Help To Identify German Stamps

PM is the Buildings handbook's indication of the plate variety, or plate flaw type. In this case, it just so happens that Michel has assigned it as PF I. There are 10 positions in the pane of 100 (Fields 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 51, 53, 55, 57, and 59) which are PM 1 (PF I).

TM is the Building handbook's indication of the tertiary plate flaw type. In this case (TM 15), the plate flaw can occur in either "field 3 (part issue/not always) of pane with house printing number (HAN) 15.476.54.2, and field 9 (part issue/ not always) HAN # unknown.

Beyond this, I don't understand what is unclear.

I'm sorry I didn't see the full explanation above.
I think I'm starting to understand.
For Mi # 51 PM1 means: "offender Puttenkorb unter PAR in KLEISTPARK" and is found in fields 1,3,5,7,9,51,53,55.57 and 59.
It is rather stamp type and not plattenfehler.

Hi bookbndrbob,
I ask once again for your help in identifying a plate flaw for the Mi # 49 stamp (Germany 1949-Berliner Bauten series)
Is it Mi # 49 XIII or TM13?
Thank you.

Hi Cupram. This time you have a very nice TM that the expertizers and Michel include in the Deutschland-Special catalog. It is TM 13, which Michel catalogs as PF 49 XIII. If it is never hinged, it catalogs at 130 euros.

So, to be clear, your stamp has the primary identifying mark/plate flaw PM 4. Michel does not catalog PM 4. I have added the catalog picture (with added red dot) showing exactly where this occurs. The line extends too far to the right, and it is rounded.

So, Michel doesn't catalog PM 4, but they do catalog the PM 4 stamps which have the additional plate flaw with the broken lines that your stamp shows. Plate flaw catalog says that this flaw, TM 13 (Michel 49 PF XIII) occurs in fields 104 (all) and 105 (some/part print run) from the booklet printing sheets MHB 1 and MHB2 and their booklets.



Red dot shows the exact spot of the identifying mark of PM 4. Sometimes the identifying marks are not present, or they are not clear ...for all of these Buildings stamps. This makes collecting these stamps a little more challenging.

Thank you bookbndrbob
Unfortunately, the ignorance in knowing the German language and the lack of documentation about this series determined me to lose the auction (15 Euro my bid / sold with 15.24 Euro)
The auction was Michel booklet pane H-Bl 5 (variety stamp in the middle of bottom row-what interested me)



I don't understand Michel's rating:
Booklet pane H-Bl 5 = 180 Euro (MNH) and
Horizontally pair W19 = 200 Euro (MNH)





If I had kept the variety I could have resold W19.
How much do you think would have been a maximum selling price that you would have stopped at?

Cupram, you brought up a very interesting anomaly. According to Michel the complete booklet pane catalogs for less than just a portion of the booklet pane! I thought maybe that was a mistake but the introduction to Booklets actually notes that to be the case. Maybe a booklet pane expert can explain?

Don't concern yourself about losing out by 0.24 euro. You don't know what the winner's maximum bid was. I would have bid no more than 20% of catalog, or 36 euro. 108,000,000 of this denomination was issued but that includes the sheet version. I don't know how many of those were issued in booklets.

Hi Germania,
The seller also had a booklet panes 6,7,8,9 and 10 from Michel MH-2.
The others sold for around 6-11 Euros (the auction started at 2 Euros)
I had a maximum price of 15E and the winner bid on me.
If I was careful at the end time of the auction I think I would have won with 36 Euros.
I was not sure that it is a variety stamp and I considered the catalog price of a stamp that is 6 Euro.
After the end of the auction I saw the value of the booklet panes and the W19 pair.

Stamp from Germany, Berlin West 1949,"Berlin Bauten"series.
It is a plate flaw IV "point before T" Michel#55IV
Thank you for your help.

Cupram, from what I can see, this stamp is not Mi 55 PF IV.

Here are some pics to help. First two pics show the defining characteristics of the PM2 variety of the 80 pf stamps. Stamp must be the PM2 variety to be a SM4 (Michel PF IV). First pic is extra dot before and after the "T" of DEUTSCHE. Second pic is break in the sidewalk line above "H" of DEUTSCHE.




Third pic shows exact location of Mi 55 PF IV (the red dot).

Thanks bookbndrbob.
Only PM 5 and PM9 are specified in Michel for this stamp.
Please can you post the cover Die Plattenfehler Der Berlin Bauten. I think I have to put it on the shopping list.

Here it is. Size is 16.5 cm x 24.1 cm x 1.3 cm. Weight is 590 grams.

Thanks bookbndrbob.
My favorite seller (from which unfortunately I did not manage to win any auction) has a lot that quickly reached 70 Euro.



The stamps are common and as I do not know the evaluation of cancellations and that is why I tried to identify the special stamp.
Can it be plate flaw Mi # 29 I? (500/650 Euro) I don't know which number 1 is referred to.
There is also a crack in the inner circle.
Is that why the auction went up so fast?

Cupram, the deformed "1" of the left 1/2 and the broken ring are just a normal printing variances. These are found in abundance on the small and large "Breastshield" stamps. There are two different constant varieties/plate flaws of the "1" of the left 1/2, but the stamp you show does not have one of these.

If you really want to study these stamps in depth, you need the Michel HandBuch-Katalog Plattenfehler auf den Brustschild-Marken Deutsches Reich 1872-1874 . It goes into detailed explanation and provides illustration of all of the plate varieties/ plate flaws of all of these stamps. All plate flaws are priced (or unpriced) for mint, used and on cover, in euros.

For example, where Michel D-Spezial lists #29 PF I, the handbook lists and illustrates 2 different versions of it. Michel 29 PF I is listed as PF Ia with distance between the base of 1 and large 2 as .9 mm. With plate flaw 1b, the distance is 1.2 mm. Distance on normal printing is 1.4 mm.

I have several of the 1a, I believe...but they have not been expertized.

Thanks bookbndrbob.
I have the impression that I am beginning to understand German words and that is why I no longer use "google translate". My mistake.
"1" is from 1/2 of the overprint.
It is not very clear to me how the distance is measured A or B?

Google Translation can mislead you, because the meanings they give are for the most common use of words. With specialized meanings, it is often/usually incorrect. Still, internet translation is far better than it was 10 years ago.

I take Michel's explanation to mean the distance between the base of the "1" to the large "2".