German Colonial Yacht Proofs

Finally managed to snag a decent copy of the DSWA issue. It's a little dirty, but it'll do!

cjd,

I've seen se-tenant pairs once or twice in the last dcade or two. I distinctly recall seeing two se-tenant pairs (one DSWA/Samoa, one Kamerun/Karolinen) in the same lot. IIRC, it sold for about €24,000.

I saw a center block of four once. It sold for around €30,000.

Safe to say I won't be buying one of those anytime soon!

Thanks for starting this thread, PostmasterGS!  Great stuff, the likes of which I have never seen, not that that is saying all that much.  Still, beautiful!

As it happens, yesterday, I saw an uncut, imperforate sheet of Togo 2-pfennig stamps in brown as part of the collection of my friend and colleague, Xavier (hrdoktorx).  I am hoping that by tagging him now, I can persuade him to share that remarkable piece with all of us!

Beryllium Guy , hrdoktorx ,

The Togo 2 Pf sheet is a reprint made at the 2009 IBRA stamps show in Essen.  It originally sold for €69.50, but can be found at auction now for around €80.



Of note, since I failed to post this when I saw it originally, in their June 2018 auction, the Württembergisches Auktionshaus offered a rare center block of these proofs with an opening price of €30,000. I don't have a catalog handy to verify, but I believe it went unsold at the auction, only to be purchased at their after-auction sale for €28,000 + commission/fees/etc.

Thanks, Postmaster GS, I appreciate knowing more about the origin of the sheet and its current value.

Stunning news on the rare center block which you had previously described which now has sold.  I'm with Xavier (hrdoktorx) on that one:  I will just enjoy seeing the image here on TSF of the block, and of the single copies from your collection.  Anyway, great stuff on these unissued 2-pfennig stamps--a real education for me!  Many thanks.

Apparently the stamp’s authenticity has been guaranteed by someone named Bothe.

Hans Bothe examined stamps of the German Empire and the German colonies and has already died several years ago. About 15 years ago, there was an intensive discussion in German stamp forums about the (probably not rare) forgeries of Hans Bothe's proof mark.

rod222 ,

As the others stated above, it means the stamp has an expert mark from Hans Bothe, who was an expert on Germany and the German Colonies for several decades beginning in the early 1960s.

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If you or any of our fellow members want to know more on the "why"...

In German philately, there are generally three methods by which an expert shows an item is authentic -- a photo certificate, a certificate without photo, and a mark on the stamp. Photo certificates traditionally were only for higher-end items, but as technology has advanced and it's much easier to scan stamps and generate certificates, they've become more common with lower-end items.

The mark made directly on the stamp was always seen (in the pre-photo cert days) as the best way to ensure the opinion stayed with the stamp. As this has been an accepted practice for a long time, the mark doesn't detract from the value of the stamp in the German market (in fact, it increases the value significantly), and is not seen as a defect in the way it would be in many other collecting areas.

These days, you do still see marks being applied, but usually only for the more common items. For example, there are Colonies stamps for which there are 6 shades of brown -- some very valuable and some not, and several difficult to tell apart. If I sent in a batch of these for en expert to examine, I'd likely get photo certs for the rarer ones and an expert mark for the more common shades. The expert mark can be just a name, indicating it's genuine, or a name and a catalog suffix (see below example), indicating it's genuine and it's a specific variety.

Here's what one looks like with a mark from Michael Jäschke-Lantelme, who is currently a BPP expert for German Colonies. The "II b" indicates this is MiNr. 1 II b.



They can also commonly be found on postcards (see Bothe BPP mark at lower right of rear).



For BPP expert marks, there is a placement system.



This placement system is designed to show if there's been later alteration of the stamp.  For example, if an unoverprinted mint stamp is marked as genuine, then a forger later tries to apply a fake overprint or cancel, the placement of the expert mark will show that at the time it was certified, it was a mint unoverprinted stamp.

Fascinating stuff, again, Thank you.