Placed under the High patronage of H.S.H. the Prince Albert II of Monaco, new International Philatelic Exhibition "MonacoPhil 2009" will take place on the Terrasses de Fontvieille, from December 4 to 6, 2009.

In conjunction with the traditional exhibition of "100 of the world's rarest stamps and philatelic documents of the world", we will be turning the spotlight on Belgian Philately within a collective exhibition.

The watchwords will be the same as the previous edition, namely "discovery" and "academic philately". MonacoPhil 2009 will reveal aspects of Belgian Philately which, hitherto, have been largely unexplored or hardly explored.

The following themes will be dealt with:
• Belgian maritime covers: transatlantic, across the Channel, and Antwerp-Congo by C. Delbeke (a theme never studied before),

• The so-called "Roue Ailée" (winged wheel) issue of 1915 by H. Slabbinck (the first complete publication of this extremely rare issue),

• Letters with foreign destinations, dispatched during the reign of Leopold I: issues of 1849-1864, so-called "epaulettes" and "medallions", and the issue of 1865 by J. Huys et P. Kaiser (the first attempt ever made to bring together all known foreign destinations),

• Proofs and essays of Belgian stamps (1849-2000) by J. Stes (the last publication on this topic dates from 1933),

• The green 1c, also known as the "green medallion" (1861-1865): an in-depth study by L. Van Pamel (this will be the very first study dedicated to this classic Belgian stamp),

• The Postal History of the LADO enclave (1851-1910) by L. Tavano et P. Maselis (the last publication on this topic dates from 1986).

This event will reveal the publication of a fully illustrated anthology written in several languages. This work, an absolute reference in this field, will highlight Belgium's best pieces, in terms of historical interest, rarity and quality.

A number of pieces, awarded major international prizes, will be exhibited by the most renowned collectors and experts in the sector. If you have a collection or some pieces that may be of interest to this exhibition, and especially to the said publication, which we hope will be as exhaustive as possible, please contact Mr. Patrick MASELIS at the following address:

Patrick MASELIS
Kaaistraat 19 B - 8800 Roeselare Belgique
e-mail: info@maselis.be