Belgium – Leopold III issues

Leopold III became king of Belgium in February 1934.


 * In March 1934, a memorial stamp for King Albert was issued.
 * In September 1934, three photogravure portraits of the Leopold III were issued. Two semipostal susing the same design were also issued.
 * In 1934, the tradition of an annual semipostal series was continued with a soldier on horseback holding a shield design used.
 * Beginning in 1935, a new coat of arms design series was released. More values would be released up to 1951.
 * Beginning in 1936, new photogravure portraits of Leopold III were issued with a profile facing to the left, in various perfs. More values would be issued up to 1956.
 * Beginning in 1936, a large engraved portrait design of Leopold III facing to the right was issued. More values would be added up to 1951.
 * In 1938-42, several surcharges were released on previous issues.
 * In 1938, souvenir sheets showing the Albert Memorial or the Koekelberg Cathedral were issued. These have a commemorative handstamp in the margin that is not a cancel. Souvenir sheets missing the handstamp are scarce.

 In May 1940, Belgium was invaded by German troops and quickly occupied. During this time, most new issues were semipostal sets including the Orval set.
 * There are three versions of the Orval souvenir sheet. The (official) 1941 sheet has ORVAL at top and MCMXLI at bottom. In 1942, unofficially/privately, the sheet was cut down to remove those inscriptions and 1142 / 1942 printed in two types and also exists intact and privately overprinted. both were numbered and unnumbered.
 * In 1944, four coat of arms values were oveprinted with a red "V".
 * Later in 1994, a lion rampant over "V" design was issued, a set each with French-first or Flemish-first inscriptions.
 * In Mai 1946, postage rates were reduced by 10%. Existing stamps were provisionally overprinted "-10%", "moins 10%", "min. 10%", etc.

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