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PRUSSIA

Preussen - Prusse

Return To Catalogue - Prussia miscellaneous - Germany - Other German States - Numeral cancels or 'Ringstempel'

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One of the German States. A Kingdom in the north of Germany. The most important town is Berlin. It issued stamps from 1850 to 1867, it used the stamps of the North German confederation afterwards.

1850 King Frederick William IV, Imperforated

  4 Pfenninge green (note extra 'n' in 'Pfenninge')
  1/2 (Silbergroschen), Sechs Pfennige orange
  1 Ein Silbergr black on lilac
  1 Ein Silbergr red
  2 Zwei Silbergr black on blue
  2 Zwei Silbergr blue
  3 Drei Silbergr black on yellow
  3 Drei Silbergr yellow

For the specialist: the 4 p green, 1/2 s orange, 1 s black on red, 2 s black on blue, 3 s black on yellow were printed with watermark 'laurel wreath' in 1850/56. The 4 p green, 1/2 s orange, 1 s red, 2 s blue and 3 s yellow were issued without watermark (1856/57). All values exist with a background of crossed lines behind the king. The 1 s red, 2 s blue and 3 s yellow were also printed with a solid background behind the king (in 1857, all without watermark). The first stamps were designed by Eduard Eichens (the 4 pf and later coloured ones by Schilling) and printed in sheets of 150 (15 rows of 10 stamps).

Watermark 'Laurel wreath' on 3 s black on yellow.

The stamps from 1857 and 1858-60 have a white underprint which can turn grey and become visible as in the above stamp.

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Some typical cancellations:

(Stamps with solid background)

(Reduced size, box cancel or 'Kastenstempel' with Dusseldorf)

'HAMBURG BAHNHOF' cancel on a stamp of Prussia

(Reduced size, '1285' cancel, Saarbrucken)

The numerical cancellations range from number 1 to 1995. More common are Aachen (nr 1), Barmen (nr 70), Berlin (nrs 103 to 107), Bochum (nr 146), Bremen (nr 182), Breslau (nr 183, 184), Danzig (nr 304), Deutz (nr 316), Duisburg (nr 358), Dusseldorf (nr 359), Elberfeld (nr 373), Erfurt (nr 386), Essen (nr 396), Halberstadt (nr 571), Halle (nr 572, 573), Hamburg (nr 578), Iserlohn (nr 686), Kattowitz (nr 703), Konigsberg (nr 742), Liegnitz (nr 852), Magdeburg (nr 906, 907), Marienwerder (nr 920), Memel (nr 931), Minden (nr 953), Muhlhausen (nr 973), Munster (nr 982), Neuss (nr 1025), Nordhausen (nr 1065), Perleberg (nr 1134), Posen (nr 1158), Potsdam (nr 1159), Ratibor (nr 1200), Saarbrucken (nr 1285), Siegen (nr 1395), Solingen (nr 1407), Stettin (nr 1439), Wesel (nr 1617), Wetzlar (nr 1625), Wittenberg (nr 1655 ) and Zeitz (nr 1697). The numbers 1 to 1725 were given in alphabetical order. Click also here for more information on these 'Ringstempel'.

Remainders:

The stamp dealer Julius Goldner of Hamburg acquired a large amount (30,000 pieces of each value) of the remaindes of the next ealge issue for 1000 Thalers in 1869 (source Ohrt, Handbuch der Neudrucke). Besides the remainders of the eagle issue, Goldner also acquired 864 stamps of this issue and 3630 envelopes. These 864 stamps and the envelopes were resold to Moens of Brussels by him in the same year.
Since Goldner now did not possess any of the older issues of Prussia anymore, he suggested to the authorities in Berlin to pay another 1000 Thaler to the 'Kaiser Wilhelm Stiftung', a charity organisation, in return for reprints of this issue. This is the second 1873 reprint mentioned below.

Reprints:

Two different kinds of reprints exist of the values 4 p, 1/2 Sgr, 1 Sgr black on red, 2 Sgr black on blue and 3 Sgr black on yellow (1864 and 1873). The 4 p 1864 reprint is yellowish green, the reprints of the other stamps made in 1864 have similar colours as the original stamps. All 1864 reprints have no watermark. The 1873 reprint has a watermark, but the paper is greyish and thicker than the originals. According to Ohrt 75,000 reprints were made of the 4 and 6 pf and 30,000 of the 3 sgr values. The 1864 reprint issue is known to have been used postally. Examples of such reprints:

(The 2 Sgr reprint has a forged cancel)

(Reprints)

Reprints also exist of the 1 Sgr red, 2 Sgr blue and 3 Sgr yellow (all with solid background). They can easily be distinguished because they have only one dot behind the word 'SILBERGR', the original stamps have two dots behind this word.

Reprint with forged '258' (Coln or Cologne) cancel

In 1927 some forged cancels were applied to these reprints in Paris. The following cancels were forged: '155' (Bonn), '258' (Coln), '1008' (Neuenrade), '1042' (Neuwied) and '1520' (Trier) (source: Ohrt; 'Handbuch der Neudrucke').

Some 'reprints' were also made in 1965, 1966 and 1967 for stamp exhibitions in Gladbeck and Wattenscheid (4 identical stamps on one minisheet). The 1 sgr black on red has the numeral cancel '396', the 2 sgr black on blue the cancel '205' (1966) and the 3 sgr black on yellow the cancel '1590' (1967). A '3 JAHRE VIGNETTEN BLOCKS' was also issued with all three stamps on one minisheet.

The Permanentes Handbuch der Postfreimarkenkunde Erster Teil Deutsche Staaten, Abschnitt XIII: Preussen by Hugo Krötzsch (1896), page 121 (585) says that the second reprint of 1873 was initiated by the stamp dealer Julius Goldner of Hamburg.

Forgeries:

I"ve been told that the next stamps are forgeries. I have no further information at the moment:

(Forgeries)

A very dubious 4 pf stamp with the head of the King different; probably a forgery.

Some other primitive forgeries.

In the Permanentes Handbuch der Postfreimarkenkunde Erster Teil Deutsche Staaten, Abschnitt XIII: Preussen by Hugo Krötzsch (1896), page 26, we can read the forger Georges Fouré tried to sell rare misprints 3 sgr black on red, instead of black on yellow. He also had pair of these 'misprints' which were only 'discovered' in 1881. Krotzsch quotes the stamp dealer Moens who remarks that the yellow color can easily be removed and replaced by red.

A 'reprint' made in 1965 for the ASSINDIA in Essen.

1861/67 Arms of Prussia

Eagle in an octagonal with value in the 4 corners

  3 Pfenninge lilac
  4 Pfenninge green
  6 Pfenninge orange

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Eagle in an ellipse

  1 Silbergr red
  2 Silbergr blue
  3 Silbergr brown

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Eagle in an octagonal, value in KREUZER (1867)

   (issued for the Thurn and Taxis territories in the south)
  1 Kreuzer green
  2 Kreuzer orange
  3 Kreuzer red
  6 Kreuzer blue
  9 Kreuzer brown

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

The 1 sgr, 2 sgr, 3 sgr, 3 kr, 6 kr, and 9 kr were issued in colors corrresponding to the German-Austrian Postal Union convention.

Don't confuse these stamps with cuts from envelopes (see also under envelopes):

The perforation of these stamps (no holes):

Special cancel used in Berlin: 'Franco Stadtbrf.':

Remainders:

The stamp dealer Julius Goldner of Hamburg acquired a large amount (30,000 pieces of each value) of the remaindes of these stamps for 1000 Thalers in 1869. The rest of the remainders was made into recycled paper (source Ohrt, Handbuch der Neudrucke). Besides the remainders of the eagle issue, Goldner also acquired 864 stamps of the previous issues and 3630 envelopes. These 864 stamps and the envelopes were resold to Moens of Brussels by him in the same year.

Illegal reprints:

The forger Georges Foure managed to make illegal reprints of these stamps (all pfennige and silbergroschen stamps) without perforation. He applied forged cancels (for example 'DT:CRONE 5 * 1' in a rectangle or 'DAHLHAUSEN' in a circle) and sold them as great rarities. These forgeries also exist on letters. He also produced an 'essay' 2 Sgr red (this essay does not exist in reality). Source: Paul Ohrt, Handbuch der Neudrucke'.
In the Permanentes Handbuch der Postfreimarkenkunde Erster Teil Deutsche Staaten, Abschnitt XIII: Preussen by Hugo Krötzsch (1896), page 62 (526), we can read that the forger Fouré had written in the Berl. Ill. Phil. Zeit. (1881):
„Es steht fest, dass im Jahre 1866 im Wirrwarr (!) der politischen Ereignisse auch gänzlich undurchstochene , also geschnittene Marken mit untergelaufen sind; wenigstens sind bis jetzt (?) die Werte 3. 4 und 6 Pfg., 1, 3 Sgr. bekannt. Ich selbst besitze die Werte 3, 4, 6 Pfg , 1 u. 3 Sgr. in Reihen auf Briefen entwertet. Da ich diese Marken jedoch als seltene Ausnahmen betrachten kann, mache ich aus ihnen keine eigene Ausgabe und überlasse dies den Handbüchern."
On page 90 (554) of the same handbook Krotzsch also mentions that Foure had reported imperforated Kreuzer values.

Forgeries:

A postal forgery of the 2 Sgr blue stamp could exist, it was used in Halle. However, according to http://www.bdph.de/kdb/fileadmin/PDF_Dateien/postschaden.pdf, this might be badly printed original stamps.

The so-called Halle postal forgery, or 'Hallenser - Fälschung'

A forgery of the 4 p stamp (no embossing and a modern 'BERLIN' cancel).

Not sure what is this exactly, an inverted image of the 6 p orange.

1866 Value in an ellipse or a rectangle, printed on the backside of very thin tranparent paper

  10 Sgr red
  30 Sgr blue

The image is printed inverted on these stamps, such that the real design can be seen from the backside of the stamp. These stamps were designed by the engraver Schilling (the same Schilling that got involved in the Foure schandal). These stamps were used up to the end of February 1869 (source: "The stamps of the German States" by B.W.H.Poole).

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

These stamps are often in a terrible condition, since trying to remove the stamps from the cover will leave part of the design on the envelope.....:

A badly lithographed forgery of the 30 Sgr is described in Album Weeds.

Forgery described in Album Weeds. The letters are all quite badly done. The ornaments left and right of the 'PREUSSEN' lable are different. This forgery is also described in Handbuch der Postfreimarkenkunde from Hugo Krotzsch Erster Teil Deutsche Staaten Preussen: page 135 (1896). A forgery of the 10 Sgr should also exist according to the book of Krotzsch.

Most of the Prussian stamps became invalid on 31 December 1867 (except the 10 g and 30 g).

Remainders (see also above)

According to "The stamps of the German States" by B.W.H.Poole, the stamp dealer Goldner obtained many of the remainders of Prussia for an amount of 1,000 Thalers. Among them a few of the earlier issues (less than 100 each) and more of the arms issue:
30,000 stamps of the 4 pf, 6 pf, 1 sgr, 2 sgr and 3 sgr values each of the 1861 issue.
30,000 stamps of the 3 pf value of 1865.
30,000 each of the 1 kr, 2 kr, 3 kr, 6 kr and 9 kr stamps of the 1867 Kreuzer issue.

Goldner also bought 10,000 envelopes of Prussia and 270,000 remainders of Schleswig Holstein.

The earlier issues were bought by Moens from Goldner.

Copyright by Evert Klaseboer