed changes.

The balancing act ended when World War I broke out and Germany ignored Luxembourg’s neutrality and conquered it. Eyschen was allowed by the Germans to stay in office but he was heartbroken and took his own life. Adolphe’s granddaughter was by then Duchess and she openly collaborated with what were after all her fellow Germans. She was forced to abdicate after the Germans were defeated in World War I.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Luxembourg and it’s ability to stay on it’s own course. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018

Here is something that is somewhat rare on a modern European stamp. The idea that something new is coming and it will be great. What a challenging undertaking the Euro currency was. If it failed, the old currencies would have reemerged at a much lower rate and everyone would be poorer. If it worked, Europe would have a potential rival to the United States Dollar and with it more equal status. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

It is said that great minds think alike. A while back we did a 1980s stamp from Saint Vincent, that promoted their then new Carribean currency union. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/01/saint-vincent-against-all-odds-has-a-stable-currency-even-if-joshua-gone-barbados/. This is almost the exact issue with denominations of the stamp coordinated with the new coin on the stamp. In Saint Vincent, there was controversy of political leaders galivanting around in negotiation while the people suffered. The mood was captured in the Johnny Cash song, “Joshua gone Barbadoes” see https://youtu.be/nN5ui3QOYAk. By the time of the Euro’s introduction in 2002, Johnny Cash was older so Luxembourg Prime Minister Werner’s travels went unsung. Too bad.

Todays stamp is issue A437, a 1 Euro/40 Luxembourg Franc stamp issued by the Grand Dutchy of Luxembourg on October 1st, 2001. During the last days of the old currency it was fixed to the new Euro. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.75 cents used.

The European Economic Community had long had a goal of a single currency. This would be difficult to achieve as the different countries often persued different monetary policies and joining a single currency would take away some of the ability to do that. In 1970, French President De Gaulle pulled out of the talks as they were not getting anywhere. Luxembourg Prime Minister Pierre Werner convinced him to return and France then convinced all the countries to charge Prime Minister Werner with putting together a proposal on how a single currency could be achieved in 10 years. Werner proposed that countries would initiate a series of economic reforms that would bring their policies more in line with West Germany. The legacy currencies would then be fixed at a rate verses the new Euro and the new currency would exist in terms of wire transactions for a few years before the actual currency hit the street.

Werner’s proposal was followed quite closely but only many years later. Time must be allotted for politicions to go to Barbadoes and stay at the big hotel. Johnny Cash had that part right. Prime Minister Werner did live to see his currency become a reality, he died in 2002 at the age of 88.

For the most part, the currency has been a success. It has proved difficult to bring poorer countries in as they are more likely to be incapable of sticking to the dictates of the currency authority and the result is a shortage of money there. This is predictable and was also true with the early days of the USA Dollar in places like Appalachia. The Euro came on in 2002 at a rate of $1.16 per Euro and as of today sits at $1.11 per Euro. As a comparison, the Chinese Juan went from $.12 to $.14 cents in the same period.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Prime Minister Werner. He must have been frustrated to find his proposal took so long to implament. Perhaps getting invited to all the conferances and staying in the big hotel made up for it. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.