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Old December 18th 04, 08:23 PM
Eric Hochman
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Jyotirmay Bareria wrote:


Hi,
I have some stamps of Deutsches Reich ones with (250/400/800
Saufend), even (2 Millionen) overprinted on them. Could anybody has
any idea about history behind such stamps and how much they are
worth. Any pointer to information related to such stamps would be
really beneficial. The photo is attached here for viewing.

Thanks
Jyotirmay


Germany experienced "hyperinflation" during 1922-1923 where the German
mark became essentially worthless -- it cost over 50,000,000,000 (50
billion) marks to mail a letter before the end of the inflation. Since
the postal rate changed so quickly -- some rates only lasted a few days
before rising -- many stamps had to be overprinted with new values to
keep up with the rates.

Because so many stamps were overprinted and most values quickly became
obsolete, unused stamps from this period are (with a few exceptions)
quite common and even still fairly easily found in full sheets.
Genuine postally used stamps, particularly covers, can be valuable. Do
NOT remove any stamps you have from the envelopes! The cover you show
in your post looks nice! There is one catch -- there are many
"cancelled to order" stamps with postmarks that look real to the
non-expert, and even fake covers. Most collectors will not pay much
for used German inflation stamps unless they have been authenticated by
a German expertising service.

There is a short (but longer than mine) explanation of these stamps
he http://www.lingens.com/articles/roy/germinfl.shtml

You can do a Google search for "German Inflation Stamps" and get a lot
of info on them.

-Eric
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