rod222
Member 
Posts: 9,867 
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Feb 12, 2014 4:23:19 GMT
German Democratic RepublicDDR 1948 Sc10NB1 Leipzig Autumn Fair. Special Postmark. 
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Post by PostmasterGS on Feb 21, 2014 13:43:36 GMT
Rod, Here's some info on that commemorative cancel (or in German, Sonderstempel). It's listed in Bochmann as S 218.  Translating that -- the first three lines are a description of the design (W/N/O/S, Compass Rose, MM Fair Symbol, Bridge). The a, b, c, etc., shows that it can be found with the letters a through i. The "Hd" indicates that it was a handstamp, and the dates indicate it was in use from 29 Aug to 5 Sep 1948. Finally, the last comment indicates it was used during the Herbstmesse, or Autumn Fair.  |
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,867
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Feb 21, 2014 20:29:16 GMT
Fabulous! Thanks Postmaster. This forum has some very astute philatelists, it really is a pleasure to belong to. So much coming through now, it is hard to keep up, can a forum be too popular? or have too much input?  I'll insert this into my album, with due recognition. |
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Andy Pastuszak
Member
Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,533
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Aug 13, 2015 20:34:19 GMT
It must be nice to collect a country with a finite amount of stamps.
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Post by PostmasterGS on Aug 13, 2015 22:56:07 GMT
It is, Andy, it definitely is.
DDR is a great area to collect. Finite timeframe. A lot of good-looking, modern issues. And as a whole, relatively easy and cheap to complete.
Yet despite my German fixation, I don't collect DDR! I couldn't imagine collecting 1872-1945 and 1949-1990 without attempting 1945-1949, and that's a bridge too far.
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Post by PostmasterGS on Sept 4, 2015 18:57:22 GMT
rod222, The do, indeed, commemorate the 1950 Leipzig Spring Fair (Leipziger Frühjahrsmesse). The Leipzig Fair is one of the rare topics to see continuous issues throughout the mid-20th Century, despite the different German issuing authorities. The Leipzig Trade Fair dates back to the Middle Ages, and is still celebrated today. It has traditionally been celebrated twice a year, with the respective fairs being referred to as the Frühjahrsmesse (Spring Fair) and Herbstmesse (Autumn Fair), though different names have been used over the years. Prior to 1945, Germany issued a couple sets of stamps commemorating the 1940 and 1941 Spring Fairs -- see here under "Deutsches Reich". Post-WWII, West Saxony in the Soviet Zone released a couple sets (1945 Autumn Fair and 1946 Spring Fair) -- see here under "Briefmarken-Ausgaben für West-Sachsen (SBZ)". The Allied Control Commission released three sets (1947 Spring & Autumn Fairs, 1948 Spring Fair) -- see here under "Briefmarken-Ausgaben des Alliierten Kontrollrats". These were designed by German graphic artist Erich Gruner, who also designed the Leipziger Messe "MM" logo. The Soviet Zone then released three commemorative sets (1948 Autumn Fair, 1949 Spring and Autumn Fairs), also designed by Gruner -- see here under "Briefmarken-Ausgaben der sowjetischen Besatzungszone". Finally, once the DDR began issuing stamps, they continued the tradition, producing commemorative stamps every year from 1950-1990. Yours are the first two of that series. After Reunification, the BRD issued a 500-year commemorative in 1997 -- see here under "Briefmarken-Jahrgang 1997 der Bundesrepublik Deutschland". Also, the cancels are commemorative cancels available at the fair. Yours were cancelled 1 week after the first day of issue. Here’s the Michel entry for this set. The text next to the stamps indicates that they depict (1) Augustus the Strong being presented with the first so-called “Böttger” stoneware at the Leipzig Easter Fair, 1710, and (2) a glimpse of a garment house converted to an urban department store during the 1894 Leipzig Model Fair. 
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Post by jimjung on Sept 6, 2015 12:28:26 GMT
Here's a better postmark for you, Rod ! 1949 - 75th Anniversary of the Universal Postal Union  |
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Post by PostmasterGS on Sept 6, 2015 15:47:32 GMT
rod222, Here's the Bochmann listing (Leipzig S198) for that cancel.  Translates roughly as follows: Commemoration of 450 Years of the Trade Fair Headshot of Emperor Maximilian The cancel was used at the special commemorative post office, which was only available to invited guests at the Trade Fair. At the end of the Trade Fair, the Trade Fair Office sold commemorative sheets bearing commemorative stamps which bore this commemorative cancel.
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Andy Pastuszak
Member
Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,533
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Sept 20, 2015 15:02:00 GMT
I have a certain distaste for East Germany, which prevents me from collecting DDR stamps. My family was quite literally carved up by the Berlin Wall. My aunt, uncle and two cousins lived in East Berlin and ended up on the wrong side of the wall.
To tell what I consider to be a fascinating story...
My Grandmother was German. The rest of the family was Ukrainian. When Hitler conquered Galacia (Western Ukraine), he invited all Germans to "come home." My aunt and uncle took them up on that offer and relocated to Berlin. My uncle got a job in a factory and my aunt stayed home with the 2 kids. My uncle figured that there was no war in Germany itself, and the family would be safe there.
Well, as the Soviet troops advanced in Ukraine to take it back from the Germans, the rest of my family decided to take up Hitler's offer. While on a train in Poland, the allies bombed the area and destroyed the tracks, and the whole family ended up walking on foot back to Germany from Poland. Somewhere in Poland, the family deciced to split up. My dad went with my grandparents. My other aunt and uncles decided to go with their families. It was getting difficult to feed such a large group of people, and they were an easy target...
So, saying their goodbyes, they spilt up, thinking they would never see each other again.
A few months later, by some miracle, they all end up in Munich at the same Displaced Persons camp. The entire family is reunited, except for the 4 in East Berlin.
So, the family in the DP camp lets the Americans know about the family in East Berlin. The Berlin Wall goes up and effectively traps them there before they can get out.
Here's the cool part...
My Uncle worked in West Berlin. Every day he would take the subway to work. Right at the border, the train would stop and all passengers would be checked, and then they would cross into West Berlin.
So one day, my Uncle is working the assembly line and he gets called into the maager's office. In there are two Americans. They slide over a flyer to him that talks about a company family picnic. They tell him to take only what they can carry, and make sure the apartment looks like they're coming back home. Leave clothes, kids toys, etc. Bring the whole family to work for the "company picnic," and show the flyer at the border crossing.
Next day comes, and my uncle does just that. The guard looks at them questioningly and actually holds the whole subway up while they call the company to confirm the "picnic." The company "confirms" it, and they across into West Berlin.
An hour later the whole family has four West German passports, West German citizenship papers and are on a military transport out of West Berlin flying to Munich to be reunited with the rest of the family.
Why this was done for my family, I have no clue. We were absolutely nothing special. But the fact that I got to my Aunt's house for Sunday dinner on occasions, and have my cousin as my Godmother was something I can always be grateful for.
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Post by jimwentzell on Sept 22, 2015 20:54:02 GMT
Nice story, Andy.....and there were countless others in the Soviet Occupation Zone (many Germans called it that, even decades later!)
My mother was the second in her family to flee East Germany, simply walking across the intra-Berlin border in the mid-1950's as an adventurous single young girl. Her parents--my Opa and Oma--escaped in 1961 around the time the Wall went up, bringing their two younger children (my aunts) with them, separately, as not to arouse suspicion. Also just supposedly visiting a sick relative in West Berlin; they couldn't take anything other than the clothes on their backs.
Fast forward to 2010; my aunt (who was eleven at the time, strip-searched by the dreaded DDR border guards) FINALLY got up the courage, fifty years later, to accompany my family on a visit to Berlin, the reunited capital of Germany. She still vividly remembered the nervousness and rehearsed responses to the guards' probing questions. What a thrill for her to walk through the streets of the modern, free Berlin she'd last seen a half-century before, then under oppressive Soviet occupation!
As American-German kids growing up in West Germany my brother and I saw first-hand the gratitude and amity of most Germans towards their former occupiers as it contrasted with the general loathing of their occupiers in the east.
I ran across a postcard my grandmother sent in 1957 from Weimar (East Germany, in the Soviet Occupation Zone) shortly after my brother was born; "Oma" had repeatedly requested permission to come see her daughter and newborn grandson (my brother) in Stuttgart , West Germany and finally was granted permission to visit. She couldn't bring any of her four younger daughters--my mother's sisters--as they were kept as "insurance" that their mother would return from the "decadent West".
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,867
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Nov 14, 2015 13:42:03 GMT
For members whom may wish to sort their DDR "5 Year Plan" definitives. 67 stamps (add varieties) over 1953---1960 (Not sure if it will print out OK) Rod's quick glance list. The stamps should slot in easily (sorted by value) The right hand column, indicates where you will need to reach for the trusty watermark fluid, to discern 2 seemingly identical stamps. "Quatrefoil" Wmk is like a 4 leaf clover, with "DDR" Wmk 297 is a posthorn and DDR I had no luck, discerning colours, eg the 50 pfennig Blue, deep blue, and bright blue, all looked the same to me.  |
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Post by PostmasterGS on Nov 14, 2015 14:28:58 GMT
rod222, For those who need a visual aid WRT the watermarks and printing types, here's Jay Carrigan's page on these issues. If you haven't saved a copy, you should probably do so, as there's no telling how much longer the page will be up in light of Mr. Carrigan's recent passing.
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Ryan
Member
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,720
What I collect: If I have a catalogue for it, I collect it. And I have many catalogues ....
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Post by Ryan on Nov 14, 2015 15:02:52 GMT
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,867
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Nov 14, 2015 22:26:04 GMT
rod222, For those who need a visual aid WRT the watermarks and printing types, here's Jay Carrigan's page on these issues. If you haven't saved a copy, you should probably do so, as there's no telling how much longer the page will be up in light of Mr. Carrigan's recent passing. Thanks Postmaster, I had found, and checked his list against mine, last evening. As you mentioned, I did save a copy ( In A3 format *.pdf) I hope Mr. Carrigan has left his Yugoslavia and Croatian pages to a responsible curator, for students of the future. Invaluable stuff. |
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Mick
Member
Site Supporter
Posts: 929
What I collect: Mostly covers and postmarks. Also miscellaneous paper ephemera.
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Post by Mick on Jul 11, 2016 1:33:56 GMT
Some more treasures from my semi-recent auction win of Londonbus1 goodies. These 'Zentraler Kurierdienst' (central courier service) stamps were used when sending letters between government ministries (thanks khj for that info.) 
The 10 pfennig has a postmark from Erfurt. I think the date is some time in 1959, but I am not sure. The 70 pf. seems to have been postmarked some time in 1957. I can't make out the "un..." word. I am also unsure what the other stamped numbers indicate ("6000" on the 70 pf, and "1502" on the 20 pf.). Can anyone enlighten me? |
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Post by PostmasterGS on Jul 11, 2016 2:18:34 GMT
Mick,
Disclaimer -- this is not my area of expertise, so take this for what it's worth.
At a certain point, the offices were required to use a rubber roller to overprint the office control number. That's what you see on #2 and #3.
Office 6000 -- Cottbus
Office 1502 -- Aue
BTW, if genuine, the 70 Pf has a CV of €80.
I can give you more catalog info on these if you give me the watermarks and perf measurements.
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salentin
Member
collecting Germany,where I live and about 20 more countries,half of them in Asia east of the Indus
Posts: 5,615
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Post by salentin on Jul 11, 2016 2:57:11 GMT
The CV of € 80.-for the 70 Pf is for a genuinely used stamp.
However the shown stamp is cancelled with a printed cancel "UNGÜLTIG".This cancel was applied to a number of service stamps after their validity
had expired.CV about € 4.50 (Michel 2002/2003).
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2016 13:15:20 GMT
These Kurierdienst are a study in themselves and not an area I know well or collect The 10pf is probably a 1956 issue but the ERFURT cancel does not seem quite right The 70pf has the UNGÜLTIG stamp noted ![]()  The 20pf "may" be a reprint based on the missing serifs in the lower curve of the "S" or a latter issue Gum & watermarks as noted need to be determined The control numbers which number about 200 for each of the 4 denominations can make a big difference in value .. of course the better one are forged as these are just roller hand stamps. The "1502" is a low value so probably OK |
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Mick
Member
Site Supporter
Posts: 929
What I collect: Mostly covers and postmarks. Also miscellaneous paper ephemera.
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Post by Mick on Jul 12, 2016 0:18:35 GMT
Many thanks for the excellent information, PostmasterGS, salentin, and @falshung. I find these governmental and other similar postal systems (such as the Canadian Inter-University Transit System) fascinating. I look forward to devoting more time to their study. |
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Post by jamesw on Aug 1, 2018 2:42:39 GMT
Here's a few more, just for the heck of it.  A couple with tabs   And one just like Mick's with the mystery numbers.  Russian Zone  |
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tobben63
Member
Stamp eat sleep repeat
Posts: 1,866
What I collect: I collect to much, world wide!
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Post by tobben63 on Aug 1, 2018 14:45:02 GMT
I need to take a closer look at the DDR "5 Year Plan" definitives. There are so much to look at here, and try to find real used stamps.
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Ryan
Member
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,720
What I collect: If I have a catalogue for it, I collect it. And I have many catalogues ....
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Post by Ryan on Aug 1, 2018 18:41:56 GMT
.... and try to find real used stamps. I've had plenty of luck using eBay Germany for some former Warsaw Pact countries which I could previously only find in cancelled to order condition. DDR, Poland & Czechoslovakia were all quite easy to find in bulk, genuinely used mixtures. Hungary, Bulgaria & Romania, much less common to find those countries. Albania, USSR - I was never able to come across a bulk mixture from these two! Here's a current example DDR listing - 200 grams of postally used commemoratives on paper, €1 opening bid. I saw another listing from one of my former sellers, 4 Kg of commemoratives (but expensive, €196). That's a pile that would take a while to sort through ...  Yugoslavia wasn't really a Warsaw Pact country - they even issued a few Europa stamps back in the day. That's another country which, as a younger collector, I could only find in CTO condition (other than the most common definitives, those I would come across postally used). I did find a mixture or two on eBay Germany with used Yugoslavian stamps. Ryan |
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renden
Member
Posts: 8,705
What I collect: World W collector with ++ interests in BNA (Canada etc) and USA
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Post by renden on Apr 1, 2019 18:55:16 GMT
Found this one in one of my GDR (DDR) stock books. Can't seem to find it after research in a few catalogs. Your help would be appreciated ! René  |
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tobben63
Member
Stamp eat sleep repeat
Posts: 1,866
What I collect: I collect to much, world wide!
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Post by tobben63 on Apr 1, 2019 19:18:32 GMT
Found this one in one of my GDR (DDR) stock books. Can't seem to find it after research in a few catalogs. Your help would be appreciated ! René Germany, Allied occupation 1945, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 1945 Link
Stamp linkMichel DD 16 Stamp Number DD 12N9 (Scott) Yvert et Tellier DD-MP 11 AFA number DD-MP 10 |
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tobben63
Member
Stamp eat sleep repeat
Posts: 1,866
What I collect: I collect to much, world wide!
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Post by tobben63 on Apr 1, 2019 19:25:52 GMT
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renden
Member
Posts: 8,705
What I collect: World W collector with ++ interests in BNA (Canada etc) and USA
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Post by renden on Apr 1, 2019 19:28:23 GMT
tobben63 .....many thanks for the help - would never have found it in Scott even though I was on the right page  René
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tobben63
Member
Stamp eat sleep repeat
Posts: 1,866
What I collect: I collect to much, world wide!
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Post by tobben63 on Apr 1, 2019 19:35:01 GMT
Did find some more in my Michel Special Germany.   |
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Post by daniel on Sept 6, 2020 1:30:25 GMT
This DDR cover dates to 3rd November 1989, almost a year before re-unification. It is a first day cover for Meissen Porcelain stamps, featured on DDR stamps on several previous occasions, and produced for the stamp exhibition Philatelia 89, Koln (Cologne). The exhibition ran from 3rd to the 5th November. Inset is a porcelain medallion featuring a Cologne Cathedral stamp on the obverse and exhibition details on the reverse together with the Meissen crossed swords mark. Meissen was founded in 1710 and was originally a royal manufacturer before being owned by the State of Saxony. During the the time of the DDR it was a 'people-owned' company but restored to the State of Saxony after German Re-unification in 1990. The cover is shown front and back and features Berlin Registered and Express etiquettes.  Scan_20200906 by Daniel, on Flickr  Scan_20200906 (2) by Daniel, on Flickr |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 6,588
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Sept 25, 2021 22:00:36 GMT
An eagerly awaited arrival, the 1949 Leipzig Spring Fair issues, which were the last ones I needed to complete the set:  |
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brightonpete
Departed
Rest in Peace
On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
Posts: 5,110
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Post by brightonpete on Jan 3, 2022 22:04:54 GMT
I'm back at work on my East German collection. Looking at Michel, they give numbers printed. I'm sure this is the same for all their catalogues. Some sets they lump together saying 10,000 sets, such as the communist politicians from February 1981, Mi. 2589-2592. So am I to believe there were 10,000,000 sets of 4 totalling 40,000,000 million stamps, or do they mean 2,500,000 of each equaling 10,000,000 total?
Interesting to read of these people. Arthur Ewert had a Canadian connection. He moved to Canada, most likely Toronto in 1914. But he was arrested for his communist activities in 1917 (along with his gf or wife) and deported back to Germany. Later, in Brazil, he was arrested and given a 13 year sentence in 1935. Both he & his wife were tortured, with her being sent back to Germany in 1936. She died at the Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1939. He lost his sanity due to the torture and was pardoned in 1945, returned to East Germany where he lived out the rest of his life in a sanatorium, dying in 1959.
Anyway, if someone can sort this numbers printed dilemma for me, that would be great! On yet another note: I seem to recall "dilemma" used to be spelled "dilemna."Does anyone else recall that, or is it just me?
Peter
EDIT: I should mention that this is why it takes me so long in making up pages! Always checking the backgrounds of various people and events!
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