Dr Gregg Redner gave an interesting presentation to an international audience of members and guests of the Royal Philatelic Society London.
The years following World War 1 are a fascinating period for philatelists. As with any fulcrum point in history, the period 1919-1921 brought about rapid change as a devastated Western Europe sought to rebuild itself. Nowhere was this truer than in Belgium where the catastrophic effects of the German occupation brought about the near complete collapse of the country’s infrastructure, which included the Belgian Postal Authority.
This presentation focused on one small aspect of the challenge of rebuilding a devastated postal system as it is reflected in the post-war imprimé or printed matter rate. The focus of the presentation was on Belgium’s first 3 centime stamp.