MARIANA ISLANDS (MARIANEN)

(Spanish, later German colony)

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SPANISH COLONY

1899 Stamps of Phillipines overprinted 'MARIANAS ESPANOLAS'

(Forged overprint!)

  2 c green
  3 c brown
  5 c red
  6 c blue
  8 c brown
  15 c olive

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

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

Forged overprints on wrong stamps exist (this is the 1890 issue!):

(Forged overprint on the wrong issue!)

Spanish Philippines stamp with a Saipan cancel (19 April 1901). The following information is obtained from Dirk Spennemann (visit his excellent website on http://marshall.csu.edu.au/html/Stamps/Stamps.html). The item is a philatelic creation made in Saipan, using a genuine cancel. Friedemann depicts such an example with the same date as well as the same stamp. [Friedemann, Albert (1921) Die Postwertzeichen und Entwertungen der Deutschen Postanstalten in den Schutzgebieten und im Auslande].

GERMAN COLONY

1899 Stamps of Germany overprinted 'Marianen'

  3 p brown
  5 p green

Eagle type

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

The overprint exists in two types; in type 1 the overprint is placed an angle of 56 degrees, in type 2 it is placed at an angle of 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

Forgeries, examples'SAIPAN 18/11 99 * MARIANEN *':

The above stamps are Fournier forgeries. The stamp, the overprint and the cancel are forged. The perforation is not the same as in the genuine stamps (look at the upper right and lower left corner) and this is an easy way to detect it. The only cancel I have seen on these forgeries is: 'SAIPAN 18/11 99 * MARIANEN *'. Fournier offered this serie (3 p, 5 p, 10 p, 20 p, 25 p and 50 p) for 3 swiss Franks in his 1914 price list. For more information on forgeries of the German Colonies, click here.

Other forgeries:

(Forged 'Marianen' overprint on probably genuine stamps)

(Another forgery, probably the overprint and cancel are forged, the basic German stamp is probably genuine)

Forged overprint on ordinary stamps of Germany, the "M" of "Marianen" is too wide.

1901 Ship of the Emperor

Small size

  3 p brown
  5 p green
  10 p red
  20 p blue
  25 p orange and black on yellow
  30 p orange and black
  40 p red and black
  50 p lilac and black
  80 p red and black on red

Large size

(reduced size)

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

(Watermark lozenges, reduced size)

For the specialist: All these stamps were issued without watermark, the 3 p brown and 5 M black and red were also issued with watermark lozenges, they could only be bought at the philatelic service in Berlin (used stamps can therefore not exist).

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

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

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

Mourning labels for the German colonies

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

Reduced sizes

Copyright by Evert Klaseboer