Stamps, murders, manipulations.

Even somewhat readable, unfortunately only in German.

Translation:

The servant can only explain that Leroux was an obsessed stamp collector and was particularly interested in "exotic stamps."

The police investigation is ultimately based on the assumption that the murderer was surprised by Gaston Leroux during his crime, that there was a fight and ultimately the fatal stabbing. Money, valuables, even a box with valuable gold coins remained untouched. - A new mysterious case in the annals of the Paris Homicide Squad.


An empty brand field

Detective Inspector Cartier is in charge of the investigation. Gaston Leroux's circle of friends is questioned. But nothing seems to help clarify the case until a complete inventory of the murdered man's possessions is finally made for the probate court. Cartier has the police officer Etienne M. to thank for soon pointing him onto a trail that seems to make it possible to hunt down the murderer. Policeman Etienne was one of that large group of stamp collectors who collect their stamps rather carelessly. But he expressed suspicions. During the routine investigation, Inspector Cartier had also examined Gaston Leroux's stamp albums and had not noticed anything suspicious. But now he discovers an empty stamp field on an album page. On closer inspection he notices that there must have been a stamp fold stuck there! Could such a terrible crime have been committed because of a single stamp?


Inspector Cartier becomes a philatelist

The Champs Elysees, in the heart of Paris, is the relaxing meeting place for stamp collectors in the summer months. The park benches are transformed into stamp exchanges, colorful stamps change hands from junk boxes and stock books. There, Inspector Cartier looks for contacts with stamp dealers and stamp collectors. Here he got his first "lessons" as a philatelist, because just the joy of the stamp images that he kept from his school days was by no means enough to appear serious enough in this hunt for a philatelist.

The next few days are not very encouraging. Nobody can initially tell him whether the rarity, which must have been in the empty stamp field of the collection, was offered somewhere. It is one of the philatelic treasures - one of the first postage stamps from Hawaii, known as "Missionaries of Hawaii". They received this nickname because they were mainly stuck on the mail items of the missionaries to their religious societies. The peculiarity of these stamps was that that they were printed in 1851/52 and only a few copies survived.

Inspector Cartier doesn't let up. He repeatedly asks dealers who might be interested in a 2-cent Hawaii stamp from 1851. When an older philatelist finally explains that his friend, the collector Hector Giroux, owns almost all of the "Hawaii Missionaries," Cartier senses a hot lead. "If you're also interested, then I'll introduce you to each other," the old collector remarks by the way, who doesn't know that he has a detective in front of him.


Friendship with a weirdo

Inspector Cartier learns that Hector Giroux knew the murdered man well. Both had passionately collected the "Missionaries of Hawaii" and Giroux long ago wanted to purchase the 2-cent Hawaii from Leroux that was still missing from his album. This stamp was worth 10,000 gold francs. However, Leroux wanted the stamps "for "No price in the world" would be given. Giroux, in turn, wanted to own this rarity "at any price"; without it he "couldn't live any longer," as he is said to have said.

Above all, Cartier now wants to find out whether Giroux was in Leroux's apartment on the day of the murder. So he goes to the philatelist meeting in the cafe. He also suspects the murderer to be there. But who was it? Cartier is always drawn there. He knows how to make it seem like he's dedicated himself to a specialty, the early issues of the Hawaii Post.

"Young friend, this will be expensive fun - and you will hardly find these brands in Paris - absolutely not at all!" Giroux explains to him one day.

As they part ways, the inspector finally reaches his destination; Giroux invites him to one of the next evenings.

That evening, Giroux lets him in on the secrets of the Hawaiian brands. He says that the stamp image is reminiscent of a small commercially printed advertisement and that the postmaster in Honululu had the authority to print these Hawaii stamps locally. This 2-cent stamp, Giroux explains, is only known in fifteen copies in the world and became so rare because it was used primarily for newspapers and printed matter. This meant she was most likely to be exposed to destruction.

Cartier follows Giroux's comments with interest. His plan is clear. He has to ask Giroux a trick question today! Giroux pulls out his stamp treasures, and Cartier immediately sees the page with the "missionaries". Cartier discovers a 5-cent stamp, a 13-cent stamp from the first edition and a 13-cent stamp from the second edition of 1851. So no complete set! The 2 cent stamp is missing!

"By the way, the 2-cent stamp doesn't seem to be that rare after all; it was offered to me yesterday!" says Cartier innocuously.

Hector Giroux becomes restless. "Not possible! The brand is only available once in Paris!"

He rushes to the wall safe, pulls out a tortoiseshell box and holds out the 2-cent missionaries to Cartier. "Here she is! Only I own them!" Startled, Giroux suddenly stops. He realizes that his passion has gotten away with him. The murder case on Rue de Varenne was still too recent. Did Cartier notice anything?


Image 1

The world's first postage stamp: the black "One Penny" from 1840.

picture 2

Rowland Hill, the "pioneer" of the postage stamp. The former village school teacher later became Postmaster General of the British Crown.



Oddities

Paris—1867

Number changed - rarity

A collector recently discovered a cheap counterfeiter's trick when he was offered Brazil stamps in a cigar shop. They were the famous "Ochsenkopf stamps", so called because of their large numerals, which visually give the impression of an "eye", and which are already among the great rarities from overseas. The low price of the valuable 90-value stamp made the buyer skeptical. A closer examination of the stamp image revealed that the "9" was a "6" turned upside down, which meant that a cheaper stamp had been counterfeited into an expensive rarity.

Paris—1871

Napoleon stamp canceled

The 10 cent postage stamp from the Napoleon series (portrait with laurel wreath) that was overprinted during the Franco-Prussian War and which was only recently overprinted with a blue 10 cent value figure was stamped and then thrown into the fire and burned. It was printed in 3 million editions, but was not officially distributed. However, there are still genuine mail items that have this stamp on them. Cause of the brand destruction: Napoleon's capture at Sedan.

Leipzig—1871

Balloon launch in Paris

As we learn from Paris, 56 balloon launches took place there, so that the connection between the enclosed city and the outside world was maintained. A total of 67 free balloons are said to have been available to maintain traffic. The "balloon mail items" were only allowed to weigh 4 grams as a letter; each balloon carried around 4 kg of mail by air. Newspaper mail letters were also carried.

To be continued.

Some specialties, in a separate album with a gold-embossed Sedang coat of arms, also change hands. What is surprising is that none of these traders looked for this land of Sedang on a map. A schoolboy finally blows the whistle on the Sedang Kingdom. He wanted to know where the Kingdom of Sedang was and asked the editorial office of a daily newspaper that had reported on the arrival of the King of Sedang in a hotel bulletin. Then it turned out:

There is no such thing as a kingdom of Sedang!

When criminal investigators appear at the hotel, they learn from the porter that Her Highness has "left for an unknown destination!"

It was only discovered much later: the former French navy member Marie David de Mayrena, who once left his homeland for unknown reasons, practiced as a healing artist in the Sedang province of the Annam Empire (Indochina) and married the daughter of the provincial governor, had posed as " King of Sedang" and also invented and had these "stamps" printed.


HUNT FOR THE BULLETS OF MOULINS

The crew of master craftsman Rene-Joseph Grevelle has been dredging near the French town of St. Wandrille in the Seine for weeks. There was nothing unusual on August 6, 1968 either. Excavator operator Grevelle directs the suction pipe of the floating excavator into the depths of the river. The huge pipe sucks the washed-up rubbish out of the river. The stinky, black-gray broth pours into drainage canals beyond the bank.

It's a monotonous job that he and his people still have to do with alert eyes. Every blockage of the suction pipe costs money and reduces the piecework performance. The voice of the young worker standing at the suction pipe suddenly shrills: "Watch out, there's a mine!" Rene is also frightened.

"If the mine is still intact, we'll be blown up in a few seconds!" fears the excavator crew. The metal ball is stuck on the suction pipe. "Quiet blood, that's not a mine!" Grevelle reassures the others.

The metal container turns out to be a zinc ball. The men suddenly sense a sensation. "Look here," says Rene, "it had a hole! Water must have gotten in there!" He carefully lifts the container and the Seine water pours over the planks. He carefully opens the container at the already dented area that was obviously damaged by the excavator. Astonished. A bundle of letters appears, pressed tightly together and rolled up.

540 letters are recovered. The letters must be almost a century old. Some of the envelopes have postage stamps with the portrait of Napoleon III stuck on them. The stamps were approved for franking by the provisional postal administration in Bordeaux in 1870.

Rene, who still has no idea of the value of these letters, simply wants to throw the whole package back into the Seine. But then he takes the ball and the letters to the port authority of Port Autonome de Rouen.

A high-ranking employee of the departmental post office rushes over, historians appear - and within a few hours the news of this find makes the rounds and calls philatelists.

The letters are on the tables in the port authority building. Dried, smoothed. Surprisingly, they are in relatively good condition. The water was only able to penetrate a little into the package of letters inside the sphere.

A philatelist from Rouen appears, examines and judges: An extraordinary find! And the value? He finds himself unable to name even an approximate figure. The later value lies in the history of the “Kugel” brands.


Wrapped in tin: half a million francs

When the Prussian-German troops surrounded Paris in the late autumn of 1870, resourceful Parisians experimented with various ways of continuing the communication and postal traffic from the enclosed Paris to the outside world. You finally decide on free balloons. The balloons, loaded with mail bags and cages with carrier pigeons - they are supposed to fly back to Paris as "flying courier mail" - rise in the besieged capital. If the wind direction suddenly changes, the balloons, together with their small crews and the mail, land on enemy soil or are drifted out to sea.


Image 1

One of the mysterious "Balls of Moulins" that later

were exhibited in the Paris Postal Museum.

picture 2

Philatelic delicacy:

An original letter, carried by the Moulins bullet. The note "par Moulins" is at the bottom left.

picture 3

The public notice from December 1870 about the new mail transport "along the bottom of the Seine".

Image 4

When excavator operator Rene noticed a ball in front of the suction pipe, he initially thought it was a mine.

Then the situation became clearer and he discovered one of the most valuable mail delivery balls.


Oddities

Vienna - 1895

PAINTING SENSATION

In the office of the Vienna orphanage you can see a replica of L. da Vinci's famous work "The Last Supper", which was made here by a collector and art enthusiast from 12,000 stamps. Praise for this work, which was created by Karl Stoss, the former secretary of the orphanage.

Washington—1896

1895: 4.1 BILLION STAMPS SOLD

Washington — 1896. — As from the U.S. Postal Service Annual Report

According to data, 4.19 billion stamps were sold last year. This means that there are almost 281 million more stamps than in 1894. Postal customers paid $2.8 million for shipping newspapers and printed matter alone and $57.7 million for general postal items.

Berlin—1896

UNKNOWN RECEIVER

The annual report of the Reichspost for 1894 contains the alarming statement that 1,228,857 pieces of mail remained undeliverable during the year. Over a third of these could not be returned to the sender because the addressee's details were missing or illegible.


--------------------------------------------------------

PS:

If anyone who finds a translation error, he can keep it. 

To be continued.

THE GREEN MISPRINT

An advertisement appears in Philadelphia (USA): “English collector, passing through here, looking for 6 pence postage stamp from Great Britain, issue 1902, in green color. High price paid for luxury item Offers until June 20th to M. P. Dickson, Hotel Ambassador."

Collectors and dealers comb through their inventory. What they discover is a stamp with the head portrait of King Edward VII in a decorative frame, but the color is always dark purple instead of the green they were looking for. Nevertheless, on the following days the dealers go to Mr. Dickson, who has stayed in a luxurious apartment in the "Ambassador" hotel.

The history of that stamp should have the following meaning: In 1905, some sheets of the 6 pence stamp, which had been valid since 1902, were accidentally printed in green instead of purple. This would have been discovered, but too late to be able to collect and destroy all the sheets. A sheet of this green misprint would have been shipped to a London trading house. This would have now had 25 letters franked and addressed to recipients in Philadelphia - i.e. with no more copies than there were of the famous Mauritius stamps!

The collectors in Philadelphia visit their relatives to determine whether they have received "mail from Great Britain." Traders obtain addresses from postal officials for mail recipients who were written to by British trading companies or institutions that year.

It is a difficult undertaking because Mr. Dickson, who invites his curious partners for a drink during the hotel visit, can only express his wish that he would be happy to get his hands on a piece or two of this misprint.


A WIDOW APPEARS

It was a lucky circumstance that the brand dealer Foster was able to get hold of this misprint. An older woman appears in his shop and carefully unwraps a stamp album from its ties. “I don’t know much about brands. My husband collected. I was never interested in it - but now, after his passing, I want to separate myself from these brands."

The dealer lets the pages of the album slide through his hands. There wasn't much going on with it. But before he wants to push the album back over the counter with regret, his eyes settle on a stamp. The "Great Britain" page with the issues from 1902 to 1909 was quite complete. The generally not very expensive series contains a green 6 pence stamp.

“Well, there’s not much of interest in it. What do you want for these stamps?" the dealer asks in a decidedly disinterested manner. The woman hesitates before answering. "Well," she then said, "my late husband said I would get $8,000 for them!"

The haggling begins. When the widow leaves the store, she has $2,500 in her pocket.

The dealer carefully removes the misprint of the green 6p from the album and throws the album into the corner. He doesn't talk to anyone about his discovery.

The next morning, dealer Foster rushes to Mr. Dickson's hotel. He is surprised to learn that Dickson has left. More and more stamp dealers are arriving. They all talk about the widow with the green misprint. The widow had appeared everywhere and everyone had bought a green misprint from her.

The fraud couple “Dickson and Widow” had around 30,000

Dollars collected. The otherwise clever philatelists and dealers held 6 pence stamps in their hands whose usual purple had been chemically transformed into the coveted green - because there had never been a "green misprint", the rumor that the crooks had spread.


Image 1

Never printed in green: the British 6 pence stamp of the year 905. The tall tale earned “Dickson and Widow” around $30,000.

picture 2

English map from 1890 commemorating the introduction of penny postage (1840). It shows postal uniforms and postal transport equipment.


Oddities

Ronneburg - 1896

LANDSCAPE PICTURES

The master confectioner Tsch., based here, whose baked goods and especially the excellent Luisen tarts are well known, managed to create a magical landscape in a painstaking leisure craft. He created the picture, which took up the entire wall of his living room, directly opposite the window front, in an idiosyncratic way: he collected over 9,000 stamps, which, in the appropriate colors, created the magical picture, which he also liked to give to his regular customers Allows viewing.

Liège - 1897

EXPENSIVE SPLEEN

The owner of the Ahin Castle in the province of Liège was able to present a special delicacy to the guests at a large reception he gave recently. He managed to wallpaper an entire room with the Spanish Cuertos stamps. He had the older Spanish brands, which were still quite sought after, bought up in Madrid and brought to Liège by messengers.

Brands from no man's land - "Maluku Selatan".




To be continued.

BRANDS OF NO MAN’S LAND

Henry Stolow is considered one of the "big ones" in the capitalist stamp business. The J. & H. Stolow, Inc. company sign has been on a New York commercial building since the late 1930s. 70 employees work on stamp trading on five floors. The Stolows' customer base is wide-ranging: Stolow stamp packages are available in large department stores, and cheap Stolow stamp sets are available in tobacconists and stationery stores in the most remote corners of the state.

One day, Stolow spots an exotically dressed man in an elegant restaurant on Fifth. Avenue of New York. He takes a seat at his table. The dinner partner, it turns out, is a prince who soon complains that New York is an expensive place. This man with the bright turban on his head dines like he's a king. But he is only the brother of the former ruler of Yemen. "Is your brother keeping you short?" asks Stolow. The other nods: "My brother can hardly imagine the standard of living here."

Stolow suddenly gets an idea. “I can help you,” says Stolow, “we make money together!” And - after a pause: "How about our company print stamps from the Kingdom of Yemen for you and your brother?"

Barely an hour after they became known, Stolow drafted the contract for the stamp motifs. Two whiskeys seal the deal. Stolow had the stamp series designed, transferred the printing order to a prominent printing company - and thus gave the collectors a "nice series of pictures".

A head portrait of the prince is used as a brand motif on part of the series. In return, Stolow will be given the majority of brand sales. Stolow has the deal in his pocket; the Yemeni prince receives a large sum of dollars. However, after returning home he is arrested and executed.


Stolow invents a new trick. In the 1950s, he ordered stamps for the state “Maluku Selatan”. The stamps were produced in the state printing press in Vienna and in the American banknote printing press. This meant that stamps from the Republic of Maluku Selatan suddenly existed; a state that did not even exist. Suddenly they became Stamps thrown onto the market, and Stolow makes the deal before the scam breaks. The magnificently executed stamps with tropical butterflies and flowers are selling like hotcakes.

Stolow is even trying to encourage the Universal Postal Union to recognize the imaginary products of the Maluku Selatan state. But he doesn't succeed. So these perforated square centimeters of paper remain nothing more than printed paper - creations to the detriment of philately and collectors.


A TRUCKLOAD FULL OF "RUBSE"

Henry later moved his field of activity to West Berlin. He leaves the New York headquarters with the huge trading network of more than a thousand American dealers to his brother John. Henry Stolow becomes boss in West Berlin and Munich.

While traveling through Italy, Stolow learns that the abbot of a monastery in Umbria wants to clear out a storage room. Stolow combines:. If "old paper" has been stacked in a monastery and is now to be thrown away, then it will be a century old. The clergy of the monasteries have always maintained a lively correspondence.

Stolow is received by the abbot. In order to refine the grapes from the monastery garden, the abbot explains, he needs space to set up new barrels. The abbot says apologetically: "It probably won't be the right material for you, because there are no stamps on it..." They were postal items, letters from a time that the philatelist calls the "pre-stamp period" and their documentary value was even unique can be.

Stolow lets some letters slip through his hands. There are examples that are 150 years old. Postal stamps for the transport fee paid, postal notes and the like. During the deal in the Umbrian monastery garden, Stolow remains calm and doesn't pay much more than the value of the waste paper. Then he has a whole truckload of old mail driven away from the monastery courtyard. It turned out to be a great deal for Stolow.


Image 1

Henry Stolow chats from the school of speculation:

He has stamps printed for "No Man's Land" and collects money

picture 2

The stamps from “Maluku Selatan” presented themselves colorfully and imaginatively to unsuspecting collectors.

picture 3

Hofrat Dr. Reiter, director of the Vienna State Printing Office, saw no reason to reject the printing of the “No Man's Land” stamps.


Oddities

Leipzig—1897

Madrid postal robbery story

Leipzig — 1897. A postal theft caused a stir in Madrid. Two mail bags containing valuable letters worth 125,000 pesetas were stolen from a postal van that transported the valuable letters from the post office to the train. The police accused the coachman and his companion of theft because they were able to take the opportunity to steal the valuables during the journey. Both said they had not noticed anything about the mail being stolen - although there were no signs of forced opening on the car. According to the examining judge, it was also impossible to open the car while driving. In order to create a corpus delicti for the determination, experimental evidence was ordered. A mail carriage pulled by five horses appeared in the prison yard, and the suspected mail coach had to drive the vehicle in circles around the yard at all speeds. The judge's assistants tried to re-enact the theft. This experiment of jumping onto the moving cart, opening the door and stealing the mail unnoticed took hours. The experiment ended without success. The stagecoach driver and his assistant were released, but the robbery remained unsolved and further spying on the driver did not lead to any results.

Translation in progress.

Completed.



The next part will come immediately with the translation.

Promised.

In this part:

In the confusion of the end of WW2.

- From the perspective of the communist GDR state -



BTW: Where did you get your “blue Mauritius” from?




THE RAPE OF THE MAURITIUS



Nobody is allowed to stand still. The stream of visitors slowly moves forward to the safe cemented into a wall of the Reichspost Museum in Berlin.

Photography is prohibited. Bags, luggage and coats must be left in the foyer before you can access the treasures via the atrium. Subdued light falls on the rarities from the mid-19th century, each of which is linked to adventurous stories and profiteering. At first the visitor only sees eight unsightly-looking stamps. Two of them are stuck on envelopes that are no longer completely clean. One is the famous "blue Mauritius". This rarity is displayed at the top of the safe. Among them is the no less rare Hawaiian cover with a 13 cent blue from 1851, next to it the red Mauritius 1 penny, the British Guiana 2 cents from 1850 and the 4 cents from 1856 as well as the Hawaii stamps of 2, 5 and 13 cents from 1851/52. The value of these eight stamps is 250,000 Reichsmarks.
Anyone who approaches the peep box of the safe can look at the legendary Mauritius, whose inscription now says POST OFFICE instead of POST PAID. This issue owes its existence to the governor's wife Gomm, who in 1847 wanted 500 1-penny and 2-pence stamps to send her ball invitation cards. It was engraved quite well by the watchmaker Bernard based on the first series of English stamps.
The Hitler War also interrupts the flow of visitors to the Reichspostmuseum. The valuable stamps are stored under lock and key in the safe that can be removed from the wall compartment.

One day several trucks appear in the museum yard. The stamp treasure will be charged within a few hours. The transport initially goes towards Vienna. But the evacuation column soon changes direction. They say we're going to Leipzig. The journey of the most valuable treasures ends in Eisleben. It can be assumed with considerable certainty that the general director of the Mansfeld Group has made a firm commitment to safely store the postage stamps in a disused mine. The boxes and sacks are placed at a depth of around 300 meters near Eisleben, on the “Segen-Gottes-Schacht” and on the “Dietrichschacht”. The chambers will be bricked up.

PARALYZING HORROR


In June 1945, a column of American military vehicles moved west through the Eisleben district. Leading the way in the jeep is US Major Perham. The more the column moves away from the area that will soon become part of the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, the tidier the US major becomes. His column transports the Reichspostmuseum's outsourced stamp collection. Looted property. There are around 230 wooden and iron boxes and over 40 mail bags. Perham's column rolls into the American occupation zone in Marburg an der Lahn.

The contents of the boxes are not registered, not even later when the Hessian state government is awarded trusteeship over these values. The American authorities categorically prohibit viewing the material or properly registering it.

It was only much later that three gentlemen from the West German postal administration appeared at the storage facility. Permission has finally been given to take an inventory, even though the treasures should have been returned to the legal owner - the Postal Museum in Berlin - long ago. The experts examine the stamp treasures behind closed rooms.

There is paralyzing horror at the balance sheet: the most valuable brands are missing, including the red and blue Mauritius! A “Blue Mauritius”, of which there are only twelve others left in the world, and as a piece of paper, has disappeared? The boxes and mailbags are checked again. The result does not change.


MAJOR PERHAM HISWITH THE TRUTH

Embarrassing questions begin. What does Major Perham know? How could a steel safe disappear from the walled-in shaft section? The West German police soon believe they have discovered shady stamp dealings. It leads to the American civil administration in Darmstadt. But the US occupation authorities forbid any further criminal investigation. Detective assistant Rieth, who leads the investigation, is silenced. What he finds out is only known to American authorities. Then he is sworn to secrecy.

A news blackout is imposed on these events for the press. A tip comes from Switzerland saying that the missing Hawaiian letter from the Postal Museum collection was sold to the USA.

Soon the reports about the loss of Mauritius were peppered with massive anti-Soviet lies. US Major Perham suddenly speaks up and cynically explains to the. "Linn's Weckly Stamps News", which appears in Sydney: The stamps have disappeared eastwards! He foolishly offers to "help with the search". Not a word is said about how he rushed these treasures to the West. But everything is unconditionally reported in the provincial newspapers and spread through news agencies.

But Perham's explanation does not stand up to scrutiny. After all, he has to admit a lot. As a military resident for the Mansfeld Seekreis in 1945, Perham explains, he felt like a "protector" of the collection. However, he was not able to assert himself because even the protective seal of a general was not respected by his own troops Members of a USA supply battalion who used the washroom in the mine area were also “supplied” with stamp albums. A load of stamps has been transported away on a truck. Perham, he noted, had the albums retrieved. But were they looted? He didn't control.

Image 1

The world's largest stamp show was once located here: the Postal Museum in Berlin (Leipziger Straße), whose greatest rarities were stolen in 1944/45.

picture 2

The former atrium in the old Reichspostmuseum.

picture 3

The missing Hawaii letter with the 13 cents. The value: six figures.

My “blue Mauritius”.



There's even an inspector's stamp on the back!

The tester is called "Replic" - funny name. 

What's coming today?





Soccer Fever

and

A unsolved stamp robbery




POST IN SOCCER FEVER

Wembley Stadium resembles a cauldron. Football World Cup! The newspapers keep spirits high with cheering headlines for the British team. The stadium is completely sold out for the final between the English team and the FRG team. Sports fans bid up to £100 for a ticket on the black market. 90,000 spectators watch the final for the golden trophy in the overcrowded stadium. The betting shops are doing their business - and England's postmaster general has long since decided to evaluate the sporting triumph by post.

A few hours after the final whistle of the game, the printing house Harrison Ltd, London, received the order to print a victory stamp. Sheet after sheet of the 4 pence stamps issued on June 1st as a series of advertising for the World Cup soccer games are pushed through the machine. The 4p value contains the additional inscription ENGLAND/WINNERS. August 18th is the official first issue date.


DISAPPOINTMENT

But what a disappointment many philatelists and football enthusiasts experience who want to take this "victory trophy" home with them! Anyone who asks for the stamp at the counter at 9:30 a.m. on the first day of issue will receive the answer: the stamp has been sold out since half past eight.

A huge crowd gathered hours before the post office opened. In addition to serious philatelists and ordinary postal consumers and sports enthusiasts, there are also many speculators who buy this “victory stamp”. They want to buy the stamp by the sheet on behalf of London dealers. So the first buyers receive entire sheets. Soon afterwards, when the head of the post office realizes that When the rush hardly subsides, he orders the sale of only twelve stamps per postal customer. Ultimately, only one stamp is issued.

So just 30 minutes after the counter opens, speculation is flourishing everywhere. The perforated piece of paper with the brand image of the two football opponents climbs from the 4 pence face value to 10 shillings. Punters commit transactions with this brand. Ultimately, the trading price of this stamp settles at seven times the postal value.


DOES THE STAMP EXPOSE THE MURDERER?

On a July day in 1946, the auxiliary police officer Vogel found a body on the Venusberg in Bonn. He rushes to the station and reports that he has discovered a dead person not far from the former anti-aircraft barracks. It turns out that it is the stamp dealer Jean Schmitz, who has been missing for six months.

The doctor's report shows puncture marks on the corpse. So the dealer was killed. The inspector, who is assigned to investigate the case, investigates the circle of acquaintances of the person killed. The result is sparse. Only this much is certain: Jean Schmitz left his stamp shop on Bahnhofstrasse in Bonn on January 1, 1946. He obviously wanted to take the ferry to his apartment in Beuel. The lively widower, who at this time also did business with members of the US occupying forces, had plenty of money. Quite a few women knew this. Before he boarded the ferry, it turns out, he spoke to a woman. Had he taken her with him? Had she lured him to the disreputable area on Venusberg? Or did the death blow to the stamp dealer come on one of the next days?

The criminalist assigned to the crime finds it difficult to trace the trail with certainty. He got tangled up in the undergrowth of US military regulations and barricades were erected in front of his research. As was so often the case at this time, the trail of bootleggers, gamblers and whores lead to the American barracks. The investigation must be stopped. The murder file rests as "unfinished" in the Bonn criminal investigation office. A decade later, the young detective master H. Pützstück tries to achieve fame with this "unfinished case".

The things that were stolen from Jean Schmitz have never been found again. Not the wedding ring with the engraving "Luise uni a Jean November 9, 1904", not the signet ring, the watch, the diamond ring. Criminalist Pützstück simply deletes these assets from his chances of investigating. If so, he tells himself, then only they can do it Bring to light stamps that Schmitz had with him. Schmitz is said to have had with him a Luxemburg No. 1 - a rare example with silk thread in the paper - worth around 60,000 marks as well as two rare sets of four Spanish stamps from 1851 and 1852 .

The police are now trying to win over the philatelists as allies. She provides information about the search for the stamps and a supposed connection with the robbery-murder in 1946. Information soon begins to arrive. A stamp mailing company in Herrenalb has a "Luxembourg No. 1", but it has a test mark. A teacher in Bad Wimpfen also has a Luxembourg No. 1, but a canceled copy, while the stamp you are looking for must be mint never hinged. The Luxembourg No. 1, which in this version probably only exists three times in the world, as well as the Spanish blocks of four, which only appear half a dozen times, they remain missing.

Criminalist Pützstück finally managed to have the INTERPOSTA stamp exhibition in Hamburg in 1959 searched for these rarities by detectives, seconded by philatelists. All in vain. It remains an unsolved stamp robbery murder.


Image 1

One of the most famous old European stamps: Austria's Blaue-Merkur newspaper stamp.

picture 2

The Prague Stamp Museum, away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, is the former Saint Gabriel Monastery in the Prague-Smichov district.

picture 3

Still dazed from the cowardly attack: museum guard Vera Leblova in the Prague Stamp Museum.

BLUE MERCURIES




THE “BLUE MERCURIES”

On March 17, 1970, there was no heavy public traffic in the former Saint Gabriel Monastery at Holeckowa 10 in the Prague-Smichov district. Only a few Praguers end up here, in the rooms of the Prague Stamp Museum. The museum only draws attention to itself through a small plaque next to the entrance. When the visitor comes in the door, he first wanders through a semi-dark hallway. If you want to get into the high room of the museum, at the front of which is the pride of the museum, you have to ring the bell. He is then allowed through the separate entrance to the stamp treasures. There is the world sensation: an eighty sheet of the famous “Blue Merkure”, a newspaper stamp issued in Austria in 1851.

When the doorbell rings that morning, Vera Leblovä, the elderly supervisor, answers the door. Two young men are standing at the door. They greet politely and ask to take a look at the stamps. The attendant takes the key from the board and descends the stairs with the visitors from the first floor to the ground floor. She unlocks the iron gate.

The supervisor walks quietly through the hall. Suddenly one of the boys runs to the front of the room with quick steps. There he tears the display frame from the wall and takes out the Mercury. The other guy jumps at the guard, grabs her and begins to choke her, so that the woman collapses.

When she finally comes to and is able to raise the alarm, the men have already rushed down the few steps, jumped into a taxi parked in front of the park with the engine running - and disappeared.

The inspector in charge of the case is initially in the dark. However, forensic science can take fingerprints. It turns out that you are obviously not dealing with experienced thieves. Who could have an interest in this large part of the arch? What if the thieves, unaware of the special nature of the closed part of the sheet, suddenly cut the stamps apart in order to sell them? A reward of 10,000 crowns is offered.


BORDER CONTROL IN NOVA BYSTRICE

Only two weeks go by. A car, a diplomatic car, drives to the Nova Bystrice border post. The driver, a Greek diplomat, stops the car on the country road. A second passenger changes. He crouches in a heap in the trunk of the car. The diplomat throws a blanket over the body.



…to be continued in next part…


Image 1

The thief rushed to the wall (see sketch), took the Mercury bow out of its anchorage in an instant and escaped. A widespread police manhunt began.

Sketch: The arrow marks the path of the perpetrators.

A-Attack on the museum guard.

B-Heist of the Bow of the Blue Mercury.

picture 2

The Prague sheet of the Blue Mercury, stolen in 1970, was shown again for the first time in 1974 at a CSSR stamp exhibition in Brno.

picture 3

Postal mayfly, only valid on December 21, 1926: it led to the deaths of five people.


Oddities

Cairo-1926

Manslaughter over four Egypt stamps

Fanatic collectors and middlemen from numerous stamp trading centers caused a terrible bloodbath in the small post office building in Port Fuad in the morning hours of December 21st. On the occasion of the inauguration of the port of Port Fuad, which is intended to relieve the port of Port Said and for which numerous guests of honor had announced that they would attend in the afternoon, the Egyptian postal service issued three stamps from a special series for the shipping congress and a special stamp with the portrait of King Fund with the imprint PORT FOUAD and sell in an extremely limited edition on opening day.

Already in the early hours of the morning, an unmistakable crowd of people had gathered in front of the post office, and immediately after stamp sales opened at just one post office counter, they tumultuously rushed into the sales room. A strong police escort was powerless, the crowd rushed forward, people were trampled, there were fights and stabbings. Five postal customers died from their serious injuries. These stamps were only sold on that one day and were only valid for franking on that day.


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Only 2 more parts to follow.

The penultimate part.

- Ferrari fever





Continuation ...

Border control in Nova Bystrice



Then he drives to the border. The customs officer seems suspicious of the man's behavior in the diplomatic car. "Please, open your trunk!"

The man protests. But the customs officer does not give up. He demands that the trunk be opened. He finds the ringlead of the brand theft under the ceiling. The Greek diplomat can continue the journey alone.

Everything else quickly reveals itself. His brothers are also heard in connection with the arrested. The police come across fingerprints that match those of the post robber in the museum. Now the two cannot avoid admitting the robbery in the post museum and calling the hiding place of the valuable brands: behind a mirror in the room of a bar woman known to them. The attempt to illegally pass the state border was intended for preliminary agreements in Vienna, where the stolen brands were to be sold. The Merkurys could be ensured intact.


The crook of H. C. Schwenn

1871. The standing desk and a dark brown writing secretary, one of those new-fashioned office assets, as they have also found on land mail offices, are invited to a horse-drawn truck with all kinds of other law firm. Then the team starts moving and brings its cargo to a new building near the old post office.

In the meantime, the bricklayers and painters are already renovating the old post office in Eibenstock at work. Painter Ecklebe suddenly pauses. "Nanu, what is that, brands stick to the pillar!" He calls his colleague.

The contours of a stamp arch stand out on one of the abundantly ramped wooden pillars, under the old wallpaper that has now been replaced: a whole sheet of the red "three-pfennig-Saxons" of 1850, which are commonly referred to as "Sachsendreier" and have been twenty years are interesting copies according to their edition.

The bow is carefully replaced. The painter dirt and the viscous glue, which leaves the brands as a waste between the pillar wall and wallpaper strips, are difficult to loosen with warm water. With all caution, the bow is slightly damaged.


UNINTERESTED DEALERS

However, it is hardly worth the effort of replacing these brands. None of the important stamp shops just want to give a penny. More out of pity with the man in his shabby roasting skirt, which comes into the shop and opened a folder in which this sheet of 4 x 6 brands is located, a Leipzig dealer leaves 50 Reichsmark on the counter. Soon afterwards, however, this sheet becomes the only existent in the world. The Vienna Siegmund Friedl already pays the Leipzig dealer 300 Reichsmarks for the bow and offers the brands to a Baron Ferrari. He immediately put 2000 gold mark on the table.

When Ferrari dies, his collection was auctioned in Paris in 1921. An illustrious society has come to auction in the Hotel des Ventes on Rue Drouot on the boulevard of Italy. Foreign orders are only taken into account if the amount is enclosed. The auction becomes the greatest sensation of the history of the philately: it runs over five years - from 1921 to 1926 - and comprises fourteen part auctions on 39 auction days. Nevertheless, the sum of 6 million gold marks, which is achieved, is too low. With this auction, the hunting of the millionair collectors begins according to the three-saxson sheet.


Ferrari fever

After the first day of auction, a Parisian newspaper characterizes the atmosphere in the hotel of the Ventes as follows: “The spirit of the great mystic Ferrari hovers over the crowd, the indispensable veil over the secrets of his gigantic collection has an effect. There they stand, all the pockets thickly filled with banknotes ... Lift your eyes, your disciples Askulaps - the last disease on this old earth ... The philatelist fever! "The Swiss tobacco millionaire Maurice Burrus and the American millionaire Arthur Hind True financial battles about wasted and unspoilt brand treasures of the Ferrari estate.

Hind acquires the famous BritishGuayana for $ 30,000, and Burrus buys the coveted sheet of the Sachsen-Stamp for $ 4111.


Image 1

Speculation with the "Eibenstocker Sachsenbogen". He changes the owner at DM 620,000, but Schwenn Bluft, he bought the bow himself and made it disappear in his bank safe.

picture 2

Schwenn knows how to manipulate prices, thousands of creditors are cheated.

picture 3

Armored boxes in the armored car for the Grand Hotel "Frankfurter Hof". Contents: stamps worth 5 million DM.

Image 4

H. C. Schwenn.

The Saxony-Dreier-Bogen was also passed in his armored safe.


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Second page comes on the weekend ...

Today:

THE MURDER OF ARTUR ROSZA

and Oddities of Sperati




SAFE AND MUSEUM PIECE?

The world rarity will now disappear in the bank vault for 40 years. But the very rich textile industrialist Gerold Emil Anderegg is already waiting for the moment when the bow must come into play again. When millionaire Burrus dies in 1959, the way is clear. The Burrus collection is auctioned seven years later; Anderegg takes action and pays 215,000 DM. It turns out that Ferrari had had renovation work carried out on this damaged arch of the pillar of the former post office. Burrus, on the other hand, had this make-up rigorously removed.

December 1966. This arc comes into conversation again. This time in Frankfurt (Main), in the Hotel "Frankfurter Hof", Salon 15. Film cameras whir, H. C. Schwenn, the clever upstart in the dubious German stamp business, a man with whom serious stamp dealers want to have nothing to do if possible, plays his big role Trump out. The first part of the world-famous Old Germany special collection of the well-known

Large industrialists... and there is a pause, the name is not mentioned. The anonymity is intended to increase the tension. Schwenn trumpets: This bow will produce a sensational result. Anderegg had given the sheet to Schwenn, along with many other valuable philatelic documents.

And Schwen manipulates. The amount shot up to 682,000 marks. The buyer remains in the dark; it is said to be an American multimillionaire.

But the sensational sum was a bluff. Disappointed that none of the extremely wealthy bidders in the salon of the Frankfurt hotel would match the price already offered at previous auctions, Schwenn had the bow fictitiously increased further - and then placed it in his own bank safe.

Despite several manipulations and frauds, Schwenn goes bankrupt and leaves his creditors on the hook. In the fall of 1971, the Mohrmann company finally auctioned off the famous bow in Hamburg for 260,000 DM.


THE MURDER OF ARTUR ROSZA

In July 1973, a middle-aged man entered the stamp dealer Rosza's shop in Hofheim (FRG). The visitor modestly looks around and asks the dealer whether he is interested in some older Scandinavian brands, especially Swedish ones. "Of course," replies Rosza. "But I have to see them first to be able to judge." The man promises to come back.

On August 1st, shortly before closing time, the man re-entered the dealer's store. "I've decided to do business with you," he says and explains why he won't be back for more than a week. It was difficult for him to hand over the Swedes Nos. 1 and 2 - two sought-after copies - due to financial difficulties is the Reason for his decision to sell.

This was nothing out of the ordinary for Rosza. He also never asks about the reasons for buying or selling valuable brands. Collectors who offer stamps come to him almost every day. It is also not unusual for the customer to request that he would like the money paid out in cash immediately upon completion of the purchase.

Rosza agrees to go home to look at the stamps. Rosza gets into his car with the stranger and drives off towards the highway.

As soon as Rosza turned onto the highway, the man demanded all of Rosza's cash - the high purchase price for the stamps. Rosza resists, but the stranger brutally kills him with several revolver shots. The case is never solved.


Image 1

The British Association of Stamp Dealers offered the forger Sperati 120,000 marks on the condition that

that he will no longer replicate valuable brands in the future.

picture 2

From the Speratis forgery workshop: A diligent record is kept of the catalog prices of the original brands and his counterfeits, which he sold at a good profit.

picture 3

Marking a Sperati fake.

Image 4

Nepp with “two suitcases full of brands” in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Mr. Vielbuber is one of many who do business with mass-produced goods.


Oddities

Paris—1948

The Sperati case

One of the most cunning and ingenious postage stamp forgers is before the Tribunal de la Seine in Paris. The 65-year-old graphic artist, painter, printer and owner of an arsenal of forger's tools is again accused of counterfeiting stamps. The court experts are amazed at the "authenticity" of these counterfeits, which the defendant describes as "copies" of genuine stamps, but not as "counterfeit stamps." Experts who are called in are not always able to distinguish the Sperati products of rare stamps from the genuine stamps. Jean de Sperati, also known as the "Rubens of philately", gets away with a fine of 5,000 francs. The penalty is reduced to the offense of "unauthorized export of money".


Copenhagen - 1942

Business instinct

The employee M. of a local wholesale company had to be acquitted of the charges of embezzlement and appropriation of other people's property due to a lack of evidence. M. had the specially marked stamps with the imprint "Postfaerge", which were to be used for shipments to the Danish island of Fanö for ferry mail, regularly returned by the recipients. The sale of these stamps to collectors and stamp dealers generated proceeds of 40,000 Crown.

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Last One is coming - Soon[TM].

Today, the last part follows.



- The topic is - "Forgeries"




Translation follows.