Nazi Germany Cinderellas

These are a set of five Azadhind stamps that were produced in Nazi Germany in 1943. There were originally a set of 6 but I'm missing one. Are there any value to them?

Hi, There were ten basic stamps produced in six designs. Michel lists a total of 21 stamps.

As well as the three designs here there are a Sikh machine-gunner, a nurse tending a patient, and three Indian soldiers with an Azad Hind flag,

All were produced both with various perforations and imperf apart from the one rupee + two rupees high value which was imperf only.

The 1R+2R high value stamp is listed in three colour varieties with only 13,500 printed in total.

All the other stamps are much more common and 1 million of each of the other six charity/semi-postal stamps were printed and 500,000 printed were printed of each of the remaining three stamps (such as the green and orange stamps above).

My old 1998 Michel catalogue prices them at 8 DM each unmounted mint for the low value charity stamps and 12 DM for the non-charity stamps. The one rupee + two rupees stamps are each listed at 180 DM.

More background infor from here:

http://www.raster.it/stefano/a/faq/default.htm br / http://www.raster.it/stefano/a/faq/default.htm

Are these real stamps? Where are they from?
Stamps with the inscription 'AZ'AD HIND are listed in the Michel catalogue for Germany. They belong to a set of 10 stamps prepared in Germany in 1943 to be used in India by the Indian National Army (INA - later an Azad Hind Government was declared), which fought the British and eventually got rid of them in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The INA had planned to free India from British rule through the help of the Axis powers. The Army reached the eastern border of India (Imphal) passing through Burma and planned to move on to Delhi, "Chalo Delhi" (on to Delhi) was their motto. There were also provisional stamps issued and (used?) by the INA troops while attacking Imphal. The leader of INA was Subhas Chandra Bose, maybe a search on the Internet on this subject might be useful. Stamps are known perforated (value DM10 each) and unperforated (DM15 each). 7 values have an overvalue, whereas 3 have none, it seemed the overvalue was to sustain the Azad Hind Government in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. All of these stamps were never used, though. Forgeries exist

The Azad Hind stamps were issued by Germany in February 1943 as part of a propaganda effort to encourage the Azad Hind movement to free India from British rule.

The entire set consists of 21 stamps -- 9 perforated (Michel suffix "A") and 12 imperforate ("B"). They are of relatively low value, except for the 1+2 Rupee face-value issues.

Those you have are as follows, with catalog values for MH/MNH:

12A+1R -- Michel VI B (€3 / €5)
8A+12A -- Michel V B (€3 / €5)
1/2 A -- Michel VIII B (€3.60 / €6)
2 1/2A+2 1/2A -- Michel III B (€3 / €5)
2 1/2 A -- Michel X B (€3.60 / €6)

Now that is a fantastic footnote to history. Don't recall any of my textbooks or readings ever touching on this. A truly magnificent piece of philatelic history. Thanks for sharing.

Thnx, nigel, san_noofre, and Postmaster for this in-depth history on these stamps..It's the experts like you guys that makes me proud to be a member of such a worthy forum as the SCF is..I am learning more every day and I love it..Thank you guys very much and to others who has helped me...Cul_Lector