The Province of Saxony was
created within the Soviet zone in 1945 by merging Merseburg,
Magdeburg, and the state of Anhalt to form a single province. The new
province had three administrative districts, with those being Magdeburg,
Merseburg, and Dessau.
In 1947, this
province was renamed to Saxony-Anhalt, and in 1949, it
became a state within the new German Democratic Republic.
These seven new
definitive postage stamps for Province Saxony shown above (Mi. #66-72, Sc. #13N1a-7a) were issued between October and December 1945.
These new stamps featured the arms of Province Saxony and they were printed on paper with a zigzag lines watermark. There are two types of the watermark.
As
was the case in East Saxony, some postmasters had their new stocks of
imperforate stamp sheets privately perforated or rouletted, to
facilitate their separation at post offices. The private perforation
gauge was usually about 11 1/2. This resulted in many varieties of
these stamps, most of which are very scarce. Please consult the Michel
Deutschland-Spezial-Katalog for detailed listings of them.
Beginning in November
1945, the Soviet zone Province Saxony added new denomination stamps to the
arms definitive series and began issuing the stamps with perforation
gauge 13 x 12 1/2. All of them, except for the 1 Pf. denomination stamp, are shown above (Mi. #73-85, Sc. #13N1-12).
The same zigzag lines watermark varieties exist for these perforated stamps, but, with only one exception, they are all common.
The two stamps shown
above (Mi. #85-86, Sc. #13N13-14) were issued on December 17, 1945 to publicize Land Reform in
Province Saxony. The stamps feature a farmer using a horse-drawn plow.
These stamps were all issued imperforate and on unwatermarked paper.
As
was the case with the imperforate definitive stamps, some postmasters
had sheets of these privately perforated and rouletted, as well.
On
February 21, 1946, this Land Reform set was re-issued on thin,
transparent paper that was watermarked large letters. The new stamps
were perforated 13 x 13 1/2. The Michel Catalog refers to the paper
used for the re-issued stamps (Mi. #90-91, Sc. #13N15-16) as cigarette paper!
The stamps shown in the
two images above (Mi. #87A-89A, #87B-89B, Sc. #13NB1-3, #13NB1a-3a) were issued to publicize and raise money for
reconstruction. The perforated stamps were issued on January 19, 1946,
and the imperforate stamps were issued on February 21, 1946.
The stamp designs feature symbolic motifs of housing construction, bridge construction, and industrial manufacturing.
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Return to Allied Occupation Stamps from
Soviet Zone - Province Saxony - 1945-1946