Deutsche Demokratische Republik

Lets see what GDR's I can show...i think they are mostly philatelic but will take a look !!

this one is philatelic for sure..i will have to check the commercial bins !

i was trying to find my postcard with a 1950 Wilhelm Pieck stamp..but I will not find it tonight..i think this one is from a stamp dealer

Phil

I've noticed that the older I get the smaller those dots become!

That's a nice FDC (Ersttagsbrief)! It is one of two for that series and, per Michel, the higher valued. I'd be happy to show the other one, but I don't have it! Heck, I don't have either!

Dan

thanks Dan, if you accumulate long enough a lot of stuff comes along...i can't help watching "American pickers" and wishing a van would pull up to my house..i would drag all my stuff out into the yard for a hundred dollar sale !!

Phil

The second cover, an event cover for the international Fur Auction, is interesting. I can't see the date too clearly but it looks like 12-2, February 12. The first day of issue for those stamps was February 14!
Did I misread the date?

Dan

Dan, the postmarks on the back tell the story..i will post it later have to get my day going now...on the back....Schlotheim 12 2 64 Boston Mass Feb 15 1964 Boston Mass Cambridge Br. Feb 17 1964 !

Phil

Thanks for the additional info. Now it makes sense. The first day for those stamps was Feb. 14, 1963 The cover was apparently cancelled almost a year later.

Dan

good pickup dan, I thought we had an early postmark !!

Nice Covers! I've always felt that DDR stuff is underrated and underappreciated. There's just too much stuff out there and most of it (with the exception of the early DDR-China Friendship set etc.) are pretty reasonably priced.

I coudn't agree more. I have traditionally only collected classic Germany & states, but after purchasing a large collection of misc DDR, I'm hooked.

As if I needed another specialized collection ...

Phil, my thought too! Still an interesting cover.

Dan

with Brian and Baba.

There are a lot of beautiful and interesting DDR stamps at reasonable prices. The "Heads", the "Five Year Plan", the "Piecks," booklet panes and the official series can keep a fly-specker busy for quite a while too!

The country is under appreciated. Besides, for someone as anal retentive as I am, how many countries can you reasonably get all the main Scott/Michel numbers?

I got hooked a few years ago.

Dan

Here are some CTO blocks I received in a "mystery" packet from an ebay seller. It's a complete set I think and includes the hammer on the largest denominations.

My first scan, so here we go:

For those who are interested in finding sources for postally used DDR, note that the German ebay site is an excellent source - at almost any time, you can find something in the kiloware section that the seller will ship worldwide (unfortunately, I always find interesting stuff that will only ship to Germany or within Europe).

Here's an example, 1 Kg of on-paper used DDR.

http://cgi.ebay.de/350465292421

If you get lucky, you can sometimes come across other East Block nations in postally used condition. I'm working my way through a great batch of Czech stamps that you normally only find in CTO condition over here. I've been lucky with batches of Hungary and Romania too. No such luck with Bulgaria or Russia, though, and it's probably a futile wish to ever find masses of Albania in postally used condition ...

Ryan