A couple big additions to the collection -- the
Vukovar Inselpost issue and variations.
Following the reconquest of Greece by the Allies, German forces stationed on Crete and the Aegean Islands could only be supplied by air.
The postmaster for these regions, Feldpostmeister Dr. E. Schwarz of Army Group F, decreed that all mail in these regions should only use feldpost stamps overprinted "Inselpost". To accommodate this requirement, 200,000 feldpost package stamps (Michel 2B) were overprinted in Vukovar, Croatia, for distribution to the troops.
Michel 6However, the aircraft transporting the stock of stamps was shot down during a supply flight in October 1944. The only copies of the Vukovar printing which survived were a small stock of approximately 2,000 stamps which remained in Vukovar. Most of these remaining copies were transported to Rhodes in December 1944, where they were distributed to collectors. They included normal copies, as well as a few double and inverted overprints.
Michel 6 K (inverted OP) and Michel 6 DD (double OP)During the printing process, two freshly printed sheets were placed face-to-face, resulting in transfer from one to the other and creating the double overprint with one inverted and mirror-imaged (unlisted in Michel). The only known copies of this error are from a single block of 12 that were in the Inselpost reference collection of Dr. Schwarz himself. During the retreat of Army Group F through Yugoslavia, however, much of the Feldpostmeister's reference collection was lost, the inverted/mirror copies included. They were rediscovered over 30 years later in West Germany, where they were split into two blocks of 6.
1995 Mogler photo cert depicting one block of 6This copy was formerly in the middle row, first column of the above shown block (position 13 of the original sheet). Because of the irregular manner by which the mirrored overprint came to be on the stamps, the quality and position of the overprint vary greatly. This is one of the better copies in that is has a clean, almost complete mirrored overprint.
Unlisted Michel 6 inverted/mirrored variety
Posted 01/22/2013 06:36 am
