Help Identifying This German Stamp(S)

these were on a piece of paper marked Mi. 229 type 2 ?? they as you can see are overprinted, top 4 in black, bottom 2 in red, I think the middle row is inverted, and the back is stamped Schwarz, what Michel number are these and are they real ?? thanks....Andrew

Drew, your pictures are badly out of focus, and a good interpretation of what these are is not too easy. Could you either post a better picture, or preferably a scan?

Peter

The I overprinted stamps are Michel 229. It is a little difficult to tell from the photo, but it appears that they are 229 P, the flat plate variety, which has larger, thicker 8's in the corners. The 229 W variety is the rotary press stamp with thinner, smaller 8's. These are very common stamps issued in 1922 during the inflationary period. At that time, postal rates were changing quickly in Germany, so a stamp's useful life could have been several months, or maybe several weeks. The result was LOTS of mint remainder stamps as sheets and multiples which are still in abundance today. Back in the 1920's, these remainders were sometimes overprinted for advertising such things as stamp shows, or political candidates. The overprint on your stamps says "Regierung," I believe. If I am correct, this translates as 'administration.' Perhaps they were overprinted by a private firm, or municipality for use as sorting labels. I'm reasonably certain they are not postal overprints.

The political and advertising overprints are actively collected by people who collect 'cinderellas.' As a Cinderella collector myself, I would admit that these are not appealing to me personally. But, there are probably collectors out there who would love to add these to their collection. How much would they pay, or how much are they worth? I don't know. Sorry.