Germany B49/57 "Wagner" Set

I picked up these two lots this past weekend and was curious if someone could provide more information about the subject matter. Are they original engravings or based on something else? I'm really intrigued by these beauties!

The B53, 56-57 are mint hinged (catalogues about $1000 in NH), the rest are MNH. If anyone wants to donate a MNH B55 to complete my set, I would certainly be grateful (catalogues ~$1100)

Brian

I think that there are two types..b 55 and b55a

Yes, original engravings. Alois Kolb (1875-1942).
And a few other works of his:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq4bxK9Zzv8

Here's a little info on the Wagner series.

They were issued on 1 November 1933, and were valid until 20 September 1934. The original end-date of usage was 1 February 1934, but this date was extended to March 1934 so the stamps could be used in conjunction with the laying of the Richard Wagner Memorial foundation stone in Leipzig. The date was then extended to September so they could be used at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth from June-August 1934.

The surtax was divided between the Reichspost (5%) and the Deutsche Nothilfe, a German charity organization. During interwar period, German would issued stamps to benefit the Nothilfe (and its successor, the Winterhilfswerk) on a regular basis. Traditionally, Nothilfe stamps were only available at the P.O., but this series could also be purchased at the offices of the Deutsche Nothilfe.

They were recess printed at the State Printing Works in Berlin. They are the first German stamps to feature the swastika watermark which would become standard through much of the Third Reich era.

Michel lists two major varieties within the set -- Comb 13.75x13 perf (A suffix, from sheets of 100) and 13.75x14 perf (B suffix, from booklets). All can be found in the "A" variety. The 4+2, 6+4, 8+4, 12+3, and 20+10 Pf values can be found in "B" variety.

The designs by Prof. Alois Kolb depict scenes from Wagner's operas:

3+2 Pf -- Tannhäuser (showing Tannhäuser in a scene from Act I where he plays a love song to Venus)
4+2 Pf -- The Flying Dutchman
5+2 Pf -- Rheingold (Woglinde, Wellgunde, and Flosshilde, the three daughters of the Rhine and guardians of the Rheingold, lose the gold to the dwarf Alberich [seen in the background], commencing the sequence of events which form the subject of the "Ring" series of operas)
6+4 Pf -- The Master Singer (Hans Sachs in Act II, sitting in from of his dwelling making shoes for Beckmesser)
8+4 Pf -- Valkyries (From Act III, Wotan bends over Brünnhilde [one of the Valkyries] and takes her helmet from her)
12+3 Pf -- Siegfried (Slegfried slays Fafnir, guardian of Wotan's treasure and the magic ring)
20+13 Pf -- Tristan and Isolde (Tristan and Isolde drink the love potion)
25+15 Pf -- Lohengrin (Lohengrin arrives in answer to Elsa's prayers in a boat pulled by a swan)
40+35 Pf -- Parsifal (Parsifal holds aloft the Holy Grail and declares himself the new King of the Knights of the Grail)

Excellent!

Scott fails miserably with regards to providing quality scans and information about these stamps. I have Michel catalogues, but mein deutch is nicht so gut!

I'm stunned that this was original artwork for these stamps. I would love to have these in poster form in my office. A quick Google image search of Alois Kolb turned up a Wikipedia page with great images of these stamps.

Brian

Here's an added bonus -- an original copy of the ad which was placed in post offices to encourage Germans to buy the Wagner series.

Nice stamps Rileysan, the sharp scans show up the lovely engravings.

Does anyone know who engraved them?

Why do the perfs look like someone trimmed them with scissors?

The high resolution images were taken from Wikipedia, so I can't say for certain why the edges looked trimmed. Perhaps they were digitally trimmed?




As stated by Wadmalatz, these were original engravings by Alois Kolb.

I wonder ... did Kolb sketch these before engraving them? If so, does the original artwork still exist?

There's just enough variation in the perfs that I don't think they were digitally trimmed. Probably the result of a collector separating them from the sheet/booklet with a straight edge and an Xacto knife or something similar.

I realize that Kolb designed and did the original engravings
but I doubt that he engraved the dies for the stamps.

Michel only lists him as the designer, they don't list
engravers for the last 10 years.