German states stamps for the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen were first issued in 1855.
The state of Bremen consists of two enclaves, Bremen, which is the state capital, and the port city of Bremerhaven. The two cities are located on the Weser River, which connects to the North Sea. The city-state of Bremen is completely surrounded by the German state of Lower Saxony.
Bremen stamps, which are
mostly scarce to rare, can be divided into the three groups, the first
issues being imperforate, the second group of issues being rouletted,
and the last group being perforated.
The scarcity and high prices of
the Bremen postage stamps are somewhat odd, as at the time the first stamps were
issued, Bremen was a thriving city of about 122,000 residents.
All of the stamps of Bremen, though slightly different in frame design, depict the arms of the city-state, consisting of a key over a shield with a crown above.
The four Bremen stamps shown above were issued between 1855 and 1860. The 3 Gr. denomination was printed on horizontally laid or vertically laid paper, and the other denominations were printed on wove paper. They are all unwatermarked and imperforate.
Some examples of the 3 Gr. denomination can be found with traces of a marginal paper maker's watermark, consisting of lilies. They are rare.
The 3 Gr. denomination comes in three sub-types, as follows:
The 5 Gr. denomination comes in two sub-types, as follows:
The catalog attributes, for major varieties, are as follows:
Between 1858 and 1860, a variety of the 5 Gr. stamp
was printed, utilizing the inscription "Franco Marken", instead of the
"Franco Marke" used on the regular 5 Gr. stamp. This variety was never actually
issued. There are many of this un-issued variety around, and they are
not expensive, thus - this is THE ONLY AFFORDABLE BREMEN STAMP for many
collecting budgets!
The stamp is shown in the image above (Mi. #I, Sc. #2b).
The five Bremen stamps shown above were issued between 1862 and 1864. The 3 Gr. denomination was printed on horizontally laid or vertically laid paper, and the other denominations were printed on wove paper. They are all unwatermarked and serpentine rouletted 16.
The catalog attributes, for major varieties, are as follows:
The six Bremen stamps shown above were issued between 1866 and 1867. The 3 Gr. denomination was printed on laid paper, and the other denominations were printed on wove paper. They are all unwatermarked and line perforated 13.
The catalog attributes, for major varieties, are as follows:
There
are many paper and color varieties on all the German states stamps of
Bremen which would make for an interesting, though expensive,
philatelic study.
There are also many excellent 19th Century forgeries of these stamps, as well as fake cancellations on these stamps. The stamps shown in the images above are authenticated examples.
The stamps of Bremen were replaced by those of the North German Confederation on January 1, 1868.
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