During 1919, huge sets of Bavarian stamps of the Ludwig III design were issued, both perforated and imperforate, with surcharges, with overprints for the People's Republic, and with overprints for the Republic.
One could correctly assume that with all these
overprinted stamps, some of the sheets would leave the printing plant
with missing overprints. In most cases, the stamps with missing
overprints, would be impossible to tell from the same denominations
issued without overprints between 1912 and 1916. There are exceptions
though, and these varieties are highly sought after by specialists.
"Volksstaat Bayern" Issues
There are two denominations of the "Volksstaat Bayern"
set of Bavarian stamps that were never issued as unoverprinted stamps.
They are the 35 Pf. in orange and the 75 Pf. in red brown. These two
denominations, without the overprint, are errors and collectible
varieties.
The missing overprint varieties
of these two denominations exist both perforated and imperforate. The
35 Pf. is the scarcer of the two perforated varieties, and the 75 Pf. is
the scarcer of the two imperforate varieties. A pair of the
imperforate 35 Pf. is shown above (Mi. #134 B I, Sc. #164a).
"Freistaat Bayern" Issues
There is only one denomination of the "Freistaat
Bayern" set that was never issued without the overprint. It is the 75
Pf. in olive bister. This denomination, without the overprint, exists
only in the imperforate set. It is an error and a collectible variety.
An image of the imperforate 75 Pf. denomination is shown above (Mi. #146 F, Sc. #223a).
There
are some other collectible overprint varieties of this set, as well.
The 3 Pf. perforated stamp and the 10 Pf. imperforate stamp can be
collected in pairs, with one of the stamps missing the overprint. Among
them are double overprints, inverted overprints, and partial overprints
to be found on other denominations of this series.
"Freistaat Bayern" Re-valued Issues
At the end of 1919, Bavarian 1 Mk. stamps of the
Ludwig III design were printed in new colors, overprinted "Freistaat
Bayern", and surcharged with new values. They were issued both
perforated and imperforate, and they are the 1.25 Mk. on 1 Mk. yellow
green, the 1.50 Mk. on 1 Mk. orange, and the 2.50 Mk. on 1 Mk. gray.
Imperforate missing overprint stamps of this issue, as they are in
unique colors, are errors and collectible varieties.
Pairs of the imperforate orange and gray one Mark stamps are shown in the images above (Mi. #174 B I, #176 B I, Sc. #235a-36a). The imperforate yellow green stamp, with the missing overprint / surcharge, is very scarce.
Both
the perforated and imperforate stamps also exist with surcharges and
missing overprints, with misplaced surcharges and overprints, and with
double surcharges and overprints.
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Bavarian Stamps - Missing Overprint Varieties - 1919