German Empire
Offices in Morocco - Postmarks
ASIMMUR
Collecting postmarks of the German Empire post offices abroad can be educational AND rewarding.
Germans of the late 19th and early
20th Centuries loved to travel, with North Africa and the Mediterranean
being among their most popular destinations. For the specialist, the
availability of stamps, postcards, and postal history of these areas is
still pretty abundant.
Historically, European collectors prefer to collect postmarks,
either on cover or with the full cancel tied-to-piece. The prices in
the German postmark catalog are for these categories. That is not
absolutely necessary though. You can still find single, off cover
stamps, with fully discernible partial, or almost complete postmarks,
which would be a joy for most collectors to own, and they won't "break" your
budget. Just recently, I was out on the Germany eBay site looking at cancels, and I was surprised by the fact that many of the postmark lots being offered now are off-cover, single stamps!
Some
postmarks are very valuable, but the average worldwide collector or dealer has no
specialized knowledge of them, so there is a real opportunity here to
acquire some really nice postmarks at a minimal cost. Some great ways to find postmarked German Empire offices abroad and colonial stamps are from bourse dealers, local stamp stores, collection lots, and my favorite, American Philatelic Society sales circuits.
One word-of-warning! During the 20th Century some of the more expensive postmarks were forged, particularly those of Arsila! Some of the forged postmarks have come to light, as a result of the Blum Forgery Case. For more information, please follow this link to the
Blum Forgery Case
site. Solution? If you are buying a rare and expensive postmark, make sure it is properly authenticated!
For German Empire post offices in Morocco, the following town cancellations are known. These are the German language names, as they are spelled on the postmarks.
|
International Control Tanger Spanish Control Alkassar |
French Control Asimmur |
Here are some example postmarks:
 Arsila |
 Asimmur
|
 Casablanca
|
Fes
 Fes |
 Fes-Mellah |
 Larache |
 Marrakesch |
 Mazagan |
 Mogador |
 Mazagan |
 Meknes |
 Rabat |
 Saffi |
 Tanger |
 Tetuan |
Many of the postmarks exist with varying elements within the circular date stamps, some of which are very expensive varieties.
Prisoner of war and maritime postmarks also exist.
For anyone collecting or specializing in
the postmarks of the German Offices in Morocco, you MUST HAVE the
following specialized catalog.
"Deutsche Kolonien und Auslandspostämter Stempelkatalog",
published by the German Philatelic Federation. It contains
illustrations and descriptions for all known postmarks and postmark
varieties of the German Imperial post offices abroad and the German colonies, as
well as their prices, in Euros, both on cover and on piece. It also
contains listings for envelope transit markings, railway cancellations,
ship cancellations, and feldpost cancellations.
Copies of the book described above can be a bit difficult to locate.
The 2003 and 2009 editions are the ones most frequently encountered.
Here are some links to sites that currently have them for sale.
eBay - Germany Site - Lot Search
eBay - US Site - Lot Search
All of the products above, even on the US eBay site, are located in
Germany. Depending on the exchange rate with the EURO, the book will
cost the buyer up to about $50.00 US, plus airmail shipping from
Germany. This is a MOST WORTHWHILE INVESTMENT though.
eBay Auction and Store Links
German Colonies & Foreign Post Offices
The following links feature category-focused affiliated seller listings on various eBay sites worldwide. They may enable visitors to shop
for and to buy specific items for the
particular collecting subject they've just read about.
The
affiliated eBay seller auction lots provided by eBay,
Inc. are not the responsibility of the management of this
website. On high priced material, make sure the lots you are buying are properly authenticated.
Remember
that the lots on European eBay sites are priced in EUROS. Shipping
charges may be more, and the lots may take longer to arrive. Also, make
sure the foreign seller ships to your country, before bidding on or
buying his lot.
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