German Stamps

Hi everyone. I am fairly new to stamp collecting and I have been learning a lot this past week. I have a book from the 30's and it is filled to the brim with stamps. I am interested in learning about the surcharges (I think that's what I read) that is over stamped on some of my stamps and if you know anything more about the ones I have. I have them scanned at 600 dpi so I can always pull an individual one in a larger picture) Thank you for teaching a beginner!

Welcome, Littlecrow. Most of the stamps you have there are from the 1920's and 30's, with a couple of them from before that. The ones with the really high denomonations (in "tausend" and "millionen") are from 1922/23 during Germany's famous hyper-inflation period. By the end it took something like 50 billion marks to mail a letter! The surcharges were necessary because rates changed so often due to the rate of inflation that they didn't have time to print up new stamps from scratch, so they just overprinted stamps that they had laying around.

There's a lot of history in German stamps and Germany is my favorite area to collect. The stamps you have, while very interesting historically, have basically no monetary value. The stamps in your picture are among the most common stamps there are and might be worth a total of a dollar or two on a good day. There's a very slight chance that there is some scarce variety amongst your stamps, but it's not very likely. They remain very interesting historical artifacts from a very tumultuous time and place in history.

I agree with Artful. I also collect pre-1949 Germany and along with the history there is also tremendous variety and a lot to learn that you help you better understand philately. For example, the Hindenburg stamps (line 4 of first page) there are 2 different watermarks. There is also a third variety with a black border. The first stamp in the first page is Scott 353 from 1925, and also has a lighter variation #353B printed in 1927. There are postal, semi-postal, airmail, officials, etc. varieties to collect. The overprinted stamps during the hyper inflation period provides an interesting overview of how quickly things degenerated in Germany contributing to the rise of the 3rd Reich. Good luck with your collection.

I would note that the stamp on the top right of the first picture, the red 15pf Hindenburg, has an interesting cancel commemorating the Leipzig fair, although the stamp itself looks like it has a hole in it. The "double M" is still the Leipzig fair logo to this day. There were many subsequent stamp issues (as opposed to just a postmark) for the Leipzig fair. Until 1949 Leipzig Fair stamps were issued by the Nazis as well as Germany under Allied occupation. Leipzig was located in the old East Germany from 1949-1990 and the DDR issued stamps for the Leipzig Fair (usually for both the spring and fall fairs) until the DDR's demise in 1990. This cancel would probably be of interest to someone building a topical collection of Leipzig Fair stamps if it weren't damaged. I've sorted through thousand of German stamps from that era and have never seen one of those cancels, so they can't be too common although I doubt they're all that rare or valuable.

Hello,
You are fair new in philatelly ! I am new in Forum but If you were intrigued by the overprints on German stamps I can encourage you to collect the 1923 inflationary years period.. is a great field and will report you with hours of enjoyment...in those years postal tarifs in germany varied day after day so collecting covers of that period.. is very intersting.. German Michel specialized Catalogue will be of great help as starting...
hope this helps

Artful, owsi: I'm a noobie at stamp collecting, but I do know what I want to initially concentrate on - stamps from the WWI Axis and Allied powers between 1933 and 1945.

I noticed both of you have an interest in some era of Germany. I'd love some dealer contacts (and info links) that would help me get started and educate myself.

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Thomas,

Welcome to stamp collecting, your area of interest overlaps with mine quite a bit. I'm mostly focused on Germany "and area", which encompasses Germany itself as well as territories, old German states, occupations, Danzig, Saar, etc. Europe from 1914-1949 is fascinating to me - not just war-related stuff, but maps being redrawn (and redrawn again), "dead countries" that spring into existence only to disappear after a couple years or decades, etc. I very recently started a sideline 1919-1939 dead country collection. This is something I'll just putter around with here or there while I'm working on other interests, but it could become more serious at some point. I'll email you about a couple dealers, but here's a good website with a lot of good info:

http://www.stamp-collecting-world.com/

It's not focused on Germany or a particular era, but there are writeups about most of the countries of Europe from the 19th century to about the mid-20th. If you're just looking to basically get acquainted with the stamps of European nations of the classic era, it's great for that.

Here's a good resource for info on the many dead countries of that era (as well as other eras): http://www.dcstamps.com/ .The owner of that site frequents this board, by the way. There are many other good sites as well and a google search will turn up quite a few.

Really, your best resource on the web is probably going to be this message board. Come here and ask a lot of questions. Myself and most others are more than happy to lend a helping hand to a newcomer. The amount of knowledge on this board is huge and the people are generally willing to share it.

Thomas,

I hate to pub my own work, but...

GermanStamps.net

My links page lists many of the dealers and auctionhouses I use, though they may not be as useful if you're just getting started with the collecting area -- they tend to cater more to the specialist.

The Third Reich period is among the easiest German areas to collect. Fakes aren't a huge problem, and ebay, etc., have good selections at decent prices.

Artful, Postmaster, wow. Thanks a bunch. I've spent the last hour or so scouring through the links you sent me. This is a great start. Man, do I have a lot to learn. If you have any other links or info please send them along.

Welcome to all the new posters from me. For all of you, but particularly USA residents, consider joining the American Philatelic Society ( www.stamps.org). APS offers a monthly magazine, expertizing services, a stamp store, and many other benefits. Dues are reasonable. I've been a member now for 41+ continuous years and have never regretted the decision to join.