New Austria stamps, inscribed "Deutschösterreich", began to appear in the middle of 1919. The large number of definitive postage and newspaper stamps primarily featured symbolic allegorical vignettes.
For the specialist, this group of stamps offers many plate and die varieties, as well as proofs, trial color proofs, perforation errors, and shade varieties, not to mention stamps with inverted centers.
The new major-type definitive postage Austria stamps shown above were issued between 1919 and 1920. There are quite a few listed shade varieties for some of these new Austria stamps, with a few of them being quite expensive.
The common designs feature a Post Horn, the Austrian Coat of Arms, and an allegory of the new Republic of German Austria.
The catalog details, for stamps that are perforated 12 1/2 and printed on ordinary paper, are as follows.
The catalog details, for stamps that are perforated 12 1/2 and printed on thick grayish paper, are as follows.
The catalog details, for stamps that are imperforate and printed on ordinary paper, are as follows.
The new major-type high-denomination definitive postage Austria stamps shown above were issued between 1919 and 1921.
The common design of these new stamps features the Parliament Building in Vienna.
The catalog attributes, for stamps that are perforated 12 1/2, are as follows.
The catalog attributes, for stamps that are perforated 11 1/2, are as follows.
The catalog attributes, for stamps that are perforated 11 1/2 x 12 1/2, are as follows.
The nineteen newspaper stamps shown above were issued in 1920 and 1921. They were all typographed and imperforate.
The common design features the facing head of Mercury, the ancient Roman messenger of the gods.
Many publishers had the imperforate sheets privately perforated, to make them easier to separate. These privately perforated stamps are rather common and inexpensive.
The catalog attributes, for Austria stamps on normal white paper, are as follows.
The catalog attributes, for Austria stamps on thick grayish paper, are as follows.
The new vertical format high-denomination definitive Austria stamps shown above were issued during 1920 and 1921.
The catalog attributes, for Austria stamps on normal white paper, are as follows.
The catalog attributes, for Austria stamps on thick grayish paper, are as follows.
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Return to Austria Stamps of the First Republic
from Issues of 1919-1921
It was often the case with early 20th Century bi-colored stamps that a dual printing mistakes would happen! Inevitably, someone at the printing company was going to take a sheet from the plate used to print the first color and place it upside down on the plate used to print the second color. In most cases, the quality control people at the printing company would discover these error sheets and destroy them. But in rare cases, some of them DID make their way to post offices.
And it happened in German Austria -- what the German language catalogs refer to as "Kopfstehende", or literally "standing on its head"!
The three scans above came from the online catalog of a major auction house. Based on their realizations, forget the catalog prices on these.
The 2 Kr. (Mi. #284K, Sc. #219a) and 4 Kr. (Mi. #287K, Sc. #222a) denominations are occasionally obtainable, for the collector that doesn't mind spending a thousand dollars or more a single stamp. The 20 Kr. (Mi. #291K, Sc. #226a) denomination, if one can be located for sale, will cost the collector about the price of a new, high-end model Mercedes Benz!