What Is The Strangest Or Most Unusual Stamp Material You Own?

Almost anyone who collects non Scott listed US revenues will have some pretty strange stamps.

I'd like to show you a vertical pair from the top margin of the sheet, featuring the 6 Pfennig stamp from the 1946 West Saxony Farewell Issue in the Soviet Occupation Zone. In the Michel catalog, it is listed as No. 153.

The first interesting feature is a watermark with a different orientation from the usual one: the steps are descending. In the catalog, this watermark is designated as watermark "Y."

Due to the peculiarities of the printing process, there are sheets in which the top row of stamps has a different, cataloged shade of color: dark violet instead of violet.

This color variety exists with both watermark types: the scarce Y variety and the regular X variety.

Dark violet is therefore color "b," while the normal violet is color "a."

In the same horizontal row, there is also a constant plate flaw: a slanted roof ridge on the house above the tower. It occurs four times per sheet, in positions 5, 10, 55, and 60.

The inexpensive basic stamp, cataloged at just €0.20, is worth a respectable €5.00 with this plate flaw — a 25-fold increase in catalog value.

The "b" color variety is cataloged at €40.00 instead of €0.20.

The scarce watermark variety is cataloged at €60.00 instead of €0.20. In the rare "dark violet" shade, its catalog value rises to €800.00, compared with €60.00 for the normal shade.

My pair therefore combines all the sought-after characteristics of the watermark Y variety in a single piece.

The stamp with the plate flaw no longer has a separate catalog listing. I'd like to imagine it might be worth 25 times the €800 catalog value — €20,000 — but that would probably be unrealistic.

Still, it's an incredibly rare piece, and it comes with a photo certificate.

Thanks for reading!