Germany: Cancellation Premium.

Revenues and Social Insurance.

Here is piece of Prussian postal stationery which has been surcharged by use of a North German Confederation one groschen rouletted stamp. The area of the surcharge was then typeset overprinted in gray with a field of tiny, "NORD DEUTSCHER POSTBEZIRK" impressions in a 28mm x 26.5mm field.

The postal envelopes were made from remainders of German States postal envelopes after the creation of the North German Confederation. They exist for some envelopes of Braunschweig, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Oldenburg, Prussia and Saxony. Michel warns that there are many forgeries of these "use up" issues. Just about every part of them has been faked.

The envelope shown may be NGC Mi #24 or U28, depending on the length of the gum on the flap. Michel's Ganzsachen-Katalog Deutschland catalog gives no help in the listings, but warns that this feature also has been faked.

This item is a great example of how good some forgeries of German material can be, if it is a fake. I paid a few dollars for it some years ago. The NGC stamp appears genuine, the Cochstedt and receiving cancels look good, the gray overprint is very precise and clear, and the Prussian envelope appears to be correct.

Here is another North German Confederation "use up" postal envelope. This one is the nine kreuzer brown Prussian envelope surcharged with the 3 kreuzer rouletted stamp. It is Michel NGC #U47. Michel notes, "Forgeries of the U43-7 are not known."

The cancellation is old Thurn u. Taxis LICH with the 2 hollow circles. A stamp dealer's violet ownership stamp from the inside of the cover is barely discernible. It is "Briefm. Hdg. Falck, Mainz" inscribed in a rectangle (beneath the addressee's name).

Here is my oldest German stampless cover, and also the one in the best condition. It bears a BREMEN straight-line cancel of the earliest type listed by Peter Feuser's Deutsche Vorphilatelie as #431-1. This cancel's earliest use is listed as 1780. The folded letter is dated 16 April 1802. It was sent from J. C. C. Ringer to Hrn. Schroder & Schyler in Bordeaux. The addressees are vintners and they are still in the wine business. They started in 1739.

The folded letter is so fresh that it could have been written today. It is exquisite paper and obviously has been well cared for. The watermark on the paper is a large coat of arms and "L V Gerrevink. The earliest reference I can find to these papermakers is 1687.

From modernarmenianhistory.history.ucla, "...fine writing paper from Europe and particularly from the famed Dutch paper manufacturer L. V. Gerrevink in Amsterdam."

Germany Poster Stamps Cinderellas Seals and Lables

Hi Rod.
The one with the caduceus is from the Netherlands.

Whoa! that passed me by.
Thanks (as usual) Vayolene.

The one with the Caduceus is from a water management fair in Bandoeng which is the Dutch Indies.

Kologdam Building in Bandoeng (now Bandung,Indonesia)

Nice image, I'll pop that alongside the label.

Indonesia, water management fair?
Whom would have thought?

Germany Poster Stamps Cinderellas Seals and Lables #2

Hi Rodd,

Beautiful! Specialy the two bavarian mourning label.

Salutations

Hornet

Thank you Hornet.

I did overpay vastly (In my opinion) for these,
I needed the Ottoman seals.

But I was very pleasantly surprised with the quality
of these items. I quote the oft over used term "Mint"

The mourning items are indeed attractive,
I should easily get my money back if I marketed these pages.

Baden Revenues.
Bavaria Railway Revenues.

Rod,

You've got a couple interlopers on that page. The catalog listing I sent you was only for those with the overprint "Bayer. Staatseisenb." I've just emailed you the listings for the "Kgl. Bayer. Staatseisenb." overprint (30 Pf) and the Saxony one (20 Pf).