Ostropa Philatelic Exhibition

I was researching this topic over the weekend and was surprised at how little information is out there. Even SCF has scant information about OSTROPA.

I welcome any links and/or information the SCF community might be able to provide.

During my search, I came across the following website: http://www.stamp-collecting-world.c...ostropa.html


Image borrowed from aforementioned website.


A few of highlights from the article include:

- OSTROPA is an acronym that stands for: Osteuropäische Briefmarken-Ausstellung, or East European Stamp Exhibition.

- OSTROPA was held in the Königsberg Castle in Eastern Prussia. Construction on the castle began in 1255, was enlarged twice, used as a residence for Prussian kings, became a museum during the Third Reich, and subsequently destroyed by fire during allied bombing raids during World War 2.

- Only one stamp, the 12Pf value, shows Königsberg Castle.

- The souvenir sheets were provided with the purchase of an admission ticket to the exhibition for 1.7M

- The four, perforated stamps in the middle of the sheet are each watermarked with a "cross". This is the only time that swastika watermarked paper was not used for a postage stamp issue, during the Third reich.

- The gum used for the OSTROPA souvenir sheet contained sulfuric acid, causing the paper to brown over time, and eventually disintegrating. Rod posted a picture of a sheet whose gum was left untouched here: https://goscf.com/t/9384

- The OSTROPA souvenir sheet exists imperf.

Some questions I have:

- What is the history behind using this type of gum?
- Was the use of sulfuric acid in the gum intentional?
- If not, who discovered it?
- I am aware of 2 other German stamps that use this type of gum (Hindenburg airmail stamps). Are there any more stamps that used this gum?
- IIRC, the stamps from this sheet were reissued after OSTROPA with a different watermark. Were they issued as singles, se-tenant, or souvenir sheet?

Thanks!

Brian

Brian,

I've never seen any actual information on the history of the acidic gum. It's probably out there in a German-language article somewhere, but I haven't found any good information on it in English. AFAIK, the LZ-129 airmails were the only other stamps to use that gum.

I don't believe these stamps were re-issued.

Here's what the watermark looks like.