Germany 1923: Scott Catalogue Info Would Be Appreciated

My problem is that my stamp does not have a postmark placename or date. It's a corner cancel showing just the time at which it was cancelled.

It's probably authentic, though, because the fake cancels have placenames (and usually dates as well) and the stamps with fake cancels are (often) provided with false expertisation marks on the reverse.

That said, it will probably mean that I can't sell it for anything like its true value.

Jim

What I've read over the years about these infla stamps is
that genuine in use period canceled examples are in some
cases very rare and obviously that's why some command such
high prices.

People who are starving don't care too much about stamps but
within a short time after things improved in Germany. Collectors
discovered lo and behold there's tons of mint stuff but hardly any used examples.
So how does one get some of these genuine used stamps some
of the more astute collectors pondered.
Easy. Through a friend or relative working for the Post Office
who backdated the date slug to the proper in use period.

It's even difficult in many cases for the German experts.
I'm sure they've been fooled plenty of times.

Personally I wouldn't touch any of these with a ten foot pole.

I'm afraid you will need to change your criteria considerably, or else you may end up buying quite a few fake cancels or unintentionally selling a lot of fake cancels.

Many of used prices for that period are italicized to indicate that the cancel must be both genuine and correct period of use.

On those italicized stamps, the GREAT MAJORITY of cancels are all fake -- sometimes made with genuine cancelling devices but with falsified dates, sometimes completely forged cancels, sometimes with ambiguous cancels... Most of these false cancels do NOT have fake expertizer marks on the back. In fact, fake cancels with fake expertizer marks on the back are an unusual (but not rare) exception, not the rule.

A few of the better known forged cancellers can be identified by the city/date. The fake cancels made by genuine cancellers require an examination of the ink. It requires a pretty good knowledge base and experience, far beyond the little that I've studied. There is a reason why some of those used stamps are worth $100-$1000 even though the mint stamp may be 20c or just a few bucks. On those stamps, the genuine postally used stamp is rare and definitely needs an expert certificate.

OK ... NOW we all need to take a deep breath and look. I think there are a number. Thanks for asking the question.

I certainly think a stamp like this requires expertisation. However, it would be extremely expensive. I understand that German expertisers charge a fee equivalent to 10% of CV. So if my item is genuine, the expertizer - if he goes by the Michel CV, which is 12,000 Euros - would pocket 1,200 Euros before I've even sold it!

The prospect of shelling out such a high fee with no guarantee of being able to sell it for the Michel CV figure (or anywhere near it) is quite a deterrent. I wonder what others would do in my situation,

I finally got a chance to scan the stamp in question:

Hi Jimjam. The opinion of an amateur who loves this period: many of the cancels I see look like they were done at 100 miles per hour with a worn hand canceller, and have been almost socked-on-the-nose with the cancel of one stamp overlapping the cancel of all those around it. Having said that, there are definite examples of postally used stamps with few cancellations. Yours looks a little too neat, clean and precise to be genuine (in the opinion of this amateur who has been wrong many times before). Often dealers sell this sort of stamp at $2 or so with a "buy at your own risk" disclaimer.

I agree totally, peterethio.

When I looked through my Inflation-era stamps (and I have around a thousand), I found no cancels that were as 'neat, clean and precise' as this one. There were one or two that were close, but not really. (The neatest cancels were also nearly always double-ring cancels from Bavaria.)

What I don't understand is why someone placing false cancels on a stamp would not try harder to achieve a realistic effect!

These people can't be idiots, surely.

I obtained feeback from a German stamp forum as to why the cancels on this stamp were not authentic. The reply I received from the forum's inflation-era expert was as follows (my translation):

'This kind of cancel came into use at the end of the Inflation period. The cancel on your stamp is struck too cleanly and the colour is not right for the period of the high inflation.'

(Original: 'Dieser Stempelabschlag wurde nach Ende der Inflationzeit angebracht. Dieser Stempelabschlag auf deiner Marke ist zu sauber abgeschlagen und die Stempelfarbe passt nicht zu der Stempelfarbe der Hochinflation.')

I'm a little bit unsatisfied by this answer because the difference between the period of the high inflation and the end of the inflation was a matter of days!

I think the German makes more sense if it's translated as "after the end of the inflation period", i.e. when the stamp was no longer valid.

Agreed. If I remember my high school German correctly, "nach" means "after".

Thanks for pointing that out, guys. I was in a bit of a hurry when I posted that (someone was knocking at the door).

Hi.
This stamp, is a 2 million over 2 hundred marks, braunlichrot colour with roulette perfs.
What is its value in this condition
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Regards
Stewart