André de Cock

André de Cock (born July 12, 1880 in Ghent ; † July 28, 1964 there ) was a Belgian philatelist .

He came from a wealthy middle-class family and initially studied law in Bonn before returning to Belgium. He then became a justice of the peace . At the same time, as a local councilor, he selflessly put his skills at the service of the Belgian Red Cross and was secretary of the Ghent Red Cross section from 1907 to 1919 . During the First World War he was temporarily administrator of the military hospital in his hometown.

From a young age he was intensively involved with philately and in particular with the delivery of post to the Belgian Congo. So it was a good thing that in 1919 he became the private secretary of Count Lippens, who was then Governor General of the Belgian Congo . So he was able to expand his research work. Count Lippens later became post office minister of Belgium and de Cock was henceforth part of his personal staff. At de Cock's instigation, the Belgian Postal Museum was opened in 1936 and he himself was appointed the first conservator. The Postal Museum Library and the extensive collections of Belgian and foreign postage stamps in Brussels are thanks to de Cock.

De Cock was seen as busy and not limited to his work as a conservator. His literary work in the field of philately is particularly noteworthy. His excellent work "The Belgian Congo and its Postmarks" is a monumental work of philatelic literature. It has never been surpassed and forms the basis of research for this special collection area.

He was also a jury member at many international stamp exhibitions and he was a member of the Belgian Government's Philately Commission. For his own collections he was awarded 50 gold medals at stamp exhibitions.

Other awards for his philatelic work were Commander of the Leopold Order ; Commander of the Order of the Crown ; Cross of Merit 1914–1918; Member of the French Philatelic Academy; Winner of the Austria Prize and the certificate as a famous philatelist. His portrait is on a postage stamp of the Principality of Liechtenstein from 1972 ( Michel no. 571), as a stamp from the set with the name "Pioneers of Philately III".

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