This site is all about my passion for collecting the postal history involving the German emergency provisional issued stamps from September - December 1923. Here you'll find information about my collection, and scans of items I've acquired over the years. All catalogue numbers quoted are from Michel Deutschland Spezial Band 1. Clicking on images opens a new browser window allowing a better scan of the cover being viewed.

Latest Acquisition.

Above is a parcel card sent from Wathlingen to Erfurt, canceled, 28.11.23. this being the period when stamps were sold at four times face value. Face franking is 180 Milliarden Marks which when taken at four times face was actually 720 Milliarden Marks. This was the correct rate for an Inland distance parcel up to 7 Kg weight & traveling up to 375 Km distance. Stamps are from the OPD Hannover and are all Walzendruck. The lower margin attached is rare as Hannover was one of the OPD's which removed all upper and lower sheet margins.







Examples of parcel cards from late November 1923 are very rare.

In this area, I have put a picture of one of my most prized possessions. How I came by this item is described below. It is one of Inflations greatest rarities --Please note nothing shown on this site is for sale !

Largest known multiple franking of Michel 333 W.

This is the story about my most prized possession. It ranks as the highlight find of my career as a collector. (Everyone likes to hear about those flea market finds!) You know the ones where you buy something and with a little research it soon becomes apparent you have something special.

The story begins with a telephone call I received at 0530 one morning from a friend in Germany. My friend has some heart problems and when he asked me to go online as fast as possible I feared he was having a heart attack. Within seconds I was online and asked what was wrong ? But he simply was calling to ask if he should buy a cover for me he had seen at a "Flohmarkt", (flea market). He had a cell phone picture but it was of poor quality. All I could make out was a mass franking and the date of the cancel. None the less it was a cover from December 1923 and that period is always searched for. I decided to take a chance and asked that he buy the cover at the best price possible. This he duly did and once purchased he sent me better quality scans. Even now though I was unsure if the stamps were of the, "Plattendruck" (flat plate printing) or "Walzendruck" (cylinder printing) type.

A high resolution scan soon enabled me to determine that the cover was indeed franked with 40 copies of the Walzendruck type and each stamp alone was quite scarce and such a mass franking on cover should prove to be extremely rare.

Confirmation of this item being unique was confirmed by Herr Dieter Weinbuch, BPP who is a recognized German Inflation period expertizer.