CAROLINE ISLANDS (Karolinen)

Return To Catalogue - German colony

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.

1897 Stamps of Germany surcharged 'Karolinen'

on numeral issue:

  3 p brown
  5 p green

On eagle issue

  10 p red
  20 p blue
  25 p orange
  50 p brown

These stamps exist with the overprint under an angle of 56 degrees or 48 degrees.

The two types of overprint

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

With cancel, example:

('YAP KAROLINEN', reduced view)

Forgeries, examples:

Fournier forgeries:

Fournier forgeries are total forgeries, the stamp, overprint and cancel are forged. The only cancel I have seen on Fournier forgeries of the Caroline Islands is: '* YAP * 7/1 99 KAROLINEN'.

(Fournier forgery?)

Fournier offered forgeries of these stamps in his 1914 pricelist for 2 Swiss Francs (all 6 values). For more information on forgeries of the German colonies click here.

Besides Fournier forgeries, forged 'Karolinen' overprints exist on genuine stamps, example:

(Forged 'Karolinen' overprint on genuine German stamp)

1901 German colony type (ship)

Small size

  3 p brown
  5 p green
  10 p red
  20 p blue
  25 p orange and black
  30 p orange and black
  40 p red and black
  50 p violet and black
  80 p red and black on red
Large size

  1 M red
  2 M blue
  3 M violet
  5 M black and red

In 1910, 500 3 pf stamps have been overprinted '5 Pf' (the so-called Ponape provisional), this surcharge also exists inverted.

.
Inverted surcharge, picture obtained with permission from: http://www.sandafayre.com/gallery/stamp_1670.htm

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

The stamps with watermark were never put in circulation. They could be purchased at the philatelic post office in Berlin only:

(3 p stamp with watermark, clearly visible at the empty space at the left)

Forgeries:

1) Forged cancels on genuine stamps:

Forged cancel on the 1 M 'PONAPE KAROLINEN 25/7 09', I've also seen this forged cancel on a 2 M stamp.

All of these stamps (small and large size) are worth considerably more in cancelled condition than in unused condition. Forged cancels exist! I have seen the 20 p, 30 p, 50 p, 1 M and 3 M with a forged cancel 'PONAPE KAROLINEN * 18/11 05 *'.

2) Total forgeries:

(I think these stamps are Fournier forgeries)

The forger Francois Fournier has made forgeries of the small ship design, for more information on forgeries of the German colonies click here.

Most likely a forgery of the Ponape 5 p on 3 p provisional stamp; see http://marshall.csu.edu.au/Marshalls/html/Stamps/Hialeah/Hialeah_GerCarolines.html for more information on forgeries.

According to http://www.sandafayre.com/atlas/carois.htm all the 5 p stamps were destroyed during a typhoon in 1905. Also in 1910 bisected stamps seem to have been used. See also http://marshall.csu.edu.au/Marshalls/html/Stamps/Hialeah/Hialeah_GerCarolines.html for more information on forged bisected stamps.

Some bisected 10 p stamps, offered in 2006 on a Apfelbaum auction.

Another 20 p bisected stamp on part of an envelope.

Mourning labels for the German colonies

Labels commemorating the loss of the German colonies exist, including for the Caroline Islands. They have the size of the large 'Hohenzollern' yacht issue. The stamps have a coloured center surrounded by a black design.

Reduced sizes

Post Offices

The following post offices existed in the Karoline Islands:

Angaur
Palau
Ponape
Truk
Yap

Copyright by Evert Klaseboer