Germany Security Stamp (Aufgabestempel)

Does anyone have one of these/come across them before?

Apparently a security stamp tied to postal money orders to cut down on fraud.

Came across one and haven't been able to learn much about them. Best I could find was a thread on Stampboards (https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=21853) which had some good starting info, including a reprint of a Linn's article, but not much else on them. Would love to get a relative sense of how common they might be.

My recently acquired (in a 1940s schoolboy album) example is below. Apologies for the low quality; my scanner is currently out of commission. Better (and more) images in the linked thread.

Dmst stands for Darmstadt.
Here is one from Stettin (now Szczecin in Poland)
15 € in a French net price sale.I assume used copies are not very common.

Here is an article from German Postal Specialist, monthly journal of the Germany Philatelic Society (USA) which helps to explain these security stamps.



And, here is a portion of a follow-up article from German Postal Specialist (June, 1997) on the same subject by Rudolf Anders. He states, "Apparently, some time after the great inflation, in 1924, these stamps were issued after the Reichspost incurred some heavy losses when forgers created fake postal money orders and collected on the same. To combat this sort of loss the Reichspost instituted a system of security stamps with special numbers. The post office created the stamps in denominations of 1,000 Mark and up on watermarked paper with security colors and specialized control numbers. The customers were not aware of the fact that these stamps were affixed on the reverse side of the money order and tied by a special cancel."

"The first such stamps, according to (Martin) Erler measured 30.5 x 54 millimeters and were printed on buff paper with the crosses and circle (revenue) watermarks. Erler writes that 'the round circle features a German (Weimar) eagle. This issue is perforated 14, and color is reddish-brown.' The stamps were slightly changed in 1934. The paper is now white, the watermark is swastika, it's 55 mm tall and the color changed to rose carmine."

Apparently, there are no complete used copies anywhere, as intended. I have never seen an image of the Weimar variety of these security stamps.



Also, from the follow-up German Postal Specialist article, "After the war the stamps continued to be used but the embossed 'DBP' (Deutsche Bundespost) replaced the eagle and swastika. The watermark was also changed to 'DBP'. A new design was introduced some years later. The exact date is not known, but the new stamps measure 26.5 x 39 mm and are on white paper with the DBP watermark."

bookbndrbob - Thanks so much for the helpful article! Part of my motivation in starting this thread was to get some knowledge archived on this board for myself and others, so your scans are very much appreciated.

I'm guessing my example was probably similarly 'liberated' from a German PO and brought back to the US by a returning GI. Fascinating stuff!

Thanks gvol21. Some years ago I bound various German philately monographs into three hardcover volumes which I thought may be useful for future use. So, in this case, the strategy worked.