daveg28
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What I collect: U.S., Canada, Great Britain & Commonwealth, France (esp. 1950-80), DDR, USSR
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Post by daveg28 on Jan 28, 2021 15:09:20 GMT
I'm having thoughts of starting a new album for German Democratic Republic stamps. I moved towards abandoning worldwide stamp pursuits back in about 2000, but I have slowly added a country here and there that has interested me. Currently my interests are U.S., Canada, Great Britain, France, and USSR. I like the idea of DDR stamps because there's a definite beginning and ending to the era.
So, my question is, is a full and complete collection a realistic pursuit? Are there a great many stamps that would be difficult or expensive to obtain? I seem to recall back when I started collecting in the 70's that DDR stamps were pretty plentiful and common. I'd like to hear some advice from experience DDR collectors. Thanks!
Dave
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renden
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What I collect: World W collector with ++ interests in BNA (Canada etc) and USA
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Post by renden on Jan 28, 2021 17:28:02 GMT
Dave, I am sure Pete brightonpete - will give you his opinion as he collects +++ DDR - I even gave him all my DDR stamps as I do not collect them....a matter of choice LOL René
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ameis33
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What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet
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What I collect: Poland and Italy Republic
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Post by ameis33 on Jan 28, 2021 19:27:34 GMT
I don't collect it, but DDR is fascinating, like many other things of the past, which recall a different taste, like the dialect spoken by my grandmother, the dishes she did, and so on, and so on, and so on... This regardless any judgement of the period... I believe the cost should not be so high and to get a nice collection should not be so impossible... Then, you can add a weekend to Dresden or Chemnitz or Leipzig to look for a Trabant...
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Jan 28, 2021 19:57:55 GMT
I'm just a newbie to East Germany (aka DDR) and it would be possible to get a complete basic collection. They issued quite a few stamps with reduced print numbers. Usually one stamp in a series had fewer printed. Plus, they created a plethora of varieties. I'm sure they realized the value of collectors in the 50's and exploited them to shore up their coffers.
All are within my meagre budget, but there are a few items that just aren't worth it to me. Those I'll leave out.
Talking of Trabant's, the photo that has stuck in my head after the wall came down was of a Trabant that had been tossed in a dumpster! Good place for them! But ya, I'd like to get one! Very basic, cheaply made 2-stroke engine! Of course if I bought one, it would have been converted to electric!
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rex
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Post by rex on Jan 28, 2021 20:08:31 GMT
I started collecting them without much conviction , just because I had so many, it's a collection that I enjoyed.
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Jan 28, 2021 20:33:09 GMT
They also have a number of same same issues! I have to watch it, as some look alike!
I kinda like them too!
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Jan 28, 2021 21:13:48 GMT
Another thing too, daveg28, you really need Michel for East Germany. For instance, one souvenir sheet is labelled as "Portraits in Gray" in Scott's. Great. In Michel, it is the "Inauguration of the National Monument at Buchenwald!" Wow, Scott's? Really? Learn a bit of German will ya, or at least translate! I hate that stamps in Scott's are more or less a description of the stamp & not what it was issued for!
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Jan 28, 2021 21:21:30 GMT
B35a is the souvenir sheet I was looking at. Gray Portraits... the translation of the words on the sheet is... The fight for national reunification is a matter for the entire German people, it will win if it acts in unity. Nothing about a portrait!
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tobben63
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Post by tobben63 on Jan 28, 2021 21:55:41 GMT
B35a is the souvenir sheet I was looking at. Gray Portraits... the translation of the words on the sheet is... The fight for national reunification is a matter for the entire German people, it will win if it acts in unity. Nothing about a portrait! Here
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khj
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Post by khj on Jan 29, 2021 4:49:20 GMT
The bottom dropped out of the DDR market last decade. I don't think I've seen prices this low in the US (non-scientific, just my limited observation) since the late 1980s when the market for just about everything took a plunge. So, in my opinion, now is a good time to start. For the cost of 90% complete DDR collection (including quality album) at the turn of the century, I could probably buy at least 2, maybe 3 equivalent DDR collections today. That's how bad it is. The market is saturated with intermediate-advanced DDR collections (and we're not talking about CTO lots).
I admit, I used to shun DDR and had mostly the basic CTOs that were forced on me in bulk lot purchases. But when the bottom dropped out last decade, I went full fledge into building up my DDR collection because even the premium items were falling in price. I found it surprisingly enjoyable, despites decades of indoctrination from DDR being "bad-mouthed" by local dealers/collectors.
My suggestion (in terms of convenience, but your collecting interest may dictate otherwise) is to forget the CTOs/used and focus on collecting mint (never hinged as much as possible). For a basic collection, the only premium items are generally some of the pre-1956 issues and BOB. There's only a handful of post-1955 issues with significant premium. By foregoing used stamps, you don't have to worry about genuine period of use cancels for some of the early issues and BOB stamps -- a few of those will sell for several-fold greater than the mint. You need to do your research before going after those used stamps. Also, short set CTOs are common; but equivalent full mint sets are not hard to come by at all. If you aren't careful, you'll be inundated with lots of duplicate CTOs in search of the missing stamp in the set. You won't have that problem when collecting mint. But of course, if you like used/CTO, then by all means collect what you like!!! Just my opinion.
Finally, beware of fake Mao stamps. I've seen them in collections, or even mixed in with what appears to be a genuine set. Case in point, I've actually got a forgery, but not the entire set of forgeries! Check every single stamp in the Mao set. Also confirm the watermarks on the early issues that come with different watermarks. It's not unusual to find stamps in those sets misIDed/swapped.
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daveg28
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What I collect: U.S., Canada, Great Britain & Commonwealth, France (esp. 1950-80), DDR, USSR
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Post by daveg28 on Jan 29, 2021 5:15:01 GMT
Good advice! Are there particular years where the CTOs are prevalent? I was honestly going to be ok with used, as long as I can “collect them all”. Also, I have access to Steiner pages, so I already have an album lined up.
What are Mao stamps?
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khj
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Post by khj on Jan 29, 2021 5:37:27 GMT
The Mao set is Scott #82-84(27Jun1951). I don't know why Scott doesn't put a warning about forgeries. The forgeries are not rare. I was warned about them by a dealer. Michel does explain how to quickly ID the forgery (genuine are perf 13½, while forgeries are perf 14). For some reason, Scott has it listed as perf 13.
If you want to get deeper into DDR, you almost certainly have to get Michel Germany Specialized Volume 2 (I don't have the most recent, and assume DDR is still in volume 2?). You'll find all sorts of minor varieties listed, as well as lots of good info. But it is in German.
The government began selling CTOs as early as 1949 and didn't stop until a few months before reunification. So basically, almost all the stamps exist as CTOs, but not some of the 1990 stamps. The majority of the CTOs I tend to see dominate the late 1950s through the 1980s (large quantities). The irritation is always the withholding of certain singles from the CTO set. The stamp with the catalog "mark-up" is not always the high denomination stamp in the set. There are several examples where the low or middle denomination is the "limited-distribution" stamp. So be prepared for a few headaches if you go the used/CTO route.
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mikeclevenger
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What I collect: Ohio Tax Stamps, Ohio & Georgia Revenues, US Revenues, US FDC's, & Germany Classics
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Post by mikeclevenger on Jan 30, 2021 13:22:01 GMT
If you are interested in DDR, I am going to sell all of my DDR collection, along with my Berlin collections, & BRD collections. I need to get rid of some stamps, and I really am not interested in these any more. I have least amount of DDR though, I don't even have a compete set of albums. In the Berlin stamps, I have an almost complete Hingeless album, I will be selling, and several others, not complete albums, all Hingeless albums though. IN BRD, I also have several sets of albums that are all hingeless, and have different amounts of stamps in them. Just let me know if anyone is interested, as I will let people on here have first choice before I sell them on EBAY.
Have a great day.
Mike.
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Jan 30, 2021 15:33:51 GMT
Hey, Mike, ( mikeclevenger) I'd be interested in those DDR. Postage might be a problem, but let me know!
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kasvik
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What I collect: Cancels mostly, especially Sweden Gävle and Lidingö, Switzerland Geneva, Germany Pforzheim
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Post by kasvik on Jan 30, 2021 23:31:39 GMT
The bottom dropped out of the DDR market last decade. I don't think I've seen prices this low in the US (non-scientific, just my limited observation) since the late 1980s when the market for just about everything took a plunge. So, in my opinion, now is a good time to start. For the cost of 90% complete DDR collection (including quality album) at the turn of the century, I could probably buy at least 2, maybe 3 equivalent DDR collections today. That's how bad it is. The market is saturated with intermediate-advanced DDR collections (and we're not talking about CTO lots). So what do you think happen to DDR popularity? Could it be discomfort? But so many other touchy collecting areas are doing great. And everyone likes dead countries.
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daveg28
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Post by daveg28 on Jan 31, 2021 1:40:04 GMT
Ok, Germany experts. I request an explanation of terms. I know the following: DDR: East Germany/German Democratic Republic Deutschland Bundespost: West Germany Deutschland: post-unification? After the fall of the Berlin Wall? Deutsche Post: ? Deutsche Reich: ?
I’m sure there’s more. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
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khj
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Post by khj on Jan 31, 2021 1:49:17 GMT
I was told that the drop in DDR at the wholesale level was due to more of the older US DDR collectors dying, and a huge influx of DDR collections from Eastern Europe. All I know is that I've been able to pick and choose at prices I would never have imagined at the turn of the century -- back then an advanced DDR collection in Scott Specialty album was typically $1000+ at shows. At a large auction, there's typically at least one or more comprehensive DDR collections available -- I won't even consider unless it is in a very good album (I can put my duplicates), has a strong showing the early premiums, or has a lot of specialized material (minor varieties, booklets, BOB...).
I've been very happy with my foray into DDR last decade, and enjoyed it a lot more than I had expected. Which just goes to show, collect what you want the way you want, because it's your collection and you should be the one enjoying your collection!
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darkormex
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Post by darkormex on Jan 31, 2021 3:10:12 GMT
This DDR thread spurred me to print the Steiner pages from 1949 to 1960 and finally start organizing the many years accumulation of DDR stamps that I have. It was an easy slide over since I had been working on German stamps anyway.
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daveg28
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Post by daveg28 on Jan 31, 2021 5:44:27 GMT
Darkormex...if you want to send some DDR dupes my way, that’d be great. Lol.
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hrdoktorx
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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 Jan 31, 2021 13:01:43 GMT
I was told that the drop in DDR at the wholesale level was due to more of the older US DDR collectors dying, and a huge influx of DDR collections from Eastern Europe. I would concur. When I lived in the former DDR, most of the stamp club members were pretty advanced in age with little prospect to transmit their collection as very few youngsters seem to be taking on the hobby. During Communist times, collectors would have easy access to issues from Warsaw Pact countries, but little else, so now that these collectors are passing on, their stamps need to find a place to go...
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hrdoktorx
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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 Jan 31, 2021 13:33:20 GMT
Ok, Germany experts. I request an explanation of terms. I know the following: DDR: East Germany/German Democratic Republic Deutschland Bundespost: West Germany Deutschland: post-unification? After the fall of the Berlin Wall? Deutsche Post: ? Deutsche Reich: ? I’m sure there’s more. Any help is appreciated. Thanks! DDR is indeed the name on the stamps from East Germany, from 1949 to 1989. In the early years, issues tend to carry the full name, not the abbreviation. Deutsche Bundespost means "German Federal Post", so is the postal mark of the Federal Republic of Germany. This is West Germany's official name from 1949 until reunification and a little bit beyond. In 1995, stamps stop bearing "Deutsche Bundespost" and start saying only "Deutschland". Deutsche Post (meaning "German Post") is used in the inter-regnum years when it was politically sensitive to be precise about what "Germany" meant. (Fun example, West Germany never had a formal ambassador in East Germany, and vice-versa, but rather a "representative", a "Vertreter" in German, since bestowing the title of Ambassador would have implied recognition of the other German half as a full-fledged state, which neither side wanted to do). So you find "Deustche Post" in issues of the immediate post-war, when Germany was being managed by the Allied Powers, so the 1945-1949 period, even though there were many postal issuing authorities (including towns such as Lübbenau, Dresden (for the province of East Saxony), Leipzig (for the province of West Saxony), the Western Allied sector [US+UK] in 1948-49, Berlin until 1954, and the very first DDR and FRG issues in 1949). Issues from East Germany in 1990 from after the fall of the Communist regime but before reunification also bear "Deutsche Post". "AM Post Deustchland" means "Allied Military Post for Germany" and issues bearing that were created by the UK and US occupying powers in the 1945-46 period. French Occupation stamps carry the mention "Zone Française Briefpost" or the province name: "Baden", "Württemberg", "Rheinland-Pfalz". There are many more local stamp issues from that time that bear names of provinces and towns, or sometimes simply "Post". "Deustche Reich" means "German Empire". Usage starts in 1902, under the Second German Empire, and continued until 1943, when the mention becomes "Grossdeutsches Reich" ("Great German Empire") until the WWII defeat. During the Empire period, airmail issues are identified with "Deutsche Flugpost" instead. Before 1902, the stamps are labelled "Reichpost" (Imperial Post) or Deutsche Reichpost (German Imperial Post).
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ameis33
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What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet
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What I collect: Poland and Italy Republic
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Post by ameis33 on Jan 31, 2021 16:12:50 GMT
In the XIXth century, before the unification of Germany, we should speak about German states, like in Italy about the Old Italian States. The biggest of those states should be Prussia, followed by Saxony and others. Many states were more closed to town rather. Before the unification, the Nord-Deuthscher post bezirk (something like) was created, something like a German states postal union, and with the reunification of Germany into the first Deutsch Reich the story begin. (Please correct me if i'm wrong...)
But even earlier, at the beginning of XIX century when stamps still didn't exist, Prussia was one of the first countries who understood the importance of having an efficient postal administration, and the first postal treaties with surrounding countries for the dispatching of the correspondence was just made by Prussia (followed by France and England).
I may be wrong with some of my sentences, but time ago i pointed out the importance of the german language. I still believe that most of the XIX-XXth century turn around Germany.
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kasvik
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What I collect: Cancels mostly, especially Sweden Gävle and Lidingö, Switzerland Geneva, Germany Pforzheim
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Post by kasvik on Feb 6, 2021 15:00:04 GMT
Let me dip another shovel into the grave of the GDR. A commemorative with a Geneva angle, Mi-1178. This was part of global wave honoring completion of the World Health Organization’s Geneva headquarters in 1966. 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.' So many countries did the same: lots of examples from Eastern Europe, but also Africa, Asia and Latin America. Andrew J. Liptak did a blog post assembling some more.
Why all the fuss about the WHO HQ? How was the multi-country release organized? I'd love to know.
Back to the topic, I visited the GDR once, a few weeks after the wall fell, when we didn't need visas. We drank Cuba Libres at an orange plastic hotel bar, paid for everything with West German Marks, and thought, this is the very best the place has to show? Bury it.
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hrdoktorx
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Post by hrdoktorx on Feb 7, 2021 11:55:36 GMT
Why all the fuss about the WHO HQ? How was the multi-country release organized? I'd love to know.
A great question. There are several such themes that led to world-wide joint issues, often related to UN subsidiary organizations, in which every member state was likely to participate. I have a pretty full collection of the "Fight against Malaria" issues of 1962 and the "World Refugee Year" in 1960. I am always on the look-out for UPU jubilee issues (1949 and 1974) and, or greatest interest to me, the "Year of the Quiet Sun" issues from 1957-58 and the International Geophysical Year. For many countries which had rather modest stamp outputs (in terms of the number of new issues) at that time (late 1950's to early 1970's), those joint issues are often quite noticeable. I wonder if this was done as a fund-raising scheme for member countries to pitch in to pay for the construction of the building?
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angore
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Post by angore on Feb 7, 2021 12:18:37 GMT
The interest in Germany in general is amazing.
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daveg28
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Post by daveg28 on Feb 7, 2021 20:50:00 GMT
angore: Germany gets confusing to me real fast. I've avoided a collection of such for a long time because of that. However, maturity and my recent desire to focus my collecting efforts a bit more on particular stamp issuing entities has put DDR in a light that is intriguing. I like that there's a definite beginning and end. And I do not mind the CTOs one bit.
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renden
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What I collect: World W collector with ++ interests in BNA (Canada etc) and USA
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Post by renden on Feb 7, 2021 21:20:37 GMT
angore: Germany gets confusing to me real fast. I've avoided a collection of such for a long time because of that. However, maturity and my recent desire to focus my collecting efforts a bit more on particular stamp issuing entities has put DDR in a light that is intriguing. I like that there's a definite beginning and end. And I do not mind the CTOs one bit. Am sure Pete brightonpete might have "dups" of DDR (I did send a bunch to him) so you should send him a PM - easier than on a post René
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salentin
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collecting Germany,where I live and about 20 more countries,half of them in Asia east of the Indus
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Post by salentin on Feb 11, 2021 10:29:01 GMT
From Germany I used to collect those stamps only,what were valid for postage in my home-town Essen. i.e. Prussia,North-German Confederation,Deutsches Reich,Common Occupation issues after WW II and Federal Republic. Plus all (West-) Berlin,except the 1948 overprints,DDR (GDR) DM-issues and the few issues of the French Zone,what were also valid for postage in the whole FRG. However I always had liked the stamps of "the other Germany". So after having returned from South-America,I treated myself with buying a DDR-collection.It is,apart from the service-stamps complete, except of two stamps,the 1952 personalities 25 Pfg. and 84 Pfg. (both are often found with forged cancellations in collections, what is why I am not unhappy,that they were not included) The collection is "used" in two Schaubeck Binders.It was obviously compiled by a collector in Zwickau (Saxony), as most stamps were cancelled there and in other near-by places. I paid slightly less than € 400.-,delivery incl. Michel for the cheapest kind of cancellations would be about € 2400.-.I think most stamps would qualify as "commercially used"
(what would command a price about 50 % higher),but I think,this is a rather silly distinction,just for purists.
Like the souvenir sheets,the "Sperrwerte" (the stamps,what were sold to registered collectors only or by official exporters and were printed in much smaller quantities,than the freely sold ones) were never used commercially. If on letters,they are always letters of a philatelic background. Other than intended before,I left the binders intact,because,made in the GDR,they represent some of the history of "the other german state". I am glad that I bought that collection,as it gives me much pleasure to have a close look to the stamps.
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darkormex
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Post by darkormex on Feb 16, 2021 13:58:15 GMT
I was clearing a stack of stuff off my desk last night and was putting stamps in glassines in order to store them for later. As I was pawing through the box of glassines, surprise, surprise! 3 more envelopes of DDR stamps for sorting, cataloging and mounting!
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daveg28
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Post by daveg28 on Apr 28, 2022 17:27:59 GMT
I'm going to revive this thread and ask a follow-up question. I'm about to print out Steiner pages for my DDR album. But before I do that, I'm wondering...I have a Harris Statesman album tucked away that I picked up in a collection given to me. I'm not terribly familiar with the breadth of the album, but does it cover a substantial amount of DDR stamps that I could just use those pages as a stand alone album? I've accumulating quite a few DDR stamps, so perhaps I'm already beyond what the Statesman pages would cover? I'm sure I'll just go ahead and print the Steiner pages and use them, but I sure wish I had stamp images on the pages.
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