Please Help Identify German? States.

I have bought some lots of German States. Among the many stamps was this quartet.






My eyes are going bad, so I can't quite make out, due to cancellation, the upper left.

Upper right: Printed backwards?

Lower left: Fribourg? That does't sound German. I believe there is a Fribourg in both France and Switzerland, but I don't think the Swiss one is the name of a Canton. French cities never issued their own stamps, did they?

Lower right: Well, Thurm und Taxis, obviously. And probably Southern District. But all the stamps they issued are square, and look quite different. This isn't even a picture of a TuT stamp. What is it?

Thanks for the help.

Don

The upper left stamp is cut postal stationary from Prussia. The Mainz postmark suggests that it was used in the brief period around 1867 between Prussia's takeover of the Thurn and Taxis postal system and the formation of the North German Confederation.

The upper right stamp is also from Prussia and should be on very thin paper called goldbeater's skin, so you might just turn it over.

The lower right stamp is cut from postal stationary from Thurn and Taxis. Michel lists it but Scott does not.

The only one left is a revenue stamp of the Swiss town and canton of Fribourg.
By the way, Fribourg has been a Swiss canton since 1481!


Peter

Oh my, Peter, I lived in Basel for a year. I should have known that.

Don

Many thanks for the quick answers. As usual, I am amazed at the amount of knowledge members of this forum have and are willing to share. Under certain light, the front of the Prussian stamp looks very dark, so I assumed that was the back. I've looked again, in better light, and it is obvious.

Thanks again.

Don

Hi. These German states are tricky for the novice. I have tried to identify both. The first I believe is North German Confederation - not sure the scott#? The second I can see is Bayern/Bavaria - is this sc39? The stamp is damaged I know - but wanting to identify properly. Thanks.

Bavaria
Correctly identified the type....A5
Now to check the perforation guage

Adopting the SCF mantra that any stamp is the cheapest type,
then the corollory suggests it would be Sc#62 (40c) Perf 14.5 Wmk 95H

Happy checking

North German Federation
Check Perforation guage
Either Sc#4 or Sc#16
1 Groschen
Postmark : Bremen
No need to apologise for a damaged stamp.

Yes! it is #62. I have to remember to keep looking forward for other options. It is all good practice. The other one is sc#16. Thank you.

North German Federation, perforations are pretty obviously too fine for the earlies, Scott #16.
Bavaria looks like the center is embossed, than makes it more likely to be Scott #39, but the watermark should tell for sure.

Hello all.
Are these all considered German Colony Stamps? Would I look them up in my Scott Catalogue under German Colonies and look for: Togo, Samoa etc.? When I come upon these in my sorting efforts I always put them aside. With my new catalogue coming hoping to figure these out. Thanks.




Edited: I meant Colonies :) not states.

Not German States,but German Colonies.

Yes I meant Colonies - I was about to edit - so I look under German Colonies in Germany section?

NOTE: I think I figured it out - I need to go to TOGO, Samoa, Marshall Island, etc to ID these.

Thank you Vayolene for nudging me in the right direction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posta...man_colonies

Excellent- thank you. These always had me scratching my head.

Don't forget our member PostmasterGS site !
Search bar is on the left, amazing information......
(offers variety information)
German stamps, for English speakers.
Album Pages FREE

https://www.germanstamps.net/collection-search/

Yes Rod you are correct - I had forgotten. Germany overwhelms me a bit. I bought some kiloware a while back - cheap bulk and I have an enormous amount of German stamps, colonies, states, office abroad, - so many different overprints it can be hard to know where to start. I need to try that resource so I can further sort what I have "sorted". :) also admittedly I enjoy posting and engaging with the forum and family here - it makes the journey even more enjoyable.