I Need Help Identifying This Stamp

Its on soft, buff colored paper, very rough texture. Perf 11-1/2 , no gum. I have not attempted to see if it has a watermark. Kind of afraid of damaging the stamp.

I seem to see something like "BR" in the central ovale plus "Nationale des...". Perhaps is from Brussels in Belgium...

I agree with Brussels. At top of the oval, it looks like it ends on & Cie. The text at bottom looks like "nationale res cives."
The banner held by the lions starts with "timbre."

Maybe it is a tax - revenue - stamp or lawyer's seal.

http://stampsmarter.com/learning/Ho...oReveal.html
Don

Although many things point at Belgium and Brussels, what intrigues me is that its French spelling is Bruxelles.

The banner may read "timbre prime." It could be a customer loyalty stamp; i.e., the type you get when buying a product or spending an amount and that gives you a discount or present if you have a booklet full of stamps.

Well, in Flemish ( the other language of Belgium and Brusel's up to early XXth century) is "Brussel". The city and its region are bilingual French (Vallon) - Flemish. On the Frech dialect (Vallon) spoken in Belgium it's Brussèle (see wikpedia). So, plenty of room!

Timbre prime - primé - points at French. Dutch - the official Belgian languages are French, Dutch and German - is becoming more prominent in Belgium. It was not in the past and certainly not in Brussels. French was in common use until the early 20th century even in the Netherlands among the upper class. The use of French in the Dutch community was common. The use of Dutch in the French community was absolutely unthinkable.

It would be strange to use French, but use the Dutch spelling of the city's name. But I cannot rule it out. Brussel seems too short to fit the printing. The use of local dialect cannot be ruled out, but is not very likely if the stamp is as old as it seems. I would not even be sure the second letter is an R. It could be an A but looks like a reversed R. Also the letter after "us" seems too straight at top to be an s.

I found on google the translation of "timbre-prime"= sticker(vignette) issued when certain products are sold and which, collected by consumers, can be exchanged for goods or money.(Larousse dictionary)

Could you please show an full image of the entire item? Thanks.

Across the bottom, is that "nationale des caves"?

I thought the same. And are the letters before that "SO" for "Société"? Hence a timbre prime for a purchase of wine? (Is there no Belgian on this forum?)

Nationale res (from res-publica?) cives (latin for cities?)

"Société nationale des caves" is quite possibly what it reads at the bottom.

"timbre - prime" . stamp used to get a bonus

I would think of equal interest is the company name across the top of the lozenge. Appears to be something like "J Jacques Lotte & Co" or "J Jacques Latte & Co" possibly not "Jacques "

j. forge?otte & cie.