Stamps of the occupied Germany

Thanks for sharing cara ; what a treat to catch the plate flaws on postally-used pieces :-)
Keep the posts coming; I know that I for one am interested in seeing more...


Happy collecting!

I think it would be much easier for me to find the correct tax office than it would be to find the correct Kirchdorf!  How many Kirchdorfs are there in Bavaria?

Once upon a time I had an excellent road atlas of Germany, the type that has such detail that the atlas is about 400 pages long.  I was trying to bring a friend to a small town near the old Canadian Air Forces base in Lahr and was having a hard time - his directions were poor, he had never been there before and didn't know where we were going, wasn't very good at reading my map while I drove, etc.  Later that night I studied the map, convinced we had driven in circles because I kept seeing signs to Reichenbach.  On my map I found 4 different villages named Reichenbach all within about 30 km of each other ... haha

Ryan

Letter from Augsburg to Krumbach (June 21, 1948 - 11 p.m.)


Postage 48 Pfennige (letter from 21 to 50 gram)


Michel # 951 (20*24 Pfennige = 480 Pfennige)



1/10 = 48 Pfennige = correct postage

Rhineland Palatinate, Under French Administration

Hi smauggie,

great covers!

All covers with correct postage. 

First cover to Maspeth with stamps of sovjet zone. First stamps after currency conversion in the sovjet zone, issued July 1948. I can not read the date, but it has to be between July 1948 and February 1950. 50 Pfennige from "East"-Germany to US is correct. These stamps are called "Maschinenaufdrucke".

Second cover from Koblenz is a registered mail. Correct postage with 84 Pfennige. French zone (Rheinland-Pfalz). A very nice cover because not so often.

Third cover to university of Miami from French zone (Württemberg), dated March 3, 1949. Correct postage with 30 Pfennige. From September 1, 1948 the postage to US was reduced from 50 Pfennige to 30 Pfennige. French zone had three different areas with differnt stamps (Baden, Württemberg and Rheinland-Pfalz)

Very nice, thanks for showing!

cara

I don't want to bore you, so today another specialty from this collecting area.

From June 20, 1948 to June 22, 1948 one could use up the old "Reichsmark"-stamps with 1/10 of their nominal value. But on June 21, 1948 stamps with the new "DM" were issued. Therefore, mixed frankings were also possible on these two days as the following letter shows:

Letter from Wiesbaden to Karlsruhe (June 22, 1948)


Postage 108 Pfennige (registered letter from 21 to 50 gram); the necessary arrival postmark is on the back




Michel # 962 (2 * 500 Pfennige = 1000 Pfennige) <- "old Reichsmark stamps"


1/10 = 100 Pfennige 

plus

Michel # 38 II (8 Pfennige) <- "new DM stamp" (old Michel # 945 with overprint)

in total: 108 Pfennige = correct postage


Michel # 962 is called "Blaue Taube" (blue Pigeon).

Do not buy any postmarked "Blaue Taube" without attestation, because most of them are forgeries. (mint you can buy, they are cheap)




cara

Thank you hrdoktorx.

It is not so easy for me what I should post in an US Forum. My collecting areas are very special German areas like occupied Germany from 1945 to 1949 or GDR official stamps or so called "Postkrieg"- covers between West-Germany and Eastern Europe or military censorship or postage prepaid in cash ... and and and. For sure I have the "normal" German stamps, too, but I'am not really interested collecting them, it is not exciting enough. 

In the meantime I went through many threads of the forum and it was a little bit surprising to me that there are obviously differences what people of different countries are collecting. For example revenue stamps, perfins and cinderellas are not so intensively discussed and shown in German stamp forums. At least I haven't noticed it that way yet. I have to look whether I will find some stamps of these collecting areas (I know I have some perfins somewhere).

My father soaked many stamps, too. Fortunately not the covers of occupied Germany

Leipziger Messe stamps are very nice and I like them very much, too. I have a couple of commemmorative cards of Leipziger Messe 1947, they are not rare and have no additional value to the stamps but have a "special cancellation" and look nice. If you want it I will send it to you (of course for free).



cara

Just wanted to say I've enjoyed reading about your specialty collection.

I see you are from Bavaria. I lived in Nurnberg from 1970-1971. Jeff

Today I show 2 covers from Germany to foreign countries dated June 22, 1948 (currency conversion day, 1/10 of nominal value of the stamp).

Postage was 50 Pfennige.


First letter from Kirchheim-Teck to Disentis (Switzerland)

Michel # 962 (500 Pfennige "Blaue Taube")


1/10 = 50 Pfennige = correct postage




________________________________________________________________________________________


Second letter from Hamburg to Moskau (Russia)

Michel # 962 (500 Pfennige "Blaue Taube") 


1/10 = 50 Pfennige = correct postage








Arrival postmark Moskau on the back dated 8 July 1948. On the front a date stamp in Russian dated 9 July 1948 - probably the day of delivery.




It is a censored cover. British censorship office in Hamburg, cancellation with the number 4572 and a crown without frame. The closure strip on the left side of the letter without imprint.
Every cover to foreign countries and in random samples domestic covers were opened, read by censorship office and than closed with closure strips. The cancellation (number, form, text and so on) shows in which censorship office the cover was opened. Employees in the censorship offices were Germans who had to adhere strictly to the instructions of the occupation authorities.

Cara

Hi darkormex "Mezhdunarodnaja Kniga" was a Publisher house in Moscow. So I think it was the adress and not an indication of the content.

cara

While the currency conversion in West Germany (FRG; American, British and French zone) took place from June 21, 1948 to June 23, 1948, the currency conversion in East Germany (GDR; Russian zone) took place from June 24, 1948 to July 31, 1948.

As in West Germany, "old" stamps with 1/10 of the nominal value could be used during this time in East Germany.
In addition, from June 24. 1948, there were district stamp overprints (so-called "Bezirksstempel-Aufdrucke") with new currency or from July 1948 the machine overprints (so-called "Maschinen-Aufdrucke") with new currency.


I show 4 covers with only "old" stamps (so-called "Gemeinschaftsausgaben"):



From Arnstadt  (Russion zone) to Biberach June 27, 1948

Michel # 933 (4*60 Pfennige = 240 Pfennige /10 = 24 Pfennige = correct postage)





From Arnstadt (Russion zone) to Karlsruhe June 26, 1948

Michel # 948 (16*15 Pfennige = 240 Pfennige /10 = 24 Pfennige = correct postage)





From Wünschendorf (Russion zone) to Zwickau June 25, 1948

Michel # 950 (2*20 Pfennige = 40 Pfennige)
and
Michel # 960 (1*2 Mark = 200 Pfennige)

/10 = 24 Pfennige = correct postage)





From Arnstadt (Russion zone) to Berlin-Neukölln June 26, 1948

Michel # 963 (10*24 Pfennige = 240 Pfennige /10 = 24 Pfennige = correct postage)



cara

From Munich to Corona NY USA - June 22, 1948

Michel # 959 (100 Pfennige)
Michel # 960 (200 Pfennige)
Michel # 961 (300 Pfennige)
Michel # 962 (500 Pfennige)

Total 1,100 Pfennige /10 = 110 Pfennige = correct postage (50 Pfennige to USA and 60 Pfennige for a registered mail)

Cover with all 4 pigeon-stamps of "2. Kontrollratsausgabe"







cara

From Goslar to Nienburg/Weser / June 22, 1948

Michel # 918 (16*10 Pfennige = 160 Pfennige)
Michel # 946 (12*10 Pfennige = 120 Pfennige)
Michel # 967 (4*50 Pfennige = 200 Pfennige)
Total 480/10 = 48 Pfennige = correct postage (mail 21-50 grams)




Notice to the cancellation: It was used from March 1932 to Juli 1938 (with a " * " left and right of the " g "). Than it was adapted, the two " * " were eliminated and it was used without " * " from August 1938 to July 1948 (source: database of stampsx).
The date is "22.6.48 8-9N" and 8-9N means 8-9 p.m. ("N" = "Nachmittag" = afternoon).

cara

Thank you JeffS ! 

And I admire you because of your "orange-collection". So I think everybody here has something to show and we learn from each other.