GERMANY Airmail

Return To Catalogue - Germany Overview

Note: on my website many of the pictures can not be seen! They are of course present in the cd's;
contact me if you want to purchase them: evert@klaseboer.com.

1912 Air mail, inscription 'ERSTE DEUTSCHE LUFTPOST'

  10 p brown on yellow
  20 p brown on yellow
  30 p green on yellow

Overprinted 'Gelber Hund'

  '- 1 M. -' on 10 p brown on yellow

Overprinted 'E.EL.P.'

  10 p brown on yellow
  20 p brown on yellow

These stamps are perforated 11 1/2.

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
10 p	**	R
20 p	**	***
30 p	**	***
'Gelber Hund'
1 M on 10 p	R	***
'E.EL.P'
10 p	***	R
20 p	***	R

On envelope:

Forgeries:

(Peter Winter forgeries)

Both stamps with 'E.E.L.P.' overprint and the one with 'Gelber Hund' have been forged by Peter Winter. In all his forgeries that I have seen the word 'COPY' is printed at the bottom of the stamp. I have also seen a postcard with one of his forgeries:

(Forged postcard adressed to: 'Walter Kunath Leipzig C1 Humboldsstrasse 2a')

The position of the stamp, cancels and adress varies from forgery to forgery.

I have also seen forgeries without the word 'COPY' at the bottom (from the same source?).

I have also seen modern Hialeah forgeries of these stamps, made with a scanner and printer. The quality of these forgeries is very bad.

1919 Airmail issue

  10 p orange (posthorn with wings)
  40 p green (aeroplane)

These stamps are perforated 14 1/2.

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
10 p	vc	c
40 p	vc	c

1922 Air mail, dove ('Holztaube'), inscription 'Deutsche Flugpost'

50 p orange
(Reduced size)

  5 p green (1924)
  10 p red (1924)
  20 p blue (1924)
  25 p brown
  40 p orange
  50 p violet
  50 p orange (1924)
  60 p red
  80 p green
  100 p lilac (1924)
  200 p blue (1924)
  300 p grey (1924)
 
Larger size (some with coloured underprint)

  1 M dark green and green
  2 M red and grey
  3 M violet and grey
  5 M orange and yellow
  5 M orange
  10 M lilac and red
  10 M lilac
  25 M brown and yellow
  25 M brown
  100 M olive and orange
  100 M olive
  200 M violet

These stamps have perforation 14 (Pfennig values) or 13 x 13 1/2 (Mark values). The watermark is 'Crossed Lines' (Waffeln).

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
Small sizes
5 p	*	c	1924
10 p	*	*	1924
20 p	*	*	1924
25 p	c	*
40 p	c	*
50 p violet	c	*
50 p orange	**	**	1924
60 p	c	*
80 p	c	*
100 p	***	***	1924
200 p	***	***	1924
300 p	***	R	1924 Exists imperforte
Large size
1 M	vc	c
2 M	vc	c
3 M	vc	c
5 M orange and yellow	vc	c	Yellow underprint
5 M orange	c	c
10 M lilac and red	c	c	Red underprint
10 M lilac	vc	c
25 M brown and yellow	c	c	Yellow underprint
25 M brown	vc	c
100 M olive and orange	c	c	Orange underprint
100 M olive	vc	c
200 M	vc	c	Exists imperforate: R

The above overprint is unlisted 'Frankfurter Fruhjahrs Fluge 1925'. It might be a private overprint. I have also seen the 10 M lilac with this overprint.

Two imperforate 200 M stamps

1926 Eagle, ready to take off

3 M black and olive, 1926 issue

  5 p green
  10 p red
  15 p lilac (1927)
  20 p blue
  50 p brown
  1 M black and red
  2 M black and blue
  3 M black and olive

I've seen the values 15 p and 10 p printed side by side. I've also seen the value 20 p printed tete-beche.

Postal stationary: I have seen a 'Luftpostkarte' (airmail card) in the 15 p lilac design.

1928 Zeppelin stamps

Famous are also the so-called Zeppelin stamps with inscription 'DEUTSCHE LUFTPOST'

  1 M red (1931)
  2 M blue
  4 M olive

With overprint '1. Sudamerika Fahrt' (1930)

  2 M blue
  4 M olive

With overprint 'POLARFAHRT 1931'

  1 M red
  2 M blue
  4 M olive

With overprint 'Chicagofahrt Weltausstellung 1933'

  1 M red
  2 M blue
  4 M olive

Many forgeries exist, for example the forger Peter Winter has made forgeries of these stamps. Some forgeries have the inscription 'Faksimile' or similar text below the stamp, others have 'Privater Nachdruck' printed on the back.

Most forgeries have perforation that does not 'match' in the corners. Also some have the watermark printed on it.

I possess a private reprint in the form of a minisheet made for the '2.Internationale Briefmarken-Messe' in Essen (1978). On this minisheet the three values 1 M, 2 M and 4 M can be found with overprint '2. Internationale Briefmarken-Messe' on the 1 M, 'Europatag der Philatelie 1978' on the 2 M and 'I.F.S.D.A. Tagung 1978' on the 4 M. All three stamps are in the original colours.

1934 Eagle flying in front of globe, inscription 'Deutsche Luftpost'

  5 p green
  10 p red
  15 p blue
  20 p dark blue
  25 p brown
  40 p lilac
  50 p dark green
  80 p yellow
  100 p black

1934 Famous persons, inscription 'Deutsche Luftpost'

  2 RM green and black (Otto Lilienthal)
  3 RM blue and black (Graf Zeppelin)

1936 Zeppelin flying over ocean, inscription 'Deutsche Luftpost'

  50 p blue
  75 p green

1938 Man in Zeppelin and Zeppelin viewed from below

  25 p blue (man)
  50 p green (Zeppelin viewed from below)

1949 Airmail label, inscription 'PAR AVION DEUTSCHE LUFTPOST'

1955 Wing with shadow, inscription 'DEUTSCHE BUNDESPOST LUFTHANSA'

  5 p lilac and black
  10 p green and black
  15 p blue and black
  20 p red and black

Phantasy rocket mail

1937 Inscription '1. DEUTSCHER RAKETENFLUG 1934 ZU GUNSTEN DES WINTERHILFES', rocket

  1/2 M brown and blue
  1 M grey and orange
  3 M grey and black
  3 M red and black (I've seen these stamps tete-beche)

These are pure phantasy stamps.

Semi-Official Airmail (Halb amtliche Flugpost)

1912 Flugpost Gotha

  10 p violet

I have seen this stamp on a postcard with handstamped 'G. Schlegel' (supposed to imitate the pilot's signature), used on 25th July 1912. Only 500 stamps are known to have been used.

1913 Bork-Bruck

(This label has an empty space in the middle for a normal postage stamp, inscription 'FLUGPOST BORK BRUCK')

Only 90 of the above lables were issued.

(inscription 'Lufverkehr Bork-Bruck Verkehrs-V.Bork')

Forgeries exist (both perforated and imperforate), example:

(Forgery, reduced size)

Besides the two above labels, another label seems to have been issued picturing a letter with wings and inscription 'DURCH DIE LUFT VERK - VER - BORK'.

Leipzig 1912

'MARGARETEN VOLKSFEST LEIPZIG 18 MAI 1912 FLUGPOSTMARKE 50 Pf', probably genuine

I have also seen the above stamp with perforation.

1924 Junkers - Luftverkehr Berlin - Angora

(Genuine stamp, only 1000 stamps were issued)

(Forgery of this stamp)

Miscellaneous

2 p Germania stamp with cancel 'LUFTPOST ZEPPELIN-SCHIFF VIKTORIA - LUISE * 18 7. 13*'