Help With Older German Se Tenants And Tete-Beche Pairs

I listed them on ebay 2 or 3 years ago and they started getting bids right away. Unfortunately, someone was offended by history, complained, and ebay removed these as well as a cover I had also listed and told me I was in violation of ebay policy for putting them up for bid on their site.

I have wanted to sell them, but barring the kind of free and open bidding that ebay could provide (bidStart, unfortunately, doesn't even come close) I have had no idea on how to price them.

As for not finding them in Michel, maybe they are too politically incorrect for Germany, and possibly illegal, too.

Illegal in the sense of using them, I'd say almost certainly. For use in a catalogue, shouldn't be a problem, they list the stamps and cancels from the period without a problem.

Michel's Ganzsachen-Katalog Deutschland 2009 lists them as P250 (€2 mint) and P251 (€2.50).

P250: 29 Jan 1934 -- Commemorative postal card to commemorate the day of the seizure of power by Hitler. Stamp is President von Hindenburg and Hitler in civilian clothes. On the front left, two-color reproduction of the torchlight procession from 20 Jan 1933.

P251: 30 Apr 1934 -- Special post card of 1 May 1934. Stamp is large value with a halo and side inscriptions. On the front left of picture: workers, three chimneys and flags.

Thank you, again, PostmasterGS.

Not worth as much as I had thought they might be based on apparent scarcity.

Though I don't collect postal stationery, I might add them to my German collection just to give it more interest -- and stamps from this thread, too.

It will take some blank Scott pages but it will break my collection away from the neat, pre-printed pages I've liked to follow and fill spaces in ever since I was a kid.

Larry,

Would you be willing to sell the MNH copy of EGS 2? It's this one:

Is that from the Third Set, Photo 2, Row 1. Looks as if it's called EGS 1, there. It's the one without a straight edge cut.

(By the way, the trimmed edges on some these stamps are so even, they don't look as if scissors were used. Would you know if this is the way they were trimmed down for use in booklets?)

Sorry, I got that wrong seeing your picture, again. That is an EGS 1 I was looking at.

The EGS2 must be from the first page, bottom row. In any event, just email me your address and I will send it along as a token of appreciation for your help with these.

Beautiful sets modern_who. A truly wonderful collection.
But, I'm curious. You'll have to excuse my ignorance, and I should probably know this by now, but I have to ask. I can understand the Se-Tenant stamps. Apart from collectability, booklet panes with a variety of values for the benefit of the purchaser. But the Tete-Beche sets, what is the point there? Is it strictly for collectors, because I can't see any practical purpose for someone just wanting to mail a letter.
Please educate me.

Probably, that way they can get you both coming and going.

I really don't know if it served any practical purpose or was just to catch the collector's eye.

The EGS stamps were printed in 10x10 sheets (Einheitsgeberbogen, or EGB).


Mi EGB 1.2.4


Mi EGB 2.2


Mi EGB 3.2

These sheets were then cut into the 5-stamp strips (Einheitsgeberstreifen, or EG-Str./EGS), which were dispensed from vending machines.

It's impossible to say with 100% certainty whether a strip came from the vending machine or was manually cut from an EGB by a collector, seller, etc., but the cleanness of the edges would lead me to believe it was cut by machine.

As to the tete-beche pairs...

The stamps were generally printed in 10x10 sheets (Markenheftchenbogen, or MHB), which were then cut into the booklet panes (Heftchenblätter, of HB). The booklets were widely available throughout Germany, and the uncut sheets were also available for sale at a few Philatelic Sales Windows.





Because of the layout of the uncut sheets, it was possible to get tete-beche pairs, but only if one bought an uncut sheet, then cut it apart for individual use.

I doubt there was any intent to target collectors. It's more likely just a result of collectors breaking up the uncut sheets to create their own unusual combinations.

Beautiful sheets Postmaster.

I really like the colour combinations in the last one...

Green Red Black, looks sharp.

What's a sheet like that worth?

The sheets can vary wildly in price. Those shown above catalog for:

(MH/MNH)
EGB 1.2.4 -- €80/€130
EGB 2.2 -- €90/€150
EGB 3.2 -- €120/€200
MHB 45.1 -- €800/€1300

Thanks Postmaster. The last one sure is a bit pricey.