Belgium Occupation #n1-N9 On FDC?

Obviously this is a philatelic cover, but does anyone know if it is a First Day Cover? Does it have any value?

Thanks,

Ken

Forgot pics 1st time;

I'm not sure I understand the question.

I think we need a picture to go with the question.

Sorry, I guess I shouldn't post so early in AM, here are the pics;

That's an interesting question.

I'm never certain what people mean with First Day Cover, to be honest, but I suppose in this case one would have to know when the first overprinted stamps were issued. That might be a hard task for anyone but an expert in German or Belgian stamps.

Can you determine what the writing is on the cover? (Not the address but the 'scribbles.')

According to Michel, the series first came out 1. October 1914. What does the postmark say?

looking at the postmarks on the 2 lower right stamps, they appear to have been added to the cover at a later time.

kuhli, you're right.

Ken, time for your close-up.

I don't think the writing is significant but here's a close-up;





I actually have 2 of these items, the first one I showed was a cover "front" here is the other one;





This in a complete cover. I can't read the date on the postmarks but they are clearly in a European format.

Without a legible postmark, we'll never know if it's a First Day Cover. The first is kind of a cool piece, though.

Unlikely that a phiatelic - or other - cover wold have been sent from German-occupied Belgium to Paris in October 1914? Cancelled for favour at a later date, hence the obscured dates?

Good point. I'm not familiar with the postal history of either France or occupied Belgium during WWI, but such mail would have probably been unlikely at any point during the war. Again, I know nothing of the postal history of this time and place, but wouldn't there likely be censor marks or something if it actually went through the mail? I'm sure some mail could get through, but you'd think censors on both sides would be checking mail crossing over.

Geoff makes a good point, though Brussels was a kind of "open city" in the earliest days of the war. The overprinted stamps came some weeks later and I can't say what life in Brussels was like at that time. (Something for me to research.)

The second cover with no address suggests that perhaps the first cover had no address, also, when the stamps were cancelled. I can't explain how already cancelled stamps ended up on the first cancel--those lower two right stamps--but perhaps even in the midst of war a stamp collector thought ahead to peacetime.

Art, the postal history of WWI is absolutely fascinating. The Germans were most efficient with their mail service and there are records of their setting up their post office wagons within an hour of the march into Belgium. The English, too, were phenomenal in getting the mails back and forth. Soldiers were never far from home, in this sense.

Here's a thread from another board that gives some insight: http://www.stampboards.net/viewtopi...f=10&t=59714

Ken, to answer your question about value, I think that this is an interesting piece. One of the stamps is worth ten dollars or so and that's just by itself. The set of complete 1914 stamps only adds value.