The German States Collection

In case most of you don't know, I'll start with a little introduction.

I have been handed a monster collection of collections of lord only knows how many stamps. These came to me in glassines, in albums, on album pages, in stock pages, in/on envelopes...and many other quirky different ways. (I posted pictures to show what I walked into at first in the introduction thread.)

These were handed to me to be sold...and I knew nothing about stamps when I first started. (Except that you lick the back) I tried, and quickly failed at selling individual stamp lots, not because of the pricing which was typically marked at ebay auction price of 0.99, but because I hadn't realized how to cater to the collectors I was trying to sell to. The more I handled the stamps and read online here, the more I realized I needed to start getting in the mind frame of a collector...if I had spare income, what would I buy?

I found out quickly that the answer to that is not US Stamps. I'm attracted to bright and unusual stamps. Things I have never seen before. I started pulling together face value lots so that I could dedicate my time to creating little collections of Canada, and Central and South America. Once those had sold, I turned my sights on Germany.
This has been a monumental task.

We have 75 or more binded incomplete collections sitting in one closet. My endeavors from US individual stamps, plate blocks and sheets, Central America Lots, canada loose stamps and stock and inventory filling nearly every clean space off of the floor.

Reading through (parts) of Rocky's thread about his inherited collection from his grandfather made me want to post my progress on Germany. My boss, who handed these to me in the beginning, wanted me to see them in small lots...but I wanted to make a collection. Something that a collector would be proud to call their own. Something that you could see the amount of time and work that went into it...and appreciate it. I've fallen in love with German stamps and learned so much putting my little collections together. So far I have Berlin, the Third Reich and The German States together in separate binders.

Much to my pleasure, when my boss saw the collection I had created, he told me he didn't want to tear it apart.I was ecstatic. My work had not been in vain!

When I start a country, I typically go through the incomplete collection binders, looking for what I want to put together. From here it ends up in a pile.




I have to scrounge for an empty stock book and the black pages, and hope that album pages will be around to guide me. We have a Stanley Gibbons book for Germany and I HATE it. I am a Scott enthusiast all the way...However, if the boss had seen me looking the German States up, that would have been an end to the beginning of trying to put a lovely little collection together.

So the supplies and stamps are in glassines and album pages.









I cut the names or time frames from the top of the album pages and typically follow the album page guides for the mini collections. In my experience with my boss, if they stay on the album pages when they are handed over for review, they find their way onto the floor and I'm left wondering why my little collections have gaping holes where there used to be consistency and fluidity.

I know there are large gaps in the states, I haven't found those stamps yet. I took these all with a little nikon, so I'm sorry in advance if any of the pictures turned out crappy. I don't have the spare time to scan them. (I'm at work after all.)

So, without any further ado, here's the German States collection! I really sincerely hope you enjoy!

First off the pictures are too small to even see what they are. When trying to sell Stamps, the better the picture, the easier the sell as any serious collector won't even think of buying or bidding on something that might be questionable.
In Stamps, condition is everything ! Meaning the Perforations all must be intact, or start deducting from the value. Centering is essential to the serious German collectors and buyers of high end material won't waste their time on material not up to their satisfaction.

Also beware of fake and forgeries as these are plentiful for that area (German States). I see the 2 Hamburg Stamps which may or may not be forgeries, only a high resolution scan of the stamps individually can determine the legitimacy. Also, of the few I can see are the 3 Bayern stamps. The one with the chunk missing is all but destroyed and will have no value.

I am a very amateur Germany collector so I'd love to see more of what you have. I scan my Stamps each at 1200dpi so your images should look something like this.

When I get a chance, I'll put up better pictures...image shacks forum option is REALLY small.

That looks awesome from what I can see incorruptibleid!

I highly recommend photobucket though, imageshack will only lead to big headaches, such as not posting them in the right order. Start a pb account, create albums, and then from there you can get options to select all pics however you want - with the img tags, direct links, thumbnails, etc... and they will all be in the right order in which you uploaded them.

This is the best I can do for sizing at the moment. Shall I do this for the rest?

Brilliant Rocky! Thank you!
I'll be doing that tomorrow.

I've uploaded the pictures to photo bucket and revised the photos here. Thanks again Rocky!

Stallzer, the Bavarian stamps that are obviously in crap condition are fillers. They are there so I know what to be on the lookout for and where to put it in the collection should I find it.

Much better. It looks like you have a great collection going ! Absolutely nothing wrong with space fillers either. Keep posting images as I love the Germany & States material.

I have a Berlin Collection and a Third Reich Collection as well. I'm waiting for the stock pages and supplied to finish up the other four categories for Germany. I'm really quite excited about them! It's disappointing that many of the states are still so empty...