Unlisted print variety on German (BRD) stamp
Lately I’ve been re-organizing my collection of German stamps, and decided to share something not so common with You once again. This is 110 pfennig commemorative stamp from 1998 series displaying German State Parliaments. I’ts a pretty unimpressive looking stamp on the first view with some short perfs and machine cancellation. But if you take a more closer look, you’ll notice plenty of bizarre stuff going on. AFAIK, this appears to be unlisted print variety in Michel.
1998 Germany (BRD). 110 pfg commemorative stamp from a series displaying German state parliaments. Michel #1976.
A close-up of some interesting details… First, take a look of the black year imprint on the bottom of the stamp. It’s very clearly printed twice. But the other parts with black appear normal. So this stamp appears to have either doubled black imprint, or then it is some sort of KISS-imprint freak. But that’s not all… Take a look of picture below around the nominal value on the stamp. It appears as if the the top half of the numbers has shifted horizontally – for example the zero in “110″ is nowhere being round as it should be. And the number ones look more like letter “t” than number one. Additionally, there seems to be some kind of halo around the numbers.
Notice the areas highlighted with red arrows. The year imprint is clearly doubled, and the nominal value does not look normal at all.
Does anyone have enough expertize about German stamps or print methods to say what this is, and how on earth this might have born. Was there a wrinkle on the paper during the print process? Or what happened? Anyway, not a bad find from “box of junk”.
Want more?
Sign-up to weekly newsletter and get notified when new articles like the above are published at Stamp Collecting Blog. The email-newsletter is sent to You once a week (during the weekend) and it contains a summary of latest new entries and discussions.
Show that you liked this article - and support Stamp Collecting Blog!
Clicking the Like-button below promotes this article on FaceBook:
Clicking the +1 button below promotes this entry on Google and GooglePlus.
Thanks for your support!
Hi Keijo,
First of all, you will excuse my non ferfect english.
I read some times you articles and I noted that you give a big importance to the imperfections of stamps printing.
I am a graphic designer and a stamp collector.
I have an idea on printing techniques.
As colours are obtained by mixing basic inks, there can be some imperfection in the “juxtaposition” of basic colours.
Basic colours are: Cyan (bleu), Magenta (red), Yellow and Black.
Gold and silver are printed apart.
It depends on the skill of the printer and the requirement of the client.
When they print 100.000 stamps, some of them may be imperfect and not always they can be spotted.
The same problems you will find in your articles:
- How deep to go when building a collection?
- Great Britain 1967 3d Christmas stamp colour shift
If you give importance at theese details, you will have a dozen of each stamp.
First of all, you will excuse my non ferfect english.
Please, don’t worry about this. I’m not a native english speaker either.
If you give importance at theese details, you will have a dozen of each stamp.
I think this is an essential part of fun (or madness) collecting varieties (of any sorts).
I’m not sure how rare your copy is, but I just checked all 56 used copies of the 1998 set that I have and none of them had the flaw. I don’t know if you’re lucky or just a super collector!
@Greg… I’m definitely Super
And I think that a pair of sharp eyes helps a lot too
PS. I just wrote a short post about this on Michel’s forum (in German). Hopefully it will get some German collectors / specialists to share their opinions.
Great find! The 2009 Michel Deutschland Spezial catalog has no mention of it! Michel forum has of yet no mention of it. Hold onto it tight as it may end up in the Euro 200,00 column.
Hi Michael,
thanks for the additional information about Deutchland Spezial Katalog 2009… I’ll definitely keep good care of this one
Hello,
This Double print (DD Doppelbilddruck-schwarz) black is listed in the Philotax catalog (Abarten-Katalog Bund+Berlin dvd)1948/2008, number DE1846-003. No list price unfortunately…but a nice item to keep in your collection!
I have found so far 3 pcs of the Mi.1976 double print.
This double prints are not very rare, you can find DD on all Michel nr. 1974/1977. I have them all DD in my collection.
Hi Sjaak,
and thanks for the info. I guess this solves the doubled black imprint… Now there’s only the question of “ghosted” nominal value – have you seen it before?
Hi Keijo,
The “ghosted” nominal value is called a “displacement of coulours” in German “Passerverschiebung”..i hope i translate it right.
There are many “displacement of coulours” in the serie Mi.1974/1977 Most of them are not very strong but your stamp is a strong one. The one u found is not listed in a catalog.
Here is a picture of one of the stamps i have in my collection…not a very strong one.
http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo72/gerooide/playground/verschiebung1.jpg
Excellent information Sjaak.
And that is one fine specimen You’ve got too