European Stamp Prices & News

Kniffka Philatelie, an eBay seller since 2001, has recently listed a 5-volume collection of classic, rare stamps from Germany on eBay.com. The scope of the collection, a hint of which is given by the dozens of album page scans they have included on the auction page, makes it one of the best collections of German stamps ever to be sold via the online auction site.

The Buy It Now price is set at $32,500. The book price, however, is estimated to be worth 10 times that, according to listings in Germany’s top stamp reference work, the Michel catalog. The auction runs until December 30, 2007.

Though the stamps are not listed individually (presumably this would be far too involved an undertaking), you can get a good idea of the quality and range of eras and issues by the pictures on the page and the categories listed at the top, which include all eras and areas of Germany’s extensive, fascinating history, including:

The Weimar Republic
Referring to Germany between 1919 and 1933, the so-called Weimar Republic saw immense national unrest and the rise of the Nazi party, led by Adolf Hitler. Stamps from this era depict the last remnants of the crumbling old order that gave Hitler’s Third Reich the opportunity to seize power.

Stamps that had depicted Paul von Hindenburg, the president whose death in 1934 prompted Hitler’s total seizure of the government, were often overprinted by the Nazis in later years for use in various German-occupied territories. These overprints are also prized by stamp collectors, and the eBay auction lists both Weimar Republic stamps and Nazi stamps as being “nearly complete” collections.

Saar Territory
From 1920-1935, the small area of Saar remained distinct from Germany, and thus saw an influx of anti-Nazi Germans to the League of Nations-controlled territory.

The territory issued not only stamps in both French and German, but in pfennigs/marks and centimes/francs, as the sympathy of the people swayed. Ultimately, in 1935, a vote was held to determine the fate of Saar. Despite deep reservations about the Nazis, a disaffection for France proved too great to overcome, and Saar overwhelmingly voted to join Germany.

Again, a “nearly complete” set of Saar Territory stamps are included in the eBay auction.

Kiautschou (Jiaozhou)
Not as widely known as some other parts of German history, Jiaozhou was an area of northern China under German colonial rule from 1898 to 1914, when China cancelled the lease to Germany. Just three months later, the area was invaded by Japan, but the German era saw the issuance of several special stamps, many of which are included in the big eBay auction.

While the collection may be out of almost everyone’s price range, even flipping through the dozens of pictures on the item’s auction page can be interesting. Most pages are clearly labelled as to their geographical origin - Danzig, Saargebeit, Eupen und Malmedy, Polen, et cetera, and often with the year(s) of issue as well.

If one were serious about starting a great collection of German stamps, and had rather deep pockets, he or she could do worse than to pick this one. As a history lesson its invaluable — if money were no object, this would be one of the best ways to have real historical pieces from an area that has always exerted much influence over Europe, and thus the world at large.

Luckily, it’s easy to start smaller collections on eBay too, by doing searches for much smaller collections or single pieces, by keyword. I hope whoever wins this big 5-volume lot enjoys their new collection - I think I’ll stick to a few stamps here and there; maybe one or two representative issues from each German era and, if financially possible, colony and occupation.

That’s the great thing about stamp collecting: not only is it informative and interesting, and the stamps beautiful, but there are endless ways to approach it, fitting ones personal mood, inclination, and budget.

I enjoy watching these big auctions on eBay, to see how they end up. It always amazes me that people buy and sell these huge things without ever meeting each other. Watch it for yourself here.

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