BELGAPOST VOL. 13. No. 1
THE 1939 SOLDIERS' PARCELS BISECT (CF 204)
by Norman Claydon
With World War 2 imminent and mobilisation taking place, a special rate of 3 Fr. was authorised for parcels addressed to Service personnel. There being no packet stamp for this rate, authority was given for the 6 Fr. stamp (CF 204) to be bisected - according to Gibbons for use for "a few days from 2nd September", and bisected vertically - until a 3 Fr. surcharge stamp (CF 210) was issued later that month. These packet stamps were, of course, available at both Railway Stations and Post Offices hence bisects (and the replacement 3 Fr. stamps) are found with either type of cancellation.
I have examined eighty waybills bearing the bisects and clearly they were used for more than "a few days" and, whilst the vast majority were bisected vertically, a significant number were bisected horizontally, all but one of these seen being used in September. Most of the waybills have at bottom right a cds 'Philatelic Centrum - Centre' with dates in 1942 but this has not been applied to eleven of the eighty examined.
The table below summarises my findings and also dates of usage of 23 copies of CF 210 examined for the period 2.9.39 to 30.4.40 (latest seen).
|
|
|
|
Bisect Type |
|
||||||||
|
|
CF204 |
Cancel Type |
Vertical |
Horizontal |
|
CF210 |
||||||
|
Month |
No. Seen |
Railway |
Post Office |
Left Hand |
Right Hand |
Top |
Bottom |
CDS* |
Railway |
Post Office |
||
|
1939 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Sept. |
52 |
30 |
22 |
16 |
25 |
8 |
3 |
42 |
1 |
- |
||
|
Oct. |
2 |
- |
2 |
- |
2 |
- |
- |
2 |
1 |
- |
||
|
Nov. |
7 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
- |
7 |
2 |
3 |
||
|
Dec. |
7 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
- |
- |
6 |
2 |
3 |
||
|
1940 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Jan. |
6 |
- |
6 |
- |
6 |
- |
- |
6 |
1 |
2 |
||
|
Feb. |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
||
|
March |
1 |
1 |
- |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
2 |
1 |
||
|
April |
6 |
- |
6 |
2 |
4 |
- |
- |
6 |
1 |
3 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Total |
81 |
36 |
45 |
26 |
43 |
9 |
3 |
70 |
10 |
13 |
||
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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* PHILATEL.CENTRUM-GENT Circular Date Stamp
It seems, therefore, that the bisects (earliest seen 2.9.39, latest 23.4.40) were used for the full period that the surcharges were available (earliest 23.9.39, latest 30.4.40) and not just at smaller Offices - five of six in April 1940 were cancelled at Bruxelles 10 Post Office.
Whilst the vast majority of the waybills are addressed to Service personnel, a small number (five) of the bisects are from Servicemen. CF 210 details are mainly from stamps only but of four waybills in my possession two are to and two from Servicemen.
I should be pleased to receive information from members to supplement these figures and would like to record my thanks to Bill Moss and Tony Geake for supplying me with details of items in their collections.
Waybill Etterbeek to Herenthout 6-9-1939
Vertical Bisect. Note no 'Philatel Centrum' handstamp
Waybill Kesselt to BPS 16 5-3-1940
Horizontal Bisect. Cancel 'Veldwezelf' Depot-Relais