Luxembourg Tourism Stamps (overview)

The tiny nation of Luxembourg embarked in 2006 on a series of tourism stamps featuring pipe organ found in that nation. The series included four sets of 4 stamps each, issued each year until 2009.

The pipe organ is indeed alive and well in this European nation, as revealed on the stamps featuring organ old and new. Many of the instruments have been worked upon by the Luxembourg firm of George Westenfelder. In addition to the stamps, the Luxembourg post has created two book-CD compilations. The sets include mint copies of the stamps, written details on the instruments, and recordings of music from each organ. The first of the two volumes includes the 2006, 2007 and 2008 series of stamps; the second is devoted to the last set issued in 2009. It's incredible that the postal service has taken such initiative to produce the fine written and recorded materials related to the stamps.

This set of stamps has been described and written about by a colleague of mine living in the UK, Mark Jameson. His writing on this series of stamps (from Luxembourg) appears in the 2010-3 issue of the Journal of The Organ Club. This club meets regularly throughout Great Britain (and occasionally abroad) to visit, learn about and hear pipe organs. Jameson's writings on pipe organ stamps spanned three issues of the Journal: the first two articles dealt with organ stamps issued by the British postal service, Liechtenstein, USSR/Russia, North America (US and Canada) and Nicaragua. The third article features the stamps of this one nation, Luxembourg. Jameson is to be commended for his painstaking research on his fine series of articles.