Frequently Asked Questions
Germany - Third Reich - FAQ
I would like to purchase a Third Reich stamp album but can not find any advertised or listed anywhere.
To get a book for just Third Reich
would be kind of hard. Scott makes albums for Germany, but they don't
sell the specific year sections out of the pages.
You can buy the 1933-45 pages from Lighthouse and buy a spring-back binder to put them in. The occupations, etc. are also available from Lighthouse, but they are a different page group that has to be purchased separately. This option could get very expensive though.
For a particular era,
like this one, the best idea might be to get a large Lighthouse or
Lindner stockbook and arrange your stamps and covers the way you want to
on the stock pages. There are probably a lot of them available from
supplies dealers at reasonable prices. The best type is usually the
ones with the heavy black pages and clear slides --- that way, your
stamps aren't obscured. You can also print supporting information on
white cards or paper cutouts and display them in the stockbook album, as
well. With this solution, your collection always "looks" complete, as
well.
Follow-up:
I found a couple specialty albums on the internet ...
Here's a beautiful set of pages on three hole punched card stock paper that will fit into any US style three ring binder. They look very similar to the White Ace album brand, and you could probably get a blank White Ace binder for them.
Link to T.R. Specialty Pages #1
Here's another set that is punched for the ring style Scott binders. You would have to buy a blank Scott specialty binder for these though.
Link to T.R. Specialty Pages #2
I'm ... keenly interested in Third Reich material. Any recommendations really appreciated, as far as how to acquire quality material for this era.
Unless
there are full-service stamp shops around you, where you can browse
through collections, eBay would probably be the best place to look. You
could start by searching for a small collection or by buying multiple
stamp lots. The Third Reich material between 1939 and 1945 is plentiful
and relatively inexpensive (mint hinged), so that would be a good place
to begin.
The US eBay Germany category is a hodge-podge of everything, with no
sub-categories. You might narrow it down better by searching for a
particular year or the name of the stamp issue.
You
can also get nice German material off of Delcampe (a Belgian site) and
off of the Germany eBay site. I have used these many times, as they
provide an opportunity for buying individual stamps and many specialty
items not listed in the Scott Catalogs. Remember though that the
bidding is in Euros ( 1 Euro = 1.40 USD ) and the shipping costs can be a
bit expensive. It doesn't cost anything to register and buy with
Delcampe. Your US eBay ID and Password will also work with the German
eBay site.
You might actually find some of the scarcer items on the foreign auction
sites for sale cheaper than on the US site. US dealers sometimes
over-charge for some of the high end material, especially if they price
their stamps based on the Michel Catalog prices. Most European dealers
sell stamps for a small percentage of the Michel Catalog values,
especially lightly hinged material.
Another thing on the foreign sites is that the lot descriptions are in German and sometimes in French or Dutch. The foreign sites generally use either the Michel or Yvert catalog numbers. You can usually get around that, if you don't have a German catalog, by searching on the year the stamp was issued. Here's a good language translator, that you can copy and paste to from the lot descriptions. If you're going to specialize in Third Reich though, it may be a good idea to get a nice used copy of the Michel Deutschland Katalog or the Michel Deutschland Spezialkatalog Volume I. As you progress, you will probably find the Scott Catalog listings unsuitable for specialization.
Make absolutely sure you understand the lot description and shipping terms. Case in point ... I bought a MINT 20+10 Rpf. Wagner perforated 14 stamp, with a certificate, from a German dealer, for about 50 Euros. When I got it in the mail, I noticed that it had a tiny thin spot at the top. I then checked the description, and it clearly stated that the stamp had a tiny thin both in the description and in the photo of the certificate. So that experience was MY fault for not being thorough, before I bought the stamp.
Some of the trade magazines have advertisements for specialty German dealers, many with websites. Going this way though, you probably won't find any bargains. One of the BIG ones is Richard Pyznar, in New Jersey. Here's a link to order a catalog ....
Link to Richard Pyznar Information
The "Quality" word in the question can be scary. If you are implying "Postfrisch", "Post Office Fresh", meaning NEVER HINGED, even the common Third Reich material will cost a LOT more. The mark-up can be from about 300 to 500 percent of the hinged value, depending on the issue. All of the sites contain never hinged listings, but the German site would be best for the high end stuff. It will cost a fortune though .... to most Germanic collectors, a hinged stamp is a "damaged" stamp, so collecting lightly hinged stamps would be a much better bargain.
One
other thing to be careful about .... Collecting Third Reich memorabilia
is very popular, worldwide, and a lot of internet sites inflate the
prices of their material, in order to take advantage of un-knowing
enthusiasts. I have seen Third Reich stamps out there, that catalog
only a few cents each, that the seller is asking $10.00 for, and the sad
thing is that people are actually buying these items.
Hello, I'm interested in knowing how much this stamp is worth? The one showing Adolf Hitler on your site in brown and beige colors, a 1944 commemorative stamp. It has on top 30 JANUAR 1944 with Hitler profiled side ways, with the flag waving showing the swastika on the flag, and the eagle next to the flag carrying a swastika on his claws. On his left shoulder, bottom right of stamp GROSSDEUTSCHES REICH. My stamp is in mint condition, never hinged, no cancellation marks, very well preserved. I kindly appreciate your time in this matter and would like to know how much it is worth and how much in demand is it, if I were to sell it.
The
stamp you refer to is Scott #B252 / Michel #865. The Third Reich
stamps of the 1940’s have a purpose as historical mementos, but many
millions of them were printed and they are, with few exceptions, very
common today.
The Scott Catalog value for a never-hinged example is $0.80. A lightly-hinged one catalogs $0.25. The Michel Catalog (German) value for the never-hinged stamp is even less, at about $0.40, converted to US Dollars. The stamp would retail for about $0.40 or $0.50. It would have little wholesale value, unless it was part of a larger collection of German stamps.
There
are dealers on the internet that charge very high prices for these
types of stamps, but they are taking advantage of people that collect
Nazi memorabilia and that are unaware of the real philatelic value of
the stamps.
(Submitted
by Vic from Wales) Can you please help identify a German Third Reich
stamp I have acquired recently. It looks like a revenue stamp or
official. Approx 19mm x 15mm with perforations. Blue in color white
center with 2 Red Swastikas and a symbol resembling the letter A. Along
the top edge are the letters N.S.D.A.P. along the lower edge is 50 PFENNIG.
The
N.S.D.A.P. is the German Abbreviation for “Nationalsozialistische
Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi
Party)” ... The “SA” in the middle stands for “ Sturmabteilung”, which
was a paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party (Storm Troopers). The SA was
instrumental in the Nazis’ rise to power in their early days in Munich.
I don’t have a catalog for these ... there
are many similar Third Reich revenue stamps around, mostly from mint
condition stocks left over after the war. It is a Nazi party membership
dues (revenue) stamp.
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Germany - Third Reich - FAQ
