Return To Catalogue - Mecklenburg Schwerin, forgeries of the 1856 issue - Other German States - Mecklenburg Vorpommern - Germany
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One of the German States. A duchy in Northern Germany. It issued stamps from 1856 to 1867, From then on it used the stamps of the North German Confederation.
2 Schillinge lilac to grey 3 Schillinge orange 3 Schillinge yellow 5 Schillinge blue 5 Schillinge brown
These stamps were printed in sheets of 120 stamps (12 rows of 10 stamps), later in sheets of 100.
Value of the stamps |
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vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon |
*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare |
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| Value | Unused | Used | Remarks |
| 2 S | RR | RR | Rouletted, (issued October 1866), 70,000 stamps printed. |
| 3 S orange | RR | RR | Rouletted, (issued September 1865), 134,000 stamps printed. |
| 3 S yellow | RR | RR | Imperforate, 438,000 stamps printed |
| 5 S blue | RR | RR | Imperforate, 72,000 stamps printed |
| 5 S brown | RR | RR | Rouletted (issued July 1864), 56,000 stamps printed Exists on thicker paper. |
The following quantities of remainders were sold around early
1869 to G.Schnelle of Schwerin; source: 'The Stamps of the German
States' by B.W.H.Poole:
2 Sch lilac; 15,000 stamps
3 Sch yellow; 18,800 stamps
5 Sch brown; 3,000 stamps
(a Rostock cancel, consisting of blue dots)
Click here for Mecklenburg Schwerin, forgeries of the 1856 issue.
4/4 Schillinge red
For the specialist: two types of these stamps exist, with and without dots behind the background, example of a stamp with dots:
These stamps have identical designs, the dots were removed from the design in October 1864 (the stamps with dots were issued in 1856). These stamps were designed as to be able to make up the rates for variable postage by simply cutting the requested amount from the stamp (i.e. dividing it into pieces).
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 |
| 4/4 S | RR | RR | Imperforate, with dots in background Issued 1st July 1856, 756,000 stamps printed |
| 4/4 S | RRR | RRR | Rouletted, with dots, Issued 12th June 1864, 60,000 stamps printed |
| 4/4 S | R | RR | Rouletted, without dots (July 1864) 1,220,000 stamps printed. |
A quantity of 36,500 of remainders of the 4/4 Sch value were sold around early 1869 to G.Schnelle of Schwerin; source: 'The Stamps of the German States' by B.W.H.Poole.
(Forgeries, enlarged sizes)
This forgery is printed in black according to Album Weeds (but I have also seen it in blue and red as well). The horns are quite different from the genuine stamps. The horns touch the line under "FREIMARKE" and the ring in the bull's nose touches the line above "SCHILLINGE" (in the genuine stamps, they don't touch these lines). In the genuine stamps, there should be a stop behind the "B" of "MECKLENB". There are many more differences between the above forgeries and the genuine stamps. I've also seen blocks of 4 red (also blue) stamps of this particular forgery, cancelled with a 'bull's head' design of the 108 pa stamp of Romania.
(Fournier forgery, enlarged size)
Fournier also sold forgeries of these stamps (first and second choice forgeries are offered in his 1914 pricelist). I think the stamps above are some of these second choice forgeries (note the cancel without any date, that can also be found on forgeries offered by Fournier of the larger stamps). Note also that the "F" of "FREIMARKE" is almost touching the line left to it. Even though Fournier sold the above forgeries, I don't think he was the producer. I can be noted that many other forgeries of the German States have similar characteristics (a cancel with no date). For more information about such forgeries, click here. I presume that besides the cancel "GUSTROW" in a double circle the cancels "SCHWERIN" and "ROSTOCK" also exist (as in the larger sized stamp forgeries of Fournier).
A whole sheet of these forgeries.
The next stamp is a Fournier first choice forgery with "DOMITZ 6 1" double circle cancel:
I have also seen a Fournier forgery of this value with the cancel "WISMAR 13 17" (as in the above pictures of forged Fournier cancels).
Forgeries with the ears of the bull touches the framelines.
Another forgery.
A Peter Winter forged set of stamps on a
forged envelope. The back of the envelope is also printed with
text. The same envelope can be found in The House of Stamps
catalogue, but with three forged Swiss 1850 stamps (with
different cancels).
1 Schilling red 1 1/2 Schillinge green 2 Schillinge lilac 3 Schillinge orange 5 Schillinge blue 5 Schillinge brown
The following quantities of remainders were sold around early
1869 to G.Schnelle of Schwerin; source: 'The Stamps of the German
States' by B.W.H.Poole:
1 Sch; 26,400
2 Sch; 25,000
3 Sch; 18,700
5 Sch brown; 2,400
Forgeries of these envelopes exist made by the forger Fohl, examples:
A large stock of these forgeries was discovered, overprinted with the word 'Falsch' (=forged in German), and distributed with various stamp journals. The above examples are such forgeries with this overprint.
The following values were issued: 10 p orange, 15 p grey, 20 p grey, 25 p brown, 50 p green, 1 M blue, 1 1/4 M brown, 2 M red and 3 M lilac.
Four values exist (5 M green, 10 M red, 20 M blue and 30 M violet) with different year (inscribed at the bottom) ranging from 1874 to 1913? Some differences in size also seem to exist.
Later issues: no country name indicated, arms of 'Mecklenburg' (bull's head):
One of the German States. A duchy in Northern Germany. It issued stamps from 1864 to 1867, From then on it used the stamps of the North German Confederation. Before October 1864 a Thurn and Taxis post office managed the postal affairs of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
1/4 Silb. Gr. orange 1/3 Silb. Gr. green 1 Schilling lilac Other frame
1 Silb. Gr. red 2 Silb. Gr. blue 3 Silb. Gr. brown
These stamps were printed by the Prussian State Printing Office in Berlin in sheets of 100 stamps (10 rows of 10). The side margins of the sheets have number (1 to 10). The 1 sg, 2 sg and 3 sg were issued in colors corrresponding to the German-Austrian Postal Union convention.
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 |
| 1/4 Sgr | RR | RRR | Two shades: yellowish-orange (10,000 stamps printed) and red-orange (50,000 stamps printed). |
| 1/3 Sgr | RR | RRR | Two shades: dark-green (10,000 stamps printed) and light-green exist (50,000 stamps printed). |
| 1 Sch | RR | RRR | Issued for use on local letters. |
| 1 Sgr | RR | RR | |
| 2 Sgr | R | RRR | |
| 3 Sgr | *** | RRR | |
The remainders of these stamps were sold in 1868 to a dealer in Neu-Strelitz (source: 'The Stamps of the German States' by B.W.H.Poole).
Forgeries of the 1 Sgr and 2 Sgr are described in Album Weeds (they are lithographed instead of being engraved and are imperforate). The 2 Sgr forgery has a dot between the "E" and "I" of "ZWEI". I don't have any pictures of those forgeries right now.
A totally forged 3 sgr stamp, the lettering is totally different
from the genuine stamps. Also note the different '3's. I've seen
a similar forgery of the 1 sgr value.
Forged cancels seem to be abundant. If anybody has more information about forgeries or forged cancels, please contact me!
Forged cancels made by Fournier "NEUBRANDENBURG. 18 5 *
65" (I've seen it on a remainder of the 1/3 gr value, see http://www.stampsx.com/ratgeber/stempelliste-falsch.php)
and "WESENBERG 3/5"
1 Silb. Gr. red 2 Silb. Gr. blue 3 Silb. Gr. brown
Apparently, cuts from envelopes were valid for postage as shown in the 1 sgr red value, where another 1 sgr red has been added from another envelope.
There were not that many postoffices in Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The following list was obtained from: http://www.stampsx.com/forum/topic.php?id=673&s=ed432cec1a30b6d030632bbae4dc3293
Altstrelitz
Feldberg
Friedland MBG
Furstenberg MBG
Klein-Pasten
Neubrandenburg
Neubrandenburg-Bhf.
Neustrelitz
Oertzenhof-Bhg
Ollendorf
Stargard
Weisdin
Wesenberg
Example, 'Grossh. Mecklenb. Friedrich Franz Eisenbahn':
(Reduced size)
I have seen the values 50 p violet, 60 p blue and 70 p red.
I've also seen a 'Meck. Friedrich Wilhelm Eisenb.' railway stamp in the value 3 M green (value in black).