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Hello, all. I've been back collecting stamps seriously for about a year now, and recently I've settled on Germany and area (occupations, Danzig, Saar, etc) and I mean to get somewhat serious about it. I was hoping for some assistance satisfying my curiosity as well as on a more practical matter.
It didn't take me long to notice that there are thousands of German stamps with a higher catalog value as used rather than mint - often by a few orders of magnitude. This phenomenon seems to span almost all eras and areas of German philately. I know most countries have at least a few stamps where used is the higher value, but most of the time mint stamps are worth more. Germany almost seems to be the opposite for about the first 100 years or so, with it almost being the default that used stamps are more valuable.
Anyway, for some of these stamps, I know the reason for this. Inflation issues that were only valid for a very short period, stamps issued in the waning days of a war, etc. But why is it so pervasive over so long a period of time, even applying to states, occupations and splinter-states, etc? Is there something about German postal administrations or collectors of German stamps that led to so many stamps being cheaper mint than used?
On a more practical matter, are there any good general rules of thumb when trying to determine if a German stamp has a valid postmark? I'd want a certificate before spending hundreds of dollars on a used stamp when the mint one costs a quarter. But even when cost isn't as much of a factor, I still want to make sure that my stamps are actually what they look like.
On a different note, what was the source of WWII era mint stamps of the Third Reich? Were dealers still buying from the German postal administrations during the war, or were many of them just leftover stocks from after the war? I suspect a little of both, but I was just wondering.
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Posted 02/11/2014 9:30 pm
