New Aquisitions Germania Mania!

Just showing off stamps gottena couple of weeks ago. Researching them now.

If you need any help with the research, just let me know.

PostmasterGS, You can help all you want! I know I probably need better pics I can take those tonight. Just let me know what you want and need to help I appreciate it. I'm new to German stamps It can't be that bad right? :)

Welcome to one of the most popular and engaging areas to collect! Germany can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. You'll do well to lean on Postmaster for research - he's our resident Germany expert, modest though he is about it. Germany is my favorite area to collect as well as it's got so much to offer. You'll find that there's so much more to Germany than just "Germany", per se. There's also old German states, post-war occupation zones,colonies, territories, short-lived "dead states" like Danzig, Saar, East Germany, and much more. The repeated unification and fragmentation of Germany over the last century and a half is a fascinating part of history and one that is well documented in its postage stamps.

TheArtfulHinger, Thank you so much! I'm very much into history, especially WW1 and WW2 German history. Germany was center stage of course, especially in WW2,and has a fascinating story to tell.I look forward to the journey through stamps, I believe researching and studying the stamps of Germany will make the story that much more real.I appreciate the welcome, Jonathan

I can't find a reference source that identifies each stamp by series, color shade, perforation, etc. For German stamps, is there a source close to or identical to the V.F. Thomas website? If you know of resource thank you for sharing! Jonathan

Jonathan,

There really isn't one god, consolidated source. But, here are several that you can use together to attempt to piece together what you have.


First, I'd be remiss if I didn't plug my own site. Unfortunately, I don't have all of the Germania entered yet, either because I haven't yet scanned them in (pre-1919 stuff( or I don't yet own a copy (several of the color varieties). You can get to many of them using the menu system, or just type "germania" in the keyword search block, like this

Also, I do have a Germania Identification Aid on my website. It only covers the basic catalog number, not the color varieties, but it will at least get you to the right base catalog number.

The German Wikipedia also shows examples of the basic issues, though not the color varieties. Here's the 1905-1915 set, but if you scroll to the bottom of the page, you can click through the years to see others. It's in German, so if you don't speak German, get ready with Google translate. After looking at a few of these, you'll get the basis of the German words that mean something -- "farbe" = "color", for example.

Once you have the basics down, this website really gets down into the weeds. It's not terribly easy to navigate since it's just pages of scanned-in display pages, but it will give you some idea of color differences on some of the issues, etc.

WRT color differences, these are tough, since color will vary from one scan to the next, and you really need to compare the colors side-by-side. Your best bet is to go to Philasearch. It's a website that shows auctions of most of the major German auctionhouses, and it's available in English. Click through "Browse," "German Empire," and you should see categories on the left which include Germania, and a search block to search by catalog number. If you're trying to differentiate the color varieties of a particular stamp, type the base catalog number (ex. 86) into the search block, and you'll usually get results showing multiple color varieties (ex. 86 I b, 86 I d). Since the colors can vary from scan to scan, I'd look for scans from the same auctionhouse, since it's likely they used the same scanner and scanner settings from stamp to stamp.

Finally, send me your e-mail address and I'll shoot you some additional files that will help you out.

God is good.

PostmasterGS,
first I want to apologize for not responding sooner. I'm taking care of a family member who had to be hospitalized yesterday and I haven't been able to really do anything until right now. I appreciate you unselfishly giving me the priceless information that you did, I owe you BIG time! My email address is fatheroffourkids@gmail.com. I'm going to make a file specifically for all of the reference material that's been gathered along the way and especially whats been given to me by others who shared with me so that I may be able to pass it along and help others. Stamp collecting has really been a saving grace for my mental state. I don't know if it's the distracting part of it that takes your mind off of things or what but it helps to give me peace of mind and tranquility like nothing else.That's not to say that there are some frustrating things about it LOL but the good outweighs the bad for sure.

*In memory of those who unselfishly gave their lives for my freedom and for your freedom.RIP May 30th,2016*

http://sorenm.com/content/26-1924-w...tamp-catalog

An awesome resource for German stamps.