Belgium stamps value: sort King Albert I issues and read prices

What a King Albert I portrait on a Belgian stamp tells you

Albert I was king of the Belgians from 1909 to 1934, and the Albert I definitive stamps cover roughly 1910 to 1934.[4] That is a long run, and the value of a stamp changes a lot between its first and last years. Belgian stamps carry the French name BELGIQUE, and from 1889 the Dutch name BELGIE as well.[9]

This guide helps you sort an Albert I stamp into its issue, names the lookalikes and forgeries to rule out, and sets dated asking prices next to each family. No figure below is a value for your own stamp. Each one is what a single seller asked on a single day.

The Albert I issues you are most likely to find

Start by deciding which of these families a stamp belongs to. The frame, the portrait and the printing style usually settle it in a minute.

• Pellens type, 15 April 1912 to 1914. Designed by Edward Pellens and typographed at the Atelier du Timbre in Mechelen, perforated 14. Catalogue numbers COB 108 to 117 and 122.[1]
• Pellens with a violet overprint, 22 June 1915. The same stamps overprinted for railway parcels. This issue has been forged extensively.[5]
• Albert in an ellipse (Houyoux type), 15 October 1915 to June 1922. Typographed, first in London and later in Mechelen, perforated 14.[2]
• The helmeted king (Casques). A war-era portrait printed in the Netherlands and later replaced by the cheaper Houyoux type.[3]
• Montenez type. Engraved stamps, printed in the Netherlands by Enschede in Haarlem, with high values printed in Paris and later in Mechelen.[3]
• German occupation overprints, 1914 to 1916. German stamps overprinted for occupied Belgium. These are not Albert I stamps, but they turn up in the same albums.[4]

Pellens type, 1912: count the buttons and check the signature

The Pellens set shows the king in uniform, with a small square in each corner on the Albert I values.[1] It came out on 15 April 1912, and the lowest values, 1c, 2c and 5c, show the state arms rather than the king.[1]

Catalogue types are separated by the uniform. In Type I the king has two buttons, and the values are 10c, 35c, 40c, 50c, 1fr and 2fr. In Type II he has one button and the designer's name sits below the bottom frame, on the 10c, 20c, 25c and 40c. In Type III he has one button and no designer's name, on the 10c, 20c and 25c.[2] A collector's note adds that some stamps are signed and others are not, and that the head can look small or large.[3]

Use a magnifier, and compare your stamp with a catalogue picture before you pick a type. Check the perforation too: the Pellens stamps are perforated 14, and our perforation guide shows how to read a gauge.[1]

The 1915 railway overprint is the one to be suspicious of

In 1915 Pellens stamps were issued with a violet overprint. Stamps of the World lists the issue as typographed in sheets of 300, six panes of 50, perforated 14, and says plainly that it has been forged extensively.[5] Its page also notes that double overprints exist, and that most of the stamps on one of its listed versions are forgeries.[5]

So treat a violet-overprinted Pellens stamp as a question, not a find. Compare the overprint with a known genuine example under a magnifier, and get an expert opinion before you trust a high asking price.

Ellipse stamps of 1915 to 1922: the Houyoux type

The ellipse type shows King Albert in an oval frame. It was typographed in sheets of 400, split into four panes of 100, and perforated 14.[2] It was cheap to make: the engraved Montenez stamps cost nearly four times as much to produce, according to a Belgian collector site.[3]

Catalogue types differ in three small spots: whether the oval line above BELGIQUE touches the ornament to its right, whether the large curved ornament in the upper left is broken, and how long the middle leaf of the upper right ornament is.[2] Type I (15 October 1915, London print) has the oval line and ornament connected, the curved ornament broken and a short middle leaf. Type V (1922, Mechelen print) has a long middle leaf, and was issued as the 5c and 20c.[2]

The ellipse stamps come in many shades, because the most used values were printed many times.[3] Expect to compare colours against a catalogue, not a phone screen. The watermark guide is also worth a look when a paper question comes up, though none of our Belgian sources describes a watermark on these types.

The helmeted king and the Montenez stamps

The helmeted stamps show the king as a soldier. They were printed in the Netherlands, and a collector site calls the series very popular because of that portrait, but too expensive for the post office, which replaced it with the Houyoux type.[3] The 1c and 2c were printed in sheets of 150, the other cents values in sheets of 100, and the franc values in small sheets of 25.[3]

Imperforate helmeted stamps come from a deliberately imperforate sheet. The same collector site calls it the rarest imperforate Belgian series, with only 25 complete sets and a 2022 catalogue value of 3,000 euros.[3] An ordinary stamp with its perforation teeth trimmed off is not that: look for full, even margins and a matching sheet position before you get excited.

Montenez stamps are engraved, which gives them finer lines than the typographed types.[3] One of them is unusual: the 5 franc brown was printed in a small sheet of four with a wide white border, sold at the 1924 Brussels international philatelic exhibition. Belgian collectors call it the country's first block, though the Michel catalogue treats it as a small sheet of four.[3]

What Belgian Albert I stamps were listed for

Ordinary Pellens singles are cheap. A search of the 1912 Pellens category on Delcampe showed 6,863 listings on November 6, 2026, and the priced singles we sampled were asked at 1.50 to 9 euros, with a few cheap lots at a few cents.[6] A complete mint 1922 Houyoux set is a different price level: Europost asked 175 euros, with a catalogue value of 551 euros that the seller states itself, and Filatis asked 190 euros.[7][8]

Covers and postmarks are what move the Pellens prices. A 10c Pellens on a card with a PAQUEBOT cancel was listed at 25 euros, and a postal document with a 35c Pellens, cancelled on August 4, 1914, was listed at 54 euros by a professional seller.[6] Compare a loose stamp with a loose stamp, and a cover with a cover.

Mint, used and covers: three different markets

In the rows above a used 35c Pellens with a legible 1914 date was asked at 9 euros, while a mint hinged 10c was asked at 1.50 euros. The denominations differ, so one pair cannot isolate the effect, but sellers put the cancel town and date in their titles for a reason: a readable early postmark can interest collectors on its own.[6]

A cover is priced as a cover. One seller wanted 27 euros for a registered cover with a 35c Pellens in 1913, which is many times the loose-stamp asking price for the same stamp.[6] Do not soak a stamp off a cover until you have checked whether the postmark or the address makes the whole item more interesting.

Condition matters on top of that. Our condition grading guide explains centring and gum, and hinge marks are common on stamps this old. Cancelled-to-order copies can look cleaner than genuine postal use, and the CTO stamps guide lists the signs.

Lookalikes: which Albert, and is it really Belgian?

Two kings named Albert appear on Belgian stamps. Albert I reigned from 1909 to 1934. Albert II, who reigned much later, is on modern stamps with a completely different look. If your stamp has a typographed frame, centimes or francs, and an old-style portrait, think Albert I.

Two other lookalikes cause trouble. First, a Belgian occupation stamp from 1914 to 1916 is a German stamp with an overprint, so a stamp that reads like Belgium may not be an Albert I definitive at all.[4] Second, a forged high value can look right at first glance: a collector site warns that the 5 franc and 10 franc Houyoux values exist as fakes, and that a fake 10 franc printed on original gummed paper, with the stamps perforated one by one from sheet edges, surfaced in the 1970s.[3]

What to do with an inherited batch of Belgian stamps

Sort by family first. The aim is to keep the older Albert I stamps from being lost among newer common stamps.

• Pull out every stamp showing the king in uniform with a frame and an imprint in the lower margin. Those are Pellens candidates.
• Pull out anything with a violet overprint over a Pellens design, and set it apart for an expert.
• Pull out the oval frame types, and check the oval line, the curved ornament and the leaf for the catalogue type.
• Look for the helmeted king and the engraved Montenez designs, and check perforation edges on any stamp that looks imperforate.
• Do not clean, trim or hinge anything while you sort, and keep covers and postmarked pieces whole.

When to ask a specialist

Ask a specialist for any violet-overprinted Pellens stamp, any imperforate helmeted stamp, a 5 franc or 10 franc Houyoux that looks too good, and any cover you suspect is valuable. Forgeries are the reason, not caution for its own sake.[3][5]

For a first sense of what a whole collection might be worth, see the stamp collection value guide. The catalog number guide helps you match a stamp to a COB or Scott entry, and the foreign stamps guide covers country names and languages. Dated price examples from other countries are in the old stamps price list and the most valuable stamps by country page.

Frequently asked questions