Moresnet

Moresnet was a small neutral country between Belgium and Germany and measured only 344ha and had only 256 habitants. As it has no own post office, both Belgian and German stamps were used (depending to wich country the post has to go).
However, in octobre 1886 Moresnet issued her own stamps (8 values). Two weeks later, the mayor of Moresnet considered it illegal and the emission became forbidden and all remaining stamps received a cancellation.

Might there be a change that in the two first weeks of octobre 1886 any of these stamps were actually used and if so, would anyone have proof of this.

Existing stamps are:

• 1Pf Green
• 2Pf Blue
• 3Pf Lilac
• 4Pf Orange
• 5Pf Brown
• 10Pf Red
• 20Pf Bistre
• 50Pf red

Thanks for sharing these. I'd not heard of "Neutral Moresnet" before - it's a fascinating story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_Moresnet

Interesting Scarah

I was not aware of this information.

Belgium is one of the few countries I still collect since I have started to downsize my collection and keep those areas I want better items of.

It might be interesting to you to know that my aunt was Belgian. She married my uncle just shortly after WW II. He was a Canadian soldier in Belgium during the liberation and that is where he met her. Her picture hangs in the local Canadian Legion here in town. She was part of the Belgian underground during WW II.

Once you get your 50 postings in here, maybe we can establish a trade sometime??

Chimo

Bujutsu

Yeah, Belgium is a great country to collect. You can always find something new.

Greetings Scarah,

The town museum in Moresnet has a couple of examples of the stamps properly used on covers in one of its display cases. I took pictures of them - I may be able to locate them if you really want proof that they exist. I've never seen an example on cover outside of the museum.

For others here who may like to know about odd entities still existing like this, search Google or your favorite search service for Baarle-Hertog. This town still exists, and it is made up of a dozen or so detached pieces of Belgian land inside the Netherlands. Like Moresnet, it also stems from disputes over how borders were laid down in old treaties. There are quite a few places in Europe like this, with pieces of one country inside another.

Thank you for posting this Scarah. I would just love to get cancelled stamps of Moresnet.




Really? I knew about Belgium & Netherlands, but what else?

Thanks!

Another example is the Italian town of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Switzerland.

I had never heard of these. I did a little hunting and found this website with a great deal of information. Very interesting reading!

http://www.moresnet.nl/english/postverkeer_en.htm

My relatives took us to that Italian town because it is the only "tax free" one in Italy...we had to go through Swiss customs in and out because Switzerland is not part of the European Union...i purchased a large bottle of Campari,a good bottle of American whiskey and various large Swiss chocolate bars for $20.00...i think that was a once in a life time deal...they also took us to the opera in Verona in an old roman ampitheatre....beautiful acoustics and yet the people outside at sidewalk cafes could not hear the music..amazing !

With regards to Baarle-Hertog; it's actually a dual-town with Dutch Baarle-Nassau. Can be confusing...one house can be on Dutch territory, while the neighbours are on Belgian soil. There are even houses where the border cuts right through the house. Think the Korean DMZ, only without mines and soldiers armed to the teeth...

Great information about "neutral Moresnet"- who knew? I guess that is the reason stamp community.org is my favorite!

Jim Jackson

@inadybal: would be great if you could show the here!

Some of those stamps where used, I have two used stamps


edit: The first stamp is cancelled with the overprint "ausser cours gesetzt" (no longer valid)

hi:Nice link too Moresnet philately....interesting
http://www.klassische-philatelie.ch...oresnet.html