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 Cornell University Library 
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 Germany and its colorjles / 
 
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Ea ^^^^^^^^^^E 
 
 a^^s^^^^^^^^i 
 
 GERMANY 
 
 AND ITS 
 COLONIES 
 
 By BERTRAM W. H. POOLE 
 
 3^^^^a 
 
 GENERAL POST OFFtCE BERLIN 
 
 W^E 
 
 3^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 S 
 
 This book is a companion book to "Stamps of the 
 
 German States" by the same author. Together 
 
 they constitute a superb history of the 
 
 stamps of the German Empire 
 
 Hand Book No. 12 
 
 Price 25 Cents 
 
 ISSUED BY THE 
 
 MEKEEL-SEVERN-WYLIE CO. 
 
 PUBLISHERS MEKEEL'S WEE.<LY STAMP NEWS 
 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
INDEX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Thurn and Taxis - - - - - - - 3 
 
 North German Confederation - - . - . g 
 
 German Post Offices Abroad ( Foreword ) - - - 29 
 
 German Post Offices in China - - - - - 29 
 
 German Post Offices in Morocco - - - - - 35 
 
 German Offices in Turkey - - - - - 39 
 
 Other Foreign German Post Offices - - - - 44 
 
 The Stamps of the German Colonies (Foreword) - - 45 
 
 Cameroons - - - - . . . . 4g 
 
 Caroline Islands - - - - - - - 48 
 
 German East Africa r - - . . . 49 
 
 German New Guiiiea - - - - .. - 52 
 
 German South West Africa - - - - - 53 
 
 Kiautschou - - - - - -^ - _ 56 
 
 Marianne Islands - - -. -.,_ 59 
 
 Marshall Islands -----._ 59 
 
 Samoa - - - - - - - - 61 
 
 Togo - - - - 63 
 
 Concluding Notes - - - - - - - 64 
 
GERMANY 
 
 AND 
 
 ITS COLONIES 
 
 BY 
 
 BERTRAM W. H. POOLE 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 The Stamps of Cook Islands, 
 
 The Stamp Collectors Guide, 
 
 Stamps of the German States, 
 
 Bermuda, Bulgaria, Hong Kc^g, Etc. 
 
 This book supplements the one issued by the 
 Mekeel- Severn -Wylie Co. entitled "Stamps of 
 the German States." The two books give in 
 a compact form all the necessary data regarding 
 German stamps. 
 
 HANDBOOK NUMBER TWELVE 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 MEKEEL-SEVERN-WYLIE CO. 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 (- U l«! I II 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 In the series of articles which have appeared in Mekeel's Weekly ^ I 
 have endeavored to cover the history of the issues of the separate States in 
 a manner wrhich would appeal to the general collector, and in dealing with 
 the pos'tal issues of Germany itself the same plan will be followed. I have 
 thought it convenient to include the stamps of Thurn and Taxis and those 
 of the North German Confederation with Germany. These cannot be allo- 
 cated to any particular State and as they were the forerunners of the emis- 
 sions for the German Empire their logical place would appear to be in the 
 sequence of the Empire stamps. This is the method generally adopted in 
 cataloguing these groups and it is the one followed by the late Mr. W. A. S. 
 Westoby in his excellent work on the "Adhesive Postage Stamps of Europe." 
 Mr. Westoby's explanation is so clear and concise that I cannot do better 
 than quote it in full : — 
 
 "In the seventeenth century the postal service of the whole of Germany was 
 a monopoly in the hands of the Princes of Thurn and Taxis, but the wars 
 of the French Revolution, followed by those of the First Empire, so dislo- 
 cated the service that Austria, Baden, Bavaria, Brunswick, Hanover, Luxem- 
 burg, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Oldenburg, Prussia and Saxony withdrew, or 
 purchased their freedom, and formed their own postal administrations. 
 Wurtemberg purchased its freedom in March, 1851, for something over 
 $500,000, when the postal service of the Thurn and Taxis office be- 
 came confined to those parts of North Germany comprised in the Electorate 
 of Hesse, the Principalities of Reuss, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Waldeck, 
 and Lippe, the Grand Duchy of Saxe-jWeimar, the Grand Duchy of Mecklen- 
 burg-Strelitz down to 1864, and the Hanseatic towns of Hamburg, Bremen, 
 and Lubeck, in each of which there was an office. In South Germany its 
 monopoly extended to the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, the Principali- 
 ties of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the Duchies of Nassau, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 
 Saxe-Altenburg, and Saxe-Meiningen, the Landgraviat of Hesse-Homburg, 
 and the town of Frankfurt-on-the-Main. 
 
 The North German Confederation was formed in 1866, its policy being 
 directe^by a Parliament composed of members from Prtissia and twenty- 
 one oiP^ German States, which met from time to time in Berlin. In the 
 early paft of 1867 Prussia purchased from the Prince of Thurn and Taxis 
 the remainder of the monopoly of the postal service throughout Germany at 
 and from 1 July, 1867, and carried it on till the end of that year, when the 
 whole service throughout Germany was merged by the Confederation into 
 one general administration, with its centre in Berlin, with the exception of 
 Baden, Bavaria, and Wurtemberg, which continued to preserve their separate 
 administrations though, after the re-establishment of the German Empire on 
 January 1st, 1871, that of Baden ceased to exist and was absorbed in that of 
 the Empire. 
 
 It might be considered more logical to place the stamps of Thurn and 
 Taxis under a sieparate heading, as has been done with those of the German 
 States that were merged into those of the North German Confederation, or 
 the Empire; but as the service extended to several States in North and 
 South Germany they are not localised, and have usually been placed under 
 the head of Germany, and it is perhaps better to. conform to custom. 
 
 The postage stamp history of Germany will, therefore, be considered 
 under the following heads : 
 
 1. The Stamps of the Thurn and Taxis Post Office, from the time of 
 their first issue, on 1 January, 1852, down to the purchase of it by Prussia 
 in 1867, when, on 30 June of that year, the stamps were withdrawn and 
 ceased to be issued. 
 
 3. The Stamps of -the North German Confederation,' issued 1 January, 
 1868. 
 
 3. The Stamps of the German Empire, issued at the end of 1871, and 
 which superseded those of the North German Confederation. 
 
 It will be seen that this arrangement leaves a hiatus between 30 June, 
 1867, and 1 January, 1868, during which time the service was conducted by a 
 special issue of Prussia, for the particulars of which reference must be made 
 to the stamps of that country as described in the previous handbook on the 
 'Stamps of the German States'." 
 
THE STAMPS OF GERMANY. 
 
 By B. W. H. Poole. 
 
 THURN AND TAXIS. 
 
 The meaning of Thurn and Taxis has 
 frequently puzzled collectors but, as I 
 have already explained it did not repre- 
 sent a political or geographical division 
 of the German Empire, but is a designa- 
 tion applied to the stamps issued in con- 
 nection with the postal monopoly held 
 by the princely house of this name. In 
 the Stamp Collector's Magazine for 
 February, 1863, Mr. Mount Brown gives 
 a short history of this house and its 
 post to which I am indebted for much 
 . of the following information. 
 
 Thurn and Taxis was formerly an in- 
 dependent house in Germany which 
 came originally from Italy. The oldest 
 authentic historic ancestor of the family 
 is considered to be Martin I della Torre, 
 Lord of Valsassina, who accompanied 
 the Emperor Conrad I in his crusade, 
 and died a prisoner of the Saracens in 
 1147. Since 1359 eight della Torres 
 were, one after the other, lords of 
 Milan, until Guido the Rich perished in 
 a feud with the Vi'sconti family. 'Mar- 
 tino della Torre was one of the popular 
 leaders, and appointed anziano or elder 
 of the people of Milan. Such was his 
 power that he sequestrated the property 
 of the see, and forbade the archbishop- 
 elect to appear in Milan; for which he 
 was excommunicated by the Pope. His 
 successors continued to enjoy the popu- 
 lar favor for some time, until one of 
 them was suspected of aspiring to sover- 
 eign power, and Ottini Visconti, the 
 archbishop, seized the opportunity for 
 striking a decisive blow. A combat en- 
 sued in which the Torriani were de- 
 feated, and Visconti entered Milan a 
 perpetual lord. So much then for the 
 Torre, (or Thurn, to give it its Teu- 
 tonic equivalent) branch of the family. 
 
 One of the sons of Guido the Rich, 
 Lamoral I, settled in the territory of 
 Bergamo, and took from the mountain 
 Tasso (one of his possessions there) 
 the name del Tasso and afterwards del 
 Tassis, from which the German Taxis 
 
 was derived. His great grandson in- 
 herited the possessions of his predeces- 
 sors, united their titles, and was known 
 as Roger I of Thurn and Taxis. He 
 was knighted by the emperor Friederich 
 III, in 1450, and founded the fame of 
 his house by the establishment of a post 
 in the Tyrol. The emperor, Leopold I, 
 granted to Count Engen Franz, von 
 Thurn and Taxis the dignity of Prince 
 of the Empire. The grandson of the 
 latter obtained the office of Imperial- 
 General Hereditary Post Master, held 
 in fee from the Empire. 
 
 The Tyrol post established by Roger 
 I marks him as one of the earliest postal 
 benefactors. He must have known how 
 to manage the post he established; for 
 instead of it dying out, like so many 
 other knightly ventures, it proved to be 
 the initial step towards the foundation 
 of a service whose functions only ceased 
 with the Prusso-Austrian war of 1866. 
 So successful was the conduct of his 
 enterprise that, in 1516, his son was 
 charged by Maximilian I to form a post 
 from Brussels to Vienna, certainly no 
 mean undertaking in those days. In 
 1523, on account 'of the war with the 
 Turks, an imperial post was esitablished 
 from Nuremberg to Vienna, which 
 ceased on the return of peace. On this 
 Charles V ordered Leonhard, Count of 
 Thurn and Taxis, to establish a perma- 
 nent post, which went from the Nether- 
 lands through Treves, Spires, etc., to 
 Wurtemberg, Augsiburg, and Tyrol to 
 Italy. In 1543, he created the Count 
 Oberposftneister of the German Em- 
 pire. About the end of the sixteenth 
 century the Thurn and Taxis post, 
 shaken by dishirbances in the Nether- 
 lands, and oppressed by debt, fell into 
 disuse, but rose again under the favor 
 of emperor Rudolf II. But the Pala- 
 tinate, Wurtemberg, Saxony, Branden- 
 burg, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and other 
 states of the empire formerly included 
 under Thurn and Taxis, had in the 
 
meantime established posts in their own 
 states, and refused to recognize the 
 validity of the oiSce. Thereupon Count 
 Lamoral of Thurn and Taxis was 
 raised to the rank of Baron of the Em- 
 pire, and received the imperial post in 
 fee for himself and male heirs, which 
 was subsequently extended to his fe- 
 male descendants. It was under this 
 somewhat attentuated postal monopoly 
 that stamps were issued in 1853. 
 
 The Thurn and Taxis Post Office had 
 its headquarters in Frankfort, and the 
 extent of its monopoly about the year 
 1850 has already been detailed. From 
 the latter it will be seen that the field 
 of its operations extended to states in 
 both Northern and Southern Germany. 
 In the Northern States the currency was 
 in silbergroschen while in South Ger- 
 many it was in kreuzer, thus necessita- 
 ting two series of stamps. Before, 
 therefore, describing the stamps them- 
 selves some explanation of the mone- 
 tary system obtaining in the states af- 
 fected by the Thurn and Taxis postal 
 administration seems desirable. In his 
 article in Gibbons' Stamp Weekly for 
 September 19th, 1908, Mr. W. P. Barns- 
 dall gives a very clear exposition of the 
 somewhat mixed currency then in vogue 
 which I cannot do better than quote in 
 extenso. 
 
 The Northern group, with a few ex- 
 ceptions, had for its unit the thaler, 
 equal to about 3s (72c) of our money. 
 This was as a rule sub-divided into 
 30 silbergroschen, groschen, or neu- 
 groschen, each of which was equiva- 
 lent to 12 pfennige. Thus in English 
 money 1 silbergroschen equalled l/5d 
 (2 2/5c). In Hanover and Brunswick 
 the thaler was divided into 2igute- 
 groschen of 12 pfennige, whilst in 
 Bremen 73 grote made up that unit. 
 Hanover in 1868 adopted the subdivi- 
 sion of 300 pfenmge=ZO groschen^='i 
 thaler, thus coming into line except 
 as regards the lowest denomination ; 
 whilst in Mecklenburg 48 schilling 
 made up the thaler of 30 groschen. 
 Schleswig, Hamburg, Lubeck, and 
 Bergedorf employed the Hamburg 
 mark (28c) as the unit, it being di- 
 vided into 16 schilling. Practically, 
 therefore, all the currency of North 
 Germany can be reduced to silber- 
 groschen. 
 
 The monetary unit for the Southern 
 States was the gulden or florin, di- 
 vided into 60 kreuzer. This was at 
 onte time worth 2s (48c) or two-thirds 
 of a thaler, so that 3 kreuzer exactly 
 equalled 1 silbergroschen. Eventually 
 the value of the gulden fell to about 
 Is 8d (40c), but, as will be seen later. 
 
 the equation mentioned served as the 
 basis of issue of concurrent series of 
 stamps. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 The Thurn and Taxis Post Office, as 
 I have already stated, had its central 
 administration at Frankfort, and, as it 
 joined the German Austrian Postal 
 Union in 1851, it became necessary to 
 provide postage stamps to conform to 
 one of the regulations of the convention. 
 This Postal Union, as has been pointed 
 out in the history of the stamps of 
 Baden, Bavaria, etc., was of considerable 
 importance since by it the postal ar- 
 rangements over a large portion of cen- 
 tral Europe were regulated and uniform 
 rates established. As the operation of 
 the Thurn and Taxis office included 
 states using two distinct currencies, two 
 sets of stamps were necessary, one with 
 values expressed in silbergroschen and 
 the other with values in kreuzer. By 
 the terms of the Postal Union, stamps 
 of 1 kreuzer were allowed to corre- 
 spond to those of yi silbergroschen — a 
 distinct advantage to the southern states 
 as will be seen from the currency equiv- 
 alents quoted above. 
 
 The design adopted was somewhat 
 similar to that used by Baden, Bavaria, 
 and Wurtemberg about the same period. 
 They were printed in a similar manner 
 to the emissions of those States and on 
 paper of different colors. A contract 
 was made with a paper manufacturer at 
 Hanau on November 15, 1851, for a sup- 
 ply of suitable paper; and a few days 
 later another contract was made with 
 the firm of C. Naumann, a Frankfort 
 printer, for the construction of the plates 
 and the printing of the stamps. 
 
 The stamps were issued on January 1, 
 1853, there being four values for each 
 division, those corresponding of the dif- 
 ferent currencies being of the same color. 
 The stamps of the Northern States, with 
 values in silbergroschen, show large un- 
 colored numerals of value on an engine- 
 turned ground, the pattern of which 
 differs for each denomination. Enclos- 
 ing this centerpiece is a square frame 
 measuring about 22 mm. outside and 14 
 mm. inside. In the upper part of this 
 frame is "Friemarke," in German lower- 
 case with capital initial ; in the lower 
 portion is the value in "Silb. Grosch.," 
 in Roman lower case with capital ini- 
 tials; on the left is "Deutsche-Oestr. 
 Postverein," and on the right "Thurn 
 and Taxis," both inscriptions being in 
 two lines of German diamond lower 
 case with capital initials. In each of 
 
the angles are small posthorns and im- 
 mediately below these, encroaching on 
 the background of the centre, are small 
 shields showing the numerals of value 
 on a ground of solid color. 
 
 The stamps for the Southern States, 
 with values in kreuzer, show similar in- 
 scriptions but on a circular band, the 
 small posthorns separating the inscrip- 
 tions. The large numerals of value in 
 the centre are on an engine-turned 
 ground of circular shape and, as in the 
 case of the silbergroschen series, the 
 pattern of this differs for each denomi- 
 nation. The rectangular shape of the 
 design as a whole is obtained by the 
 addition of ornamental scrollwork at 
 each angle, there being small numerals 
 of value in the centre of the decoration 
 at each corner. The inscription at the 
 left on all these stamps is simply the 
 German rendering of "German Austrian 
 Postal Union." 
 
 Mr. Westoby tells us that "the dies 
 were engraved in the establishment of 
 Naumann, in relief by chemitype, and 
 the electrotypes were also made there." 
 There were 150 electrotypes for each 
 value and these were clamped together 
 in a chase in fifteen horizontal rows of 
 ten each to form the printing plates. 
 They were all printed in black on 
 colored papers and were issued im- 
 perforate. 
 
 As these stamps continued in use un- 
 til 1859-60, when the system of printing 
 them in black on colored papers was 
 abandoned, there were several printings, 
 especially- of the two lower values of 
 each series. There are, therefore, sev- 
 eral shades of each value. These 
 stamps are scarce in fine unused condi- 
 tion but still comparatively plentiful in 
 used state as a study of catalogue quo- 
 tations will show. 
 
 1852. 
 
 Reference List. 
 Typographed. Imperforate. 
 
 1. 
 2. 
 
 Northern District. 
 
 }^sgr black on green, Scott's No. 3. 
 Isgr black on blue,Scott's No. 4 or No. 5. 
 2sgr black on rose, Scott's No. 6. 
 3sgr black on yellow, Scott's No. 7. 
 
 Southern District. 
 Ikr black on green, Scott's No. 42 
 
 or 42a. 
 3kr black on blue, Scott's No. 4S, 43a 
 
 or 44. 
 6kr black on rose, Scott's No. 45. 
 Okr black on yellow, Scott's No. 46 
 
 or 46a. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 On January 1st, 1854, the rate on 
 single local letters, prepaid by stamps, 
 posted and delivered, within the area 
 comprised in the Northern States, was 
 reduced to J^sgr and a stamp of this 
 value was issued. It is similar in de- 
 sign to the others of the series but has 
 the value in the centre on a ground of 
 wavy lines. It was printed in black on 
 red-brown paper the size of the sheets 
 apparently being the same as those of 
 the other denominations — viz. 150 
 stamps in fifteen rows of ten. 
 
 On July 1st, 1858, another new value 
 was issued of J^sgr (equal to 4 
 pfennige), this being intended for the 
 purpose of franking printed matter, 
 posted and delivered within the district 
 where the currency was in silbergro- 
 schen. This stamp was also of similar 
 design to the others, the large central 
 numerals being on a background of a 
 pattern resembling a repetition of in- 
 terlaced 3's. This denomination printed 
 in black on a flesh colored paper was, 
 like the others, issued imperforate. 
 
 Reference List. 
 1854-58. Typographed. Imperf. 
 Northern District. 
 9. /4sgr black on red brown, Scott's No. 1. 
 10. 5?sgr black on flesh, Scott's No. 2. 
 
 The Third Issue. 
 
 In 1859, the Thurn and Taxis office 
 abandoned the use of colored papers 
 and, instead, printed its stamps in 
 color on white paper. As the stocks of 
 those on colored paper became used up 
 those on white paper were substituted. 
 But before any of the stamps of the 
 existing values were issued on white 
 paper, two new denominations were is- 
 sued in both currencies, viz., 5sgr and 
 
15kr printed in lilac, and lOsgr and 30kr 
 printed in orange. The designs some- 
 what closely resemble those of the other 
 stamps then current, but the side in- 
 scriptions are shown in one line of type 
 instead of two as previously. The 
 central background of the 5sgr and 15kr 
 consists of a network pattern in which 
 the figures "5" and "15" respectively are 
 repeated in Arabic and Roman charac- 
 ters. The background of the higher 
 values shows Arabic numerals only. 
 There appears to have been but one 
 large printing of these four stamps and 
 that they were in but small demand is 
 obvious from the scarcity of used speci- 
 mens. These values were never offi- 
 cially rouletted, like the lower denomi- 
 nations, and those specimens that oc- 
 casionally turn up rouletted or perfo- 
 rated are of a private nature and have 
 no philatelic value. 
 
 The other denominations printed on 
 white paper are exactly similar to those 
 of the 1852-58 issues in design, the same 
 plates being employed. All of the 
 kreuzer stamps and the J^ and Isgr ap- 
 peared during 1859 ; the 2 and 3sgr ap- 
 peared about November, 1860; while the 
 Visgr was not issued until 1863 owing 
 to the fact that the stock in hand of 
 the black on flesh paper was very large, 
 The color of this value had by then 
 been altered, but the others were printed 
 in the same colors as those of the paper 
 on which they were first printed. The 
 only exception is the 3sgr which was 
 printed in red brown instead of yellow 
 though the corresponding value in the 
 kreuzer set duly appeared in yellow. I 
 have never seen any explanation that 
 would account for this change of color. 
 Specimens of the 3kr are known printed 
 in green — the color of the Ikr. These 
 were, at one time, considered an error 
 of color. Indeed, Mr. Westoby says of 
 it, "This error was caused by printing 
 a sheet in the wrong color, and it was 
 not discovered till the greater part of it 
 had been sold; and as the sale was 
 made in the evening by artificial light, 
 this may account for the oversight." 
 Most specialists now discredit this 
 variety as an "error" and regard it as 
 nothing more than a proof. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1869-60. Typographed. Impcrf. 
 
 Northern District. 
 
 Ul'. J^sgr red, Scott's No. 8. 
 
 10. J?sgr green, Scott's No. 9. 
 
 13. Isgr blue, Scott's No. UX 
 
 14. 2sgr rose, Scott's No. Mj. 
 
 16. 3sgr red brown, Scott's No. 12. 
 
 16. 5sgr lilac, Scott's No. 19. 
 
 17. lOsgr orange, Scott's No. 14. 
 
 Southern District. 
 
 18. Ikr yellow green, Scott's No. 47 or 4(7a. 
 
 19. 3'kr blue, Scott's No. 48. 
 
 20. Gkr rose, Scott's No. 49. 
 2K 9kr yellow, Scott's No. 50. 
 
 22. 15kr lilac, Scott's No. 51, 
 
 23. SOkr orange, Scott's No. 52. 
 
 The Fourth Issue. 
 
 In March 1861, the Prussian Postal 
 Administration addressed a circular to 
 the various States forming the German- 
 Austrian Postal Union proposing that 
 uniform colors should be adopted for 
 stamps of the same or corresponding 
 values. The proposal met with general 
 approval and, accordingly, the States 
 comprised in the Union agreed to issue 
 stamps in the regulation colors as the 
 stocks of those in use became exhausted. 
 The colors adopted by the Union were 
 green for the stamps of the 4 pfennige 
 or >^sgr, yellow for those of 6pf or 
 J^sgr, rose for those of Isgr, blue for 
 the 2sgr and brown for the 3sgr. By 
 this time the value of the gulden had de- 
 teriorated and was now worth about 40c 
 U.S. currency instead of 48c as before. 
 The Isgr was, therefore, equal to 3J^kr'; 
 but in the Union Ikr was deemed equiv- 
 alent to J^sgr and 3kr to Isgr. The 
 adoption of this "color scheme" by 
 Thurn and Taxis necessitated five 
 changes in the stamps for the Northern 
 District, and but three for the Southern 
 District as the Ikr. was already green. 
 
 These changes of color began to take 
 effect in 1862 when, in April, the Isgr. 
 appeared in rose. This was followed by 
 the J^sgr in yellow in February, 1863, 
 and by the J^sgr in green three months 
 later. In September of the same year 
 the 3sgr was issued in bistre and in Jan- 
 uary, 1864, the 2sgr appeared in blue. 
 In July of the same year the ^'sgr was 
 printed in black, the alteration in this 
 value evidently being made to prevent 
 
possible confusion with the yellow or 
 bistre stamps. Corresponding changes 
 were made during 1862 in the colors of 
 the 3, 6, and 9 kreuzer. These stamps 
 were all issued imperforate. As I have 
 already stated there was an ample stock 
 on hand of the 5 and lOsgr and 15 and 
 30kr so that no fresh printings of those 
 •denominations were made. 
 
 1862-64. 
 
 24. 
 25. 
 26. 
 2T. 
 2& 
 29. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 Types as before. Imperf. 
 Northern District 
 J^sgr black, Scott's No. IB. 
 J^sgr green, Scott's No. IG. 
 jlsgr yellow, Scott's No. IT or Wa. 
 isgr rose, Scott's No. 18. 
 2sgr blue, Scott's No. 19 or 19a. 
 3sgr. bistre, Scott's No. 20 or 20a. 
 
 Southern District 
 
 30. 3kr rose, Scott's No. 53. 
 
 31. ekr blue, Scott's No. 64. 
 
 32. 9kr bistre, Scott's No. 53. 
 
 The Fifth Issue. 
 
 In 1865, it was decided to introduce 
 the convenience of perforation, this tak- 
 ing the form of rouletting which was 
 much in favor among the German States 
 at that period. This work was en- 
 trusted to Naumann, the printer of the 
 stamps, and the rouletted varieties began 
 to appear in November. The rouletting 
 was colorless and was done rather 
 roughly, evidently it was somewhat of 
 an experiment so far as Naumann was 
 concerned. The electrotypes forming 
 the printing plates were clamped much 
 too closely together, so that there was no 
 space left for the rouletting, which fre- 
 quently cuts right into the design of the 
 stamps. The colors were the same as 
 before, though for the most part they 
 were in paler shades, showing that new 
 printings were made. 
 
 1865. 
 
 33. 
 3* 
 35. 
 36. 
 37.. 
 38. 
 
 39. 
 40. 
 
 41. 
 42. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 Colorless roulette. 
 
 Northern District 
 
 J^sgr black, Scott's No. 21. 
 
 J^sgr green, Scott's No. 22. 
 
 jlsgr yellow, Scott's No. 23. 
 
 Isgr rose, Scott's No. 2*. 
 
 2sgr blue, Scott's No. 25. 
 
 Ssgr bistre, Scott's No. 26 or 26a. 
 
 Southern District 
 Ikr green, Scott's No. 56. 
 3kr rose, Scott's No. 5Tl 
 6kr blue, Scott's No. S8. 
 9kr bistre, Scott's No. 59. 
 
 The Sixth Issue. 
 
 The colorless roulette gave consider- 
 able dissatisfaction owing to the manner 
 in which it cut into the stamps and in 
 
 1866 this defect was remedied by re- 
 arranging the electro-casts so that there 
 was a space of about 154mm. between 
 them. In the spaces between the elec- 
 tros, both vertically and horizontally, 
 brass strips known as "printer's dotted 
 rule" were inserted. This rule has a 
 sharp edge divided into short lines (in 
 this instance 16 in the space of 2 centi- 
 metres) and stands a trifle higher than 
 the printing surface of the electro-casts. 
 Consequently when the stamps are 
 printed the rule is inked as well and 
 cuts into the paper forming the variety 
 known as "rouletting in colored lines." 
 This system not only saves time, for the 
 stamps are printed and perforated at one 
 operation, but it has the advantage from 
 a collecting point of view, of making the 
 stamps perfectly centered. The stamps, 
 rouletted in colored lines, began to ap- 
 pear in February, 1867, and as soon 
 afterwards the office was transferred to 
 Prussia, used specimens of some of the 
 values are quite scarce. 
 
 1867. 
 
 43. 
 44. 
 46. 
 46. 
 
 471 
 
 49. 
 
 50. 
 
 51. 
 52. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 Kouletted 16 in color. 
 
 Northern District 
 Msgr black, Scott's No. 27. 
 J^sgr green, Scott's No. 28. 
 J^sgr yellow, Scott's No. 29. 
 I'Sgr rose, Scott's No. 30. 
 2isgr blue, Scott's No. 31. 
 3sgr bistre, Scott's No. 32. 
 
 Southern District 
 Ikr green, Scott's Na 60. 
 SJcr rose, Scott's No. 61'. 
 6kr blue, Scott's No. 62. 
 9kr bistre. Scott's No. 63. 
 
 The above were the last stamps issued 
 under the Thurn and Taxis administra- 
 tion, for in 1867, Prussia purchased the 
 entire postal rights throughout Germany 
 from the Prince of Thurn and Taxis 
 for a sum of three million thalers, or 
 about $2,250,000. The use of the stamps , 
 ceased on' June 30th, 1867, and on the 
 following day Prussian stamps were 
 used. The ordinary Prussian stamps 
 served for those States comprised in the 
 Northern District, for they were in the 
 silbergroschen currency, but a special 
 series, with values in kreuzer, had to be 
 issued for use' in those parts forming 
 the Southern District. This issue is de- 
 scribed on page 75 of the "Stamps of 
 the German States." 
 
 Remainders. 
 
 Tkat there were large remainders of 
 the 5 and lOsgr, and 15kr and 30kr of 
 1859, and of many values of the 1862-67 
 issues is obvious from the low prices at 
 which they are listed unused in current 
 catalogues. Whether the whole stock 
 
of remainders was ever sold or not I 
 have been unable to find out. In fact, 
 very little seems to have been published 
 on the subject of these remainders, the 
 only note I can trace on the subject 
 being that by M. Hanciau in an article 
 in the Monthly Journal for July, 1903. I 
 quote the paragraph in extenso : — 
 
 The office of Thurn and Taxis, af- 
 ter its suppression, placed its stamps 
 and envelopes on sale at a certain re- 
 duction from face value; but it never, 
 so far as I know, made up its mind to 
 dispose of them in bulk, the stock 
 being perhaps too large a one. 
 
 Reprints. 
 
 None of the stamps of Thurn and 
 Taxis were reprinted until they had been 
 obsolete for a period of no less than 43 
 years. This reprinting took place in 1910 
 but under whose authority I cannot 
 trace. The list of stamps reprinted is as 
 follows : — 
 
 
 Northern District. 
 
 1852-58 
 
 Va, Vi, ^, 1. 3 and 3sgr. 
 
 1859-60 
 
 %, Yz, 1, 2 and 3sgr. 
 
 1863-64 
 
 Va, Vi, ^. 1. 2 and 3sgr. 
 
 1865 
 
 Yz and Isgr. 
 
 
 Southern District 
 
 1852-58 
 
 1, 3, 6 and 9kr. 
 
 1859 
 
 1, 3, 6 and 9kr. 
 
 1862 
 
 3, 6 and 9kr. 
 
 1865 
 
 Ikr. 
 
 Of each variety 25 sheets were re- 
 printed and as the sheets contained 150 
 stamps there were, thus, 3,750 copies of 
 each value. The colors of the reprints 
 are generally brighter than those of the 
 originals and the paper is also thicker. 
 They are, however, easily distinguished 
 for each stamp has the letters "N. D." 
 (neudruck^t^-^x'wA) printed on the back 
 in purple ink, and they are not gummed. 
 
 At the same time 25 sheets of each of 
 the lOsgr, 15kr and 30kr were printed in 
 Ijlack on blue paper. 
 
 What the value of these reprints is 
 nowadays, I am unable to say, but at the 
 time of their appearance, they were sold 
 in sets at the rate of about 16c per stamp. 
 
 NORTH GERMAN CONFEDERATION. 
 
 The Austro-Prussian War of 1866, 
 which gave the kingdom of Prussia the 
 supremacy in Germany, led to the for- 
 mation of the North German Confedera- 
 tion, composed of Prussia (which had 
 previously acquired Hanover and the 
 Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein by 
 conquest) and twenty-one other Ger- 
 man States, the only exceptions being 
 Baden, Bavaria, and Wurtemberg. The 
 first meeting of the North German Par- 
 liament took place at Berlin in Febru- 
 ary, 1867, and as later on in the year 
 Prussia had completed the purchase of 
 the postal rights of the Prince of 
 Thurn and Taxis, the way was paved 
 for the introduction of a general postal 
 system for the whole Confederation, 
 having its centre at Berlin. 
 
 This new Postal Union was inaugu- 
 rated on January 1st, 1868, by an issue of 
 stamps adapted for the Confederation. 
 The differences in currency in the vari- 
 ous states still presented some diffi- 
 culty, as in the case of the issues for 
 Thurn and Taxis, so that two series 
 were again necessary, one with values in 
 groschen and the other with its denomi- 
 nations expressed in kreuzer. The 
 
 groschen is the same as the silbergro- 
 schen for the Northern District served 
 by the Thurn and Taxis Administration 
 but a new basis of equation was adopted 
 to bring the two currencies to a closer 
 approximation of their real values. Thus 
 Ikr now equalled J^gr; 2kr=^gr; 3kr 
 =lgr; 7kr=:2gr, and 18kr=3gr. 
 
 Under a new law of the new German 
 Parliament the rates of postage were 
 readjusted and the rates within the con- 
 fines of the Confederation were fixed as 
 follows : — 
 
 I- to 10 miles — Single letters under 
 1 loth {Yz oz.), 1 groschen. Double 
 letters (over 1 loth) or parcels weigh- 
 ing under 3 lbs., 2 groschen. 
 
 10 to 20 miles — Single letters, 2 
 groschen. Double letters and parcels 
 under 3 lbs., 4 groschen. 
 
 Over so miles — Single letters, 3 gro- 
 schen. Double letters and parcels under 
 3 lbs., 6 groschen. 
 
 As letters were allowed to be in- 
 cluded in parcels it will be seen that the 
 rates of postage were remarkably low 
 for that time on letters weighing over 
 Yi oz. A particularly bulky letter was 
 simply treated as a parcel. These rates 
 
also give proof of probably the earliest 
 instance of a governmental postal sys- 
 tem handling a parcel post. 
 
 These low rates did not apply to for- 
 eign postage which varied according to 
 destination. Thus the rate on single 
 letters to England was 5gr, double let- 
 ters (1 to 2 loth) lOgr; letters weigh- 
 ing from 3 to 3 loth , 15gr, and so on. 
 Late in 1868 an agreement was made 
 with the British Post Office under which 
 the rate of postage to Great Britain was 
 reduced to 2J^gr per loth. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 The stamps were issued on January 
 1st, 1868, there being one design for the 
 groschen values and another for the 
 values in kreuzer. The groschen series 
 show a large numeral in the centre in a 
 circle with background of short vertical 
 lines and dots. Around this is a circular 
 band decorated with oak leaves, and 
 surrounding this is another circular band 
 inscribed "NORDDEUTCHER POST- 
 BEZIRK" (North German Postal Cir- 
 cuit). At the foot the value is shown in 
 words in uncolored letters on a straight 
 label of solid color; in the upper left 
 and lower right spandrels are winged 
 wheels; and in the other two spandrels 
 are posthorns. The design of the kreu- 
 zer values shows the numerals within an 
 upright oval, enclosed within a leaf 
 decorated oval, and then an inscribed 
 oval band. This band contains the 
 same wording as the groschen series in 
 its upper part while in the lower portion 
 the value is stated in words. The span- 
 drels are ornamented in a similar man- 
 ner to the groschen design. 
 
 The dies and electrotypes forming the 
 printing plates were made in the Gov- 
 ernment Printing works at Berlin, and 
 the stamps were printed there in sheets 
 of 150 arranged in 15 horizontal rows of 
 ten each. The paper is ordinary white 
 wove and as a precaution against coun- 
 terfeiting the paper was, before printing, 
 covered with a network pattern, similar 
 to that on the stamps of Alsace-Lor- 
 raine, but in a colorless preparation 
 which only becomes visible when acted 
 on by certain chemicals. In the early 
 seventies these stamps were frequently 
 reported as existing on a watermarked 
 or mottled paper these evidently being 
 specimens on which the network had 
 become faintly visible. 
 
 The stamps were rouletted in line in 
 all kinds of gauges varying from 8^4 to 
 13J4. All values are known imperforate 
 and though Gibbons' catalogue states 
 
 they "were not issued for use, although 
 some specimens were passed through the 
 post," there seems no reasonable doubt 
 that these are bona-fide varieties, put 
 out by the Government though not con- 
 stituting a separate issue. Mr. Westoby 
 states "the pressure was so great to 
 despatch the necessary supplies, in order 
 to make the issue on January 1st, 1868, 
 that many were sent out without being 
 perforated, and at the time of the issue 
 it was easy to make an entire series of 
 unperforated specimens." 
 
 The free city of Hamburg was fur- 
 nished with a special stamp for use on 
 local or drop letters corresponding in 
 value to the J4 schilling (about J^c) 
 rate which had been in use there for many 
 years previously. This is of similar 
 design to the kreuzer series but without 
 any numeral in the centre or, in fact, 
 without any designation of value at all 
 anywhere in the design. At the base of 
 the inscribed oval the words "STADT- 
 POSTBRIEF HAMBURG" (Town 
 Postage Stamp for Hamburg) is shown. 
 This label is rouletted like the others of 
 the same period. 
 
 The only varieties in the designs of 
 these stamps are those referred to in the 
 following paragraph taken from the 
 Stamp Collectors' Magazine for June, 
 1870 :— 
 
 We owe to one of our correspond- 
 ents information of a slight but notice- 
 able variation in the design of the 1 
 groschen adhesive. It consists in the 
 insertion of what appears at first sight 
 to be a thick, solid, vertical line, and 
 two thin side lines, in the body of the 
 central figure of value; a closer in- 
 spection, however, shows that the 
 middle line is formed of a diagonal 
 shading, the lines of which run from 
 left to right. As our correspondent 
 observes this variety is found indif- 
 ferently on perforated and pierced 
 stamps, and on mottled and unmottled 
 paper. The specimen he sends is 
 singularly clear and complete; we 
 have ourselves looked over a large 
 number of copies, but could not find 
 on any of them more than a few in- 
 distinct traces of the middle lines. 
 We, however, took the opportunity to 
 examine the other values of the series, 
 and found the Ikr green and 3kr rose, 
 with a similar variation in the design. 
 Of the few specimens of the former at 
 the moment in our possession, all 
 showed the lines in the figures, or 
 traces of them, but it will require 
 further investigation to prove whether 
 the whole issue of that value is thus 
 characterised. Of the 3kr our stock 
 is larger, and among these the proper- 
 
tion of specimens on which the lines or 
 shading appeared was about two out 
 of five. This shading appears in both 
 curves of the figure 3, but all our 
 copies evidently show it only incom- 
 pletely. 
 
 These varieties are quite distinct but are 
 probably purely accidental and of slight 
 philatelic interest. My own opinion is 
 that they are simply due to faulty elec- 
 trotypes in which the uncolored portion 
 of the numerals had hardly been struck 
 with sufficient clearness. 
 
 Reference List. 
 1869-70. Typographed. Perf. 14 by 145^. 
 
 13. 54 gr lilac, Scott's No. 13 or 13a. 
 
 14. Vigr green, Scott's No. I"*. 
 
 15. ^gr orange, Scott's No. 15. 
 
 16. ligr rose, Scott's Noi 16. 
 in. 2gr blue, Scott's No. 17. 
 
 18. 5gr bistre, Scott's No. 18. 
 
 19. Ikr green, Scott's No. 19. 
 
 20. 2kr orange, Scott's No. 20. 
 211 3kr rose, Scott's No. 21. 
 2Z. Tikr blue, Scott's No. 22. 
 
 23. ISkr bistre, Scott's No. 23. 
 
 Local for Hamburg. 
 
 24. J^sch violet brown. No. 24 or 24a. 
 
 1868. 
 1. 
 2. 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 
 5. 
 
 6. 
 
 7. 
 
 8. 
 
 9. 
 10. 
 Hi. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 Typographed. Rouletted. 
 YigT lilac, Scott's No. 1 or la. 
 Yigr green, Scott's No. 2 or 2a. 
 54 gr orange, Scott's No. 3. 
 Igr rose, Scott's No. 4. 
 2gr blue, Scott's No. 5 or 5a. 
 5gr bistre, Scott's No. 6. 
 Ikr green, Scott's No. 7. 
 2kr orange, Scott's No. 8. 
 3kr rose, Scott's No. 9. • 
 7kr blue, Scott's No. 10 or 10a. 
 18kr bistre, Scott's No. IL 
 
 Local for Hamburg. 
 54sch purple brown. No. 12. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 In 1869 it was decided to issue the 
 stamps with machine perforation instead 
 of with the more or less unsatisfactory 
 rouletting. The machine used had a 
 gauge of 14 by 1454. The stamps 
 began to appear in February but as 
 it was decided to use up the old 
 stock first it was some time before all 
 the denominations with perforation were 
 in use. The 5gr, for instance, was not 
 in use until late in September, 1869, 
 while the 18kr does not appear to have 
 been issued until the following year. 
 
 The Third Issue. 
 
 On March 1st, 1869, two new high 
 value stamps of 10 and 30 groschen were 
 issued. The designs were evidently in- 
 spired by the stamps of similar values 
 issued by Prussia in 1866 on the so-called 
 "goldbeater's skin." They were not for 
 the use of the public but were affixed by 
 the postal officials to heavy packages or 
 registered matter requiring high postage 
 and prepaid in cash. Instructions were 
 also given to cancel the stamps with pen 
 and ink, hence the comparatively high 
 prices of postmarked specimens. The 
 10 groschen shows the numerals of value 
 in the centre of an oval band which 
 is inscribed "NORDDEUTSCHER 
 POSTBEZIRK" in its upper part and 
 "GROSCHEN" at the base. The rest 
 of the design is filled with a ground 
 composed oi "ZEHN GROSCHEN" in 
 small capitals repeated as often as 
 necessary to complete the rectangular 
 shape of the stamps. In the case of the 
 30 groschen, the numerals 30 are in 
 a rectangle with a frame around in- 
 scribed above and below as on the 
 lOgr. The sides of the frame are filled 
 with ornamentation and the ground- 
 work is a repetition of the words 
 "DREISSIG GROSCHEN." Both val- 
 ues were printed on white wove paper 
 and were perforated 14J4 by 14. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1869. Perf. 14^ by 14. 
 
 25. lOgr grey, Scott's No. 25. 
 
 26. 30gr blue, Scott's No. 26. 
 
 10 
 
Official Stamps. 
 
 Pursuant to a law passed on June 5th, 
 1869, it was decided to issue special 
 stamps for franking oiBcial correspond- 
 ence and other mail. The stamps were 
 issued on January 1st, 1870, and as with 
 the ordinary stamps there were two se- 
 ries, one with values in groschen and the 
 other with denominations in kreuzer. 
 The design is the same for both series 
 and consists of an octagonal frame, of a 
 transverse oblong shape, inscribed 
 "NORD— DEUTSCHE— POST" along 
 its three upper sides. At the foot is 
 "GROSCHEN" or "KREUZER," the 
 spaces at the sides being filled with or- 
 naments. In the centre are the words 
 "DIENST" and "SACHE," reading up 
 at left and down at right respectively, 
 with numerals of value between. The 
 color is black for all values the designs 
 being printed on a background composed 
 of a repetition of "NORDDPOST- 
 BEZIRK" within a dotted rectangular 
 frame. The color of this ground is pale 
 red brown for the groschen values and 
 grey for the kreuzer stamps. The 
 stamps are all perforated 14J4 by 14. 
 
 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1870. 
 
 27. 
 
 28. 
 29. 
 30. 
 
 31. 
 
 32. 
 33. 
 34. 
 35. 
 
 Peri. 14K by 14. 
 J4gr black on pale 
 
 No. 27. 
 YiST black on pale 
 
 No. 2S. 
 J^gr black on pale 
 
 No. 28. 
 lg:r black on pale 
 
 No. 30. 
 2gr black on pale 
 
 No. 3H 
 Ikr black on grey, 
 2kr black on grey, 
 3kr black on grey, 
 7kr black on grey. 
 
 red brown, Scott's 
 
 red brown, Scott's 
 
 red brown, Scott's 
 
 red brown, Scott's 
 
 red' brown, Scott's 
 
 Scott's No. 32 
 Scott's No. 33. 
 Scott's No. 34. 
 Scott's No. 35. 
 
 Remainders. 
 
 None of the stamps of the North Ger- 
 man Confederation were ever reprinted 
 but when they were superseded by the 
 issue for the German Empire in De- 
 cember, 1871, there was a large stock of 
 remainders of most values. These were 
 sold by the German government later 
 but whether in small quantities or in one 
 lot I have been unable to trace. 
 
 ALSACE AND LORRAINE. 
 
 The stamps generally known as the 
 issues for Alsace and Lorraine were 
 really a sub-issue of the North German 
 Confederation. These stamps were used 
 in those parts of France occupied by the 
 German Army in the war of 1870-71,, and 
 afterwards provisionally in the annexed 
 provinces of Alsace and Lorraine until 
 they were superseded by the general is- 
 sues for the German Empire. It should 
 be distinctly understood that these 
 stamps were not issued for the use of 
 the German troops for all soldiers' let- 
 ters, parcels, etc. were forwarded free of 
 charge, but they were intended to be 
 used by the civilian population of the 
 districts temporarily under German con- 
 trol. Much has been written on the 
 subject of these interesting stamps the 
 best article in the English language 
 being, perhaps, that by Mr. G. B. Duerst, 
 which appeared in the Philatelic Record 
 in 1896. I am indebted to Mr. Duerst 
 for much of the following information. 
 In the early portion of his article this 
 writer says : — 
 
 We all know that these stamps were 
 issufed in consequence of the Franco- 
 German war, and this in itself should 
 make them interesting to all collectors, 
 considering that they owe their origin 
 to a decidedly historical period, a 
 time of trouble and anxiety, not only to 
 the two nations principally concerned, 
 but also to all the other nations of 
 Europe in a minor degree. How many 
 stamps exist that have such a weighty 
 reason for their existence? Their 
 stern simplicity of design seems to 
 bear witness to the time of issue ; no 
 name, no ornamentation, neither head 
 nor coat-of-arms, everything points to 
 the fact that they were issued at a 
 grave period, when nobody could fore- 
 see the ultimate end. 
 
 It is interesting to know that the 
 German government already in Au- 
 gust, 1870, had practically decided upon 
 what land had to be ceded by France, 
 as all the obliterating dies of places 
 within this radius having French 
 names were issued bearing their old 
 German names. Thus we find : 
 Mulhouse changed to Mtilhausen. 
 Strassbourg changed .to Strassburg. 
 Nancy changed to Nanzig. 
 Thionville changed to Diedenhofen. 
 Riquevihr changed to Reichenweier. 
 Ferrette changed to Pfirt. 
 Wasselonne changed to Wasseln- 
 heim, etc. 
 
 Of course, we also find the old 
 French obliterating dies, but rarer. 
 For all places outside this radius the 
 
French obliterating dies were used as 
 they were found, but, in uniformity 
 with the German custom, only the dies 
 having name and date inscribed. The 
 French dot dies have also been used, 
 but very rarely; as a matter of fact, it 
 was against all orders to do so. Nat- 
 urally, when the French die was worn 
 out or got damaged a new one had to 
 be made, and then we find German- 
 shaped dies with French names, no- 
 tably Rouen. 
 
 Wherever the German troops went 
 they established post-offices, but 
 whether these stamps were ever used 
 in Paris is very doubtful. Reinheimer, 
 in his work, mentions a specimen 
 with the Paris obliteration, but, un- 
 fortunately, the die does not give any 
 year. Krotsch gives one also, but the 
 date there is August 16th, 1871; a 
 date which is about six months after 
 the time these stamps could be used 
 in France, besides there is on the en- 
 velope a French stamp (head of Lib- 
 erty) 20c blue, which paid the postage. 
 
 As far as official records can be 
 found, no German post-office was es- 
 tablished in Paris during the limited 
 stay of the German troops, and of 
 course, if no German post-office 
 existed, no letters with Alsace-Lor- 
 raine stamps would be forwarded. 
 
 This "Occupation" postal service 
 came into use in the beginning of Sep- 
 tember, 1870. It had its own admin- 
 istration, with headquarters first at 
 Nancy, later removed to Rheims ; 
 also General Post Offices at Metz 
 (from the 6th October) for German 
 Lorraine, and at Strassburg (from 
 the 1st of October) for Alsace. It had 
 its own laws, taxes, etc., and came to 
 an end on the 24th of March, 1871, 
 when all offices outside the ceded 
 provinces of Alsace and Lorraine 
 were handed over to P'rench officials 
 in accordance with the convention 
 signed on the 22nd of March. A few 
 places were still in German hands, but 
 further negotiations also gave these 
 back to France. The most notable of 
 these places was Belfort. 
 
 From this date (March 24th, 1871) 
 all letters in the interior of France, or 
 from France to other countries, had 
 again to be franked by French stamps 
 at the same rates that were in force 
 before the war. In the ceded pro- 
 vinces of Alsace-Lorraine these stamps 
 were used until the 31st December, 
 1871. Mr. R. F. Albrecht says in the 
 Illustrated Stamp Journal, that letters 
 franked with such stamps were al- 
 lowed until late in 1873, but I cannot 
 quite agree with him, as the decree 
 
 dated Berlin, 16th of October, 1871, 
 distinctly states that letters franked 
 with such stamps after the 31st De- 
 cember, 1871, should be considered as 
 not franked. 
 
 Until February 15th unused stamps 
 could be exchanged at the post offices 
 for German stamps, which had to be 
 used since January 1st, 1872. 
 It was not until after the battle of 
 Sedan that a German post was estab- 
 lished in the occupied territories. The 
 first decree relating to this service was 
 published in the Official Gazette for 
 September 6th, 1870, and it would ap- 
 pear that the stamps were all ready for 
 use for specimens cancelled Sept. 6th 
 are known. The decree dealt with the 
 routes over which mail could be sent 
 and the rates of postage to and from 
 Germany. Single letters (weighing up 
 to }4 oz.), cost 10 centimes, when 
 sent to Germany, and Igr or 3kr when 
 sent from Germany. As the groschen 
 was worth 10 pfennig and 10 centimes 
 only 8 pfennig, the French service had 
 the benefit of cheaper postage. For 
 heavier letters, newspapers, and regis- 
 tered letters the rates were more uni- 
 form. The following extract from the 
 official decree relating to the stamps 
 themselves is of interest : — 
 
 "For the prepayment of all letters, 
 etc., from the district of the Postal 
 Administration of Nancy, new stamps 
 have to be used bearing the inscrip- 
 tion POSTES and the values in cen- 
 times. Stamps will be issued as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 1 centime, light gre'en impression on 
 white paper. 
 
 2 centimes, dark brown impression 
 on white paper. 
 
 4 centimes, grey impression on white 
 paper. 
 
 10 centimes, light brown impression 
 on white paper. 
 
 20 centimes, blue impression on 
 white paper. 
 
 Letters franked with other stamps 
 than the above will be treated as not 
 franked." 
 
 Evidently most if not all of the values 
 mentioned in the above decree were is- 
 sued in September. Two new values — 
 5 and 25 centimes were added to the set 
 later but, curiously enough, no decree 
 relating to their issue has ever been 
 found. It is presumed they were on 
 sale about the middle of December, 
 1870. 
 
 The design is unpretentious in the ex- 
 treme. It consists simply of a rectan- 
 gular frame, nearly 2 mm. wide, enclos- 
 ing large numerals of value in the cen- 
 
tre with POSTES above and CEN- 
 TIMES below. This design was set up 
 from ordinary printer's type to make a 
 plate of 150 impressions in 15 horizontal 
 rows of ten each. The thick frame 
 Hnes separated the stamps horizontally 
 and vertically— that is one thick line sep- 
 arated each two stamps so that each 
 design did not have its own individual 
 frame. From the settings-up stereoplates 
 were made from which the stamps were 
 printed. Although the type was set by 
 hand, remarkable uniformity was ob- 
 tained and varieties are few. There 
 are three distinct types of the 4c, viz. : — 
 A. — The foot of the 4 is over the IM of 
 
 CENTIMES. 
 B. — The foot of the 4 is further to the 
 
 left hand and is above TIM. 
 C. — The foot of the 4 is still further to 
 
 the left and is above TI. 
 
 There are also two varieties of the 
 10c, viz. : — 
 
 A. — The foot of the 1 is over the N of 
 
 CENTIMES. 
 B. — The foot of the 1 is further to the 
 left and above the letters EN. 
 Whether the above occurred in the 
 same setting or represents distinct set- 
 tings of the type, I cannot say. 
 
 The design being so simple it was 
 necessary to have some addition which 
 would render illicit imitation dilBcuIt. 
 It was therefore decided to make use 
 of the plate which had done duty in 
 providing the stamps of the North Ger- 
 man Confederation with invisible net- 
 work only in the case of these Alsace 
 Lorraine stamps the network- was 
 printed in color, the colors for the sev- 
 eral denominations corresponding to 
 those used for the designs. Normally 
 the points of the network point upwards 
 but in some cases the sheets were used 
 wrong way up so that errors with 
 points of network turned downwards 
 are found. 
 
 Scott's catalogue lists the 10c without 
 network though I have been unable to 
 discover any information regarding 
 this. The other catalogued variety — 
 the 20c with blue and yellow network — 
 was first discovered in 1902. I quote 
 from the Monthly Circular for April of 
 that year: — 
 
 Mr. S. Farges, of Lyons, has seen 
 a curiosity of which he gives the fol- 
 lowing account : — "Everybody knows 
 that the stamps of Alsace are printed 
 on paper with a network of which 
 the curves are downwards in the or- 
 dinary type and upwards in the 
 scarcer type known as inverted net. 
 The newly discovered variety consists 
 of a 20 centimes with a double net- 
 
 work (i) blue, net inverted, and (ii) 
 pale yellow net in normal position. 
 The superposition of the two net- 
 works gives the whole stamp a green- 
 ish tint which strikes the eye at once. 
 I look on it as a printing of the 20 
 centimes made by mistake on paper 
 prepared for the 10 centime stamp, 
 having already received the network 
 for that value; or, it may perhaps be 
 a printing on paper that had been used 
 for printers' trial impressions of the 
 10 centimes network. There can be 
 no^ possible doubt as to the authen- 
 ticity of the variety in question. The 
 two specimens that have passed 
 through my hands came from the cor- 
 respondence of a Lyons house of busi- 
 ness (then in the Cours de Brosses 
 and now in the Cours Gambetta). 
 Both are on original letters. One is 
 postmarked SAAR-UNION, 29. 9. 
 1871 and the other BUCKENHEIM, 
 1. 8. 1871." 
 
 Reference List. 
 1870. Pert. 13% by 14. 
 
 1. Ic olive green, Scott's No. S3. 
 
 2. 2c red brown, Scott's No. 84 or 84a. 
 
 3. 4c grey, Scott's No. 85. 
 
 4. 5c yellow green, Scott's No. 86 or 86a. 
 
 5. 10c pale brown, Scott's No. 87 or 87a. 
 
 6. 20c ultramarine, Scott's No. 88. 
 
 7. 25c brown, Scott's No. 89 or 89a. 
 
 Reprints. 
 
 In May, 1885, the Philatelic Record 
 published the following paragraph : 
 
 We have been somewhat aston- 
 ished of late at the numerous offers 
 we have had of the sets of these 
 stamps, spick and span-new, with 
 burelage inverted. Some of the val- 
 ues, especially the 5 centimes, used to 
 be extremely scarce, especially un- 
 used; and yet we hear of complete 
 sets being offered on all sides at prices 
 less than moderate. Now the mystery 
 is solved ; the newcomers are reprints, 
 or more properly imitations. From 
 Der Philatelist we learn that they 
 have been done at the Imperial Ger- 
 man Printing Office to the order of 
 a Hamburg stamp dealer. Those 
 
dear Hamburgers ! Upon close ex- 
 amination they may easily be distin- 
 guished from the originals. In the 
 first place the network, notably on the 
 10 and 30 centimes, is bolder and 
 more distinct. The word POSTES 
 is a trifle larger, and the letters com- 
 posing it somewhat thinner. The 
 colors are fairly well imitated, except 
 on the 20c, which is printed in a dif- 
 ferent shade to any of- the old issue. 
 The perforation is exactly copied. 
 As these stamps vary in certain re- 
 spects from the originals, they are, 
 like the so-called reprints of the first 
 issue of Wurtemberg and certain of 
 the United States stamps, Government 
 forgeries, and are of the slenderest 
 philatelic interest. 
 
 These reprints are quite easily told 
 the best test being that given in the 
 
 catalogues. In the reprints the P of 
 POSTES is only 2J4 mm. from the 
 left hand border whereas in the origi- 
 nals the distance is at least 3 mm. 
 
 In addition to these well-known Gov- 
 ernment forgeries Mr. G. B. Duerst 
 mentions two others which are rather 
 dangerous, viz. : 
 
 In 1893 another forgery was an- 
 nounced, and was said to come from 
 Brussels. The reversed net and dull 
 colors are well imitated but the word 
 POSTES measures 13 mm. in length, 
 and the perforation is 13^ all round 
 instead of 13^ by 14. A very good 
 forgery was also made in Paris. The 
 net and the design look well, and are 
 apt to deceive collectors at a first 
 glance, but here also the perforation 
 of isyi all round condemns them. 
 This forgery is also found obliterated. 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 Germany (from the Latin Germania) 
 is the English name of the country 
 which the natives call Deutschland and 
 the French L'Allemagne. It occupies 
 the central portion of Europe and is 
 bounded by the North Sea, the Danish 
 Peninsula, the Baltic, Russia, Austria, 
 Switzerland, France, Belgium and the 
 Netherlands. Its area is 311,168 square 
 miles, or about one-sixteenth of that of 
 all Europe — slightly larger than France, 
 but not twice as large as Great Britain 
 and Ireland. Germany is composed of 
 a federation of twenty-five states, with 
 one imperial territory (Reichsland) , 
 which vary enormously in area and influ- 
 ence. In 1901, Berlin, the capital of 
 the Empire, had 1,888,848 inhabitants, 
 next come Hamburg, 705,738; Munich, 
 Dresden, Leipzig and Breslau, with 
 over 400,000 ; and Cologne, 373,539. There 
 are 36 other towns with between 100,000 
 and 300,000; and 175' towns between 
 20,000 and 100,000. The population of 
 the German Empire at the census of 
 1871 was 41,058,793; in 1880, 45,334,061, 
 and in 1901, 56,367,178. The following 
 table of the different states forming the 
 Empire together with their respective 
 areas is of interest : 
 
 Kingdoms. 
 
 1. Prussia area, 136,0713 square miles. 
 
 2. Bavaria area, 29,632 square miles. 
 
 3. Saxony area, 5,856 square miles. 
 
 4. Wurtemberg area, 7,619 square miles. 
 
 Grand-duchies. 
 
 5. Baden area, 5,891 square miles. 
 
 6. Hesse area, 3,000 square miles. 
 
 7. Mecklenburg-Schwerin area, 5,197 sq. miles, 
 
 8. Saxe-Weimar area, 1,404 square miles. 
 
 9. Mecklenburg-Strelitz area, 1,144 sq. miles. 
 
 10. Oldenburg area, 2,508 square miles. 
 
 Duchies. 
 
 11. Brunswick area, 1,441 square miles. 
 
 12. Saxe-Meiningen area, 964 square miles. 
 
 13. Saxe-Altenburg area, 517 square miles. 
 
 14. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha area, 765 sq. miles. 
 
 15. Anhalt area, 917 squate miles. 
 
 Principalities. 
 
 16. Schwartzburg-Sondershausen, 337 square 
 
 miles. 
 
 17. Schwartzburg-Rudolstadt, 367 sq. miles. 
 
 18. Waldeck, 438 square miles. 
 
 19. Reuss-Greiz, 123 square miles. 
 
 20. Reuss-Schleiz, 323 square miles. 
 
 21. Schaumburg-Lippe, 133 square miles. 
 
 22. Lippe-Detmold, 475 square miles. 
 
 Free Towns. 
 
 23. Lubeck, 116 square miles. 
 
 24. Bremen, 100 square miles. 
 
 25. [Hamburg, 160 square miles. 
 
 Reichsland. 
 
 26. Alsace-Lorraine, 5,668' square miles. 
 
 Germany presents two very distinct 
 physical formations. (1) A range of 
 high tableland having an area of 110,000 
 square miles, occupies the centre and 
 southern parts of the country, this be- 
 ing interspersed with numerous ranges 
 and groups of mountains. The most 
 important of these are the Hartz and 
 Teutoburgerwald in the north; the 
 Taunus, Thuringerwald, Erzegebirge, 
 and Riesengebirge in the middle; and 
 
the Black Forest (Schwarzwald), 
 Rauhe Alb, and Bavarian Alps in the 
 south. This last range contains the 
 Zugspitz, 9665 feet high — the highest 
 point in Germany. (2) A vast sandy 
 plain, having an area of about 98,000 
 square miles, extends north from the 
 centre to the North Sea, and from the 
 Netherlands into Russia. This plain is 
 varied by slight . terrace-like elevations 
 marked by summits of 300 to 800 feet 
 high. A large portion of the plain is 
 occupied by sandy tracts interspersed 
 with deposits of peat; but other parts 
 are moderately fertile, and admit of suc- 
 cessful cultivation. 
 
 The German speaking inhabitants of 
 the Empire number upwards of 51,000,- 
 000, but a considerable portion of these 
 are not of Germanic stock. Among the 
 peoples retaining their own language — 
 more than four millions in all — are 
 Poles (exclusively in eastern and north- 
 eastern Prussia) 3,329,000; Wends (in 
 Silesia, Brandenburg and Saxony) 93,- 
 000; Czechs (in Silesia), 107,000; 
 Lithuanians (in eastern Prussia) 103,- 
 000; Danes (in Schleswig) 141,000; 
 French (in Rhenish Prussia, Alsace and 
 Lorraine) and Walloons (about Aix-la- 
 Chappelle in Rhenish Prussia) 224,000. 
 The Germans are divided into High and 
 Low Germans ; the language of the for- 
 mer is the cultivated language of all 
 the German states ; that of the latter, 
 known as Platt-Deutsch, is spoken in 
 the north and northwest. 
 
 Education is more systematically cul- 
 tivated in Germany than in any other 
 country of Europe. Besides the Lyce- 
 um at Braunsberg there are 21 Univer- 
 sities; Heidelberg, Wurzburg, Leipzig, 
 Rostock, Griefswald, Freiburg, Munich, 
 Tubingen, Marburg, Konigsburg, Jena, 
 Giessen, Kiel, Gottingen, Erlangen, Ber- 
 lin, Breslau, Halle, Bonn, Strasburg, and 
 Munster. There are also nine polytech- 
 nic institutions ; nearly 1,400 gymnasia, 
 realschulen, etc.; numerous special 
 schools of technology, agriculture, for- 
 estry, mining, commerce, military sci- 
 ence, etc. ; seminaries for teachers and 
 preachers; and about 60,000 elementary 
 schools. Among the military recruits 
 only .05 are illiterate. Public libraries, 
 museums, botanical gardens, art-collec- 
 tions, picture galleries, schools of music 
 and design, and academies of arts and 
 sciences are to be met with in most of 
 the capitals, and in many of the coun- 
 try towns, upwards of 200 of which 
 possess theatres. 
 
 In 1871 the Prussian military system 
 was extended to the whole empire; and 
 alterations have since been introduced, 
 especially (in the way of strengthening 
 the army) in 1893. Every German who 
 
 is capable of bearing arms must be in 
 the standing army for seven years 
 (generally his twenty-first to his twenty- 
 eighth year). Three (in some cases 
 two) of these years must be spent in 
 active service, and the remainder in the 
 army of reserve. He then spends five 
 years in the first class of the Landwehr, 
 after which he belongs to the second 
 class till his thirty-ninth year. Besides 
 this, every German, from seventeen to 
 twenty-one and from thirty-nine to 
 forty-five, is a member of the Land- 
 sturin,a. force only to be called out in the 
 last necessity. Those who pass certain 
 examinations require to serve only one 
 year with the colors. The whole of the 
 land forces of the empire form a united 
 army under the command of the Em- 
 peror in war and peace. The sea-faring 
 population of Germany are liable to 
 service in the navy instead of iti the 
 army. 
 
 The Empire as reconstituted in 1871, 
 possesses the exclusive right of legisla- 
 tion on all military and naval affairs ; 
 on civil and criminal law for general 
 application; on imperial finance and 
 commerce, on posts, telegraphs, and rail- 
 ways in so far as the interests of the 
 national defence and general trade are 
 concerned. In all disputes that arise 
 among the individual states, the imperial 
 jurisdiction is supreme and final. There 
 are two legislative bodies in the Empire 
 — the Bundesrath, or Federal Council, 
 the members of which are annually ap- 
 pointed by the governments of the vari- 
 ous states ; and the Reichstag, the 
 members of which are elected by uni- 
 versal suffrage and ballot for a period 
 of three years. The former deliberates 
 on proposals to be submitted to the 
 latter, and on the resolutions received 
 from it. The Reichstag contains ap- 
 proximately one member for each 131,- 
 600 inhabitants. In 1905, there were 
 397 members. They are unpaid, but 
 enjoy various privileges and immunities. 
 There are something like sixteen differ- 
 ent parties or groups in the Reichstag 
 of modern times. 
 
 When first in the 4th century B. C. the 
 Romans heard of new peoples of com- 
 mon kin whom they called Germani, the 
 German tribes were living between the 
 Elbe and Rhine, and to the north of the 
 Main. In 58 B. C. Caesar drove back 
 the Germans who had crossed the Rhine. 
 Successful Roman incursions were made 
 into Germany by Augustus ; but in 6 A. 
 D. the German tribes rose under 
 Arminius (Hermann) and utterly de- 
 stroyed Varus and his legions. Hence- 
 forth the Romans were in the main con- 
 tent to hold a strip of territory from 
 the lower Rhine to the Upper Danube, 
 
 15 
 
and to guard the frontiers of the em- 
 pire from German raids. From the 3rd 
 century on this became impossible, and 
 in the 4th the Germans continued to 
 force their way into German territory. 
 The settlement of the Franks in the 
 north of Gaul founded the French nation 
 and the German Empire, or rather the 
 "Holy Roman Empire" or Germany. 
 Charlemagne, who received the imperial 
 crown from the Pope in 800, extended 
 his dominions north over the heathen 
 Saxons and as far east as Hungary. 
 Under his successors France and Ger- 
 many fell apart and in 911 the national 
 diet of the Germans claimed and se- 
 cured the right of electing their emperor 
 who could not assume the imperial title 
 until crowned by the Pope. At this 
 period there were in Germany five na- 
 tions — the Franks, Saxons, Bavarians, 
 Swabians and Lorrainers. A duke of 
 Franconia was Emperor 911-918 ; his 
 rival and successor, Henry, Duke of 
 Saxony, and Henry's son, Otho, ex- 
 tended the empire over northern Slavs, 
 Magyars, and into Lombardy. Burgun- 
 dy was added by Conrad II, first of a 
 new Franconian dynasty, in 1030, and 
 his successor temporarily annexed Den- 
 mark, Bohemia and Hungary. Henry 
 
 IV, of this line, was constantly at feud 
 with Pope Gregory VII ; but it was un- 
 der Conrad HI, first of the Hohenstauf- 
 fen dynasty, that the wars of Guelnhs 
 and Ghibellines, between Pope and Em- 
 peror, so disastrously weakened the em- 
 pire. His nephew Barbarossa was more 
 concerned about his interest in Italy and 
 the Crusades than about the internal 
 well-being of Germany. From the 
 accession in 1273 of Rudolf, first of the 
 Hapsburgs,. till 1806, the Austrian 
 Princes were Emperors almost without a 
 break, and the imperial crown was all 
 but hereditary. The Emperor, Charles 
 
 V, was also King of Spain, and lord of 
 the Netherlands and of a great part of 
 Italy. The influence of the Reformation 
 and the Thirty Years War was to 
 weaken the imperial power and cut up 
 the empire into a crowd of petty fac- 
 tions and almost independent states ; at 
 one time there were as many as 300 
 states in the empire. Alsace and Lor- 
 raine were lost to the empire in 1648-97. 
 The Napoleonic wars reconstructed the 
 map of Germany. In 1806, the Em- 
 peror resigned the German crown and 
 contented himself with being Emperor 
 of Austria ; and the Confederation of 
 the Rhine was formed under French in- 
 fluence, to be succeeded in 181.5 by the 
 German Confederation, which com- 
 prised virtually all German^', including 
 German Austria, in 35 states, with a diet 
 at Frankfort. The political discontents 
 
 of 1848 and 1849 led to not a few local 
 insurrectionary movements which were 
 swiftly crushed, and followed by a 
 period of severe reaction and repression. 
 The rivalries of Austria and Prussia 
 for pre-eminence in the Confederation 
 ended at Konniggratz (1866) with the 
 exclusion of Austria from Germany. 
 The great Franco-German war of 1870- 
 71 led to the re-annexation of Alsace- 
 Lorraine and the constitution of the 
 new German Empire, with the kings of 
 Prussia as hereditary emperors. 
 
 German colonial expansion began in 
 1884 and between that year and 1899 the 
 following regions became German pos- 
 sessions or came under German protec- 
 tion : in Africa — Togoland, Cameroons, 
 German East Africa, and German South- 
 west Africa, with a total area of 931,460 
 square miles and a population in ex- 
 cess of thirteen millions. In Asia — Kiao- 
 chau Bay, with an area of 300 square 
 miles and a population of about 32,000. 
 In the Pacific — German New Guinea, 
 Caroline Islands, Marianne Islands, 
 Marshall Islands, Samoa, etc., with a 
 total area of 96,160 square miles, and a 
 population of about half a million. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 The empire was re-established on 
 January 18th, 1871, and the Imperial 
 German Postal Administration replaced 
 that of the North German Confedera- 
 tion. This necessitated a change of 
 stamps and by a law passed by the new 
 German Parliament on October 28th, 
 1871, these were not to be used until 
 January 1st, 1872. As the old system 
 of two currencies still prevailed two sets 
 had to be prepared one with values in 
 groschen and the other expressed in 
 kreuzer. The same design, however, 
 served for both series, this consisting 
 of an uncolored circle in the centre on 
 which the Arms of the empire were em- 
 bossed. Above this circle are the words 
 DEUTSCHE REICHS-POST (Ger- 
 man Imperial Post) in a curve and at 
 the base is the value "1 GROSCHEN 1" 
 or "3 KREUZER 2" etc., in a straight 
 line. A colored line enclosed the central 
 circle and between the stamps are solid 
 lines of color of about 1^4 mm. wide, 
 probably made with printer's rule, which 
 makes a colored margin on all four 
 sides of each label. The background is 
 composed of a sort of colored network. 
 The embossing was done at a second 
 operation, the colored printing being 
 produced by typography. The stamps 
 were manufactured at the Government 
 
Printing Office in Berlin, and were per- 
 forated 13J4 by liVz. It will be noted 
 the values are the same as those of the 
 superseded Confederation stamps and 
 the colors, also, are practically the 
 same. 
 
 This set, familiarly known as the 
 "eagle with small shield" series, was 
 ready for use before January 1st, 1872, 
 and was actually sold to the public on 
 December 15th, 1871, though they were 
 not available for postage until the 
 authorised day. This issue, however, 
 can only properly be described as a pro- 
 visional one, since the postal authorities, 
 anxious to start work on the series as 
 quickly as possible, constructed the 
 Arms in the centre themselves instead 
 of waiting for the authorised design of 
 the Herald's Office in Berlin. The de- 
 sign of the latter was only approved on 
 August 3rd, 1871, so that had the postal 
 authorities been a little less impatient 
 they could still have prepared the new 
 stamps in time and have had the arms 
 heraldically correct. Mr. Barnsdall, 
 writing in Gibbons' Stamp Weekly tells 
 us that 
 
 "In this provisional issue the dis- 
 played eagle was a somewhat scraggy- 
 looking bird, and the shield upon its 
 breast bore a rather microscopic Prus- 
 sian eagle. As finally arranged, the 
 Imperial eagle was rounded out into 
 fuller proportions, and two banderoles 
 or streamers added to the Imperial 
 crown hovering over its head. The 
 shield borne on its, breast was en- 
 larged about four times so as to dis- 
 play to better advantage the Prussian 
 eagle, on whose breast also appears 
 a shield bearing the arms, quartered 
 black and white, of the Hohenzol- 
 lerns, the family to which the Em- 
 peror belonged." 
 
 In an interesting article in the London 
 Philatelist for January, 1902, Mr. 
 Reichenheim states, "In the earliest 
 print of some of these stamps (J4, ^3, 
 1, 2 and 5gr and 3kr) a small network, 
 exactly like that on the stamps of Al- 
 sace and Lorraine, has been found, and 
 becomes visible if the stamps are dipped 
 in a solution of sulphuretted hydrogen. 
 The stamps of the top and bottom rows 
 of each sheet have about one or two 
 perforations less, and are about 1 to 2 
 mm. smaller than all the other stamps. 
 The 2gr and 5gr are also found imper- 
 forate, but I am not aware whether en- 
 tire sheets or only parts of sheets have 
 escaped perforation." 
 
 Practically all values, except those 
 printed in bistre, may. be found in a 
 
 variety of shades. The yigr and 2kr 
 were originally printed in a tint which 
 can best be described as orange-ver- 
 milion and, apparently, the vermilion 
 had some detrimental effect on the 
 plates, for in April, 1872, the printers 
 were ordered to change the color to 
 orange yellow. The J^gr in the new 
 shade appeared in the following May, 
 but the 2kr was not placed on sale un- 
 til August. 
 
 ■ __VtI>E.r^^ - 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 Jan. 1st, 1872. Small shield. Perf. 13i4x.li%. 
 
 1. Kgr mauve, Scott's No. 1. 
 
 ,2. J^gr green, Scott's No. 2. 
 
 3. i^gr orange, Scott's No. 3 or 3a. 
 
 4. Igr rose, Scott's No. 4. 
 
 5. 2gr blue, Scott's No. 5. 
 
 6. 5gr bistre, Scott's No. 6. 
 
 7. Ikr green, Scott's No. %. 
 
 8. 2kr orange, Scott's No. 8 or 8a. 
 
 9. 3kr rose, Scott's No. 9. 
 
 10. 71cr blue, Scott's No. 10. 
 
 11. 18kr bistre, Scott's No. 11. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 In February, 1872, two high values of 
 lOgr and 30gr were issued to take the 
 place of the corresponding denomina- 
 tions in the series for the North Ger- 
 man Confederation. In design and 
 color they are identical with the stamps 
 of the Confederacy except that the in- 
 scription was altered from NORD- 
 DEUTSCHER POSTBEZIRK to 
 DEUTSCHE REICHS-POST. Like 
 the former stamps, these were really 
 only intended for internal service on 
 heavy packages and, again like the con- 
 federation series, they were not sup- 
 posed to be sold to the public but to be 
 affixed by the postal employes after the 
 proper postage had been paid in cash. 
 The official instructions, also, were to 
 the effect that the stamps were to be 
 cancelled with pen and ink, hence the 
 reason for the rarity of postmarked 
 specimens. These stamps are quite 
 common unused for the remainders were 
 sold to dealers after they had become 
 obsolete. 
 
Reference List. 
 
 Feb. 1872. Perf. 145^ by 13^. 
 
 12. lOgr grey, Scott's No. 12. 
 
 13. 30gr blue, Scott's No. 13. 
 
 The Third Issue, 
 
 At the beginning of October, 1871, the 
 Imperial Postal Administration issued 
 an order to the various post-offices 
 throughout the empire instructing them 
 to have all official stationery printed 
 for the future with the corrected arms 
 — Eagle with large shield, surmounted 
 by a larger "Charles the Great" crown 
 to which streamers were added. There 
 is no doubt that about the same time 
 preparations were made to have the 
 postage stamps altered to conform with 
 the official arms as authorised by the 
 Herald's Office, though the first value 
 in the corrected type the 1 groschen, 
 did not appear until June 1st, 1873. In 
 July the Yzgr and 3gr were issued fol- 
 lowed by the Yzgr in August or Septerh- 
 ber, while none of the others were 
 placed on sale until May, 1873, at earli- 
 est. In fact the 2kr seems to have been 
 the only one issued that month and the 
 others were probably not sold to the 
 public until the existing supplies of the 
 small eagle type were exhausted. With 
 the exception of the modified arms em- 
 bossed in the centre the stamps are 
 exactly like those of the preceding 
 series. A new value, 3}4 groschen, 
 was added to the set in November, 1873, 
 and a corresponding value (9kr) for 
 the kreuzer stamps was issued in May, 
 1873. Both were printed in brown. 
 
 The Yi, 1 and 5 groschen are all 
 known imperforate and the latter, at 
 any rate, seems to be a bona-fide error 
 for it is stated a few sheets were issued 
 in this state by the post-office at Stettin. 
 According to Mr. Reichenheim the 
 stamps of the top and bottom rows are 
 again smaller than the others as in the 
 case of the first issue. Many values of 
 this and the first set are known with the 
 embossed centre inverted but these va- 
 rieties are all counterfeit. 
 
 Reference List. 
 1872-73. Large shield. Perf. 13% by 14%. 
 
 14. 54 gr mauve, Scott's No. 14. 
 
 YsST green, Scott's No. 15 or 15a. 
 
 5^gr orange, Scott's No. 16. 
 
 Igr rose, Scott's No. 17. 
 ^„. 2gr blue, Scott's No. 18. 
 
 19. 2}^gr brown, Scott's No. 19. 
 
 20. 5gr bistre, Scott's No. 20. 
 Ifcr green, Scott's No. 21 or 21a. 
 2kr orange, Scott's No. 22. 
 3kr rose, Scott's No. 23. 
 Tkr blue, Scott's No. 24. 
 9kr brown, Scott's No. 25. 
 18kr bistre, Scott's No. 26. 
 
 15. 
 
 16. 
 17. 
 18. 
 
 21. 
 22. 
 23. 
 24. 
 25. 
 26. 
 
 The Fourth Issue. 
 
 Many mistakes arose, especially in a 
 bad light, from the similarity of color 
 of the new values mentioned above and 
 the 5gr and 18kr. 
 
 In February, 1874, therefore, the 
 3j4gr and 9kr were issued overprinted 
 with large numerals of value on the 
 central device in the same color as the 
 stamps themselves. 
 
 Reference List. 
 Feb. 1st, 1874. Perf. 13% by 14%. 
 
 27. 2yi on 2J^gr brown.Scott's No.27 or 2Ta. 
 
 28. 9 on 9kr brown, Scott's No: 28 or 28a. 
 
 The Fifth Issue. 
 
 The dual system of currency in the 
 Empire caused endless trouble, and in 
 1874, it was decided to introduce a new 
 monetary system by which the currency 
 of groschen and kreuzer was superseded 
 by one of pfennige and marks. Not 
 only did a uniform system result from 
 
 18 
 
this change, but matters were further 
 simplified by the fact that the new cur- 
 rency was a decimal one, the mark con- 
 sisting of exactly 100 pfennige. This 
 change, of course, iiecessitated a new is- 
 sue of stamps and though the new labels 
 were ready and placed on sale in the 
 early part of December, 1874, they were 
 not allowed to be used until January 1st, 
 1875, the date officially chosen for the 
 introduction of the new monetary sys- 
 tem. ' The set consisted of six different 
 values — 3, 5, 10, 20, 35 and 50 pfennige — 
 for public use, and a 3 marks stamp 
 for the special use of the post offices, to 
 be placed on heavy packages prepaid in 
 cash. This value took the place of the 
 lOgr of the previous issue. 
 
 The 3 and 5pf stamps were produced 
 by surface printing and these were alike 
 in design, except as regards the frame. 
 In the center is a large numeral denot- 
 ing the denomination on an upright oval 
 of solid color. Around the figure, the 
 words DEUTSCHE REICHS-POSTare 
 curved and the oval itself is surmounted 
 by a large Imperial crown. At the base 
 of the oval is a posthorn and on a band 
 at each side the value is expressed as 3 
 (5) PFENNIGE reading upwards at 
 the left and downwards at the right. 
 The 10, 20, 35 and 50pf were alike in 
 design and these were embossed in 
 color. The Arms are shown in the center 
 within a pearled upright oval band which 
 is inscribed DEUTSCHE-REICHS- 
 POST. In the upper angles are orna- 
 ments and in the lower ones discs of 
 solid color on which the numerals of 
 value are shown in white, while between 
 these discs is a label on which PFEN- 
 NIGE is shown in graduated letters. 
 
 The 2 marks stamp was produced by 
 typography, like the two lowest values, 
 and this in shape and design resembles 
 the lOgr label it superseded. In the cen- 
 ter is a large 2, on which "2 MARK" is 
 shown twice in small uncolored char- 
 acters. The oval band is inscribed 
 DEUTSCHE REICHS-POST at the 
 top and ZWEI MARK at the base, 
 while the background consists of a repe- 
 tition of the latter inscription in small 
 letters. 
 
 All values, except the 2 marks, were 
 perforated 1354 by 14J4 as in the case 
 of the preceding issues, while on the 2m, 
 on account of its shape, the perforation 
 is 14^ by 13%. 
 
 Shades may be found m all the pfen- 
 nige values and in the case of the 50pf 
 at least one change of tint was made 
 with official intention. The earlier 
 shades were grey to slate, but in March, 
 1877, the color had a large percentage 
 of green mixed with it and later print- 
 
 ings vary from grey-green to olive green. 
 The 5pf was always printed in aniHne 
 ink and in 1879 similar fugitive ink was 
 used for the lOpf. 
 
 The 3 marks stamp' had a somewhat 
 lengthy life, as it continued in use until 
 1900. During this time there were, of 
 course, several printings and as no spec- 
 ial attempt seems to have been made to 
 keep its color uniform, a variety of 
 prominent shades may be found. Gib- 
 bons' catalogue lists five distinct shades 
 and accords a different date to each as 
 follows : — 
 
 1875, dull lilac. 
 
 1881, red lilac. 
 
 1884, lilac rose. 
 
 1889, lilac. 
 
 1893, deep red lilac. 
 I believe all seven values of this se- 
 ries were printed in sheets of 100. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1875. New currency. Peri. I314 by 14J^. 
 
 29. 3pf green, Scott's No. 29. 
 
 30. 5p£ mauve, Scott's No. 30. 
 
 31. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 31. 
 
 32. 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 32. 
 
 33. 25p£ brown, Scott's No. 33. 
 
 34. oOpf grey, Scott's No. 34. 
 
 35. 50pf green, Scott's No. 35. 
 
 Perf. 14K by 13^. 
 36. 2 marks lilac, Scott's No. 36 or 44. 
 
 The Sixth Issue. 
 
 According to German grammar, the 
 spelling of PFENNIGE with a final E, 
 as on the last issue of stamps, was in- 
 correct, and a great outcry was raised 
 in the press on the matter. The word 
 as printed, was the plural when speak- 
 ing of a number of coins, but the de- 
 
 19 
 
scriptions of currency, weight, measure, 
 etc., have no plural in Germany. Bavaria 
 and Wurtemberg, which still retained 
 their postal autonomy at this date, had 
 the correct spelling on the stamps they 
 severally issued when the currency was 
 unified, but it took some years before the 
 Berlin administration could be induced 
 to see they were in error. 
 
 The first stamp to appear with the 
 correct spelling was the 10 pfennig, 
 which was issued for sale in March, 
 1880, while the other denominations ap- 
 peared about a month later. In the 3 
 and 5pf stamps an additional numeral 
 was inscribed in place of the redundant 
 "E", but on the other values, the word 
 was simply redrawn so as to fill the 
 tablet. In all other respects the designs 
 remained the same as before. All val- 
 ues are said to have been printed in ani- 
 line as well as ordinary colors and Mr. 
 Westoby states that from 1883 down to 
 1889 they "were printed on paper that 
 had been previously coated on the face 
 with a preparation similar to that made 
 use of in Russia, the effect of which was 
 that when the stamp was wetted on the 
 face the color came off, either partially 
 or wholly, acording as the paper had 
 been thinly or thickly coated." The 
 colors of the stamps on the surfaced 
 paper are, generally speaking, much 
 brighter than those of the earlier print- 
 ings. 
 
 The 3 and 10 pfenniq; are known im- 
 perforate and the former appears to be a 
 bona-fide error, for it is stated that a 
 few sheets were issued in this condition 
 from the Leipzig post office in the early 
 part of 1883. 
 
 An interesting minor variety may be 
 found in the 50pf. This has the small 
 projecting ornament in the center of the 
 right frame omitted, making a deep 
 v-shaped indentation in this part of the 
 design. The variety was not discovered 
 until 1901 and it seems to be of a fair 
 degjee of rarity. Apparently, it only 
 occurred on one stamp on one of the 
 earlier plates. 
 
 In 1882, a clever forgery of the 50pf 
 was made with the object of defrauding 
 the government. The stamps were made 
 and sold by a lithographer named 
 Riechers, of Barmen, and it is estimated 
 at least 140,000 were used before the 
 counterfeit was detected. According to 
 a note made in the Philatelic Record 
 some years ago, it is said that "as a 
 forgery, it is magnificent, the color and en- 
 tire execution are so exact that it is not 
 surprising copies passed the post office 
 in such quantities". The forgery differs 
 from the originals mainly in the shape 
 of the small ornaments at the sides and 
 though it would not deceive a collector 
 
 looking for it, it would certainly pass as 
 the original article with nine persons out 
 of ten. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1880. Corrected spelling. Perf. 13^ by 11^. 
 
 37. 3pf green, Scott's No. 37. 
 
 38. 5pf mauve, Scott's No. 38. 
 
 39. lOpf rose, Scott's No. 39. 
 
 40. 20p£ blue, Scott's No. 40. 
 
 41. 25pf red brown, Scott's No. 41. 
 
 42. 5(ypi green, Scott's No. 42 or 43. 
 
 The Seventh Issue. 
 
 In 1889, stamps of a new design ap-, 
 peared, the lOpf being issued on Oc- 
 tober 1st, and the others shortly after- 
 wards, all being on sale before the end 
 of November. In several cases, too, 
 the colors were changed, this probably 
 being due to a more rigid adherence to 
 Postal Union regulations. The 3 and 5 
 pfennig stamps were alike in design and 
 show a large, uncolored numeral, with 
 PFENNIG curved below, on an upright 
 oval of solid color. An Imperial crown 
 surmounts the oval, REICHSPOST is 
 on a straight label at the base, while the 
 balance of the design consists of elab- 
 orate ornamentation. The 10, 20, 25 
 and 50pf are all alike in design and 
 show the Arms on a circle in the center 
 with REICHSPOST on a straight tablet 
 above and the numerals of value at the 
 base with "PF" on each side of these on 
 small scrolls. The sides are orna- 
 mented, though not so heavily as in the 
 lower values. It should be noted that 
 the small shield shown on the eagle's 
 breast is nearly as tiny as that on the 
 first issue which was rejected as heraldi- 
 cally incorrect. 
 
 All the stamps of this series were sur- 
 face printed — probably on the score of 
 expense — and Mr. Westoby describes 
 the method of their manufacture as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 Fifty impressions are struck in lead 
 by a fly-press from the original die, 
 and after being clamped together in 
 five rows of ten, are put into a bath, 
 and copper deposited on them to the 
 thickness of i;4 mm. (1/16 inch). 
 This plate serves as a matrix for mak- 
 ing the printing plates by the electro 
 process, each plate consisting, there- 
 fore, of fifty stamps' ; and when it has 
 been steeled (that is, after a film of 
 steel has been deposited on its sur- 
 face), and backed up with type-metal 
 to the necessary thickness, it is fit for 
 printing. 
 
 _ The _ sheets contain 400 stamps, di- 
 vided into four panes of 100 each, ar- 
 ranged two and two, and each pane is 
 
subdivided by a space of 5 mm. into 
 two portions of fifty each, so that 
 each sheet of stamps measures about 
 21^ inches deep by 18% inches wide. 
 
 The paper as received from the 
 mills is in rolls of the width of two 
 sheets. On one side is a centimetre 
 scale, each centimetre being marked 
 on the margin by a violet line about 
 6 mm. long, while on the other mar- 
 gin is the word REICHSDRUCH- 
 EREI (Imperial Printing Office) in 
 short, wide capitals, about y% in. apart, 
 so that when the paper is cut down 
 the middle, either the scale or the 
 word, appears on the outside margin 
 of each sheet The gumming is done 
 before the paper is cut into sheets by 
 passing it under a felt roll kept 
 charged with liquid gum; it is then 
 carried forward on laths, fixed to an 
 endless chain, into the drying room, 
 which is heated by steam pipes. After 
 drying, it is again wound onto a drum, 
 smoothed, and cut into sheets. . . . 
 In the printing, on the sides and bot- 
 tom of each pane, is a marginal bor- 
 der of lines, 3 mm. long, and about 
 thirteen of them to each 5 mm., with 
 the same object as what are called 
 Jubilee lines in the English stamps, 
 and at the top, over each vertical row 
 of ten is printed the price. Thus, in 
 a pane of 100 stamps of 3 pfennig, over 
 the first vertical row is 0.30, over the 
 second 0.60, and so on to 3.00. 
 
 After the printing, the sheet is di- 
 vided horizontally, each half sheet be- 
 ing 10% in. deep by 18%, in. wide. 
 They are then perforated by comb- 
 machines in layers of six, the perfora- 
 tion commencing from the 'side of the 
 stamps, and not from the top or bot- 
 tom, as in England. Four perforating 
 machines perforate 610,000 of these 
 half-sheets per day. 
 
 As a safeguard against counterfeiting, 
 the stamps were provided with secret 
 marks and again I am indebted to Mr. 
 Westoby for a description of these, 
 viz. : — 
 
 From the commencement of the 
 series down to 1892 the impression 
 was on white wove paper, on the back 
 of which horizontal bars were printed 
 with phenolphthalein, which were 
 quite invisible until acted upon by cer- 
 tain chemicalsi Since 1892, the sheets 
 have been printed oft the face,_ with a 
 a design, repeated as is requisite, con- 
 sisting of a crown in the upper left, 
 and a posthorn in the lower right, 
 while in the upper right and lower 
 left are the Arms. This, also, is 
 printed with phenolphthalein, which, 
 from its name, we conclude to be a 
 
 compound of phenol and a hydro- 
 carbon. 
 
 But, notwithstanding these secret im- 
 pressions, the lOpf was extensively coun- 
 terfeited on at least two occasions. The 
 first of these forgeries was discovered 
 early in 1891, as shown by the following 
 paragraph from one of the London news- 
 papers of January 30th in that year : — 
 
 Counterfeit Stamps in 'Germany. 
 
 Berlin, January sgth. — Great curiosity 
 has of late been aroused, on account 
 of letters bearing ten-pfennig stamps 
 invariably arriving behind time. It 
 now apears that the delay was oc- 
 casioned by tl)e fact that the postal 
 authorities were examining all stamps 
 . of that denomination with a view to 
 discovering the manufacturers of a 
 large quantity of counterfeit stamps, 
 estimated at ten millions, known to be 
 in circulation. The counterfeits are 
 almost perfect facsimiles of the gen- 
 uine stamps, and only show a slight 
 faultiness in the perforation. The 
 counterfeiters have now been discov- 
 ered to be Messrs. Bauer Brothers, 
 lithographers, of Hoechst, the imper- 
 fect perforating machine being found 
 upon their premises. 
 
 The second forgery was made in 1895, 
 and, by all accounts, was by no means a 
 clever one. ft is described in the 
 Monthly Journal for February, 1896, as 
 follows : — 
 
 Last November, forged stamps of 
 the 10 pfennig denomination were dis- 
 covered at Ridorf, one of the suburbs 
 of Berlin. They were manufactured 
 by a printer, Julius Rose, who has 
 been arrested. The .forgeries are 
 made by lithography instead of ty- 
 pography, and, have therefore, a 
 washy appearance. They lack the in- 
 visible background of eagles, post- 
 horns, and crowns, which is the char- 
 acteristic of the genuine stamps now 
 in circulation ; besides, the perforation 
 is lo;^,' instead of 13% by 14 J^, and 
 the gum is replaced by glue. The 
 forgeries being so easily detected, no 
 great number of them got into circula- 
 tion. 
 
 Until April 1st, 1900, certain private 
 postal institutions carried town or drop- 
 letters and printed matter in some towns 
 of Germany cheaper than the Imperial 
 administration. At the date mentioned 
 a law was passed suppressing these in- 
 stitutions ; but as a concession to the 
 public the postal rates were modified and 
 among other rates the fee on postcards 
 and printed matter weighing up to 50gr 
 
was reduced to 3 pfennig within the 
 limits of two contiguous districts. This 
 made the issue of a new value necessary 
 and Spf stamps were placed on sale on 
 the day the new regulations came into 
 force. They are similar in design to the 
 3 and 5pf values of the series. 
 
 As all values except the 3pf were cur- 
 rent for eleven years many printings 
 took place and shade varieties are fairly 
 numerous. 
 
 The 3, 10, 25 and 50' pfennig are 
 known imperforate and though used 
 copies exist it is not believed that any 
 were ever sold from a post-office in this 
 condition. It is said that in 1889 a few 
 sheets entirely imperforate were re- 
 ceived by the chief Post-office in Berlin 
 from the printing office and these were 
 handed over to the Postal Museum.- 
 The Museum authorities sold a number 
 of these to obtain funds for adding to 
 its collection of postage stamps and 
 some thus sold were passed through the 
 mail by those collectors who wanted 
 even errors of this kind used. 
 
 1889-1900. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 Perf. 13H by 14K- 
 
 43. 2p£ grey, Scott's No. 51. 
 
 44. 3pf iDrown, Scott's No. 45. 
 
 45. 5p£ green, Scott's No. 46. 
 
 46. lOpf rose, Scott's No. 47. 
 
 47. 20pf blue, Scott's No. 48. 
 
 48. 25pf orange, Scott's No. 49. ' 
 
 49. 50pf chocolate, Scott's No. 50 or 50a. 
 
 The Eighth Issue. 
 
 Whether the counterfeits of the last 
 issue induced the Government to change 
 the stamps is not certain, but anyway, 
 in 1900 a new set appeared. Writing 
 with regard to this new set Mr. W. P. 
 Barnsdall stated in Gibbons Stamp 
 Weekly: — 
 
 Rumour says they owe their inspir- 
 ation to that versatile monarch the 
 German emperor, and that he even de- 
 signed the centrepiece of the pfennig 
 values. It is certain the stamps were 
 issued to commemorate the twentieth 
 century, the Emperor, in common with 
 many other folks, having formed the 
 
 mistaken notion that the twentieth 
 century commenced 1 January 1900— 
 and in consequence for Germany it 
 had to be. 
 
 The design in question consists of 
 an allegorical bust of "Germania" 
 in coat of mail and with Imperial 
 crown on her head, but it did not meet 
 with popular approval, and, indeed, is 
 a poor example of Teutonic art. Vari- 
 ous tales are current as to the subject 
 of the design. It is said that wJien a 
 change of stamps was decided upon, 
 the Emperor wished to have his por- 
 trait upon the new set, but in defer- _ 
 ence to the feelings of the rnany Ger- 
 man rulers, which are a bit ticklish 
 on matters of overlords, etc., the idea 
 was abandoned and "Germania" sub- 
 stituted. Some say the Empress served 
 as a model for the nation's personifica- 
 tion on the stamps ; others, that a 
 young actress whose impersonation of 
 the character in a spectacle so pleased 
 the Emperor that he commanded she 
 should serve as the model. 
 The latter seems to be the correct 
 story, the actress who posed for the 
 militant female being Frin. Anna Fiih- 
 ring. The allegorical bust fills most of 
 the design, the border simply containing 
 numerals of value in the upper corners 
 and REICHSPOST at the base. It will 
 be noted that with these new stamps, 
 inscriptions have been cut down to a 
 minimum, for not only has DEUTSCHE 
 been omitted (as was also the case with 
 the 1889 series) but only numerals are 
 used to denote the values. The design 
 was the work of Paul Waldroff and that 
 it is anything but handsome or satis- 
 factory may be gleaned from the many 
 caustic criticisms that appeared in Ger- 
 man papers when the issue appeared. 
 One daily journal published in Berlin 
 said : — 
 
 Beneath criticism is the new na- 
 tional stamps, which we now see for 
 the first time. The head of Germania 
 is common, destitute of anything like 
 nobility or spirituality, the printing so 
 indistinct that the head does not rise 
 at all clearly from the far too roughly 
 shapted background. The post office 
 official who created this masterpiece 
 must be like a child with no sense of 
 artistic composition, otherwise, he 
 could never have been possessed of the 
 incredible idea of bringing Germania's 
 hand into the picture. One looks at 
 this miserable hand squeezed into the 
 lower left corner, and wonders what 
 really is the meaning of it and the 
 • crooked sword. It looks as if the in- 
 teresting lady had just stabbed herself 
 in the stomach ! 
 
Considering the Emperpr liimself 
 chose the design, the language is cer- 
 tainly strong for an ordinary commoner 
 with the bogey of lese majestie always 
 near ! 
 
 The pfennig values were surface 
 printed, the 2, 3, 5, 10 and 30pf in plain 
 colors on white wove paper, and the 
 values from 35pf to 80pf in two colors 
 on colored wove paper, with the excep- 
 tion of the 40pf which was on white. 
 The 30, 40 and 80pf were used for in- 
 ternal service in December, 1899-, but 
 were not sold to the public until Janu- 
 ary 1st, 190O, when the 10 and 20pf were 
 also issued. The 3, 5, 25 and 50pf fol- 
 lowed in February and March, while the 
 2pf did not appear until July, 1900. 
 
 The first supplies of the 25, 30, 40, 50 
 and 80pf values had the word REICHS- 
 POST in thick letters which gave the 
 tablet an overloaded effect and it was 
 soon altered to smaller type. The 
 stamps with original lettering are ex- 
 tremely rare, for it was only due to an 
 error that any of them were allowed to 
 get into circulation. Regarding these 
 the late Mr. E. J. Nankivell tells an 
 amusing story in the Postage Stamp for 
 January, 1908: — 
 
 Amongst the new things included 
 for the first time in the new ' Gibbons 
 is the thick lettering variety of 
 "Reichspost" in the 25pf, 30pf, 40pf, 
 50pf, and SOpf of the current series. 
 The history of this thick lettering 
 variety, as told in. a paper read before 
 the Royal Philatelic Society by Mr. 
 Reichenheim, is as follows : "Of the 
 25, 30, 40, 50 and SOpf a few sheets 
 were first printed showing the word 
 REICHSPOST in the same size and 
 thickness of the letters as in the one- 
 colored values (3, 5, 10, and 20 pf), 
 but this size of print turned out to 
 be too large for the tablet accorded to 
 it, and was therefore reduced. As far 
 as I know, some of the sheets in the 
 first print were handed over to the 
 Imperial Postal Museum and its au- 
 thorities used them for payment to 
 dealers. Some of the latter, not no- 
 ticing the difference, used them for 
 franking purposes." 
 
 Some of the German dealers sent a 
 few presentation sets to the Editors of 
 philatelic periodicals, and as early sup- 
 plies to a few customers. When the 
 secret leaked out, the dealers who had 
 been circulating a few of the sets sent 
 an innocently worded, but too gener- 
 ous offer, to send the since completed 
 series on receiving back the 25pf to 
 SOpf values already sent. 
 
 I do not know how many innocents 
 
 returned the five odd values to be ex- 
 changed for the full series, but I stuck 
 to my presentation set, and am now 
 rather amused to find the stamps 
 priced as follows in the new Gilabons : 
 Unused. Used 
 25pf $30.00 — 
 
 SOpf $30.00 — 
 
 40pf $50.00 — 
 
 50pf $40.00 $18.75 
 
 SOpf $30.00 — 
 
 These stamps and also the mark 
 values were all treated with the secret 
 process as before, and show crown, post- 
 horn, and eagles in aniline rose when 
 treated with an alkah. 
 
 The mark values were much more 
 pretentious than anything hitherto at- 
 tempted by Germany, being imposing in 
 size, elaborately designed, and printed 
 from line-engraved plates. The designs 
 were taken from celebrated pictures, and 
 were engraved by Professor William 
 Rose, of the Imperial Printing Works. 
 On the 1 mark value a good view of the 
 General Post Office at Berlin is shown. 
 The 2 mark is from an allegorical paint- 
 ing by Anton von Werner typifying the 
 Union of Northern and Southern Ger- 
 many. Mr. C. A. Howes gives an ex- 
 cellent description of this and the pic- 
 tures on the 3 and 5 mark denominations 
 which I cannot do better than repro- 
 duce : — 
 
 The two sections are represented by 
 two warrior heroes of ancient Ger- 
 many clasping hands and burying the 
 old ill will of the race. In the back- 
 ground at the left are seen the Alps, 
 with the Rhine at their base, and like- 
 wise at the right is the Baltic Sea 
 with the cliffs of the island of Riigen 
 — the hmit of the united Fatherland — 
 while above the representatives of 
 North and South hovers the Goddess 
 of Victory, holding aloft the Imperial 
 Crown, which sheds its lustre over 
 all. At the bottom is the legend, 
 SEID EINIG, EINIG, EINIG! (Be 
 united, united, united). 
 
 The 3 mark is from the painting of 
 W. Pape representing the unveiling of 
 the statue of Emperor William I at 
 Berlin. The memorial of the first 
 Kaiser included not only the eques- 
 trian statue, but a magnificent setting 
 in the form of a peristyle, a portion of 
 which can be seen in the background. 
 In the foreground plainly appears Em- 
 peror William II on his black charger, 
 and immediately behind him, the Em- 
 press. This memorial was dedicated 
 on 3 April, 1897, in the midst of 
 pageants and ceremonies almost un- 
 equalled for splendour and enthusiasm. 
 
The date above the picture, 22 March, 
 was the birthday of Emperor Wil- 
 ham I. 
 
 The 5 mark stamp is taken from 
 another painting of Pape's, represent- 
 ing Emperor WilHam II delivering an 
 address on the occasion of the twenty- 
 fifth anniversary of the proclamation 
 of the Empire, 19 January, 1896. The 
 moment is chosen when the Emperor 
 placed his right hand upon the flag 
 of the 1st Regiment of Guards, and 
 •ended the discourse, which he had ad- 
 dressed to princes and representatives 
 of the people by these words : "EIN 
 REICH, EIN VOLK, EIN GOTT." 
 ("One Empire, one people, one 
 God.") The engraving contains no 
 fewer than 51 figures, the features 
 of a large number being quite distinct. 
 The stamps were perforated 14, 
 though a few sheets were perforated 
 11/^ by a trial machine. Like the pfen- 
 nig values with large REICHSPOST 
 these sheets only got into circulation by 
 accident and the perf. 11J4 varieties are 
 rare. 
 
 The 1 mark value was issued on April 
 1st, 1900 ; the 2 mark was placed on sale, 
 on June 1st; the 3 mark on August 1st, 
 and the 5 mark on December 15th, 1900. 
 This latter value was printed in two 
 colors, the centre being in lake and the 
 frame in black. Some time in 1903 the 
 frame portion of the design was re- 
 drawn making two distinct types of this 
 value. In the original type the numer- 
 als of value in the upper angles are 
 rather heavier than in the re-drawn one. 
 The flag of the T where it joins the 
 upright stroke is flattened, and the 
 serifs of the M are very rudimentary. 
 In the second or re-drawn type the nu- 
 merals are thinner and the flag of the 
 5 merges with the upright stroke in a 
 sharp point. The serifs of the M are. 
 
 clear and distinct. In the second type, too, 
 the "O" of "GOTT" in the lower in- 
 scription is shorter than the other let- 
 ters. 
 
 The supposed 15 on the breast-plate 
 has no significance that anyone has been 
 able to discover. It was noticed soon 
 after the stamps appeared and its mean- 
 ing, was queried in the stamp papers. 
 It may have some occult meaning but 
 if so, the designer or engraver alone 
 knows it. It may be but a curious coin- 
 cidence in the shadow lines on the plate. 
 
 Special instructions were issued to 
 the postal officials regarding the oblit- 
 eration of the high value stamps. Orders 
 were given that they were to be can- 
 celled by means of two obliterating 
 stamps held side by side. Should the 
 defacement not be complete then a sec- 
 ond attempt was to be made. Postal 
 employes were enjoined to exercise 
 great precaution in passing the stamps 
 of 2 marks and upwards, and to ex- 
 amine them with care to see they were 
 genuine ! 
 
 1900. 
 
 50. 
 51. 
 52. 
 53. 
 54. 
 55. 
 
 56. 
 
 5T. 
 58. 
 
 59. 
 
 Reference List. 
 Inscribed REICHSPOST. Perf. 14. 
 
 2pf grey, Scott's No. 52, 
 . 3pf brown, Scott's No. 53. 
 5pf green, Scott's No. 54. 
 lOpf carmine, Scott's No. Drt. 
 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 56. 
 25pf black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 57. 
 30pf black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 58. 
 40pf black and carmine, Scott's No. 59. 
 50pf black and purple on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 60. 
 SOpf black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 
 No. 61. 
 
60. Im carmine, Scott's No. 62. 
 
 61. 2m blue, Scott's No. 63. 
 
 62. 3m violet-black, Scott's No. 64. 
 
 63. 5m black and lake, Scott's No. 65 or 65a. 
 
 The Ninth Issue. 
 
 In May, 1901, Germany's only pro- 
 visional surcharged stamp appeared, and 
 though only of a quasi-official standing, 
 it is accepted by German collectors as 
 a legitimate issue and is much sought 
 after. This provisional owes its crea- 
 tion to the fact that there was a short- 
 age of 3pf stamps on H. I. M. S. Vineta, 
 and to provide a supply a number of the 
 then current 5pf stamps were cut in 
 halves vertically and each half sur- 
 charged "3PF" in violet by means of a 
 handstamp. 
 
 3PF 
 
 Reference List. 
 May, 1901. Provisional. Perf. 14. 
 64. 3pf on half of 5pf green, Scott's No. 65b. 
 
 The Tenth Issue. 
 
 In 1903 the stamps were altered under 
 the terms of an agreement made with 
 the kingdom of Wurtemberg. Until 
 April of that year this kingdom had en- 
 joyed postal autonomy, but it then 
 agreed to relinquish its right to issue 
 its own postage stamps on condition 
 that the stamps of the German Empire 
 
 had the inscription REICHSPOST re- 
 placed by the words DEUTSCHES 
 REICH. The latter means "German 
 Empire" and it was chosen in place of 
 the former, meaning "Imperial Post," 
 for the reason that Wurtemberg, al- 
 though giving up its right to issue dis- 
 tinctive stamps, did not entirely merge 
 into the German Imperial Postal Ad- 
 ministration, but retained the right of 
 its own Postal Administration. An 
 official decree relating to the forth- 
 coming change was issued from Berlin 
 as follows : — 
 
 / Berlin, February 2oth, igoz. 
 
 According to an agreement con- 
 cluded between the Administration of 
 the German Post Office and that of 
 the kingdom of Wurtemberg, uni- 
 versal stamps will be issued on the 
 1st of April for the German Empire 
 and Wurtemberg, which will have the 
 inscription "Deutsches Reich." 
 
 The sale of the new postage stamps 
 commences on the 20th of March; 
 they are, however, not admissible for 
 the franking of letters, etc., before 
 the 1st of April. 
 
 The postage stamps now current in 
 the German Empire, namely, those of 
 the last issue, with heraldic eagle and 
 the inscription "Reichspost," and the 
 actual issue with Germania will cease 
 to be used after the end of March, and 
 these stamps are not allowed to be 
 used for the franking of letters or 
 ■ telegrams after the 31st of March. 
 It is therefore recommended that the' 
 near introduction of new stamps 
 should be considered when purchasing 
 postage stamps, cards, etc., in order 
 not to have large stocks on hand. 
 
 Remainders may be exchanged at 
 all post offices in the German Empire 
 and the kingdom of Wurtemberg 
 from the 30th of March to the end of 
 June for the new stamps, cards, etc. 
 The German post offices will also ex- 
 change unused stamps of Wurtem- 
 berg for stamps of the new issue. 
 Cash, however, will not be paid for 
 any of the old stamps. 
 The Secretary of State for the P. O., 
 (Signed) Kraetke. 
 
 The stamps withdrawn from circula- 
 tion under the terms of the above de- 
 cree were shortly afterwards "incin- 
 erated" in a special furnace at the Cen- 
 tral Bureau in Berlin. It is said it 
 took a whole day to feed the furnace 
 with the bundles of stamps, which 
 weighed altogether 11,000 kilogrammes, 
 and of which the face value amounted 
 to about $930,000.00. 
 
 25 
 
The .alteration of inscription was 
 made, and at the same time the whole 
 designs were re-drawn, but the differ- 
 ences beyond the change of wording and 
 a modification of the 3 mark are not 
 noticeable, and for all practical pur- 
 poses, with the exceptions noted, the 
 stamps are the same as before. Almost 
 as soon as the stamps were issued it 
 was discovered that an error existed on 
 the 3pf value. Some of the stamps 
 have the word DEUTSCHES reading 
 DFUTSCHES, an uncomplimentary 
 slang word. According to Mr. Barns- 
 dall the error occurred one on each 
 pane of 100 stamps, on the fifth stamp 
 of the fourth horizontal row. The 
 Monthly Journal for May, 1903, states 
 that the error occurs only twice on the 
 large sheets of 400 stamps — on the fifth 
 stamp of the fourth row of the upper 
 left hand pane, and on the tenth stamp 
 of the ninth row of the lower right 
 hand pane. As, however, it would 
 seem that the large sheets of 400 were 
 made up of electrotypes of 100 im- 
 pressions it seems much more probable 
 that the error occurred once in each 
 100 stamps, these panes o-f 100 forming 
 "post office sheets" for the large sheets 
 of 400 were invariably cut up into quar- 
 ter sections before leaving the Imperial 
 Printing Works. The error created 
 considerable notoriety, and the authori- 
 ties ordered the removal of the objec- 
 tionable stamps from the sheets before 
 sale until a corrected plate could be put 
 into use. 
 
 The modification of the 3 mark stamp 
 consisted in the alteration of the legend 
 at foot, "Seid Einig, Einig, Einig" from 
 Roman to Gothic letters. On April 18th, 
 1903, a new type was issued, in which 
 'the legend was again in Roman char- 
 acters, and in which the whole design 
 was re-drawn. In the first type (a) 
 the sunset effect appears to have been 
 produced by an arrangement of planks, 
 while in the second (b) it looks like 
 the real thing. The drawing of the sea 
 and mountains is also much improved 
 in the second type. 
 
 In connection with this issue a most 
 amusing instance of "redtapeism" was 
 reported in the London Daily Express 
 in April, 1903, shortly after the stamps 
 were issued, relating to the discovery of 
 one of the lOpf stamps, viz. : — 
 
 It appears that this stamp, value one 
 penny, was found in the hall-keeper's 
 room in the Law Courts at Altona, 
 near Hamburg. The bewildered jani- 
 tor reported his treasure trove, which 
 was placed in the office of the registry 
 for safe keeping. Next day there 
 were "alarums and excursions," fol- 
 
 lowed by the issue of a public notice 
 calling upon the owner of the derelict 
 penny stamp to claim it within six 
 weeks; otherwise he must take the 
 consequences, and the stamp would 
 then be sold by public auction for the 
 benefit of the Exchequer. This ap- 
 peal was fruitless, and as no bereaved 
 owner was forthcoming, the stamp 
 was sold by public auction. The bid- 
 ding was brisk, not to say animated; 
 finally it reached a giddy height in 
 comparison with the actual face value 
 of the stamp. One by one the bidders 
 dropped out of the race, and after an 
 exciting contest the stamp wais knocked 
 down for the sum of 40 pfennig, or 
 4}^d. The cost of carrying out this 
 charming and instructive example of 
 "redtapeism" from beginning to end 
 amounted to lis 3d. 
 
 ->^ 
 
 3r- .. 
 
 
 V 
 
 ^ Jr 
 
 \ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 J\j 
 
 VbVl^^Jttts KblOMlj 
 
 1902. 
 
 66. 
 67. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 Inscribed "DEUTSCHES REICH". 
 Perf. 14. 
 
 2p£ grey, Scott's No. 65c. 
 3p£ brown, Scott's No. 66. . 
 5pf green, Scott's No. 67. ^ 
 
 lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 68. 
 2Qpi ultramarine, Scott's No. 69. 
 25pf black and orange on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 70. 
 30p{ black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 71. 
 40pf black and carmine, Scott's No. 72. 
 50pf black and lilac on buff, Scott's No. 
 
 73. 
 80pf black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 No. 74. 
 
 26 
 
ls?= 
 
 75. Im carmine, Scott's No. 75. 
 
 76. 2m blue, Type I, Scott's No. 76. 
 
 77. 2m blue. Type II, Scott's No. 79. 
 
 ^fe^gjS 
 
 ^^K^KiiS^ggT^ 
 
 ^M 
 
 ^^S 
 
 
 ^^^^^^^^aS 
 
 ^^Mi 
 
 !^Wlllfe^^ 
 
 K^^ffl 
 
 fft'^^^S 
 
 1905- 
 
 80. 
 81. 
 82. 
 83. 
 84. 
 85. 
 
 90. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 11. Watermarked Lozenges. Perf. 14. 
 
 2pf grey, Scott's No. 80. 
 3pf brown, Scott's No. 81. 
 5pf green, Scott's No. 82. 
 lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 83. 
 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 84. 
 2opf black and orange on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 85. 
 30pf black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 86. ' 
 40pf black and carmine, Scott's No. 87. 
 50pf black and lilac on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 88. 
 60pf black and magenta, Scott's No. 89. 
 80pf black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 No. 90. 
 Im carmine, Scott's No. 91. 
 2m blue. Type IL Scott's No. 92. 
 3m violet black, Scott's No. 93. 
 5m black and lake, Scott's No. 94. 
 
 78. 3m violet black, Scott's No. 77. 
 
 79. 5m black and lake, Scott's No. 78. 
 
 The Eleventh Issue. 
 
 In 1905 it was decided to introduce 
 watermarked paper and a design con- 
 sisting of a "multiple" arrangement of 
 lozenges was adopted. The 3pf and 
 5pf were issued on this paper in De- 
 cember, 1905; the 2pf, lOpf, and 80pf 
 followed in January, 1906 ; the 40pf and 
 5 mark were on sale in February; the 
 30pf, 25pf and 30pf were ready in 
 March; and the 50pf, 1 and 3 mark 
 were issued in April. The 3 mark was 
 the last to appear and though it was 
 chronicled on many different occasions 
 it does not appear to have been actually 
 placed on sale until some time in 1911. 
 The 2 mark of this series is of the 
 second type. A 60pf value was added 
 to the set in 1911. 
 
 Offictal Stamps. 
 
 In 1903 a set of official stamps appeared, 
 comprising the values 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 25, 
 40, and 50pf, the design being composed 
 of the frame of the then current stamps 
 but with an inscription reading "FREI — 
 DURCH— ABLOSUNG— Nr. 21", in 
 four lines in the centre, on a horizon- 
 tally lined background in place of the 
 usual bust of Germania. These stamps 
 were issued for use on the official cor- 
 respondence of the kingdom of Prussia. 
 It appears that 30 different States, Ad- 
 ministrations, and Institutions possess 
 the privilege of having their corre- 
 spondence carried free, and as there was 
 some uncertainty as to the approximate 
 amount which should be credited to the 
 Post office for conveying the official cor- 
 respondence of the kingdom of Prussia 
 these stamps were issued and continued 
 in use for twelve months. While they 
 were in use the sale of the stamps in un- 
 used condition was prohibited but short- 
 ly after they were withdrawn the re- 
 
raainders vtere sold to a German dealer 
 and the sef became very common. The 
 
 No. 31 in the design is the official num- 
 ber accorded Prussia some of the others 
 being : — 
 
 No. 1. — The Duchy of Saxe-Mein- 
 ingen. 
 
 No. 2. — The Administration of the 
 Military Orphanage at Potsdam. 
 
 No. 9. — The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg- 
 Gotha. 
 
 No. 17. — The Thuringian Provincial 
 Court of Jena. 
 
 No. 23.— The Grand Duchy of Olden- 
 burg. 
 
 No. 26.— The Duchy of Brunswick. 
 
 In 1904 a somewhat similar set was 
 issued for use by the Grand Duchy of 
 Baden. This also has the frame of 
 the current stamps with a centerpiece 
 consisting of the numerals ''16" (the 
 official number for Baden) on a plain 
 ground over which "FREI— DURCH— 
 
 ABLOSUNG— Nr. 16" is engraved in 
 four lines reading upwards in a diago- 
 nal direction from left to right. This 
 set contained only the values 2, 3, 5, 10, 
 20 and 25pf and, like the Prussian series, 
 it remained in use for a year at the end 
 of which the remainders were sold. 
 
 1903. 
 95. 
 
 96. 
 97. 
 98. 
 99. 
 100. 
 
 101. 
 
 102. 
 
 1904. 
 
 103. 
 104. 
 105. 
 106. 
 lOT. 
 108. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 Official Stamps for Prussia. Perf. 14. 
 
 2pf grey, Scott's No. 201 Prussia. 
 3pf brown, Scott's No. 202 Prussia. 
 5pf ^reen, Scott's No. 203 Prussia. 
 lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 204 Prussia. 
 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 205 Prussia. 
 25pf black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 208 Prussia. 
 40pf black and carmine, Scott's No. 207 
 
 Prussia. 
 50p£ black and lilac on buff, Scott's No. 
 208 Prussia. 
 Official Stamps for Baden. Perf. 14. 
 2p{ grey, Scott's No. 32 Baden. 
 3pf brown, Scott's No. 33 Baden. 
 5pf green, Scott's No. 34 Baden. 
 lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 35 Baden. 
 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 36 Baden. 
 25pf black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 No. 37 Baden. 
 
PART II. ,_ ~ 
 
 GERMAN POST OFFICES ABROAD. 
 
 Foreword. 
 
 In a similar manner to other European 
 Powers Germany established post offices 
 in foreign countries which had no postal 
 ■ institutions of their own, or of which 
 the postal service was unreliable, or 
 which did not belong to the Postal 
 Union. The countries in which offices 
 were opened were China, Morocco, and 
 Turkey. The first "foreign post office" 
 was opened in Constantinople on March 
 1st, 1870; the first office in China 'was 
 not established until August 16th, 1886; 
 while Germany had no post office in 
 Morocco until December 20th, 1899. 
 Following the plan of the preceding 
 articles of this series I purpose dealing 
 with these in alphabetical order rather 
 than in their chronological sequence. It 
 has frequently been remarked that the 
 German foreign post offices are man- 
 aged in a more up-to-date and business- 
 like manner than those established by ■ 
 other Powers. Referring to this mat- 
 
 ter in Gibbons Stamp Weekly, Mr. W. P. 
 
 Barnsdall remarked : — 
 
 "Unlike many of the offices of other 
 Powers, which are the outcome of 
 casual diplomatic postal services or 
 the survival of branch post-offices run 
 on commission hnes and are general- 
 ly in out-of-the-way spots, the German 
 offices have all been equipped and 
 maintained under the direct control 
 of the home authorities. The build- 
 ings are handsome, usually the prop- 
 erty of the Government, are in a 
 prominent position, with a staff well 
 paid and efficient. Doubtless many 
 are run at a loss, but the impression 
 created on the native mind must cer- 
 tainly be advantageous to the develop- 
 ment of German trade." 
 The postal rates between all German 
 
 post offices in foreign countries and 
 
 Germany itself are based on the Postal 
 
 Union system of charges. 
 
 GERMAN POST OFFICES IN CHINA. 
 
 The German post offices in China are 
 under the control of the "Ober Post- 
 direction" (Chief Postal Administra- 
 tion) at Bremen. The first office was 
 opened at Shanghai on August 16th, 
 1886. On April 1st, 1893, an office was 
 established in Tientsin and two years 
 later one was opened at Chifu. An 
 office at Hankow was opened on April 
 1st, 1900, one was estabhshed at Foo- 
 chow a little later, and later still offices 
 were opened at Amoy, Canton, Ching- 
 kiang, Chin-ngau-fu, Ichang, Nanking, 
 Pekin, Swatau, and Weihsien. 
 
 Before dealing with the stamps them- 
 selves it will be as well to give a few 
 topographical details of these different 
 places. 
 
 Amoy is a seaport on a small island 
 of the same name in the province of 
 Fu-kien. It is the third in importance 
 
 of the treaty ports and was one of the 
 earliest seats of European commerce in 
 China. The Portuguese had establish-, 
 ments here in the 16th and the Dutch 
 in the 17th centuries. In 1841 it was 
 taken by the British, and by the treaty 
 of Nanking, a British consul and British 
 subjects were permitted to reside there. 
 A little later the port was open to the 
 trade of all nations. It still does a con- 
 siderable tea trade with the United 
 States. Amoy has a good harbor with 
 a depth of water which makes it a fre- 
 quent resort for men-of-war. It has a 
 population in excess of 100,000. 
 
 Canton, a port and capital of the 
 province of Kwang-tung was the first 
 Chinese port to be opened to European 
 trade. The city is enclosed by a wall 6 
 miles in circumference, and is divided by 
 an inner wall into a new and an old city. 
 
Among tHe buildings are two pagodas — 
 one a Mcpiammedan mosque, erected in 
 the 10th ceptury ; -the other an octagonal 
 pagoda, eretted in the 6th century — over 
 one hundremand twenty temples, a beau- 
 tiful Englisn church, two missionary 
 hospitals (Ei?>gl.isb,_and American) etc. 
 A special feature of the city is the great 
 number of the native population who 
 live in boats on the river. The climate 
 of Canton is healthy. Its trade, wTiich 
 has suffered through the opening of 
 Shanghai and the Yang-tse valley, is 
 still very considerable. Canton being the 
 second port in China. The admirable 
 situation of this port, with a safe and 
 commodious anchorage for the largest 
 vessels, explains how, from an early 
 period, it was a favorite port with 
 foreign merchants. The earliest notices 
 date back to the 8th century, B. C, when 
 it was known as Yang-chang (city of 
 rams). The Arabs made regular 
 voyages hither as early as the 9th cent- 
 ury, A. D. The Portuguese found their 
 way to it in 1517, and were followed by 
 the Dutch a hundred years later. These 
 in turn were supplanted by the English 
 before the close of the 17th century, and 
 an immense trade was carried on by the 
 agents of the East India Company, 
 whose monopoly ceased in April, 1834. 
 In 1843 Canton became one of the five 
 treaty ports open to foreign commerce. 
 The city was captured by the allied 
 French and English forces in December, 
 1857, and continued to be garrisoned by 
 them until October, 1861. The city has 
 a present population of about two mil- 
 lions of whom probably less than 1000 
 are foreigners. 
 
 Chifu is a port in Shantung, at the 
 entrance of the Gulf of Pechili. The 
 place is much frequented by foreigners 
 as a health resort in summer. The har- 
 bor is shallow with the result that men- 
 of-war and vessels of deep draught can- 
 not approach it. The port played a con- 
 siderable part in the Russo-Japanese 
 war; before the fall of Port Arthur 
 many steamers ran the blockade between 
 Chifu and the Russian garrison. In 
 August, 1904, the Russian destroyer, 
 ■ Reshitelni, was forcibly abducted from 
 the port by the Japanese. It is the chief 
 port for the trade of Shantung and the 
 Gulf of Pechili for the reason that it is 
 the only port in the gulf which remains 
 open throughout the winter. It has a 
 population of about 40^,000. 
 
 Ching-kiang is a city in Kiang-su 
 about 150 miles northwest of Shanghai. 
 Its position, near the junction of the 
 Grand Canal with the Yang-tse-kiang, 
 makes it an important centre of trade. 
 
 This city was taken by the British on 
 July 31st, 1843, and in 1861 it was opened 
 to foreign trade. It has a population 
 of about 300,000. 
 
 Foochow is the capital of the province 
 of Fu-chien situated on the left bank 
 of the river Min, about 34 miles from 
 its mouth. The town proper is sur- 
 rounded with walls nearly 30 feet high 
 and about 10 feet wide at the top. The 
 river is thronged with floating houses 
 and is crossed by a great bridge 339 
 yards long. The viceroy of Che-kiang 
 and Fu-kien made it his residence in the 
 middle of the 10th century. The Min 
 provides an easy means of communi- 
 cation with the interior, with which a 
 large trade is carried on, and the port, 
 opened to foreign commerce in 1843, is 
 one of the principal tea-markets and 
 mission stations in China. There are 
 manufactories of silk and cotton fabrics 
 and paper; and on an island three miles 
 down the stream there is a large govern- 
 mental arsenal managed by Europeans. 
 The French bombarded Foochow in 
 1884. It has a present population of 
 about 700,000. 
 
 Hankow is a treaty port in the prov- 
 ince of Hu-peh, on the left bank of the 
 Han at its junction with the Yang-tse- 
 kiang, and about 600 miles west of 
 Shanghai. Strictly speakinsr Hankow 
 is a suburb of the towns of Wu-chang 
 and Han-yang, the three together form- 
 ing one huge city. Vessels of large 
 size can reach Hankow, the river being 
 navigable to Ichang, 420 miles higher 
 up. It was opened to foreign trade in 
 1863. In 1889 a decree of the emperor 
 authorised the construction of a railway 
 between Hankow and Pekin — about 776 
 miles. Over two miles of the river 
 frontage belongs to British and other 
 foreign concessions These have been 
 embanked with stone to protect them 
 from a 40 foot rise of the river in sum- 
 mer. Before the Taiping rebellion the 
 three cities had a combined population 
 of over 5,000,000, but this has since 
 dropped to about 1,700,000 of which 
 Hankow has between 600,000 and 800,000: 
 
 Ichang is a treaty port in the Hu-peh 
 province on the left bank of the Yang- 
 tse-kiang, 965 miles from the sea. 
 Ichang is the transhipment port for 
 cargo to and from Sze-kuen, and light 
 draught steamers run between it and 
 Hankow. The port was declared open 
 to foreign trade in 1877. It has a pop- 
 ulation of about 50',000. 
 
 Nanking is the capital of the province 
 of Kiang-fu being situated about a mile 
 from the right bank of the Yang-tse- 
 kiang and 305 miles west of Shanghai. 
 
 30 
 
Its name signifies Southern Capital. 
 The town lies in a hollow surrounded 
 by hills, those which command the 
 river being strongly fortified. At dif- 
 ferent times between 222 and 501 A. D., 
 Nanking was the capital of China, and 
 again in 1368-1403. Taken by the 
 Taipings in 1853 it remained their cap- 
 ital until 1865. They destroyed nearly 
 all the magnificent public buildings for 
 which the city was once famous. Till 
 then the walls, 50 to 70 feet high, en- 
 closed an area nearly 30 miles in cir- 
 cumference. The most memorable of 
 the ruined buildings was the Porcelain 
 Tower (1430), the summer palace, and 
 the tombs of the kings, with remarkable 
 sepulchral statues. Nanking has since 
 rapidly recovered, its silks and satins 
 being famed in China and its nankeens 
 (hence named) in Europe. The tomb 
 of the first Ming emperor (Hung Wu) 
 lies near the city. In 1842 Nanking was 
 captured by the British. Its population 
 at the present time is between 300,000 
 and 300,000. 
 
 Pekin, or Pei-ching ("Northern Cap- 
 ital") is the capital of China and con- 
 sists of an inner and an outer — that is, 
 a Manchu and a Chinese — city. The 
 former is 14^ miles in circuit and^ is 
 enclosed by a wall about 45 feet high 
 and 47 feet thick. Within the Manchu 
 city lie the palaces, public oifices, Con- 
 fucian and other large temples, and 
 many private residences. Shops are 
 almost confined to the main streets, 
 which are of great width. In the 
 Chinese city, which projects south of 
 the Manchu city are shops, theatres, res- 
 taurants, etc., but large soaces are un- 
 occupied. The wall around this city is 
 33 ft. high. Pekin was, with short in- 
 tervals, an imperial residence for more 
 than nine hundred years', and was an 
 important place long before that date. 
 It has been known by many names — 
 e. g., Chi in the 12th century, B. C, Yen 
 early in the Christian era, Yu-chou in 
 the 7th century, A. D., Nan-ching in the 
 10th, Yen-ching in the 11th, Khan- 
 baligh in the 13th, and Pei-ching in the 
 15th century, and its present official 
 name is Shun-tien-fu. Pekin surren- 
 dered to the Anglo-French force in 1860 
 and in 1900 was the scene of the "Boxer" 
 rebellion, when the foreign legations 
 were besieged and ultimately relieved 
 by the allied expeditionary army. The 
 allied forces occupied the "Forbidden 
 City" after the flight of the Chinese court 
 to Singanfoo. Its population is general- 
 ly considered to be about one million. 
 
 Shanghai is a treaty port in the prov- 
 ince of Kiang-su, on the left bank of 
 Hwang-po, twelve miles above its 
 
 junction with the Yangrtse-kiang at 
 Wusun?. Its facilities for distribution, 
 and the lack of deep water at the treaty 
 ports in the north, have made - it the 
 entrepot of all foreign trade north of 
 Foochow and the greatest foreign mark- 
 et of the country. Miles of wharves and 
 five large dockyards hardly suffice for 
 its traffic. The French and British and 
 American settlements, almost self- 
 governing, extend about five miles be- 
 low the city along the river front, and 
 from three to four miles inland. Shang- 
 hai was taken by the British in 1842 and 
 was opened to foreign trade in the same 
 year. The total population of the city 
 probably exceeds 600,000 of whom less 
 than 7,000 are foreigners. 
 
 Swatau, or Swatow, is a seaport in 
 the Kwang-tung province, on the left 
 bank of the Han, five miles from its 
 mouth. It is situated about 180 miles 
 northeast of Hong-Kong. Swatow has 
 been open for foreign trade since 1869, 
 though for long it had an unenviable 
 reputation for anti-foreign feeling. It 
 has a population of about 50,000. 
 
 Tientsin is a city in the province of 
 Chi-h, on the right bank of the Pei-ho, 
 at its junction with the Grand Canal, 
 and 80 miles southeast of Pekin. It is 
 the port O'f supply for the whole of 
 China north of the Yellow river. The 
 river is frozen over from December to 
 March when the business is taken up by 
 sledges. By the treaty of Tientsin (1858) 
 the port was declared open, but owing 
 to anti-foreign feeling it was occupied 
 by the allies in' the winter of _ 1860-61 
 and shortly afterwards a British con- 
 sulate was established. On June 31st, 
 1870, anti-foreign feeling culminated in 
 a massacre of Roman Catholics and 
 other foreigners. The bombardment of 
 the foreign settlements in the latter part 
 of June, 1900, led to the occupation of 
 the city by the allied forces on July 15th 
 following, and from that time until Au- 
 gust 15th, 1903, Tientsin was . admin- 
 istered by a foreign provisional govern- 
 ment. It has a population closely ap- 
 proaching one million. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 Until 1898 ordinary unsurcharged 
 stamps were used at the three offices 
 then in operation in China. At Shang- 
 hai the stamps of 1880 and 1889 were 
 used while at Tientsin and Chefoo 
 those of the latter issue were used. 
 These stamps can, of course, only be 
 identified by the cancellations. On 
 January 1st, 1898, the German stamps 
 
 31 
 
of the numeral and Eagle types of 1889 
 were overprinted "China" in black for 
 use in these oiSces. The overprint 
 slopes- diagonally upwards and in the 
 first supplies sent to China the word 
 slopes at an angle of 45°. Later sup- 
 plies show the name at an angle of 
 56°. The first series is much the 
 scarcer, especially in the case of the _ 
 3pf denomination, and though one set 
 is sufficient for the general collector 
 it is as well to know how to distinguish 
 the two types. The 3pf value used 
 alone prepaid circulars and newspapers 
 between the various offices in China. 
 At first this denomination was only 
 supplied to the offices of Shanghai and 
 Tientsin. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1898. German stamps of 1889 overprinted in 
 black. 
 
 1. 3pf brown, Scott's No. 301. 
 
 2. 5pf green, Scott's No. 302. 
 
 3. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 303. 
 
 4. 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 304. 
 
 5. 2opf orange, Scott's No. 305. 
 
 6. 50pf chocolate, Scott's No. 306. 
 
 hand-Stamp, cut in wood, and made lo- 
 cally for the purpose, and the sur- 
 charge was affixed to each single 
 stamp by the Post Office officials 
 themselves when stamps of 5pf values 
 were required by the public during 
 those two periods. Therefore no 
 different types can exist, but probably 
 through bad stamping some stamps ap- 
 pear with the surcharge "5p" only. 
 Altogether there have been forty to 
 fifty sheets of one hundred stamps 
 surcharged. 
 
 Gibbons' catalogue for some^ inysteri- 
 ous reason still persists in giving the 
 date of this provisional as "1 June 1900" 
 although the office was not opened until 
 the 5th of that month. 
 
 Specimens with double surcharge were 
 reported in 1905 and though this is a 
 very likely error in the case of stamps 
 produced by such primitive means I do 
 not know if the variety has been prop- 
 erly authenticated or not. 
 
 6pf 
 
 Reference List. 
 July-November 1900. Surcharged at Foochow. 
 T. 5pf in black on lOpf carmine, Scott's 
 No. 316. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 According to an article by Mr. Reich- 
 enheim in the London Philatelist, the 
 post office at Foochow was opened on 
 June 7th, 190O, and less than a month 
 later there was a shortage of 5pf stamps 
 and provisionals were made by the post- 
 master for temporary use, some of the 
 lOpf stamps of the first series being 
 surcharged "5 pf" by means of hand- 
 stamp. Many conflicting reports have- 
 been published regarding the number, 
 varieties, and date of use of this pro- 
 visional, some writers' evidently confus- 
 ing this Foochow variety with the 
 somewhat similar provisionals issued in 
 Kiautschou. Mr. Reichenheim was able 
 to get information direct from the Post- 
 master of the German post office in 
 Foochow to the following effect : — 
 
 Two issues exist : the first one was 
 made between the 5th and 10th July, 
 1900, and the second one during a 
 few days in the middle of November 
 of the same year. Both issues have 
 been produced by the same single 
 
 The Third Issue. 
 
 The third issue, if we rely on the 
 catalogues for chronological order, con- 
 sists of a number of provisionals issued 
 by the German post office at Tientsin. 
 Writing with regard to these stamps in 
 Gibbons' Stamp Weekly, Mr. W. P. 
 Barnsdall says : — 
 
 For some time discredit was thrown 
 upon their bona fides, but they are un- 
 doubtedly all right. It appears that 
 the field post offices of the German 
 forces at the time of the Boxer 
 troubles had a supply of the 
 "Germania" stamps. When the forces 
 were withdrawn, the remainder of this 
 supply was distributed amongst the 
 North China offices. The postmaster 
 at Tientsin felt it his duty to over- 
 print these with the word "China" to 
 prevent speculation. The nominal 
 value of the Chinese dollar, as regards 
 the sale of German stamps was M.2.50, 
 but as the actual value was only about 
 M.2., a considerable profit could be ef- 
 fected by buying the said stamps with- 
 out overprint and using them for re- 
 mittances to Germany. 
 
 32 
 
The above sounds plausible enough, 
 but the Monthly Journal in first chron- 
 icling the stamps in April, 1901, gives 
 another version of the story, viz : — 
 
 A correspondent, writing from 
 Tientsin on February 16th, tells us 
 that the new stamps with the over- 
 print "China" impressed at Berlin, had 
 not reached that place at that date, 
 but that unsurcharged stamps had 
 been sent out there and had been 
 overprinted on the spot with a rubber 
 handstamp. He sends us a copy of 
 the 3pf thus treated, the surcharge 
 being similar in type to that previous- 
 ly employed, and struck diagonally, 
 but much less clear and black; he 
 states that the 50pf was overprinted in 
 November last, and the stock of that 
 value was exhausted, but that the 3, 5, 
 10, 20, 30 and 80 pfennig were still on 
 hand. The unsurcharged stamps were 
 being used at the German Post Office 
 at Pekin. There seems to be no 
 special need for these surcharges 
 at all. 
 
 The account given by Mr. Barnsdall, 
 therefore, can hardly be correct. To 
 start with, it is not likely any German 
 forces were withdrawn at the time these 
 stamps were issued (November, 1900). 
 The allied forces did not succeed in re- 
 lieving the besieged foreigners in Pekin 
 until August 14th, 1900, and they did not 
 leave that city again until peace was 
 signed on September 7, 1901. Tientsin, 
 was one of the places at which heavy 
 fighting took place and this was estab- 
 lished as a base when the march on 
 Pekin went forward. It is probable, 
 therefore, that the base Field post office 
 was under the general charge of the 
 Tientsin postmaster, and that official, in 
 an excess of officious zeal, caused the 
 unsurcharged stamps with which the 
 field post office was supplied to be over- 
 printed "China" in the same manner as 
 the previous set. The total quantities 
 issued with this local surcharge are 
 given as follows by Mr. Barnsdall : — 
 3pf brown, l,00O=ten sheets. 
 5pf green, 2,0OO=twenty sheets. 
 lOpf carmine, 4,000=forty sheets. 
 30pf blue, 2,000=twenty sheets. 
 30, 50 and 80pf, 300 (three sheets) of 
 
 each. 
 Judging by catalogue quotations, there 
 is something wrong with the above fig- 
 ures, for the lOpf is priced higher than 
 the 3pf, although four times as many 
 are supposed to have been issued. 
 
 The 25 and 40pf and 2 and 3 marks 
 are also known with this overpritit, but 
 these do not appear to have been issued 
 at Tientsin at all. Gibbons' catalogue 
 
 says, "the surcharge is known inverted 
 on the 50 and 80pf." All the other 
 values have also been reported with in- 
 verted overprint in the Monthly Journal 
 from time to time, and all but the 3pf 
 and 20pf are listed in this state in 
 Scott's catalogue. This latter work also 
 lists the 30pf with double surcharge. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 November (?) 1900. German stamps of 1900 
 overprinted "China" at Tientsin in black. 
 
 8. 3pf brown, Scott's No. 317. 
 
 9. 5pf green, Scott's No. 318. 
 
 10. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 319. 
 
 11. 20pf blue, Scott's No. 320. 
 
 12. SOpf black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 321. 
 
 13. 50pf black and purple on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 322. 
 
 14. SOpf black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 
 No. .323. 
 
 The Fourth Issue. 
 
 When the Germania design made its 
 appearance in 1900, it was decided to 
 overprint the series for use in the vari- 
 ous foreign post offices and though sup- 
 plies were expected at the different offices 
 in China, it is evident from the para- 
 graph quoted from the Monthly Journal 
 in connection with the local provisionals 
 of Tientsin that none were issued in 
 China until 1901, nothwithstanding the 
 fact that the catalogues give 1900 as the 
 date of issue. When they were actually 
 issued I have been unable to trace, but 
 it seems probable they were on sale, at 
 some offices at any rate, in March, 1901. 
 The overprint is simple, consisting mere- 
 ly of the name "China", applied hori- 
 zontally in black (except the 3 mark, on 
 which it is in red) in much smaller type 
 than used for the 1897 issue. Both types 
 of the 5 marks stamp were overprinted. 
 
1901. 
 
 15. 
 16. 
 17. 
 IS. 
 19. 
 
 20. 
 
 21. 
 
 22. 
 
 23. 
 
 24. 
 25. 
 26. 
 
 Reference List. 
 Stamps of the 1900 issue of Germany 
 
 overprinted in black or red. 
 3pf brown, Scott's No. 324. 
 5pf green, Scott's No. 325. 
 l(4f carmine, Scott's No. 326. 
 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 327. , 
 25ipf black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 328. 
 30pf black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 329. 
 40pf black and carmine, Scott's No. 330. 
 50pf black and purple on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 331. 
 SOpf black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 No. 332. 
 Im carmine, Scott's No. 333. 
 2m blue, Scott's No. 334. 
 3m violet black, Scott's No. 336. 
 5m black and lake, Scott's No. 335 or 
 335a. 
 
 The Fifth Issue. 
 
 Although the "Deutsches Reich" 
 stamps of Germany were issued in 1903, 
 it was not until 1906 that supplies were 
 surcharged for use in the offices main- 
 tained in China. This series was not 
 only overprinted with the name "China", 
 but new values in Chinese currency 
 were also surcharged. Small ornamen- 
 tal stars form a part of the overprint, 
 these being so adjusted that they ob- 
 literated the old values of pfennig and 
 marks. The surcharge was in red on 
 the 3 mark stamp but in black on all the 
 others. The set is said to have been 
 placed on sale on October 1st. 
 
 
 :*3 
 
 mi 
 
 Reference List. 
 Oct. 1st, 1905. German stamps of 1902 sur- 
 charged in black or red. 
 
 28. Ic on 3pf brown, Scott's No. 337. 
 
 29. 2c on 5pf green, Scott's No. 338. 
 
 30. 4c on lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 339. 
 
 31. 10c on 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 340. 
 
 32. 20c on 40pf black and carmine, Scott's 
 
 No. 341. 
 
 33. 40c on SOtof black and carmine on rose, 
 
 Scott's No. 342. 
 
 34. %yi on Im carmine, Scott's No. 343. 
 
 35. $1 on 2m blue, Scott's No. 344. 
 
 36. $1'54 on 3m violet black, Scott's No.346. 
 
 37. $2J^ on 5m black and lake, Scott's No. 
 
 345. 
 
 The Sixth Issue. 
 
 In February, 1906, the Ic and $3^2 
 stamps appeared on the new paper with 
 "lozenge" watermark which had been 
 introduced the previous year. These 
 were the only denominations on the 
 watermarked paper for a year and then, 
 in March, 1907, the $J4 appeared, fol- 
 lowed by the $1 two months later. The 
 next value — 20c — did not show up until 
 May, 1909, and since then, at extended 
 intervals, the 2c, 4c, 10c, 40c and $1^4 
 values have appeared. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 1906- 
 
 38. 
 39. 
 40. 
 41. 
 42. 
 
 43. 
 
 44. 
 45. 
 46 
 47, 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 14. Same as last issue watermarked 
 "lozenges". 
 Ic on 3pf brown, Scott's No. 347. 
 2c on 5pf green, Scott's No. 348. 
 4c on lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 349. 
 10c on 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No.350. 
 20c on 40p£ black and carmine, Scott's 
 
 No. 351. 
 40c on SOpf black and carmine on rose, 
 
 Scott's No. 352. 
 ^Yi on Im carmine, Scott's No. 353. 
 ill on 2m blue, Scott's No. 354. 
 '.ilyi on 3m violet black, Scott's No.356. 
 $214 on 5m black and lake, Scott's No. 
 355. 
 
 34 
 
GERMAN POST OFFICES IN MOROCCO. 
 
 Until 1890 German postal business in 
 Morocco was conducted through the 
 French offices but from that year until 
 German postal agencies were opened 
 German subjects resident in the coast 
 towns were permitted to forward letters 
 to Germany by the Wormann Steamship 
 Line. Writing on this subject in 
 Gibbons' Stamp Weekly in 1908 Dr. Otto 
 Rommel stated: — 
 
 Ordinary German stamps were used, 
 and were postmarked on the boats in 
 black ink with the inscription "Aus 
 Westafrika" (from West Africa). 
 By the side of this postmark the name 
 of the particular town, e. g. Mogador 
 was written in ink. In all specia- 
 lized collections of the stamps of Ger- 
 man Morocco, it is only right that 
 these should be included. Unless the 
 name of the town is written in, one 
 cannot be sure that the stamp was 
 really used m Morocco, as the same 
 postmark was used, at any rate up to 
 1897, on letters posted in German 
 South-west Africa and the Cameroons. 
 
 The first German post-offices in Mor- 
 occo were opened on December 30th, 
 1899, at Tangier (the chief office), Casa- 
 blanca, Laraiche, Mazagan, Mogador, 
 Rabat, and Saffi. On July 11th, 1900', an 
 office was opened at Marakesh; on May 
 27th 1901 offices were established at Al- 
 cazar (Ksar-el-Kebir), Fez, and Meknes 
 (Mequinez) ; and on December 19th, 
 1906, an office was opened at Tetuan. 
 
 Following our usual plan before deal- 
 ing with the stamps we append a few 
 topographical notes regarding the differ- 
 ent towns at which offices were estab- 
 lished. 
 
 Alcazar, or Ksar-el-Kebir, is situated 
 80 miles northeast of Fez. It is historical- 
 ly interesting from the fact that here, 
 in 1578, Sebastian, king of Portugal, was 
 defeated and slain by the Moors. The 
 town has a present population of about 
 10,000. 
 
 Casablanca, or Dar-el-Beida, to give it 
 its Arabic name, is an important port on 
 the Atlantic, 163 miles south-west of 
 Fez, with a present population of about 
 30,000. 
 
 Fez, or more properly Faz, is the 
 northern capital of the sultanate of Mor- 
 occo. With crumbling walls, and nar- 
 row, dirty, sunless streets, Fez has for 
 over a thousand years been one of the 
 sacred cities of Islam, renowned for its 
 university and schools of learning. The 
 university, attached to the venerated 
 
 mosque of the Cherubim or of Muley 
 Edris, is frequented by 700 pupils from 
 all parts of the Mohammedan world, 
 and has about forty professors. The 
 extensive palace of the sultan is now 
 partly in ruins. Although thus falling 
 into decay, Fez is nevertheless one of 
 the busiest commercial towns of north- 
 west Africa ; its merchants import Eu- 
 ropean manufactured goods, which they 
 dispatch by caravans to Timbuktu and 
 the interior of Africa, and they export 
 fruits, morocco leather, gums, pottery, 
 gold and silverware. Fez was founded 
 by Muley Edris in 808. From 1086 it 
 was the capital of an Almoravid inde- 
 pendent kingdom, and ranked both as a 
 sacred cityand for its learning as one of 
 the first cities of Islam. But from the 
 date of its incorporation with Morocco, 
 in 1548, it began to decay. Its popula- 
 tion is variously estimated at from 
 54,000 to 150,000. 
 
 Laraiche, or El Araish, is a fortified 
 port on the Atlantic seaboard, at the 
 mouth of the El Kus, 45 miles south- 
 south-west of Tangier. It adjoins the 
 ruins of ancient Lixus, or Shammish, 
 and the gardens of the Hesperides were 
 supposed to be close at hand. It has a 
 present population of about 8,000'. 
 
 Marekesh, Morocco city, is the south- 
 ern capital of the sultanate. It is sur- 
 rounded by a lime and earth wall, now 
 dilapidated, more than five miles in cir- 
 cumference, between 20 and 30 feet high, 
 flanked at regular intervals by square 
 towers. The town is squalid and ill- 
 built, though it bears the marks of for- 
 mer grandeur. Marekesh pos^sses many 
 mosques and is a town of some antiquity, 
 for it was founded in 1072. It reached 
 the summit of its prosperity in the 13th 
 century when it is said to have had 
 700,000 inhabitants. Its population now- 
 adays varies according to the presence 
 or absence of the sultan, his court, and 
 his army, and is normally about 60,000. 
 Of these, between 7,000' and 8,000 are 
 Jews living in a Ghetto, while no Euro- 
 peans reside permanently in the city. 
 
 Mazagan is a seaport on the west 
 coast, 125 miles northwest of Marekesh, 
 of which city it is the port. It has an 
 open roadstead with a tolerably safe an- 
 chorage. It has a present population of 
 about 12,000. 
 
 Meknes, or Mequinez, is a walled 
 town situated 34 miles west-south-west 
 of Fez and about 70 miles from the 
 coast. It contains the summer residence 
 of the sultan and the Mulai Ismael 
 mosque, a royal burial place much vis- 
 
 35 
 
ited by pilgrims. It has a population es- 
 timated at anything between 30i,000' and 
 60,000. 
 
 Mogador, or Suera, is the chief sea- 
 port of Morocco on the Atlantic and is 
 situated 130 miles southwest of Mare- 
 kesh. It is built on a rocky promontory 
 and is the best built town in the country, 
 having been laid out in 1760 by a French 
 engineer. Commercially, it is the sec- 
 ond most important town in the sultan- 
 ate. It has a population of about 20,000 
 of whom 8,000 are Jews and about 300 
 Europeans. 
 
 Rabat, or New Sallee, is a seaport on 
 the west coast, opposite Sallee. It 
 stands on cliffs, amidst gardens, and has 
 a fort and the ruins of the sultan's pal- 
 ace. It was once the chief port for 
 European commerce, but has lost most 
 of its trade on account of the harbor 
 having become silted up. It has a popu- 
 lation of about 25,000. 
 
 Safn, or Asfi, is a seaport, situated on 
 a little bay on the Mediterranean coast, 
 about 120 miles west-north-west of the 
 city of Marekesh. It is fortified and 
 was once under Portuguese influence, 
 but its allegiance to that cotintry ceased 
 in 1641. It has a population of 14,000, 
 more than a quarter of which are Jews. 
 
 Tangier, or Tangiers, is a fortified 
 seaport and health resort on a small bay 
 of the Straits of Gibraltar, 35 miles 
 southwest of Gibraltar. It is a small, 
 ill-built town, situated on two hills, and 
 though its harbor is a mere roadstead, 
 it is the chief commercial city of Moroc- 
 co and is also the diplomatic headquar- 
 ters. The chief buildings are a great 
 mosque, a castle, the sultan's palace, and 
 the governor's' residence. Tangier was 
 taken by the Portuguese in 1471, and 
 given to Charles II of England as part 
 of the dowry of his wife, Catharine of 
 Braganza, but in 1684 it was returned 
 to Morocco. The notorious Colonel 
 Kirk commanded the garrison, and 
 Bishop Ken was chaplain here. It was 
 subsequently a nest of pirates. Its pop- 
 ulation at the present time is about 
 30,000, most of whom are Moors and 
 Spanish Jews. 
 
 Tetuan, is a fortified seaport town on 
 the Mediterranean, 22 miles south of 
 Ceuta. It has a population of 25,000, 
 about one-third of whom are Jews. 
 
 Mr. Barnsdall speaks highly of the 
 German post offices maintained in the 
 above named towns, viz : — 
 
 Notwithstanding the longer created 
 "sphere of influence" of France and 
 Spain, Germany's prestige in Morocco 
 now ranks as high, if not higher. Not 
 the least important factor of the re- 
 
 sult is the postal equipment; "trade 
 follows the flag", it is said, but it is 
 equally true that "trade follows the 
 post", and in Morocco the latter is 
 particularly applicable. Germany has 
 spared no expense in this matter, and 
 its imposing postal establishments, 
 when contrasted with the insignificant 
 offices considered sufficient by the 
 other powers, have suggested to the 
 local mind — the local population main- 
 ly seeing European nations _ through 
 the post ofiSce windows — the idea that 
 Germany must naturally be the most 
 powerful and enlightened nation. 
 
 The German offices in Morocco are 
 under the direction of the Chief Post- 
 al Administration (Ober Postdirec- 
 tion) of Hamburg, and they are 
 served by a generously subsidised mail 
 service; the latter consisting of two 
 sailings per month between Bremen 
 and Hamburg, Casablance and Tan- 
 gier, and, by arrangement with Aus- 
 tria, of a monthly service between 
 Trieste and Moroccan ports. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 The first issue was made at the time 
 the chief office at Tangier and its first 
 six subsiduary offices were opened, viz. : 
 December 20, 1899. At first, it was in- 
 tended to surcharge the then current 
 stamps of Germany with the name "Ma- 
 rocco" only, as was done in the case of 
 the stamps for the offices in China. In 
 fact, essays of the numeral and eagle 
 types of 1889 were produced with the 
 name MAROCCO overprinted in block 
 letters, but these were never issued, for 
 the reason that the Spanish currency ob- 
 taining in Morocco was so much below 
 the German value. The stamps actually 
 issued, therefore, were overprinted "Ma-^ 
 rocco" and new denominations in Span-^ 
 ish currency in black. The overprint 
 reads diagonally upwards from left to 
 right and though some specialists find 
 two slopes and two thicknesses of the 
 overprint, the differences are really very 
 slight and hard to distinguish. The 3c 
 on 3pf value was simply intended for 
 use between the offices themselves. 
 
1899 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 German stamps of 1889 surcharged in 
 black. 
 
 3c on 3pf brown, Scott's No. YOl. 
 
 5c on 5pf green, Scott's No. '?XI2. 
 10c on lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 703. 
 25c on 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 704. 
 30c on 2Spf orange, Scott's No. 705'. 
 60c on 50p£ red-brown, Scott's No. 706. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 On October 20, 1900, stamps of the 
 "Germania" type were suitably over- 
 printed for use in the Moroccan ofBces. 
 On the pfennig values, the overprint was 
 applied horizontally in two lines, the 
 upper one consisting of the name and 
 the lower one of the new value. On the 
 1, 2 and 5 mark denominations, the word 
 "Marocco" reads upwards at the left 
 and downwards at the right, while the 
 new value is applied horizontally be- 
 tween and level with the base of the 
 vertical overprints. On the 3 mark 
 stamp, "Marocco" is shown reading up- 
 wards on the left border, while the new 
 value reads downwards at the right side. 
 The overprint is in red on the 3 mark 
 and in black on all the others. It will 
 be noted the overprints are all so ar- 
 ranged that they do not cover the word 
 "REICHSPOST". Both types of the 
 German 5 mark stamp were surcharged. 
 There were several printings of the sur- 
 charges and Dr. Rommel refers to some 
 minor varieties of considerable interest 
 to the specialist, viz. : — 
 
 In the last printing of these stamps, 
 a minor variety may be found; it has 
 not been decided satisfactorily if it 
 exists on some, or on all of the values. 
 By means of printers' trials, we have 
 been able to determine that in any 
 case, on the 25 centimes black, on 20pf 
 blue, the last printing of the overprint 
 is much lower down than usual, so 
 low, in fact, that the upper half of 
 the word REICHSPOST is covered. 
 At first, the overprint on the 3 to 50 
 pfennig had the letter "t" square at 
 the top and the letter "s" was straight 
 up. Toward the end of 1903-, the 5 
 centimos showed slight signs of vari- 
 ation in the overprint : the letter "t" 
 was thicker, and went off into a point 
 at the top. Other characteristics of 
 this second type of the 5c are that the 
 letter "s" leans sideways, the "c" in 
 "Marocco" and the figure "5" are 
 somewhat thicker. It appears that the 
 5c is the only value in which there 
 are two types. There are also differ- 
 ences of type in the values from 1 to 
 5 marks, in which the differences all 
 lie in the word "Marocco". In type 
 I, the bottom serifs are long, and form 
 
 .right angles to the vertical strokes of 
 the letter "M"; the "r" and "o" are 
 fairly wide apart ; the word "Marocco" 
 is fairly Kghtly printed. In type II, 
 the bottom serifs of the "M" are 
 shorter, and form curves with -the 
 vertical strokes of the letter; the "r" 
 and "o" are closer together ; the word 
 "Marocco" appears to be more heavily 
 printed. 
 
 In 1905, a used specimen of the 50 
 centimos on 4C>pf was reported to have 
 been found with inverted "e" in "Cen- 
 timos" and, though the variety was 
 chronicled in many journals at the time, 
 I have been unable to learn anything 
 more about it. 
 
 1900. 
 
 7. 
 
 8. 
 
 9. 
 
 10. 
 
 11. 
 
 12. 
 
 13. 
 
 14. 
 
 15. 
 
 16. 
 
 17. 
 18. 
 
 19. 
 
 (Mi'l'dccJ 
 ' 3("Hiliin(3 
 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 C^S- '"M 
 
 F^"^ 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 m\w ' 
 
 '^ 
 
 
 
 
 §m 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^^k^A] 
 
 Reference List. 
 German stamps of 1900 overprinted in 
 
 black or red (3m). 
 
 3c on 3pf brown, Scott's No. 707. 
 
 5c on 5pf green, Scott's No. 708. 
 10c on lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 709. 
 25c on 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 
 
 710. 
 30c on 23pf black and orange on yel- 
 low, Scott's No. 711. 
 35c on 30pf black and orange on buff, 
 
 Scott's No. 712. 
 50c on 40pf black and carmine, Scott's 
 
 No. 713. 
 60c on 50pf black and purple on buff, 
 
 Scott's No. 714. 
 Ipes on 80pf black and carmine on 
 
 rose, Scott s No. 715. 
 
 Ip 25c on 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 716. 
 
 2p 50c on 2 mark blue, Scott's No. 717. 
 
 3p 75c on 3 mark violet-black, Scott's 
 
 No. 719. 
 
 Op 25c on 5 mark black and lake, 
 
 Scott's No. 718 or 718a. 
 
 37 
 
The Third Issue. 
 
 In 1905, the fancy type of overprint 
 similar to that used in the foreign offices 
 in China and Turkey made its appear- 
 ance. In this overprint, the letters and 
 numerals are in fancy Gothic characters, 
 the German stamps surcharged being 
 those inscribed DEUTSCHES REICH. 
 The overprints were applied in the same 
 positions as on the corresponding values 
 of the last series, and also, similarly to 
 the 1900 issue, the surcharge on the 3 
 mark value was in red and on all the 
 others it was black. The new stamps 
 were first placed on sale about Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 Before this set was supplied to the 
 Moroccan offices, supplies of the 5c on 
 5pf ran very low and a new lot was or- 
 dered. In filling this requisition, the 
 Government printers used the Gothic 
 type, which had already been decided on 
 for the forthcoming issue, on the 5pf 
 stamp of the REICHSPOST series. 
 Altogether, 220 sheets or 22,000 were 
 printed thus and the error was placed on 
 sale about the middle of September. 
 Dr. Rommel tells us that 18,500 were 
 sold and that the balance of 3,500 were 
 held at the disposal of the Moroccan of- 
 fices by the Government Printing Office 
 in Berlin. According to the Deutsche 
 Verkehrsseitung (Official Gazette) all 
 the stamps inscribed REICHSPOST 
 and surcharged for Morocco which were 
 in the keeping of the Government Print- 
 ing Office were ordered to be destroyed 
 in February, 1907, so that it is possible 
 the balance of the errors were burned 
 with other remainders at that time. 
 
 mroceo 
 
 3'®«nttmol 
 
 AMi^m. 
 
 % 
 
 I 
 
 
 1905. 
 
 20. 
 
 21. 
 22. 
 23. 
 
 24. 
 
 25. 
 
 26. 
 
 27. 
 
 28. 
 
 29. 
 
 30. 
 
 31. 
 
 32. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 German stamps inscribed DEUTCHES 
 REICH surcharged in Gothic type in 
 black or red (3ra). 
 (a) 3c on 3pf brown, Scott's No. 720. 
 (a) 5c on 5of green, Scott's No. 721. 
 (a) 10c on lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 722. 
 (a) 25c on QOpi ultramarine, Scott's No. 
 
 723. 
 (a) 30c on 25pf black and orange on 
 
 yellow, Scott's No. 724. 
 (a) 35c on 30pf black and orange on 
 
 buff, Scott's No. 725. 
 (a) 50c on 40pf black and carmine, 
 
 Scott's No. 726. 
 (a) 60c on 50pf black and purple on 
 buff, Scott's No. 727. 
 1 pes on SOpf black and carmine 
 
 on rose, Scott's No. 728. 
 Ip 25c on 1 mark carmine, Scott's 
 
 No. 729. 
 2p 50c on 2 mark blue, Scott's No 
 
 730. 
 8p 75c on 3 mark violet-black, 
 Scott's No. 732. 
 (c) 6p 25c on 5 mark black and lake, 
 Scott's No. 731. 
 
 (a) 
 (b) 
 (b) 
 (b) 
 
 The Fourth Issue. 
 
 In 1906, as the stocks of the old sup- 
 plies were used up, these stamps began 
 to appear on the lozenge watermarked 
 paper introduced for the stamps of the 
 German Empire in 1905. The 3c was 
 issued in February, 1906; the 10c ap- 
 peared in September and the 25c in De- 
 cember. The next value to make its 
 appearance was the 5c which was issued 
 in February, 1907. Two months later, 
 the 6p 25c value appeared, to be fol- 
 lowed by the 2p 50c in July and the Ip 
 25c in August. It was not until March, 
 1908, that the next denomination — 35c — 
 appeared, and then over two years 
 elapsed until the 50c was issued. In 
 1911, the 30c, 60c and 1 peseta were is- 
 sued but the 3p 75c necessary to com- 
 plete the set was never issued on the 
 watermarked paper. 
 
 Reference List. 
 1906-11. As last but watermarked Lozenges. 
 
 33. 3c on 3pf brown, Scott's No. 733. 
 
 34. 5c on op£ green, Scott's No. 734. 
 
 35. 10c on lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 735. 
 
 36. 25c on 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 
 
 736. 
 
 37. 30c on 25pf black and orange on yel- 
 
 low, Scott's No. 737. 
 
 38. 35c on SOpf black and orange on buff, 
 
 Scott's No. 738. 
 
 39. 50c on 40pf black and carmine, Scott's 
 
 No. 739. 
 
 40. 60c on 50pf black and purple on buff, 
 
 Scott's No. 740. 
 
 41. Ipes on SOpf black and carmine on 
 
 rose, Scott's No. 741. 
 
 42. Ip 23c on 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 742. 
 
 43. 2p 50c on 2 mark blue, Scott's No. 
 
 743. 
 
 44. 6p 25c on 5 mark black and lake, 
 
 Scott's No. 744. 
 
The Fifth Issue. 
 
 In 1911, some officious individual dis- 
 covered that the spelling "Marocco" on 
 these stamps was hardly correct, conse- 
 quently, an entirely new set had to be 
 issued with the surcharge Germanised 
 to "Marokko". With the exception of 
 this alteration of the two letters "c" to 
 "k", the type and arrangement on the 
 various values is the same as before. 
 All values are on the lozenge water- 
 marked paper. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1911. Surcharged "Marokko" and new values. 
 Watermarked Lozenges. 
 
 45. 3c on 3pf brown, Scott's No. 745. 
 
 46. 5c on 5pf green, Scott's No. 746. 
 
 47. 10c on lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 747. 
 
 48. 25c on 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 
 
 748. 
 
 49. 30c on 25pf black and orange on yel- 
 
 low, Scott's No. 749. 
 
 50. 35c on oOpf black and orange on buff, 
 
 Scott's No. 7.50. 
 
 51. 50c on 40pf black and carmine, Scott's 
 
 No. 751. 
 
 52. 60c on 50p( black and purple on buff, 
 
 Scott's No. 752. 
 
 53. Ipes on SOpf black and carmine on 
 
 rose, Scott's No. 753. 
 
 54. Ip 25c on 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 754. 
 
 55. 2p 50c on 2 mark blue, Scott's No. 
 
 755. 
 
 56. 3p 75c on 3 mark violet-black, Scott's 
 
 No. 757. 
 
 57. 6p 25c on 5 mark black and lake, 
 
 Scott's No. 756. 
 
 GERMAN OFFICES IN TURKEY. 
 
 The first country in which Germany 
 established foreign post offices was the 
 Turkish Empire, and its philatelic his- 
 tory, as Mr. Barnsdall puts it, "reflects 
 the continual fluctuation of exchange of 
 local currency and the strenuous com- 
 petition of the various Powers to cap- 
 ture the postal traffic." The first office 
 was opened at Galata, Constantinople, 
 on March 1st, 1870 and in 1875 a branch 
 office was opened in Stamboul, or Con- 
 stantinople proper. The next office was 
 established at Jaffa on October 1st, 
 1898, on the occasion of the visit of the 
 German Emperor, and on March 1st, 
 1900, offices were opened at Smyrna, 
 Beirut, Jerusalem, and Pera, the latter 
 being a suburb of Constantinople. 
 
 Beirut, or Beyrouth, is a seaport on 
 the Mediterranean, in Syria, Turkey in 
 Asia, situated on a bay at the foot of a 
 prolongation of the Lebanon, 55 miles 
 by rail from Damascus, whose port it is. 
 Beirut is the healthiest place on the 
 coast having temperate summers and a 
 plentiful supply of rain in the winters. 
 It is a town of considerable antiquity 
 and was at one time a port of the 
 Phoenicians. It came later under the 
 power of Egypt, from whom it was 
 taken by Antiochus the Great, and so 
 became part of Syria. Conquered for 
 the Romans by Agrippa, it was made 
 by Augustus a military colony under 
 the name of Colonia Julia Augusta 
 Felix Berytus. During the Crusades it 
 belonged alternately to the Christians 
 and to the Saracens. In 1763 it fell in- 
 to the power of the Turks; was con- 
 quered by Ibrahim Pasha, son of Me- 
 hemet Ali of Egypt in 1831 ;_ and played 
 an important part in the Oriental ques- 
 
 tion in 1840, when it was bombarded on 
 September 10th by the allied English, 
 Austrian and Turkish fleets, until 
 evacuated by the Egyptians. Its modern 
 growth dates from 1843 when steam 
 navigation was introduced. It has a 
 present population of about 150,000, 
 over one-fourth of whom are Moham- 
 medans. 
 
 Constantinople, the capital of the 
 Ottoman Empire, was founded in 330 
 .\. D. by Constantine the Great, from 
 whom it derives its name. The city 
 consists of two distinct parts — -Stam- 
 boul or Constantinople proper, and 
 Christian Constantinople (Pera, Galata, 
 and Top-hana). The two are separated 
 by the Golden Horn, a creek about five 
 miles long and half a mile wide at the 
 entrance, a safe and spacious harbor, 
 and so deep that large ironclads can 
 lie quite close to the shore. Stamboul 
 lies on the southern side of the Golden 
 Horn and Christian Constantinople on 
 the northern side. The two are con- 
 nected by a couple of rude but con- 
 venient bridges. The old walls, in 
 courses of stone and red brick, and 14 
 miles in circuit, show that the modern 
 Turkish city occupies much the same 
 area as the capital of the first Christian 
 emperor. Within these walls the city 
 rises, like Rome, upon seven low hills, 
 crowned by noble mosques, with a 
 wilderness of picturesque, tumble- 
 down, filthy wooden houses and ba- 
 zaars climbing up their sides. In 
 Stamboul are nearly all the monuments 
 and antiquities worth seeing in Con- 
 stantinople. In 330 A. D., impressed 
 by its magnificent site, Constantine 
 the Great abandoned the old capital of 
 
 39 
 
the Roman Empire on the Tiber, and 
 founded in the place of Byzantium a 
 new metropolis on the Bosphorus 
 which he called Constantinople. Its 
 walls and public buildings were en- 
 larged and beautified by Justinian in 
 587-565. Since then it has undergone 
 many sieges by Sassanians, Persians, 
 Avars, Saracens (six times), Russians 
 (in 9th to 11th Centuries), Latins and 
 Turks ; and of its twenty-six sieges and 
 eight captures, that of the Latins under 
 Baldwin and Dandolo in 1304 was by 
 far the most disastrous, barbarous and 
 spoliating. In comparison, the Turkish 
 'sieges were humane and chivalrous : 
 the first took place in 1356; Murad II 
 made the attempt again in 1422; and 
 Mohammed II carried the city in 1453. 
 
 Galata, at which the first German 
 post office was established, is pre-emi- 
 nently the merchant quarter, and it was 
 founded in 1216 by a colony of Genoese 
 merchants. The Tower of Galata, a 
 Genoese erection, serves the same pur- 
 pose as the Seraskier's Tower on the 
 opposite side in giving alarms of fires. 
 A tunnelled railway drags passengers 
 up the steep ascent to Pera. 
 
 Pera is the aristocratic quarter ; here 
 are ail the embassies and consulates. 
 The steep and badly paved Grande Rue 
 is lined with fair if expensive shops, 
 and boasts a rude opera house, many 
 cafes and restaurants, and most of the 
 principal hotels. The total population 
 of Constantinople probably exceeds a 
 million and a quarter, and at least half 
 of the inhabitants are Mohammedans. 
 
 Jaifa, or Joppa as it was known in 
 Biblical times, is a town on the sea- 
 coast of Syria, 37 miles north-west of 
 Jerusalem. Under Constantine the 
 place, which had been destroyed by 
 Vespasian, became a bishop's see, and, 
 as the Crusaders' great landing place, 
 was taken and retaken by Christian and 
 Moslem. In 1799 Napoleon stormed 
 it; in 1833, it was taken by Mehemet 
 AH, and restored to the Turks by 
 British help. The open roadstead, the 
 ancient walls, the yellow sand-dunes, 
 and the orange gardens are now the 
 chief features of the brown town on its 
 hillock. The population is estimated 
 at about 40,000. There is a regular 
 German colony near the town and al- 
 though it only numbers some three 
 hundred souls it was established so 
 long ago as 1869. 
 
 Jerusalem, regarded as a holy city 
 alike by Jews, Christians and Moslems, 
 long the capital of Palestine, stands on 
 the spurs of two hills surrounded and 
 divided by two valleys, once deep, but 
 now partly or wholly filled up with rub- 
 
 bish. The Eastern Hill was originally 
 a rounded tpp crowned with the 
 "threshing floor of Aruanah," and the 
 rock and cave, probably a sacred site 
 from time immemorial. The Western 
 Hill, higher than the other by more 
 than a hundred feet, was also bounded 
 by steep slopes. Either hill was, there- 
 fore, a strong hill-fortress. The his- 
 tory of Jerusalem covers a period of 
 about 3,500 years. Of these 500 at 
 least are prehistoric; and of the 3O0O 
 years which remain, less than 500 show 
 us Jerusalem independent, the capital 
 of a free country, and the center of a 
 national religion. For 60O years long- 
 er the city was in the hands of the 
 Israelites, but never wholly independ- 
 ent. Its name is found on an inscrio- 
 tion at least 500 years before David; 
 it was besieged almost immediately 
 after the death of Joshua (1400 B. C.) 
 and was the constant centre of strife 
 until 586 B. C, when it was entirely de- 
 stroyed. Fifty years later it was re- 
 built but for 500 years after this Jeru- 
 salem knew not a single generation of 
 peace. Internal factions tore it to 
 pieces ; the city was in possession in 
 turn of Persian, Macedonian, Syrian, 
 Egyptian, and Roman. Under Antio- 
 chus the temple was consecrated to 
 Zeus Olympius ; and swine were sacri- 
 ficed on the altars. But for the Macca- 
 bees, the religion of the Jews would 
 have been abandoned and their nation- 
 ality lost. The city was besieged, 
 taken, and again totally destroyed by 
 Titus in 70 A. D. In 134 A. D., the 
 rebellion of Bar Cocheba was the signal 
 for another devastation ; but in 136 
 Hadrian rebuilt the city, called it 
 Aelia Capitolina, and generally pagan- 
 ised it. When the empire eventually 
 became Christian, pilgrimages to the 
 holy place increased greatly in number, 
 and in 333 the Church of the Holy 
 Sepulchre was founded. In 614, Jeru- 
 salem was attacked by the Persians, 
 and in 637 it passed into the power of 
 Islam, falling to the Caliph Omar. 
 The Arab overlords were on the whole 
 not unfriendly to the Christians, and 
 the city was well cared for under them; 
 but when the Seljuk Turks came into 
 power, their oppression of the pilgrims 
 became a challenge to the Christian 
 powers, and the crusades were the re- 
 sults. Godfrey of Bouillon rescued 
 the city in 1099, but it was retaken by 
 Saladin in 1187. From 1347, it was 
 subject to Egypt for two hundred and 
 seventy years, but eventually fell to the 
 Sultan Selim I in 1517. In 1835, there 
 was a partially successful revolt 
 against the Turkish despotism, but in 
 1849 the authority of Turkey was con- 
 
firmed by the powers. Of late years 
 the city has become the rendezvous of 
 thousands of exiled Jews, mainly from 
 Russia. Its present population is about 
 50,000. 
 
 Smyrna, the most important seaport 
 of Asia Minor, stands at the head of 
 the Gulf of Smyrna, which penetrates 
 46 miles inland from the Aegean Sea. 
 It was founded, probably about 1000' B. 
 C, by Achaen or yEolian colonists 
 from Greece, though it subsequently 
 became Ionian. Early in the 7th cen- 
 tury B. C, it resisted the Lydian king, 
 Gyges ; but in 627 B. C., his grandson, 
 Alyattes, took the city and utterly de- 
 stroyed it. At last it was restored by 
 Lysimachus, early in the 3rd century 
 B. C. It then became one of the finest 
 cities in Asia Minor. From the 
 Romans it received privileges because 
 of its fidelity in their wars with Mithri- 
 dates. In 178 and 180 A. D., it 
 suffered greatly from earthquakes. A 
 Christian church was established there 
 at an early date. In 1084, Smyrna was 
 captured by a Turkish chief, and then 
 nearly destroyed by a Greek fleet. 
 The emperor Alexis Comnenus re- 
 stored it; afterwards it suffered much 
 from a siege by Tamerlane (1402), and 
 in 1424 fell into the hands of the Turks. 
 Smyrna was one of the towns claimed 
 to be the birthplace of Homer. About 
 2700 years ago Smyrna was one of the 
 principal trading centres for Asia 
 Minor; and now it has as a seaport the 
 lion's share of the Asia Minor trade 
 with Europe. The harbor is large, 
 safe, and easily accessible, but is in im- 
 minent danger of siltinsr up. It has an 
 estimated population of about a quar- 
 ter of a million of whom 130,000 are 
 Greeks (more than the population of 
 Athens), 23,000 Jews, 12,000 Armenians, 
 12,700 Europeans, and the rest Turks. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 The first German stamps overprinted 
 for use in the Turkish post offices were 
 not issued until January 25th, 1884. 
 From 1870, when the first office was es- 
 tablished at Constantinople, until that 
 date ordinary current German stamps 
 were used (the issues of the North 
 German Confederation of 1869, and of 
 the German Empire from 1872 until 
 1880). Mr. Barnsdall gives the reason 
 for the overprinted stamps as follows: 
 In time it was discovered that a 
 large number of these stamps were 
 not bought for postal purposes, but 
 
 were used for making remittances to 
 Germany, the difference of exchange 
 enabling remitters to buy the stamps 
 under face value, whilst at the same 
 time this mode of remittance avoided 
 the fee for money orders. To coun- 
 teract this the stamps supplied to the 
 offices were overprinted with the ap- 
 proximate value in Turkish currency. 
 This had the double effect of stop- 
 ping the practice referred to above, 
 and for some time of attracting ad- 
 ditional local custom. The latter was 
 by reason of the fact that these over- 
 printed German stamps were sold at 
 the facial Turkish currencv without 
 regard tO' fluctuation of exchange. 
 The stamps overprinted were the 5, 
 10, 30, 25 and 50pf values of the issue 
 of 1880 with value in "pfennig." The 
 3pf was not overprinted as the value 
 was not required by Postal Union rates, 
 neither was the 2 mark value sur- 
 charged as this value was not sold to 
 the public and therefore could not be 
 used for remittances. The surcharge 
 consisted of the word "PARA" or 
 "PIASTER" with numerals before and 
 after printed in black. There are two 
 types of the overprint of the IJ^ and 
 zyi piastres, one having the numerals 
 further from the word than the other 
 so that one type is about 2 mm. longer 
 than the other. At least three different 
 shades of the 50pf were surcharged and 
 the ink used for the overprint on this 
 denomination varied from dull to shiny 
 according to which would show to the 
 best advantage on the particular green 
 of the stamp. A small supply of the 1 
 pias on 20pf was surcharged in deep 
 blue instead of black by error. There 
 are dangerous reprints of these over- 
 prints so that they should be purchased 
 only from responsible concerns. 
 
 Reference List. 
 1884. German stamps of 1880 surcharged in 
 black. 
 
 1. 10 para on 5pf mauve, Scott's No. 501. 
 
 2. 20 para on lOpf rose, Scott's No. 502. 
 
 3. 1 pias on 20p£ ultramarine, Scott's No. 
 
 503. 
 
 4. Il4 pias on 25pf red-brown, Scott's 
 
 No. 504. - 
 
 5. 2'/2 pias on 50pf green, Scott's No. 
 
 505 or 506. 
 
The Second Issue. 
 
 At the time that the new surface 
 printed stamps were placed on sale in 
 Germany (October 1st, 1889), the sanie 
 series overprinted with new values in 
 Turkish currency was placed on sale in 
 the Levant offices. The values were the 
 same as before and the overprints on 
 the two lower values were somewhat 
 similar, in fact, the 20 para overprint is 
 so like that of 1884 that it would seem 
 to have been applied by the same form. 
 The 10 para surcharge now has letters 
 and figures of the same size. In the 
 case of the "1 PIASTER 1" surcharge 
 the numerals are smaller and the letters 
 larger than before. A different ar- 
 rangement was followed for the two 
 highest values the word "PIASTER" 
 occupying a line by itself with the value 
 at each side a little above the "P" and 
 "R". 
 
 1889. 
 
 6. 
 
 7. 
 8. 
 
 10. 
 
 Reference List. 
 Overprinted on German stamps of .same 
 
 date. 
 10 para on 5pf green, Scott's No. 508. 
 20 para on IC^f rose, Scott's No. 509. 
 1 pias on 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 
 
 510. 
 1^4 piss on 25pf orange, Scott's No. 
 
 511. 
 2^ pias on 50pf red-brown, Scott's 
 No. 512 or 512a. 
 
 The Third Issue. 
 
 With each change of stamps for the 
 "Fatherland" it naturally follows that 
 those in use in the foreign post-offices 
 should be altered hence when the "Ger- 
 mania" and pictorial stamps appeared 
 in 1900 the series was suitably over- 
 printed for use in the Levant. The 2pf 
 and 3pf values were not required but 
 the values above 50pf were all sur- 
 charged so that this third issue is a 
 
 much more comprehensive one than its 
 predecessors. Both types of the 5 
 mark value were overprinted. The sur- 
 charges, with the exception of that on 
 the 3 mark denomination, were m black 
 while on the 3 mark, owing to its color, 
 red was used. The word "PARA' or 
 "PIASTER" is slightly higher than the 
 numerals on all values. The word is 
 in capitals except on the V/i, V/2 and 
 W/2 values when it is "Piaster.' _ On 
 the 3 mark stamp the surcharge is 15 
 PIASTER 15" reading upwards on the 
 left side and downwards on the right. 
 
 1900. 
 
 11. 
 12. 
 
 13. 
 
 14. 
 
 15. 
 
 16. 
 
 17. 
 
 18. 
 
 19. 
 
 20. 
 
 21. 
 
 22. 
 
 
 
 P^a 
 
 1 
 
 
 r ''* 
 
 
 ^M 
 
 iv^^ 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 Current stamps of Germany surcharged 
 
 in black or red. 
 10 para on 5pf green, Scott's No. 513. 
 20 para on lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 514. 
 
 1 pias on 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 
 
 515. 
 1J4 pias on 25pf black and red on 
 
 yellow, Scott's No. 516. 
 154 pias on 30pf black and orange on 
 
 buff, Scott's No. 517. 
 
 2 pias on 40pf black and carmine, 
 Scott's No. 318. 
 
 2V5 pias on 50pf black and purple on 
 buff, Scott's No. 519. 
 
 4 pias on 80pf black and carmine on 
 rose, Scotrs No. 520. 
 
 5 pias on 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 521. 
 10 pias on 2 marks blue, Scott's No. 
 
 522. 
 15 pias on 3 marks violet-black, Scott's 
 
 No. 524. 
 25 pias on 5 marks black and lake, 
 
 Scott's No. 523 or 523b. 
 
The Fourth Issue. 
 In March, 1903, the 1 and 5 pias 
 values of the preceding set appeared 
 with some slight modifications in the 
 type of the surcharge. The most 
 prominent feature of the new type is 
 the "A" of "PIASTER" which has a 
 conspicuous horizontal serif across its 
 top. The 25 pias with similar overprint 
 appeared about a month later while the 
 10 and 20 para values were not issued 
 until November, 1904. The only other 
 denomination to be issued with this 
 type of surcharge was the 10 pias which 
 was not placed on sale until June, 1905. 
 Reference List. 
 
 1903-05. Horizontal serif on top of "A". 
 23. 10 para on 5pf green, Scott's No. 525. 
 20 para on lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 
 526. 
 1 pias on 20p£ ultramarine, Scott's No. 
 
 527. 
 5 pias on 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 
 528. 
 10 pias on 2 marks blue, Scott's No. 529. 
 
 38. 10 pias on 2 marks blue, Scott's No. 540. 
 i59. 15 pias on 3 marks violet black, Scott's 
 
 No. 542. 
 40. 25 pias on 5 marks black and lake, 
 
 Scott's No. 54lI. 
 
 24. 
 25. 
 26. 
 
 27. _. 
 
 28. 25 
 
 Dias on 5 marks black and lake, 
 scott's No. 530. 
 
 The Fifth Issue. 
 
 Although the new "DEUTSCHES 
 REICH" stamps were issued for the 
 German Empire in April, 1902, it was 
 not until October 1st, 1905, that any of 
 them were issued with the Turkish 
 overprints. The same values were sur- 
 charged as before but, following the 
 system also applied to the Chinese and 
 Moroccan offices, fancy Gothic or Ger- 
 man lettering was used in place of the 
 Latin characters which had sufficed to 
 that date. On all values up to and in- 
 cluding the 4 piastres the words were 
 placed below the numerals thus revers- 
 ing the plan of the previous set. The 
 overprint on the 3 mark value was in 
 red as before. 
 
 1 FUSTER 1 
 
 PIASTER 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1906. German stamps of 1902 surcharged in 
 black or red. 
 
 29. 10 para on 5pf green, Scott's No. 531. 
 
 30. 20 para on lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 532. 
 
 31. 1 pias on 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 
 
 53.S. 
 
 32. 1'^ pias on 25pf black and red on 
 
 yellow, Scott's No. 534. 
 
 33. 1^ pias on 30pf black and orange on 
 
 buff, Scott's No. 535. 
 
 34. 2 pias on 40pf black and carmine, 
 
 Scott's No. 536. 
 
 35. 2^ pias on 50pf black and purple on 
 
 buff, Scott's No. 537. 
 
 36. 4 pias on 80pf black and carmine on 
 
 rose, Scott's No. 538. 
 
 37. 5 pias on 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 The Sixth Issue. 
 
 In January, 1906, the 2 and 25 pias 
 values appeared on the paper with 
 Lozenge watermark which had recently 
 been introduced in Germany. In Febru- 
 ary of the same year the 1J4 pias ap- 
 peared on similar paper to be followed 
 by the 4 pias in March, the 10 para in 
 April, the 3J^ and 10 pias in' June, and 
 the 1 pias in September. No more were 
 on sale until_ February, 1907, when the 
 1% and 5 pias appeared and a month 
 later the 20 para was issued. The 3 
 mark did not appear on this paper until 
 late in 1913. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1906-13. Same; but on paper watermarked 
 
 lozenges. 
 10 para on 5pf green, Scott's No. 543. 
 20 para on lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 544. 
 
 1 pias on 20p£ ultramarine, Scott's No. 
 545. 
 
 15^ pias on 25pf black and red on 
 
 yellow, Scott's No. 546. 
 1^ pias on 30pf black and orange on 
 
 buff, Scott's No. 547. 
 
 2 pias on 40pf black and carmine, 
 Scott's No. 548. 
 
 2J^ pias on 50pf black and purple on 
 buff, Scott's No. 549. 
 
 4 pias on 80pf black and carmine on 
 rose, Scott's No. 550. 
 
 5 pias on 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 
 551. 
 
 10 pias on 2 marks blue, Scott's No. 
 
 552. 
 15 pias on 3 marks violet-black, Scott's 
 
 No. 554. 
 25 pias on 5 marks black and lake, 
 
 Scott's No. 553. 
 
 41. 
 42. 
 
 43. 
 
 44. 
 45. 
 46. 
 47. 
 48. 
 49. 
 50. 
 51. 
 52. 
 
 The Seventh Issue. 
 
 In August, 1908, a regular surprise 
 set appeared in the shape of five de- 
 nominations surcharged with new 
 values in "centimes" instead of the 
 usual paras and. piastres. Although 
 many ingenious theories were adduced 
 at the time of their issue to account for 
 their special use these are so conflicting 
 that we are still in the dark as to the 
 actual raison d'etre of the set. The 
 surcharges are all in fancy Gothic type 
 and are placed on the stamps diagon- 
 ally, reading upwards from left to 
 right. 
 
 Reference List. 
 1908. Overprinted in black. 
 
 53. 5c on 5pf green, Scott's No. 555. 
 
 54. 10c on lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 556. 
 
 55. 25c on 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 
 
 557. 
 
 56. 50c on 40pf black and carmine, Scott's 
 
 No. 558. 
 
 57. 100c on 80pf black and carmine on rose, 
 
 Scott's No. 559. 
 
 43 
 
OTHER FOREIGN GERMAN POST OFFICES. 
 
 In addition to the ofiSces established 
 at various towns in China, Morocco, 
 and the Turkish Empire, Germany also 
 maintained offices in Lamu, Zanzibar 
 and Tonga for a short period, though 
 this fact does not seem to be generally 
 known. 
 
 Writing in the London Philatelist 
 Mr. Reichenheim tells us that an office 
 was opened in Lamu on November 
 22nd, 1888, and closed on March 31st, 
 1891. Lamu is a small island off the 
 coast of and now included in British 
 East Africa. The office here was prob- 
 ably conducted in connection with the 
 German Consulate the stamps used 
 being the ordinary German stamps of 
 the 1880 and 1889 issues. Whether any 
 special cancellation was used or not I 
 have been unable to find out. 
 
 The office at Zanzibar was in exist- 
 ence for only a very short period : from 
 
 August 27th, 1890, until July 31st, 1891. 
 Here also the ordinary German stamps 
 of the 1880 and 1889 issues were used. 
 An office was established at Tonga- 
 tabu, the largest of the Tonga Islands, 
 in September, 1886, and it was closed 
 in April, 1893. Mr. Reichenheim tells 
 us "This post office was in connection 
 with the agency of the North German 
 Lloyd, of Bremen, managed by their 
 agent and officially named 'Post- 
 dampfschiffsagentur (Royal Mail Steam- 
 ship Agency). But as the Tongan 
 Government introduced the Post Mon- 
 opoly for letters shortly before the 
 German post office was established, the 
 latter was only used for parcel post 
 purposes, and it is therefore very prob- 
 able that only the lOpf, 20pf, 50pf and 
 3 mark stamps (unsurcharged) of the 
 issues of the time were in use there." 
 
PART II 
 
 THE STAMPS OF THE 
 
 COLONIES. 
 
 GERMAN 
 
 Foreword. 
 
 The earliest instance we have of Ger- 
 man colonisation dates back to January, 
 1683, when the Elector, Frederic William 
 of Brandenburg, the so-called "Great 
 -Elector," bought from native chiefs a 
 small territory on the Coast of Guinea, 
 hoisted the Brandenburg flag, and built 
 the Fort Friedrichsburg, of which small 
 ruins are still in existence. This posses- 
 sion, however, was sold in 1718 by the 
 grandson of the Great Elector, Frederic 
 William I, second King of Prussia, to 
 the Dutch government for 7,200 ducats 
 ($9,400) and twelve slaves, as he was un- 
 able to hold it against Holland without a 
 strong fleet. 
 
 But it was two hundred years later be- 
 fore colonial expansion began to be a 
 serious affair with Germany. For sev- 
 eral years after the establishment of the 
 Empire, Bismarck and others worked 
 hard at its internal consolidation — wit- 
 ness, among other things, the codification 
 of all the conflicting laws of Germany, a 
 gigantic work lasting nearly thirty years. 
 No sooner had the imposing edifice of 
 the Reich been fairly riveted within and 
 without, than the national energy began 
 to seek an outlet in the creation of a Ger- 
 many beyond the seas. For years Bis- 
 marck had been indifferent, and indeed, 
 positively averse, to colonial adventure; 
 but at last he could no longer resist a 
 popular impulse which was rapidly grow- 
 ing in strength. The result was, that 
 within a year or two of this new depar- 
 ture, in 1884, Germany found herself in- 
 cluded in the ranks of the colonial 
 powers, with territories in Africa, New 
 Guinea and the Pacific Archipelago, ag- 
 gregating an area five times the size of 
 her empire in Europe, though nine-tenths 
 of this area is in Africa. 
 
 Germany may thus be said to have be- 
 come an oversea power without becom- 
 ing a colonial one in the British sense. 
 It has been wittily and truly said, that 
 France has colonies and no colonists; 
 Germany,, colonists and no colonies; 
 
 while Britain had both colonies and col- 
 onists. It was too late in the day, as in- 
 dicated by the world's clock, when Ger- 
 many entered the colonial field, for by 
 this time all the available waste spaces 
 of the earth had already been appropri- 
 ated by other powers. What she wanted 
 was to found a new Germany, a new 
 Fatherland across the sea for the accom- 
 modation of those vast numbers of her 
 surplus sons who had hitherto migrated 
 to America and other Anglo-Saxon 
 lands; but it soon became apparent that 
 none of the African territories which 
 had now fallen to her were at all suit- 
 able for this purpose. 
 
 They were all sub-tropical, and fitted 
 only to be plantation, not agricultural, 
 colonies. Very small was the total num- 
 ber of Germans who went to seek their 
 fortunes in the German colonies, and 
 even of these, a large proportion were 
 government officials employed to admin- 
 ister the protectorates without having 
 first learned the very necessary art of 
 ruling native races. The brusque man- 
 ners of Prussian policemen and the 
 brutal methods of some German drill 
 sergeants were unsuited to the black 
 tribes of the Kamerun and Damaraland. 
 Rebellion was frequent, and even the 
 German army, boasted at that time as 
 being the best in Europe, was for sev- 
 eral years powerless to put down a na- 
 tive rising in South West Africa involv- 
 ing the loss of thousands of German 
 lives and millions of money. 
 
 For some years after the establishment 
 of the various colonies, ordinary Ger- 
 man stamps without surcharge were used. 
 Then followed German stamps over- 
 printed with the names of the respective 
 colonies, to be followed in turn by a set 
 of the stereotyped "ship" design in- 
 scribed with the name of the colony is- 
 suing them. The stamps are all so much 
 alike that they are rather lacking in in- 
 terest, the constant repetition of the 
 same designs being very monotonous. 
 
 46 
 
GAMEROONS. 
 
 The Cameroons, or Kamerun, as it is 
 expressed on the stamps, is a German 
 protectorate on the west coast of Africa 
 extending from the Rio del Rey, a little 
 east of the Old Calabar River, south- 
 wards to a point where it is bounded by 
 French Congo. On the northwest, it 
 touches Lake Chad and on its eastern 
 boundary is the British colony of Ni- 
 geria. Its history dates from July, 1884, 
 when a Hamburg firm bought the dis- 
 tricts of Bimbia, Kamerun, Malimba, 
 Klein Batanga, Plantation and Kribi, and 
 these territories were at once placed un- 
 der the protection of the German Empire 
 as and from the 14th of that month. 
 During 1885, territory was extended into 
 the interior through treaties with native 
 chiefs and the various frontiers were 
 fixed by treaties with Great Britain and 
 France at different times during the 
 period 1885-93. The total area of the 
 colony is 195,000 square miles and its 
 population of about four millions com- 
 prised only 324 whites (354 of these 
 being Germans) in 1898. The coast 
 lands are low lying and unhealthy for 
 Europeans, but much of the interior is 
 high lying and healthy. The natives are 
 Bantus on the coast and Soudanese in 
 the interior. The former are great trad- 
 ers while the Soudanese are good agri- 
 culturists. Duala (Kamerun) is the chief 
 town and was, until April, 1901, the seat 
 of government. Since that date, how- 
 ever, the capital and seat of the Lande- 
 shauptmann, or Governor, has been at 
 Buea. 
 
 The first post-office was opened at 
 Duala (Kamerun) on February 1st, 1887. 
 The next was opened at Victoria on 
 December IS, 1888, and since then chief 
 offices have been opened at Kribi, Rio 
 del Rey and Buea — the latter early in 
 1900 — and sub-offices in most other places 
 where any whites are permanent resi- 
 dents. The post office of the colony, as 
 well as those of other German colonies 
 in Africa, is under the control of the 
 "Ober Postdirection" (Chief Postal Ad- 
 ministration) at Hamburg. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 Although the protectorate was de- 
 clared in 1884, it was not until 1897 that 
 a special series of stamps was issued. 
 Up to that time, ordinary unsurcharged 
 German stamps were used, and these can, 
 of course, only be identified by the can- 
 cellations. The issue consisted of the 
 
 3, 5, 10, 30, 35 and 50 pfennig stamps of 
 the 1889 issue, overprinted "Kamerun" 
 diagonally upwards. All six values were 
 recorded as issued in April, 1897, but it 
 would seem these were simply specimen 
 copies which had been exhibited in Ber- 
 lin. The 10, 30 and 35pf were the first 
 values to be placed on sale in the colony 
 itself and these were certainly not in use 
 before August, while the 3, 5 and 50pf 
 were not issued until later. The 3pf 
 exists in four distinct shades, the rarest 
 being the grey-brown, which is cata- 
 logued in Gibbons at $3.40. The 20pf 
 and 50pf also provide distinct shades but 
 the other denominations do not show any 
 variations worthy of note. 
 
 A few of the 30>pf were bisected diag- 
 onally and each half used as lOpf for 
 one day in 1898. Mr. Reichenheim gives 
 an interesting account of this variety as 
 follows : 
 
 The German Post-office Regulations 
 strictly forbid the use of bisected 
 stamps; however, on the 3rd October, 
 1898, about 100 pieces of diagonally-cut 
 stamps passed through the post in 
 Kamerun, each half stamp actually 
 paying the postage fee of lOpf. 
 
 The "Germania-Ring" is of opinion 
 that those bisected stamps were not a 
 necessity as the postage fee could 
 easily have been made up by two 5pf 
 stamps or combinations of other 
 values for higher postage, or stamps 
 could have been procured from the 
 neighbouring post-office of Victoria, if 
 there were really no lOpf stamps in 
 stock at Kamerun on that day; but Dr. 
 F. Martin, of Munich, a civil servant 
 in Kamerun at the time protests most 
 emphatically in a letter published by 
 him in one of the magazines, saying 
 that the stock of the lOpf as well as 
 the 5pf was nearly exhausted shortly 
 before the 3rd October, and the Post- 
 master endeavored to purchase from 
 large firms any quantity of those 
 values they could spare; but as the 
 homeward mail had to be made up by 
 5 p. m. on the 3rd October, and the 
 steamer from Germany, usually arriv- 
 ing the day before and bringing a new 
 stock of stamps, was by chance this 
 time not due till the following day, he 
 could not manage to obtain sufficient 5 
 or lOpf stamps to satisfy the public 
 demand on mail day, and was obliged 
 to bisect about fifty 20pf stamps, which 
 however, were not issued to the public, 
 but affixed by the postoffice officials 
 themselves, principally to picture cards 
 requiring lOpf postage. The "Ober 
 
Postdirection" at once made enquiries 
 into the matter but did not reprimand 
 the Postmaster, as he was really un- 
 able to obtain anywhere 5pf or lOpf 
 stamps in time, the next post office, 
 Victoria, being two days' journey, and 
 the cost of procuring any stamps from 
 there amounting to more than $25. 
 
 However the case might be, the bi- 
 sected 20pf stamps really paid the post- 
 age of lOpf on the 3rd October, 1898, 
 and can therefore be looked upon as 
 great rarities. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1897. 
 
 German stamps of 1889 overprinted in 
 black. 
 
 3pf brown, Scott's No. 1. 
 
 opf green, Scott's No. 2. 
 lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 3. 
 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 4. 
 25pf orange, Scott's No. 5. 
 50pf maroon, Scott's No. 6. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 In November, 1900, a new set, in two 
 distinct designs or types adopted for 
 general use throughout the German 
 colonies, was recorded though we can 
 find no data relating to the actual date 
 they were placed on sale in Kamerun. 
 The values from 3pf to 80pf are all alike 
 in design and show as a centerpiece the 
 royal yacht Hohenzollern. Above is the 
 name "KAMERUN" on a curved ribbon 
 and at the base is "PFENNIG" with 
 numerals at each end, also on a ribbon 
 scroll. The mark values, also alike in 
 design, are of the same size as those of 
 the Fatherland, and show an enlarged 
 view of the Hohenzollern. The colors 
 of the respective values are similar to 
 those of the corresponding denomina- 
 tions for Germany. 
 
 1900. 
 
 7. 
 
 8. 
 
 9. 
 10. 
 11. 
 
 12. 
 
 13. 
 
 14. 
 
 15. 
 
 16. 
 17. 
 18. 
 19. 
 
 Reference List. 
 No wmk. Perf. 14. 
 3pf brown, Scott's No. 7. 
 5pf green, Scott's No. S. 
 lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 9. 
 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 10. 
 25pf black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 11. 
 30pf black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 12. 
 40pf black and carmine, Scott's No. 13. 
 50pf black and violet on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 14. 
 80pf black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 
 No. 15. 
 
 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 16. 
 
 2 marks blue, Scott's No. 17. 
 
 3 marks violet-black, Scott's No. 18. 
 
 5 marks black and carmine, Scott's No. 
 19. 
 
 The Third Issue. 
 
 In January, 1906, the 5pf value was 
 issued on the paper watermarked loz- 
 enges like that used for the Imperial 
 stamps in 1905. The lOpf value on the 
 same paper was issued in the following 
 year and the 5 marks in 1913, but since 
 then no others have appeared. It would 
 appear, therefore, that either very large 
 stocks of the issue of 1900 were supplied 
 or that the demand for stamps in the 
 Cameroons is strictly limited. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1906-7. Watermarked Lozenges. Perf. 14. 
 
 20. 5pf green, Scott's No. 21. 
 
 21. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 22. 
 
 22. 5m black and carmine, Scott's No. 32. 
 
 47 
 
CAROLINE ISLANDS. 
 
 The Caroline Islands is an archipelago 
 of 680 islands and islets in the Pacific 
 Ocean between the Marshall and Pelew 
 Islands. They are divided into two 
 groups, the Eastern and the Western, 
 and have a total area of 560 square miles. 
 Most of the islands are only small atolls, 
 but there are about fifty of other forma- 
 tion and size, the most important being : 
 
 Area. Population. 
 Babelthouap, 106 square miles, 10,000 
 Ponape, 134 square miles, 3,000 
 
 Yap, 70 square miles, 3,750 
 
 Rule, 80 square miles, 13,000 
 
 Kusaie, 45 square miles, 400 
 
 The climate, though rainy, is temper- 
 ate and healthy. The capital is Ponape on 
 the island of the same name. Archeologi- 
 cally the islands are interesting on 
 account of their cyclopean structures. 
 The people are strongly built, gentle, 
 amiable and intelligent; they are bold 
 sailors and carry on a brisk trade with 
 the Ladrones to the north, where they 
 have several settlements. The total popu- 
 lation of the group exceeds 50,000 and 
 Mr. F. W. Christian in his work on the 
 Caroline Islands describes the people as 
 "a fusion worked out for many cen- 
 turies past between trader, explorer, fugi- 
 tive, castaway, exile and pirate — streams 
 of overlapping population following 
 wave on wave." 
 
 The islands were discovered by the 
 Portuguese Diego de Rocha in 1537, and 
 called Sequeira; n 1686 they were annexed 
 and rechristened with their present name 
 in honor of Charles II by the Spaniards. 
 Later still they were, for a time, known 
 as the New Philippines. Several at- 
 tempts (1710, 1731) to Christianise the 
 inhabitants by the Jesuits from Manila 
 were unsuccessful. In 1885, the hoisting 
 of the German flag on Yap, gave rise to 
 a sharp dispute with Spain, who claimed 
 older rights to the islands. After much 
 discussion it was decided that both coun- 
 tries should submit their claims to the 
 Pope and abide by his decision in the 
 matter. The Pope, Leo XIII, declared 
 the islands belonged to Spain, but Ger- 
 many should be allowed to establish a 
 naval and coaling station there, and that 
 German merchants acquiring land and 
 residing there should have the same poli- 
 tical rights as Spanish subjects. On 30th 
 June, 1899, the islands became a German 
 possession Spain having agreed to relin- 
 quish her rights in them and also in the 
 Marianne Islands (except Guam), and 
 Pala'u Islands for a monetary considera- 
 
 tion of about five million dollars. Spain 
 still, however, retained a coaling station 
 on the islands. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 A post office was established at Ponape 
 on October 15th, 1899, and on November 
 7th of the same year an office was opened 
 at Yap. Special stamps were issued co- 
 incident with the opening of these offices 
 or shortly afterwards the ^et consisting 
 of the German stamps of 1889 over- 
 printed "Karolinen" diagonally in black. 
 Specialists distinguish two sets varying 
 in the slope of the overprint and though 
 these are not so pronounced as the two 
 slopes of the "China" overprint previ- 
 ously referred to they are quite notice- 
 able when placed side by side. As one 
 variety is much rarer than the other on 
 the 3, 5, 35 and 50pf denominations it is 
 as well to learn to distinguish between 
 them. 
 
 1899. 
 
 
 Reference 
 
 List. 
 
 
 19. 
 
 German stamps of 
 black. 
 
 1889 ove 
 
 xprinted in 
 
 1. 
 2. 
 3. 
 4. 
 5. 
 6. 
 
 3p£ brown, Scott's No. 1. 
 
 5pf green, Scott's No. 2. 
 lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 3. 
 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No, 
 25pf orange, Scott's No. 5. 
 50pf red-brown, Scott's No. 
 
 . 4. 
 6. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 In 1900, in common with the other 
 German possessions, the Caroline Islands 
 were provided with a set of thirteen dif- 
 ferent values in the stereotyped Colonial 
 "ship" type. These call for no special 
 commerit and a detailed description of 
 the designs is given in the Cameroons 
 chronicle. 
 
 Reference List. 
 1900. Colonial type. Perf. 14. 
 
 7. Spf brown, Scott's No. 7. 
 
 8. 5pf green, Scott's No. 8. 
 
 9. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 9. 
 
 10. 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 10. 
 
 11. 25pf black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 11. 
 
 12. 30pf black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 12. 
 
 13. 40pf black and carmine, Scott's No. 13. 
 
 14. 50p£ black and purple on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 14. 
 
 15. 80pf black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 
 No. 15. 
 
 16. 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 16. 
 
 17. 2 marks blue, Scott's No. 17. 
 
 18. 3 marks violet, Scott's No. 18. 
 
 19. 5 marks black and carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 19. 
 
 48 
 
The Typhoon Provisional. 
 
 On July 1st, 1905, a few of the lOpf 
 stamps of the previous issue were bi- 
 sected vertically and each half served as 
 a 5pf stamp. These split stamps were 
 all cancelled with a special official hand- 
 stamp in black. This handstamp, circular 
 in shape, is inscribed "PONAPE — 
 KAROLINEN" in the center with an 
 Imperial crown above and a posthorn 
 below. Curved around the outside of 
 this is the inscription "KAISERLICH 
 DEUTSCHE POSTAGENTUR", all 
 the lettering being in white. It appears 
 that just prior to the issue of these bi- 
 sected stamps a terrible typhoon raged 
 at Ponape and destroyed the local post- 
 office and most of the stock of stamps. 
 Of the 5pf value none were left hence 
 the issue of the half stamps as a tem- 
 porary stop-gap pending the arrival of 
 new supplies from offices in some of the 
 other islands. The fact that the pro- 
 visional owes its creation to a typhoon 
 has given it its name of the "typhoon 
 provisional." 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1905. Cancelled in black with special hand- 
 stamp. 
 
 20. Half of lOpf carmine used as 5pf. 
 
 The 1910 Provisional. 
 
 In 1910, another provisional 5pf stamp 
 was issued in Ponape. Owing to a tem- 
 porary shortage of this denomination 
 500 of the 3pf stamps were surcharged 
 "5pf" in black in type similar to that 
 shown in the accompanying illustration. 
 For some reason or other Gibbons as- 
 signs the date 1913 to this provisional. 
 
 Reference List. 
 1910. Surcharged in Black. 
 21. Spf on 3p£ brown, Scott's No. 20. 
 
 None of the Caroline Islands stamps 
 have been issued on the paper water- 
 marked lozenges. 
 
 GERMAN EAST AFRICA. 
 
 German East Africa, the largest of 
 the German possessions, is situated be- 
 tween the Indian Ocean and the great 
 lakes, with a coast-line of about 620 miles 
 and an estimated area of 384,000 square 
 miles. Its history under Teutonic ad- 
 ministration extends over only two 
 decades. In April, 1884, Dr. Carl Peters 
 and a few friends founded a society in 
 Berlin under the name of the "Society 
 for German Colonisation", with the 
 avowed intention of acquiring land on 
 the East Coast of Africa. Directly the 
 Company had received subscriptions 
 amounting to 65,000 marks (about $16,- 
 250.00) Dr. Peters, Dr. Juhlke, and 
 Count Pfeil, started for Zanzibar under 
 assumed names and, crossing to the 
 mainland, these three adventurers had in 
 less than six weeks concluded treaties 
 with the native chiefs of Usagara, Use- 
 guha, Ukami, and Nguru, and purchased 
 a territory of about 54,000 square miles. 
 Dr. Peters returned to BerHn as soon as 
 possible and though some of the treaties 
 were fictitious, he managed to induce the 
 German Government to grant his com- 
 pany — now renamed the "German East 
 
 Africa Company" — an Imperial charter. 
 This was the first charter of the kind 
 issued by Germany, but the Imperial 
 government were then so imbued with 
 the desire for colonial development that 
 all Dr. Peters' arrangements were sanc- 
 tioned without question, and the Govern- 
 ment, moreover, signified its intention of 
 enforcing the treaties by naval demon- 
 stration if necessary. All the chiefs con- 
 cerned were vassals, or nominally sub- 
 ject to the Sultan of Zanzibar, but 
 events moved rapidly, and in the 
 scramble among European Powers for 
 African territory the Sultan was de- 
 prived of all his possessions on the main- 
 land, as well as his island possessions 
 except Zanzibar and Pemba. Even 
 these, in 1890', were placed under British 
 protection, and thus vanished the last 
 semblance of political independence of 
 the ancient Zang Empire. 
 
 Dr. Peters' company was aided in its 
 work of administration by an Imperial 
 Commissioner. All was not plain sail- 
 ing with the Company for the attempts 
 of the German traders to interfere with 
 the old privileges brought about a seri- 
 
ous outbreak of hostilities in 1889, 
 which ultimately led to the abandon- 
 ment of nearly all the fifteen stations 
 then established, and the rising was 
 only quelled by Imperial aid. As a con- 
 sequence the sovereign rights of the 
 Company were greatly curtailed, and- 
 the Imperial Government exercised 
 closer control in administrative matters. 
 This introduced the mihtary element 
 which led to further troubles in 1891, 
 and a large force sent against some Wa- 
 hehe rebels was totally destroyed. The 
 Government then assumed complete con- 
 trol over the territory and turned it into 
 a German colony under the name of 
 Deutsch Ost Africa. Treaties with Eng- 
 land, Portugal and other Powers finally 
 settled the boundaries of the new colony 
 until it was conterminous on the north 
 with British East Africa, on the west 
 with Belgian Congo, and on the south 
 with Zambesia, and Portuguese East 
 Africa. Under Imperial administration 
 the colony made better progress and for 
 governmental purposes it was divided in- 
 to twenty-two districts each with a post- 
 office in its capital. The chief town and 
 residence of the Governor is Dar-es- 
 Salaam, which has a population of over 
 30,000. 
 
 The native population numbers over 
 seven millions while Europeans — about 
 two-thirds of whom are Germans — num- 
 ber less than 3,000. The natives are 
 chiefly Bantu, with Arabs, Baluchis, In- 
 dians, Goanese, Syrians and Suahilis 
 along the coast. The latter are a people 
 of mixed origin who are remarkable for 
 a degree of Asiatic culture and the fact 
 of their tongue being the lingua franca 
 of Central Africa. 
 
 Historically the territory dates from 
 1498 when Portuguese adventurers un- 
 der Vasca da Gama destroyed many of 
 the coast towns. Many of these places 
 have never recovered and have remained 
 ruins to this day. The Portuguese and 
 other Europeans had a more or less se- 
 cure foothold on the coast for two 
 centuries until 1698 the Imam of Muscat 
 dislodged them. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 On October 4th, 1890, regular post- 
 offices were opened at Dar-es-Salaam 
 and Bagamoyo but no special stamps 
 were issued until 1893 when the then 
 current German stamps — the issue of 
 1889 — were overprinted with new values 
 in the local currency of pesas. The 
 unit of currency was the rupee (worth 
 about 32c U. S.) divided into 64 pesas. 
 The new stamps were placed on sale in 
 August and they form the first of the 
 
 special colonial issues made by the Ger- 
 man government. The surcharges were 
 all in black and were all placed horizon- 
 tally across the lower portion of the 
 labels. The 5 and 10 pesas values exist 
 in two pronounced shades and the sur- 
 charge on the 50pf stamp provides two 
 varieties, one measuring 16^ mm. and 
 the other 17 J^ mm. in length. Equal 
 numbers of both were issued, or pos- 
 sibly both varieties existed in equal num- 
 ber in the printing form. 
 
 Reference List. 
 1893. Surcharged in black on the German 
 stamps of 1889. 
 
 1. 2 pesa on 3pf brown, Scott's No. 1. 
 
 2. 3 pesa on 5p£ green, Scott's No. 2. 
 
 3. 5 pesa on lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 3. 
 
 4. 10 pesa on 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No.4. 
 
 5. 25 pesa on 5(4£ red-brown, Scott's No. 5. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 In 1896 it was considered desirable 
 that the name of the colony should be 
 overprinted on the stamps as well as the 
 new currency and a number of essays 
 were prepared before it was decided 
 which was the most suitable way of 
 applying the surcharge. Mr. Reichen- 
 heim describes the various essays as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 1. Vertically surcharged on the left 
 side DEUTSCH reading upwards, 
 on the right side OSTAFRICA 
 reading downwards, and currency 
 as in the first issue. 
 
 2. DEUTSCH— OSTAFRICA in two 
 lines horizontally above the cur- 
 rency. 
 
 3. DEUTSCH— OST AFRICA curved 
 
 above the currency. 
 
 4. DEUTSCH — OSTAFRICA in 
 diamond type in one line horizon- 
 tally above the currency. 
 
 5. Surcharged in black diagonally 
 from the left lower corner to the 
 right upper corner in three lines, 
 the first one showing the numerals, 
 the second one the words 
 DEUTSCH— OSTAFRICA, and 
 the third one the word PESA. 
 
 The latter was the type finally de- 
 cided on and the new stamps were is- 
 sued in April, 1896. The 3pf and 20pf 
 values of this series are each known in 
 two distinct shades. The yellow brown 
 shade of the 3pf is the scarcest' of all 
 the early stamps for this colony. 
 
 Reference List. 
 1896. German stamps of 1889 surcharged with 
 name and new values. 
 
 6. 2 pesa on 3pf brown, Scott's No. 6. 
 
 7. 3 pesa on 5pf green, Scott's No. 7. 
 
 8. 5 pesa on lOpf rose, Scott's No. 8. 
 
 9. 10 pesa on 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No.9. 
 10. 25 pesa on 5fli)f red-brown, Scott's No. 10. 
 
 50 
 
The Third Issue. 
 
 In 1900 the regular colonial "ship" de- 
 sign was issued for German East Africa 
 in the same types and colors as those 
 already described for the Cameroons 
 and Caroline Islands. 
 
 Reference List. 
 1900. No wmk. Perf. 14. 
 
 11. 2 pesa brown, Scott's No. 11. 
 
 12. 3 pesa green, Scott's No. 12. 
 
 13. 5 pesa carmine, Scott's No. 13. 
 
 14. 10 pesa ultramarine, Scott's No. 14. 
 
 15. 15 pesa black and orange on buif, Scott's 
 
 No. 15. 
 
 16. 20 pesa black and carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 16. 
 
 17. 25 pesa black and purple, Scott's No. 17. 
 
 18. 40 pesa black and carmine on rose, 
 
 Scott's No. 18. 
 
 19. 1 rupie claret, Scott's No. 19. 
 
 20. 2 rupien green, Scott's No. 20. 
 
 21. 3 rupien black and red, Scott's No. 21. 
 
 The Fourth Issue. 
 
 In 1905, the metrical system was 
 adopted for the currency of this colony 
 and the rupie was divided into 100 hel- 
 lers instead of 64 pesa as before. This 
 necessitated a new issue for the values 
 below 1 rupie, though the same conven- 
 tional design was retained. The new 
 stamps were placed on sale in March. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1905. Change of currency. Perf. 14. 
 
 22. 2M heller brown, Scott's No. 22. 
 
 23. 4 heller green, Scott's No. 23. 
 
 24. lyi heller carmine, Scott's No. 24. 
 
 25. 15 heller ultramarine, Scott's No. 25. 
 
 26. 20 heller black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 26. 
 
 27. 30 heller black and carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 27. 
 
 28. 45 heller black and purple, Scott's No. 
 
 28. 
 
 29. 60 heller black and carmine on rose, 
 
 Scott's No. 29. 
 
 The Fifth Issue. 
 
 In 1906, the paper watermarked 
 lozenges, which had been introduced in 
 Germany in the previous year, began to 
 appear for the stamps of German East 
 Africa. The 2J4 hellers value on this 
 paper was issued in April, 1906, to be 
 followed in June by the 4, 7^ and 60 
 hellers. In 1907, two more values ap- 
 peared — the 15h in February and the 45h 
 in March. In October, 1908, the 3 rupien 
 was issued on watermarked paper and 
 in June, 1909, the 30h was issued. It 
 was not until two years later (1911) 
 that the 20h was placed on sale and 
 since then no others have appeared. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1906-11. Watermarked lozenges. Perf. 14. 
 
 30. 25^ hellers brown, Scott's No. 31. 
 
 31. 4 hellers green, Scott's No. 32. 
 
 32. lyi hellers carmine, Scott's No. 33. 
 
 33. 15 hellers ultramarine, Scott's No. 34. 
 
 34. 20 hellers black and red on yellow, 
 
 Scott's No, 35. 
 3d. 30 hellers black and carmine, Scott's No. 
 36. 
 
 36. 45 hellers black and purple, Scott's No. 
 
 37. 
 
 37. 60 hellers black and carmine oji rose, 
 
 Scott's No. 38. 
 
 38. 3 rupien black and red, Scott's No. 41. 
 
 An Unauthorised Issue. 
 
 In 1893, the philatelic journals chron- 
 icled a set of curious looking labels of 
 the facial value of 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents 
 and 1 peso, printed in different colors 
 and perforated 11}4 which were pre- 
 sumed to be a local issue for German 
 East Africa. The design consists of a 
 large numeral in white on a solid disc 
 of color with "AFRIKANISCHE— 
 SEEEN — POST" in a curved horseshoe 
 shaped label above the space between 
 the disc and inscribed band containing a 
 small view of palm trees and foliage. 
 On a straight label at top is "SCHULKE 
 & MAYR's", and curved at the base is 
 "unter Contract mit dem Kaiserl. Gouv- 
 ernement in— DEUTSCH-OST-AFRI- 
 KA" in two lines. These were stated to 
 have been circulated by a private com- 
 pany who had a contract in 1892 for 
 conveying mails between the German 
 post on the east coast and Victoria 
 Nyanza. That these curiosities were 
 never issued or authorised to be used 
 is proved by the following official letter. 
 
 Imperial Government of German East 
 Africa. 
 Duressalem soth Sept., 1893. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 In reply to your request for infor- 
 mation, dated 25th August of this year, 
 I have to inform you that the Imperial 
 Government made a contract with the 
 firm of Schulke and Mayr with refer- 
 ence to postal communication with the 
 Victoria Nyanza. At the expiration of 
 a year this contract was not renewed. 
 This firm also requested of the Post- 
 office Department of the Empire per- 
 mission to introduce stamps, but the 
 request was refused. 
 
 Consequently, accordIng_ to the in- 
 formation which I now give you, the 
 stamps which accompany your letter, 
 and others similar to them, were never 
 in use. 
 
 (Signed) Von Schele, 
 Imperial Governor. 
 
 51 
 
GERMAN NEW GUINEA. 
 
 The second oldest German colony is 
 German New Guinea which, geographi- 
 cally, only applies to Kaiser Wilhelm's 
 Land — the north-east portion of the 
 island of New Guinea or Papua. Ad- 
 ministrativ.ely it also comprises the 
 Bismarck Archipelago (including some 
 of the Solomon Islands), the Caroline 
 Islands, the Marianne Islands, and the 
 Marshall Islands. The name German 
 New Guinea is certainly somewhat of a 
 misnomer, the more so as the seat of 
 Government is situated at Herbertshohe, 
 on Gazelle Island in the Bismarck Archi- 
 pelago. It was at one time decided that 
 the name of the colony should be altered 
 to German Australia — a much more 
 fitting description — but the change was 
 never made. The three last groups have 
 been supplied with their own series of 
 stamps, so these will be discussed 
 separately, and this article will only deal 
 with the two first divisions. 
 
 New Guinea, or Papua, is after Aus- 
 tralia the largest island in the world, 
 and is separated from the Australian 
 continent by the shallov/ island-studded 
 Torres Straits, 80 to 90 miles wide at its 
 narrowest part. The two regions at one 
 time formed continuous land, and ai. 
 upheaval of less than sixty fathoms 
 would again unite them, though else- 
 where the mainland is washed by deep 
 waters ranging from 500 to 1300 
 fathoms. The island appears to have 
 been first sighted by D'Abreu in 1511 but 
 it was some years later when the first 
 Europeans visited it. In 1526, a Portu- 
 guese commander, Don Jorge de 
 Meneses, accidentally over-ran his dis- 
 tance in voyaging from Malacca to Ter- 
 nate and found himself at New Guinea. 
 It was visited by other Portuguese and 
 Spanish traders in later years and one 
 of these, Retez (Roda) gave it its pres- 
 ent name of New Guinea on account of 
 the resemblance of its inhabitants to 
 those of the Guinea coast. In 1601 Luis 
 Vaz de Torres passed through the 
 straits which still bear - his name, and 
 sailed along the south coast of the island 
 taking possession in the name of the 
 King of Spain. In the same year the 
 Dutch began _their settlements in the 
 west, and for 'more than two centuries 
 afterwards practically all explorations in 
 New Guinea were conducted by this na- 
 tion. In 1700, Dampier, an Englishman, 
 sailed along the north coast surveying 
 and naming many points. In 1793, the 
 East India Company occupied the island 
 of Manassari in Geelvink Bay and in 
 
 1828 the western half of the island was 
 placed under Dutch protection. Twenty 
 years later the Dutch proclaimed their 
 sovereignty over the portion under their 
 protection and fixed the boundary line 
 at 141° east longitude and this meridian 
 was accordingly taken as the western 
 boundary when England and .Germany 
 proclaimed spheres of influence in 1884. 
 Protectorates were almost immediately 
 declared by these two countries over the 
 southeast and northeast portions respec- 
 tively, and various conventions in later 
 years fixed approximate boundaries. 
 
 While the coasts have been fairly well 
 surveyed the interior of New Guinea is 
 still practically an unknown land and 
 the few expeditions that have attempted 
 to open up the German portion have 
 found progress exceedingly difficult. 
 There are no paths, the territory is 
 terribly rugged and covered with a 
 dense undergrowth, and the whole coun- 
 try is covered with thick, dank forest. 
 Timber valuable for cabinet-making pur- 
 poses is plentiful but difficult to obtain. 
 The climate is trying to Europeans on 
 account of the heat combined with in- 
 tense humidity. There are many rivers 
 one of which, the Kaiserin Augusta, has 
 been ascended by sea-going steamers for 
 a distance of about two hundred miles. 
 
 The colony is directly administered by 
 the Imperial Government but the de- 
 velopment of its resources is in the 
 hands of the German New Guinea Com- 
 pany which was granted an Imperial 
 charter on May _ 17th, 1885. The Com- 
 pany has sovereign rights; no arms or 
 spirits are allowed to be sold, and labor 
 traffic (for years a vexed question in 
 these parts) is forbidden except for Ger- 
 man plantations. 
 
 The country is famed for its birds of 
 Paradise which exist in many varieties, 
 and gorgeous parrots, cockatoos, and 
 pigeons are also found in abundance. 
 Its fauna is closely related to that of 
 Australia and includes more than thirty 
 species of marsupials (such as the 
 kangaroo). 
 
 The population numbers over 100,000 
 natives and these seem to combine at 
 least four ethnical elements : Papuan 
 proper, diffused over the whole region; 
 Negrito; Eastern Polynesian; and 
 Malay. Through the mingling of these 
 elements small tribal groups speak a sur- 
 prising number of distinct languages. 
 Cannibalism is very prevalent; some 
 tribes are predatory ; but many others 
 are peaceful, industriou; and keen 
 
traders, displaying remarkable skill in 
 the arts of pottery, wood-carving and 
 husbandry. 
 
 In November, 1884, a German pro- 
 tectorate was declared over the New 
 Britain Archipelago and several adja- 
 cent groups of islands. Later a portion 
 of the Solomon Islands, including Bou- 
 gainville and Buka, the two largest, 
 were included in the protectorate and 
 the whole group was then re-named the 
 Bismarck Archipelago. Though under 
 direct Imperial administration this terri- 
 tory is also developed by the German 
 New Guinea Company, its charter being, 
 extended in December, 1886, to include 
 the northern group of the Solomon 
 Islands. New Hanover has an area of 
 570 square miles ; New Mecklenburg has 
 an area of 4,900 square miles, and New 
 Britain or New Pommern has an area 
 of 9,600 square miles. This latter and 
 the small islands of the Lauenburg 
 group are the only well explored dis- 
 tricts. Here there are several successful 
 plantations producing copra, coffee, cot- 
 ton and rubber. The chief settlements 
 are Matupi, a small island in Blanche 
 Bay entirely occupied by a trading con- 
 cern and Herbertshohe, the seat of Gov- 
 ernment. New Pommern offers greater 
 facilities to European settlers than any 
 of the other islands many of which, 
 though considerable in size are almost 
 unapproachable, and man is almost 
 wilder than nature. The natives are all 
 very war-like and most of them are con- 
 firmed cannibals, and they offer the most 
 strenuous opposition to all attempts at 
 European ingress. 
 
 Bougainville, in the Solomon Islands, 
 named after one of its discoverers, is 
 exceedingly mountainous and has an ex- 
 traordinarily heavy annual rainfall. 
 Here also little progress has been made 
 on account of unhealthiness of the 
 climate for Europeans and the natural 
 savagery of the native tribes. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 The first post-office in German New 
 Guinea was opened at Stephansport on 
 December 14th, 1889, and from that 
 time until 1897 ordinary unsurcharged 
 German stamps were used in the colony. 
 In 1897, the six values of the 1889 
 series were overprinted "Deutsche — Neu- 
 Guinea" in two lines reading diagonally 
 upwards from the left lower corner and 
 with the exception of two shades of the 
 3pf there is nothing in this issue which 
 calls for special mention. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1897. German stamps of 1889 overprinted in 
 black. 
 
 1. 3pf brown, Scott's No. 1. 
 
 2. 5pf green, Scott's No. 2. 
 
 3. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 3. 
 
 4. 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 4. 
 
 5. 25pf orange, Scott's No. 5. 
 
 6. oOpf red-brown, Scott's No. 6. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 In 1900, German New Guinea in com- 
 mon with the other colonial possessions 
 was supplied with a complete series of 
 thirteen different denominations in the 
 "Hohemollern" type. 
 
 Reference List. 
 1900. No Wmk. Perf. 14. 
 
 7. 3pf brown, Scott's No. 7. 
 
 8. 5pf green, Scott's No. 8. 
 
 9. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 9. 
 
 10. 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 10. 
 
 11. 2opf black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 11. 
 
 12. 30pf black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 12. 
 
 13. 40pf black and carmine, Scott's No. 13. 
 
 14. 5<)pf black and purple on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 14. 
 
 15. 80pf black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 
 No. 15. 
 
 16. 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 16. 
 
 17. 2 marks blue, Scott's No. 17. 
 
 18. 3 marks violet-black, Scott's No. 18. 
 
 19. 5 marks black and carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 19. 
 None of the stamps of this colony 
 have been printed on the lozenge water- 
 marked paper. 
 
 GERMAN SOUTH WEST AFRICA. 
 
 German South-West Africa includes 
 the region lying between Portuguese 
 West Africa and Cape Colony, except 
 Walfish Bay, bounded on the west by 
 the Atlantic Ocean and on the east by 
 Bechuanaland. Its total area is esti- 
 mated at 322,450 square miles and its 
 
 population of some 200,000 includes 
 about 5,000 whites. Before 1884 it was 
 somewhat generally believed that this 
 territory would ultimately form part of 
 Rhodesia and was in fact a legitimate 
 sphere for the future development of 
 that British colony. Some of the small 
 
 53 
 
coast islets and the district on the main- 
 land around Walfish Bay were occupied 
 and ofBcially recognised as British terri- 
 tory. Walfish Bay, an enclave in the 
 German possessions, remains a de- 
 pendency of Cape Colony and its im- 
 portance as a naval station may be un- 
 derstood from the fact that it is the 
 only sheltered outlet for a region of 
 400,000 square miles extending from An- 
 gola to the Cape and inland to Rhodesia. 
 Undeterred by the above facts an en- 
 terprising Bremen merchant, Herr 
 Adolf Luderitz, bought from native 
 chiefs on April 9th, 1883, the Bay of 
 Angra Pequena for a consideration of 
 300 rifles and 2000 marks ($500.00). 
 Shortly afterwards he concluded treaties 
 with other chiefs whereby he obtained 
 control of vast districts in the interior 
 between Orange River and Cape Frio. 
 On August 7th, 1884, the German flag 
 was hoisted at Angra Pequena and on 
 the 24th day of the same month a Ger- 
 man protectorate was proclaimed over 
 the whole region with the exception of 
 the portion around Walfish Bay which 
 had already been pre-empted by Great 
 Britain. At first the new colony was 
 known as Luderitzland, in honor of the 
 merchant who was primarily respon- 
 sible for its acquisition, but the name 
 was shortly afterwards changed to Ger- 
 man South-West Africa. After the 
 usual protest and diplomatic wrangling, 
 Germany's claim to the territory was 
 duly recognised and boundaries were 
 finally settled with Great Britain and 
 Portugal by conventions in 1884, 1886 
 and 1890. 
 
 In his article in Gibbons Stamp 
 Weekly, Mr. Barnsdall gives a -number 
 of interesting facts which I cannot do 
 better than quote in full : 
 
 The acquisition of Angra Pequena 
 is an interesting point in the history 
 of European colonization. It was the 
 first annexation made by Germany be- 
 yond Europe, the foundation stone, so 
 to speak, of her colonial empire which 
 has since developed with such sur- 
 prising rapidity. 
 
 The country coinprises the ill-de- 
 fined territories of Ovampo, Damara- 
 land and Great Namaqualand, and was 
 long supposed to be a shady waste 
 with no natural resources beyond its 
 inaccessible mineral wealth. This is 
 true only of Namaqualand, probably 
 the most thinly-peopled and unpro- 
 ductive district of any of equal extent 
 on the surface of the globe. Ovampo 
 is fertile and suited to agricultural 
 pursuits, while Damaraland is pas- 
 toral. Here are a few ostrich farms, 
 and a beginning has been made with 
 the cultivation of cotton, tobacco and 
 
 vines. The chief industry is un- 
 doubtedly pastoral, and large herds 
 and flocks of cattle and sheep belong 
 to the natives. There is little agri- 
 culture but market gardening is com- 
 mon, a great variety of vegetables and 
 fruit being grown. Copper has been 
 found at Ovampo, and mining is car- 
 ried on at Otavi and Tsumeb, both of 
 which places are connected by railway 
 with Swakopmund, the chief port. 
 The natives understand the art of 
 smelting and manufacture excellent 
 ware. Diamonds are said to exist in 
 the neighbourhood of Gibeon. Gold 
 has been found, but not in sufficient 
 quantity for working, and marble, 
 asbestos, graphite, and other minerals 
 have been observed. 
 
 In 1844, some Boers established 
 themselves in the Ondango district, 
 and founded Upingtonia in honor of 
 the well-known statesman of Cape 
 Colony. Though the district was fer- 
 tile and well watered the climate was 
 malarious, and the Republic gradu- 
 ally decayed. After the murder of 
 the leader, Mr. Jordan, in 1886, it col- 
 lapsed, and the Boer settlers accepted 
 the German protectorate. 
 
 The natives are Bantu in the north, 
 and Hottentot in the south. In 
 Damara or Herero land there has 
 been a continuous struggle for 
 supremacy between the two races. 
 Here under the "civilizing" agencies of 
 European luxury (drink, etc.) the na- 
 tives are gradually dying out, and 
 when they have sufficiently thinned 
 down it is the intention to introduce 
 white settlers. It is to Damaraland 
 that the colony looks for its future 
 prospects, as in the other parts the 
 natives quite hold their own against 
 foreign invasion. There have been 
 serious native revolts against the Ger- 
 mans, especially in 1904, when the 
 Hottentots in Namaqualand and tlie 
 Hereros in Damaraland united, and 
 progress was in consequence greatly 
 delayed. 
 
 The capital is Windhoek, 237 miles 
 inland, connected by railway with the 
 chief port Swakopmund, north of 
 Walfish Bay. This port is likely to 
 become useful with artificial aid. 
 Other ports and important towns are 
 Sandwich Haven; Omaruru, the chief 
 market of the Hereros; Angra 
 Pequena, with good anchorage but 
 little use, lying in a barren district, 
 destitute of fresh water ; Otyimbingue, 
 Okahandja, Gobabis and Keetmanns- 
 koop. There are no towns in the in- 
 terior, only a few missionary stations 
 and trading places. Postal communi- 
 cation, as in all German possesions, is 
 
well looked after, and between thirty 
 and forty different postmarks are 
 known. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 The first stamps issued in the colony 
 consisted of the 3, 5, 10 and 20pf values 
 of ; the 1889 issue of Germany sur- 
 cl^arged "Deutsch — Sudwest-Afrika" in 
 two lines reading diagonally upwards 
 from the left lower corner. The 25pf 
 and 50pf of the same series were also 
 overprinted and though a number were 
 ^sent to the Postal Union headquarters 
 at Berhe these values were never issued 
 for pos-f^l use and none were ever sent 
 to the colony. These unissued varieties 
 are not particularly rare and can gener- 
 ally be purchased for about $3 each. 
 
 \Reference List. 
 
 1897. German stamps of 1889 surcharged in 
 black. 
 
 1. Spf brown, Scott's No. 1. 
 
 2. 5pf green, Scott's No. 2. 
 
 3. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 3. 
 
 4. 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 4. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 The 1897 issue had been in use but a 
 little while when it was decided to make 
 a slight change in the form of the over- 
 print. The second line was made into 
 one word "Sudwestafrika" to more 
 closely harmonise with the German lik- 
 ing for long, unweildly words. At first 
 the apf, 5pf, lOpf, aopf and 50pf values 
 were issued the chief Postmaster of the 
 colony not ordering the 25pf as it was 
 found that value was in little or no de- 
 mand. However, on November 1st, 1899, 
 a supply of 1000 stamps (ten sheets) of 
 the 35pf was received at Windhoek and 
 sold oh that day only. Writing in 
 Filatelic Facts and Fallacies in 1901, Mr. 
 Sellschopp gives an entertaining account 
 of the history of this short-lived stamp 
 as follows : 
 
 It appears that as there was natur- 
 ally very little call for a stamp of this 
 denomination, the local postmaster in 
 the colony had not ordered it from , 
 Berlin, and the colony was entirely 
 without this stamp. In order to create 
 an absolutely unnecessary variety and 
 in order further to make himself im- 
 
 portant, the purchasing agent for a 
 large German society orders from the 
 authorities 800 of these stamps which 
 had no existence, at the same time 
 notifying the Berlin authorities of the 
 fact so that from Berlin the necessary 
 number of this new stamp could be 
 sent to Africa. It seems that this pe- 
 culiar method was the usual one with 
 all the more distant and less important 
 colonies, like Marianen, Karolinen, 
 Marshall Islands, etc. At the post- 
 offices of these colonies comparatively 
 few stamps were kept on hand, and 
 orders of any large size were only 
 filled, if at about the same time such 
 order, by request of the ordering party 
 had been sent out from Berlin. 
 
 Well, the 25pf stamps reached 
 Southwest Africa to the number of 
 1000, with the same mail the letter to 
 Mr. O., the purchasing agent arrived; 
 but either the party addressed did not 
 call at once at the office, or the letter 
 was not promptly attended to in some 
 other way. Somebody else got wind 
 of the 1000 25pf stamps, and promptly 
 bought the whole lot. A very large 
 proportion of these rarities reached 
 Germany on registered letters ad- 
 dressed to one post-office employe in 
 Hamburg, and indirectly found their 
 way into collectors' hands, naturally 
 at pretty stiff figures, from about 6 to 
 10 or 13 marks each. Mr. O., the 
 creator of this stamp was furious, and 
 finds that it relieves his feelings by 
 airing his disappointment in the Ger- 
 man philatelic press, accusing various 
 good people in various ways because 
 they got the stamps that he ordered, 
 and made the profit that he or his so- 
 ciety had hoped for. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1898-99. German stamps of 1889 surcharged 
 in black. 
 
 5. 3pf brown, Scott's No. 7. 
 
 6. 5pf green, Scott's No. 8. 
 
 7. lOpf carmine, bcott's No. 9. 
 
 8. 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 10. 
 
 9. 25pf orange, Scott's No. 11. 
 10. 50pf red-brown, Scott's No. 12. 
 
 The Third Issue. 
 
 In 1900, in common with the other 
 German possessions, the colony of Ger- 
 man South-west Africa was supplied 
 with the new stamps of the ship type. 
 These call for no special mention so we 
 have only to record the various values 
 and colors. 
 
1900. 
 11. 
 
 12. 
 13. 
 14. 
 15. 
 
 16. 
 
 17. 
 18. 
 
 19. 
 
 20. 
 21. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 No Wmk. Perf. 14. 
 3pf brown, Scott's No. 13. 
 5pf green, Scott's No. 14. 
 lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 15. 
 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 16. 
 25pf black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 17. 
 30pf black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 18. 
 40pf black and carmine, Scott's No. 19. 
 50pf black and purple on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 20. 
 80pf black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 No. 21, 
 
 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 22. 
 
 2 marks blue, Scott's No. 23. 
 
 3 marks violet, Scott's No. 24. 
 
 ." marks black and red, Scott's No. 2o. 
 
 The Fourth Issue. 
 
 In May, 1906, the 5 mark value of the 
 previous set appeared on the paper 
 
 watermarked lozenges which had been 
 introduced for the Imperial stamps in 
 the previous year. In August, the 5pf 
 value was issued to be followed in Feb- 
 ruary and May of 1907 by the lOpf and 
 3pf respectively. No other denomina- 
 tions were issued until 1911 when the 
 20pf, Im and 2m were placed on sale. 
 In 1913, the 35pf and 30pf appeared and 
 since then no others have been issued. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1906-11. Wmk. lozenges. Perf. 11. 
 
 24. 3pf brown, Scott's No. 26. 
 
 25. opf green, Scott's No. 27. 
 
 26. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 28. 
 
 27. 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 29. 
 
 28. 25pf black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 30. 
 
 29. 30pf black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 31. 
 
 30. 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 33. 
 
 31. 2 marks blue, Scott's No. 36. 
 
 32. 5 marks black and red, Scott's No. 38. 
 
 KIAUTSCHOU. 
 
 After the conclusion of peace between 
 China and Japan in 1895, Great Britain, 
 Russia and Germany tried to get ports 
 for coaling stations in China on a long 
 lease. For a long time Germany had 
 coveted the Bay of Kiautschou for this 
 purpose and though all sorts of induce- 
 ments were made to the Chinese For- 
 eign Office for its purchase, China 
 turned a deaf ear to Teutonic blandish- 
 ments. In the early part of November, 
 1897, two German missionaries were 
 murdered by a crowd of fanatics in the 
 Shantung province, and, using this event 
 as a pretext, a German squadron, under 
 Vice-Admiral von Dietrichs, appeared 
 before Kiautschou, landed troops, occu- 
 pied the most important points around 
 the bay, and on November 17th, hoisted 
 the German flag. After much diplo- 
 matic wrangling between German and 
 Chinese representatives, a treaty was 
 signed between the two nations on 
 March 6th, 1898, under which the Bay 
 of Kiautschou, a small piece of land 
 around the bay, the necks of land north 
 and south of the bay, and the little 
 islands in front of it, were leased to 
 Germany for a period of ninety-nine 
 years. It was further stipulated that all 
 the land twenty-eight miles around the 
 German possession should be neutral, 
 and China should do nothing in this 
 neutral zone without first obtaining 
 Germany's permission. The total area 
 of the German colony is 130 square 
 
 miles, and its population numbers about 
 60,000. The chief town is Tsintau 
 where Germany has built strong forti- 
 fications as well as making fine streets, 
 establishing waterworks of modern type 
 introducing telephones, electric light, etc. 
 While all the other German colonies 
 are trade colonies, and managed by the 
 Colonial Department of the Foreign 
 Office, Kiautschou is solely a military 
 station and coaling depot for the Ger- 
 man navy. By Imperial command, 
 therefore, it was placed under the 
 direct administration of the Admiralty 
 ("Reichs Marine Amt") and its Gover- 
 nor is a naval captain. The garrison 
 is composed of a battalion of marine 
 infantry and a detachment of marine 
 artillery. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 The first issue for Kiautschou proper 
 was a provisional one caused by a short- 
 age of 5pf stamps in May, 1900. Previ- 
 ous to this date the stamps for the Ger- 
 man Offices in China or unsurcharged 
 German stamps were used and these 
 can only be. determined by the cancella- 
 tions "Tsingtau", "Tsintau", or "Tsin- 
 taufort". The two first are the cancella- 
 tions of the only public post-office in the 
 colony while the latter is the oblitera- 
 tion used at the so-called "Marine Feld- 
 
post" offices established for the use of 
 the garrisons at the various forts 
 around the bay. These provisional 
 stamps were issued on or about the 9th 
 May, 1900, when, owing to a dearth of 
 5pf stamps, a number of the lOpf value 
 were surcharged "5 Pfg." to meet the 
 public demand. Both of the types of 
 the lOpf, differing in the slope of the 
 name "China", were surcharged and, on 
 most of the sheets at any rate, the origi- 
 nal value was obliterated by drawing a 
 blue pencil line across the bottom of the 
 stamps. There are three main types of 
 the overprint, differing chiefly as regards 
 shape of the numeral "5", viz : — 
 
 Type 1. — The "5" is of medium width 
 and the thin and thick portions of 
 the numeral are only slightly con- 
 trasted. 
 Type 2. — The "5" is wide, of almost 
 the same thickness throughout its 
 shape, and without ball at the end. 
 Type 3. — The "5" is narrow and the 
 thin and thick portions are greatly 
 contrasted. 
 The letters of "Pfg" in type 2 are 
 thicker than in the other types. Gib- 
 bons' and Kohl's catalogues make six 
 types in all; types 4 and 6 being minor 
 varieties of type 1, the first named hav- 
 ing a thick "f" and the other a thicker 
 "P". Type 5 is a minor variety of type 
 2 having a thin "P" in "Pfg." The dif- 
 ferences in type were due to the lack of 
 proper printing facilities. The small 
 printing office at Tsingtau had not a 
 sufficiency of type of the same font, so 
 three sorts were used, one after the 
 other. Even then, it was found impos- 
 sible to surcharge an entire sheet of 100 
 stamps at once, so that half sheets of 
 fifty were surcharged. The- arrange- 
 ment of the three types in the setting 
 was as follows : — 
 
 1111111111 
 1111111111 
 1322232222 
 2322232222 
 2233333333 
 
 Of the above, two stamps of type 1 
 were the minor varieties types 4 and 6 
 respectively, and two stamps of type 3 
 were the minor variety type 5, but I have 
 been unable to discover the actual posi- 
 tion of these four stamps in the setting. 
 Ignoring the minor varieties, it will be 
 noted that in each half sheet of fifty 
 stamps there were 21 of type 1, 22 of 
 type 2 and seven of type 3. The prices 
 quoted for the different types in Gib- 
 bons' catalogue are hopelessly at vari- 
 ance with the relative rarity. Type 3, 
 
 which is three times as rare as type 1, is 
 priced at 25% less than type 1. It is 
 quoted at the same figure as type 3, 
 though it is a little more than 3 times as 
 rare as that type. The minor type 4 is 
 also priced at less than the normal type 
 1, though it is nineteen times as scarce. 
 Scott's catalogue does not price type 3, 
 while Kohl remains content with illus- 
 trating the six types and pricing only 
 the cheapest variety. The latter is the 
 only catalogue differentiating between 
 the slopes of the overprint "China" on 
 these provisionals. All three types are 
 recorded as existing with double sur- 
 charge, and also with double surcharge, 
 one inverted. 
 
 These provisional stamps were in use 
 until about May 29th. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 May 1900. Stamps of German China sur- 
 charged in black. 
 1. 5 Pfg. on lOpf carmine, Scott's China 
 No. 307, 308 or 309. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 The second issue for Kiautschou was 
 also of a provisional nature and was 
 again caused by a shortage of 5pf 
 stamps. Again the lOpf value was requi- 
 sitioned and turned into the necessary 
 5pf denomination by means of a sur- 
 charge. This time the surcharge was 
 shown as "5 Pf" and it may be imme- 
 diately distinguished by the somewhat 
 similar surcharge issued at Foo-chow by 
 having a large instead of a small letter 
 "P". This second provisional was is- 
 sued about July 21st, 1900. It is rarer 
 than the first one, for only about 4,000 
 were issued, while of the May provision- 
 al there were 46,000. Of this surcharge 
 Gibbons mentions but one type, while 
 Scott lists three. There are three prin- 
 cipal types as in the May surcharge types 
 1 and 2 being in exactly similar t3fpe 
 (but, of course, with the "g" omitted) 
 and type 3 having a much smaller "5". 
 Again the surcharge was applied to half 
 sheets of fifty stamps at a time and the 
 setting showed the types in the follow- 
 ing order ; — 
 
 3322222333 
 
 3323333333 
 
 1111111111 
 
 1111111111 
 
 3333333333 
 In each half sheet of fifty stamps, 
 therefore, there were 30 specimens each 
 of types 1 and 3 and ten of type 3. 
 
As the figure "5" of the third type was 
 rather indistinct and was frequently en- 
 tirely lost in the overprint "China", an 
 additional surcharge consisting of a 
 large "5" was applied to the lowest row 
 of each half sheet in quite a number of 
 cases. Occasionally this was applied to 
 the first type in error. Even this addi- 
 tional surcharge was found unsatisfac- 
 tory after a time and a new handstamp, 
 "&Pf" in large type, was applied to the 
 stamps of type 3. In addition to these 
 varieties, which may be considered the 
 major ones, there are innumerable minor 
 varieties in the setting caused by the let- 
 ters of one type being used with the 
 numerals of another. There are also 
 double surcharges, an error "5fP" for 
 "5Pf", and this latter in combination 
 with normal surcharge. Then, again, at 
 least one sheet of the May provisional 
 received the additional surcharge "5 Pf 
 with handstamp on its fifth and tenth 
 rows, this being accounted for by the 
 fact that the sheet had been sent to the 
 printers as a sample, was mixed with 
 the others at the time the handstamp was 
 being applied, and finally got into cir- 
 culation. Altogether, therefore, the 
 specialist in this issue has to be equipped 
 with a plentitude of time and money if 
 he ever hopes to attain completeness. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 July, 
 
 1900. Stamps of German China sur- 
 charged in black. 
 2. 5pf on lOpf carmine, Scott's China 
 No. 310, 311, or 312. 
 
 The Third Issue. 
 
 Late in 1900, the special colonial set 
 in the "ship" type was supplied to Kiaut- 
 schou, this containing the usual thirteen 
 values. This issue calls for no special 
 comment and we therefore simply record 
 the various denominations and colors. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1900. 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 
 11 
 
 No wmk. Perf. 14. 
 
 3pf brown, Scott's No. 1. 
 
 5pf green, Scotf s No. 2. 
 lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 3. 
 
 6. 20pf ultramairne, Scott's No. 4. 
 
 7. 25pf black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 5. 
 
 8. 30pf black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 6. 
 
 9. 40pf black and carmine, Scott's No. 7. 
 0. 50pf black and purple on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 8. 
 80pf black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 No. 9. 
 
 12. 
 13. 
 14. 
 15. 
 
 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 10. 
 
 2 marks blue, Scott's No. 11. 
 
 8 marks violet-black, Scott's No. 12. 
 5 marks black and carmine, Scott's 
 No. 13. 
 
 The Fourth Issue. 
 
 In 1905, a series with values in the 
 Chinese currency of cents and dollars 
 instead of pfennig and marks was is- 
 sued, this corresponding with the new 
 surcharged set for the China offices. 
 The design was the same as before, 
 only the value labels being altered. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 Currency changed. Perf. 14. 
 
 Ic brown, Scott's No. 14. 
 
 2c green, Scott's No. 15. 
 
 4c carmine, Scott's No. 16. 
 10c ultramarine, Scott's No. 17. 
 20c black and carmine, Scott's No. 18. 
 40c black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 
 No. 19. 
 ^ dol. carmine, Scott's No. 20. 
 
 1 dol. blue, Scott's No. 21. 
 iy2 dol. violet-black, Scott's No. 22. 
 2J^ dol. black and carmine, Scott's No. 
 23. 
 
 1905. 
 
 16. 
 17. 
 18. 
 19. 
 20. 
 21. 
 
 22. 
 23. 
 24. 
 25. 
 
 The Fifth Issue. 
 
 In December, 1905, the %iy2 and $2i/^ 
 values of the preceding series appeared 
 on the paper with lozenges watermark 
 which had been introduced for the 
 stamps of the Fatherland a few months 
 earlier. In February, 1906, the $1 ap- 
 peared on the same paper, to be fol- 
 lowed by the $^ in May and Ic in July. 
 No more were issued until 1907 when 
 the 2c and 40c appeared in July and 
 September respectively. There was a 
 lull for fifteen months, and then, in Jan- 
 uary, 1909, the 30c was issued. The 4c 
 was placed on sale in February, 1910, 
 and a little later the set was completed 
 by the appearance of the 10c. 
 
 Reference List. 
 Wmk. Lozenges Perf. 
 
 1905-10. Wmk. Lozenges Perf. 14. 
 
 26. Ic brown, Scott's No. 24. 
 
 27. 2c green, Scott's No. 25. 
 
 28. 4c carmine, Scott's No. 26. 
 
 29. 10c ultramarine, Scott's No. 27. 
 
 30. 20c black and carmine, Scott's No. 28. 
 
 31. 40c black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 
 No. 29. 
 
 32. y2 dol. carmine, Scott's No. 30. 
 
 33. 1 dol. blue, Scott's No. 31. 
 
 34. lYi dol. violet-black, Scott's No. 32. 
 
 35. 2^ dol. black and carmine, Scott's No. 
 
MARIANNE ISLANDS. 
 
 The Marianne Islands, or Ladrones, 
 are a group of fifteen islands in the 
 western Pacific, north of the Carolines, 
 disposed in a row almost due north and 
 south. Their united area is only about 
 430 square miles. Ten of the islands 
 are volcanic and of these only four 
 are inhabited, viz: — Agrigan, Anatahan, 
 Alamagan, and Pagan. The other five 
 islands — Guam, Rota, Aguigan, Tinian, 
 and Saipan — are coralline and all are 
 inhabited except Aguigan. The chief 
 products are corn, cocoanut, coffee, co- 
 coa, sugar, cotton, and tobacco, while the 
 principal export is copra. The islands 
 were first discovered by Magellan 
 in 1521, and his sailors called them the 
 Ladrones (Thieves) in allusion to the 
 thievish propensities of their . inhabi- 
 tants. In 1688 the Spaniards obtained 
 possession of the group and re-named 
 them the Mariannas. Guam was occu- 
 pied by the United States during the 
 Spanish-American War, and by the 
 treaty of 1899 was retained by them. 
 In the same year, the rest of. the islands 
 were purchased from Spain by Ger- 
 many and though they have had their 
 own distinctive stamps since 1900, they 
 are administratively part of German 
 New Guinea. The seat of government 
 is on the island of Saipan. The total 
 population of the German islands is less 
 than 3,000, while Guam has a popula- 
 tion at least three times as great. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 Shortly after Germany obtained pos- 
 session of the islands, a special set of 
 stamps was issued for their use, this — 
 as in the case of other "first issues" of 
 German possessions — being made by 
 overprinting the 1889 series of the 
 Fatherland. The overprint consists of 
 
 the name "Marianen" applied diagonally 
 upwards from left to right. There are 
 two varieties differing according to the 
 slope of the overprint. The first supply 
 sent out shows the name at a much 
 more acute angle than the later print- 
 ings. These are all quite scarce, with 
 the exception of the 30pf 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 German stamps of 1889 overprinted in 
 black. 
 
 3pf brown, Scott's No. 11. 
 
 opf green, Scott's No. 12. 
 lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 13. 
 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 14. 
 25pf orange, Scott's No. 15. 
 oOpf red-brown, Scott's No. 16. 
 
 1900. 
 
 1. 
 2. 
 3. 
 4. 
 5. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 The second issue which appeared late 
 in 1900 consisted of the stereotyped 
 "ship" design. This calls for no special 
 mention and we have only to record 
 the different denominations and their 
 respective colors. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1900. No wmk. Perf. 14. 
 
 7. 3pf brown, Scott's No. 17. 
 
 8. 5pf green, Scott's No. 18. 
 
 9. lOpf carmine. Scott's No. 19. 
 
 10. 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 20. 
 
 11. 25pf black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 21. 
 
 12. 30pf black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 22. 
 
 13. 40pf black and carmine on buff, Scott's 
 
 - No. 23. 
 
 14. oOpf black and purple on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 24, 
 
 15. 80pf black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 
 No. 25. 
 
 16. 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 26. 
 
 17. 2 mark blue', Scott's No. 27. 
 
 18. 3 mark violet-black, Scott's No. 28. 
 
 19. 5 mark black and carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 29. 
 
 None of the Marianne Islands stamps 
 have been issued on the lozenge water- 
 marked paper. 
 
 MARSHALL ISLANDS. 
 
 The Marshall Islands are a group in 
 the western Pacific to the east of the 
 Caroline Islands. They consist of two 
 parallel chains of low coral reefs — one, 
 the Ratak group, having thirteen islands 
 with a total area of 48 square miles; 
 and the other, the Ralik group, contain- 
 
 ing eleven islands with a united area of 
 107 square miles. Copra is the only ex- 
 port. The inhabitants are Micronesians 
 and are very skilful navigators. They 
 number about 15,000 and in addition 
 there are probably 200 whites of whom 
 perhaps a third are Germans. The is- 
 
 69 
 
lands were placed under German pro- 
 tection on October 15th, 1885. Accord- 
 ing to a treaty made with Great Britain 
 in April, 1886, some small islets known 
 as the Brown and Providence Islands 
 and another island known as Nauru 
 were included in the German "sphere of 
 influence" and in April, 1888, Nauru 
 was formally taken under German pro- 
 tection and included in the Marshall 
 group. The development of the colony 
 is in the hands of a private company — 
 the Jaluit Company — who have stations 
 on Jaluit, Jalwor, Majuru, Likieb, and 
 Nauru. Only one post office is main- 
 tained and that is at Jaluit, the inci- 
 dental work of the office forming one 
 of the duties of the harbor master. 
 
 Before the Spanish-American War, 
 there was a regular mail service by sail- 
 ing boats between the islands and Po- 
 nape, but after the war the delivery and 
 despatch of mail was accidental and co- 
 incided with the arrival or departure of 
 any vessel. The North German-Lloyd 
 proposed inaugurating a regular service 
 in connection with their China-Japan 
 sailings, but whether this service was 
 definitely established or not, I have been 
 unable to find out. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 In 1899 a new supply of surcharged 
 stamps comprising all six values of the 
 German issue of 1889 were sent to the 
 colony. This overprint was also applied 
 diagonally upwards from left to right 
 but the spelling was revised so that the 
 first word read "Marshall" — the "c" 
 being omitted. The 3, 5, 24 and 50pf 
 values were placed on sale at Jaluit on 
 September 37th, 1899, the other two 
 values being issued later. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1899. German stamps of 1889 overprinted 
 "Marshall-Inseln". 
 
 .") 3pf brown, Scott's No. 7. 
 
 6. 5pf green, Scott's No. 8. 
 
 7. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 9. 
 
 8. 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 10. 
 
 9. 2opf orange, Scott's No. 11. 
 10. 50pf red-brown, Scott's No. 12. 
 
 The Therd Issue. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 From 1885, the date of the Teutonic 
 influence in these parts, until 1897, ordi- 
 nary German stamps were used, but in 
 the latter year, the 3, 5, 10 and 20pf 
 stamps of the German issue of 1889 
 were overprinted "Marschall-lnseln" di- 
 agonally upwards from left to right for 
 use in the colony. Whether the two 
 lower values were ever used or not 
 seems doubtful. Eight hundred of each 
 of the 25 and 50pf denominations were 
 similarly overprinted and sent to the 
 Postal Union at Berne but these values 
 were never issued for use in the Mar- 
 shall Islands. In addition to the Post- 
 al Union specimens a number were sold 
 to a Berlin dealer in 1897 and again in 
 1899 and though possibly some were 
 sent to the islands to be cancelled they 
 were never on sale at the Jaluit post 
 office. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1897. German stamps of 1889 overprinted 
 "Marschall-lnseln". 
 
 1. 3pf brown, Scott's No. 1. 
 
 2. 5pf green, Scott's No. 2. 
 
 3. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 3. 
 
 4. 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 4. 
 
 In the latter part of 1900, the Mar- 
 shall Islands fell into line with the other 
 German possessions and was supplied 
 with the set of thirteen stamps of the 
 "Hohenzollern" type. These correspond 
 exactly with all the others in denomina- 
 tion and color, their only distinctive 
 feature being the name "Marshall-In- 
 seln" at top. 
 
 Reference List. 
 1900. No wmk. Perf. 14. 
 
 11. 3pf brown, Scott's No. 13. 
 
 12. 5pf green, Scott's No. 14. 
 
 13. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 15. 
 
 14. 2()pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 16. 
 
 15. 25pf black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 17. 
 
 16. 30pf black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 18. 
 
 17. 40pf black and carmine, Scott's No. 19. 
 
 18. 50pf black and purple on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 20. 
 
 19. 80pf black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 
 No. 21. 
 
 20. 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 22. 
 
 21. 2 mark blue, Scott's No. 23. 
 
 22. 3 mark violet-black, Scott's No. 24. 
 
 23. 5 mark black and carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 25. 
 
 None of the stamps of the Marshall 
 Islands have been issued on the paper 
 watermarked with a pattern of lozenges. 
 
SAMOA. 
 
 The Samoa or Navigators' Islands 
 are a group in the western Pacific be- 
 tween 400 and 500 miles north-east of 
 Fiji. The group consists of nine islands, 
 besides rocks and islets. All, except 
 Rose Islcind, are volcanic, and are for 
 the most part surrounded by coral reefs. 
 They are very mountainous, well 
 wooded, and of very fertile soil. Four 
 islands alone are of any size, Savaii, 
 Upolu, Tutuila, and Manua (the latter 
 really consisting of four small islands). 
 Savaii, the westernmost and largest, is 
 about 40 miles in length by 20 in breadth 
 and has an estimated area of 700 square 
 miles. Upolu, about 8 miles south-east 
 of Savaii, has an area of between 550 
 and 600 square miles; on its northern 
 side is the bay and harbor of Apia, the 
 center of all political and commercial 
 life in the Samoan group. Upon this 
 island, the famous novelist, Robert 
 Louis Stevenson, made his home from 
 1889 and he is buried on the summit of 
 Vailima Mountain there. On this island, 
 also, is the peak of Tafua,~ 2500 feet 
 high, which forms a perfectly round 
 lava cone and crater, completely filled 
 with a dense forest. Thirty-six miles 
 south-east of Upolu is Tutuila, which 
 possesses a well-sheltered harbor in 
 Pango-Pango. 
 
 Samoa has just claims to the title of 
 being the lovehest, most agreeable and 
 productive of the South Sea group. 
 The fertility of the soil is so rich, and 
 the cultivation of tropical plants so de- 
 lightfully simple, that the necessaries of 
 life can be obtained more easily than per- 
 haps anywhere else in the world. The 
 climate is moist and variable, the pleas- 
 antest time of the year being from May 
 to November. During the rest of the 
 year heavy rains and gales are frequent 
 and occasionally disastrous hurricanes 
 occur — indeed, in 1850, Apia was almost 
 entirely destroyed by one. Earthquakes 
 are frequent, but are as a rule not very 
 severe. 
 
 The islands were visited by Bougain- 
 ville in 1768, and from him they re- 
 ceived the name of lies des Navigateurs, 
 as a tribute to the skill of the native 
 boatmen. After 1889, Great Britain, 
 Germany and the United States recog- 
 nised the independence of the Samoan 
 government, making provision for a su- 
 preme court and the regulation of taxa- 
 tion and land claims. By a further agree- 
 ment between these three powers, in 
 1899, Upolu and Savaii were assigned 
 absolutely to Germany and the other 
 islands to the United States. 
 
 The Samoans belong to the brown 
 Polynesian race and Captain Erskine, 
 the well-known traveler, who explored 
 some of the islands in 1850, says of 
 them : — "The men were a remarkably fine 
 looking set of people, and among them 
 were several over six feet high and of 
 Herculean proportions. One stout fel- 
 low attracted attention as soon as he 
 crossed the gangway, and I found that 
 his arm measured above the elbow 155^ 
 inches, whilst that of one of our fore- 
 castle men, probably the stoutest man in 
 
 the ship, was but 14 inches 
 
 The manly beauty of the young men is 
 very remarkable; one in particular, who 
 had decked his hair with the flowers of 
 the scarlet Hibiscus, might have sat for 
 an Antinous. Their features are often 
 beautiful, although the nose is some- 
 what flatter than with us; but this, I 
 believe, is done by the mothers in the 
 children's early youth as an improve- 
 ment to their appearance." 
 
 Mr. A. R. Wallace, the famous natural- 
 ist-traveler, comments on this practice 
 of flattening the nose in his book, "Aus- 
 tralasia", and gives other particulars as 
 follows : — "This practice broadens, and 
 to our eyes disfigures, the nose, which 
 is naturally rather long and somewhat 
 arched, as shown by portraits, and can 
 hardly differ in its normal state from 
 that of good-looking Europeans. The 
 hair is dark brown or black, smooth and 
 curly, and totally unlike either the friz- 
 zled mop of the Melanesian (i. e., the 
 Papuans), or the perfectly straight 
 black hair of the true Malay. They 
 have little beard generally, though some- 
 times it grows quite freely. Their aver- 
 age stature is fully equal to that of 
 Europeans. The form of their heads is 
 broad, high, and flattened at the back; 
 the latter feature may, however, be arti- 
 ficial. In character, they are cheerful 
 and joyous, fond of dancing and song 
 and a variety of amusements. Although 
 ceremonious and stately in many of 
 their customs, gloom and moroseness 
 are contrary to their nature. They are 
 very cleanly in all their habits, and have 
 a taste for neatness and order such as 
 never exists elsewhere among people in 
 a barbarous state. Though without writ- 
 ten language, they have abundance of 
 songs and traditions, handed down from 
 one generation to another, as among the 
 ancient bards of our own country." 
 
 The Samoans were at one time war- 
 like, though they never exhibited the 
 savage thirst for blood found in the 
 Fijians. In 1836 the group became a 
 
chief center of missionary zeal, and 
 since then the character of the people 
 has undergone a complete change. They 
 are great orators and undaunted sailors. 
 Their ceremonies were never polluted 
 by human sacrifices, and cannabalism 
 never became a habit vifith the Poly- 
 nesians as a whole. 
 
 When visited by Captain Cook, the 
 islands appear to have been very popu- 
 lous and the people remarkably healthy, 
 but they have sadly diminished since, 
 until now the native population of the 
 German islands is less than 30,000. 
 Such has been the effect of contact 
 with European civilisation on a people 
 who were declared by the great navi- 
 gator, Captain Cook, to be "Liberal, 
 brave, open and candid, without either 
 suspicion or treachery, cruelty or re- 
 venge"; while the naturalist, Foster, 
 who accompanied him, declared that he 
 "never saw any of a morose or discon- 
 tented disposition in the whole nation," 
 and that, "they all join to their cheerful 
 temper a politeness and elegance which 
 is happily blended with the most inno- 
 cent simplicity of manners." Unfor- 
 tunately for its inhabitants, the Samoan 
 islands were long the prey of foreign 
 adventurers, whose intrigues caused a 
 chronic native war which lasted from 
 1875 until the joint protectorate was 
 formed by Britain, Germany and the 
 United States. 
 
 According to Wallace, the traditions 
 of the Polynesians point to Savaii, the 
 largest of the Samoan Islands, as the 
 home of their ancestors; and many 
 peculiarities in language and local no- 
 menclature indicate that the various 
 branches of the race, from the Ha- 
 waiian Islands to Tahiti, and even to 
 New Zealand, have migrated from this 
 center. Raiatea, 130 miles west of Ta- 
 hiti, is another mythological center to 
 which many traditions refer, as well as 
 Rarotonga, almost midway between Ta- 
 hiti and Samoa. These may, certainly, 
 be indications as to the process of dis- 
 persion of the Mahori race, but they 
 are of practically no value in determin- 
 ing the origin or first entrance into the 
 Pacific — an event which must be far too 
 remote for legendary lore to afford any 
 trustworthy evidence. Their antiquity 
 is proved by language and by customs. 
 The languages of the Samoans and 
 other brown Polynesians are all dia- 
 lects of one common tongue; and be- 
 cause many Malay and Javanese words 
 occur in these dialects, it has been 
 hastily assumed by some writers that 
 the Mahoris are really Malays, and 
 originally came direct from the Malay 
 
 Archipelago, passing by the islands in- 
 habited by the fierce Melanesians till 
 they found unoccupied lands further to 
 the east. But the best authorities are 
 agreed that such was not the case, and 
 assert that a careful study of the Ma- 
 hori language shows that it is radically 
 distinct from the Malay, both in gram- 
 matical structure and vocabulsry. The 
 actual Malay words do not exceed 3 or 
 4 per cent., and as these are mostly 
 modern words, it is quite evident they 
 have been assimilated into the language 
 in quite recent times. Not less clear, 
 according to Mr. Wallace, as evidence 
 of the very remote antiquity of the 
 Polynesians, is the absence of the art 
 of making pottery among the whole of 
 the race; for it implies they left the 
 continent or the western islands before 
 that art was known, its practice being 
 so simple and at the same time so use- 
 ful, that, once known, it would certain- 
 ly never have been lost. But on all the 
 great continents and continental islands, 
 this is a universal and very ancient art. 
 There is not a single tribe in the whole 
 of the Malay Archipelago but what pos- 
 sesses it; and there is evidence in many 
 parts of the world that it dates far back 
 into prehistoric times. In Eastern Asia, 
 where it attained a high development 
 much earlier than in Europe, it is cer- 
 tainly of extreme antiquity. Already 
 mention has been made of the tall 
 stature, curly hair, well formed and 
 rather prominent features, and joyous 
 and laughter loving dispositions of the 
 Samoans and Polynesians generally — 
 all of which characteristics widely sepa- 
 rate them from true Malays. Yet they 
 have many characteristics of an Asiatic 
 race, and it therefore seems probable 
 that they came originally, but at a very 
 remote epoch, from some part of South- 
 ern Asia, and that they found the is- 
 lands more or less occupied by dark 
 Melanesians, whom they have displaced, 
 and with whom they partially inter- 
 mixed. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 Samoa, the youngest of the German 
 colonies, used the ordinary unsur- 
 charged German stamps of the 1889 is- 
 sue for a short time after the Samoa 
 Treaty of 1899 had given her sole 
 rights to the larger portion of the 
 group. In 1900, these same six values 
 were surcharged "Samoa" reading diag- 
 onally upwards from left to right. 
 
Reference List. 
 
 1900. German stamps of 1889 surcharged in 
 black. 
 
 1. 3pf brown, Scott's No. 51. 
 
 2. 5p£ green, Scott's No. 52. 
 
 3. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 53. 
 
 4. 2(h)f ultramarine, Scott's No. 54. 
 
 5. 25pf orange, Scott's No. 55. 
 
 e. 50pf red brown, Scott's No. 56. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 The surcharged stamps had but a 
 short life, for late in 1900 the colony 
 was supplied with the complete set of 
 thirteen values of the ship type in com- 
 mon with the other German possessions. 
 These call for no special remarks and 
 we have only to record the different de- 
 nominations. 
 
 Reference List. 
 1900. No Wmk. Perf. 14. 
 
 T. 3pf brown, Scott's No. 57. 
 
 8. 5pf green, Scott's No. 58. 
 
 9. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 59. 
 
 10. 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 60. 
 
 11. 25pf black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 61. 
 
 12. 30pf black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 62. 
 
 13. 40pf black and carmine, Scott's No. 63. 
 
 14. 50pf black and purple on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 64. 
 
 15. 80pf black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 
 No. 65. 
 
 16. 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 66. 
 
 17. 2 mark blue, Scott's No. 67. 
 
 18. 3 mark violet-black, Scott's No. 68. 
 
 19. 5 mark black and carmine, Scott's 
 
 No. 69. 
 
 None of the Samoan stamps have ap- 
 peared on the paper with watermark of 
 lozenges. 
 
 TOGO. 
 
 The German colony of Togo, or Togo- 
 land, forms part of Upper Guinea, in 
 West Africa, being bounded on the east 
 by French Dahomey and on the west by 
 British Gold Coast. The colony was ac- 
 quired in 1884 by treaty with the King 
 of Togoland, the boundaries being regu- 
 lated later by agreements with France 
 and Britain. It covers a total area of 
 33,000 square miles and its population of 
 about two millions consists chiefly of 
 Ewe negroes. Togo is the most pros- 
 perous of Germany's African posses- 
 sions. The coast-land has numerous 
 lagoons and is unhealthy, while the in- 
 terior is mountainous. The first capital 
 and residence of the Governor was at 
 Sebbe but the seat of government was 
 later moved to Lome, which is also the 
 chief port of the colony, on account of 
 its healthier climate. The second town 
 of importance is Little Popo, while the 
 largest native town is Togo (Population 
 about 8,000) on. Lake Togo. 
 
 soon afterwards an office was established 
 at Lome. Until 1898, and possibly a 
 little later, these were the only offices 
 in the colony the stamps used being the 
 current ones of Germany, until, the special 
 surcharged series appeared in 1897. 
 These surcharged stamps, like those of 
 the other possessions, have the name 
 overprinted diagonally upwards from 
 left to right. The 3pf value may be 
 found in three fairly well marked shades 
 but the others do not vary at all. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1897. German stamps of 1689 surcharged in 
 black. 
 
 1. 3pf brown, Scott's No. 1. 
 
 2. 5pf green, Scott's No. 2. 
 
 3. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 3. 
 
 4. 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 4. 
 
 5. 25pf orange, Scott's No. 5. 
 
 6. 50pf red-brown, Scott's No. 6. 
 
 The Second Issue. 
 
 The First Issue. 
 
 The first post-office was opened at 
 Little Popo on March 1st, 1888, and 
 
 During the later months of 1900 Togo 
 was provided with a new set of stamps 
 in the usual "ship" type as supplied to 
 all the other German possessions. These 
 
 63 
 
differ 
 
 tschou 
 
 shown 
 
 1900. 
 
 7. 
 
 8. 
 
 0. 
 10. 
 11. 
 
 12. 
 
 13. 
 
 14. 
 
 15. 
 
 from the series for Samoa, Kiau- 
 etc, only in the name "TOGO" 
 at the top of each denomination. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 No. wmk, Perf. 14. 
 
 3pf brown, Scott's No. 7. 
 5pf green, Scott's No. 8. 
 lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 9. 
 20pf ultramarine, Scott's No. 10. 
 25pf black and red on yellow, Scott's 
 
 No. 11. 
 SOpf black and orange on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 12. 
 40of black and carmine, Scott's No. 13. 
 oOpf black and purple on buff, Scott's 
 
 No. 14. 
 80pf black and carmine on rose, Scott's 
 
 No. 15. 
 
 1 mark carmine, Scott's No. 16. 
 
 2 mark blue, Scott's No. 17. 
 
 18. 3 mark violet-black, Scott's No. 18. 
 
 19. 5 mark black and carmine, Scott's No. 
 
 19. 
 
 The Third Issue. 
 
 In September, 1909, the 5pf value ap- 
 peared on the paper watermarked 
 lozenges then in use in the Fatherland, 
 and in 1914 the lOpf appeared. None of 
 the other values have been issued on 
 this paper. 
 
 Reference List. 
 
 1909. Wmk. lozenges. Perf. 14. 
 
 20. 5pf green, Scott's No. 21. 
 
 21. lOpf carmine, Scott's No. 22. 
 
 CONCLUDING NOTES. 
 
 Colonial Stamps Sold in Berlin. 
 
 In 1900, co-incident with the issue of 
 the stamps of the "Hohenzollern" type 
 for the various colonies, the German 
 government decided to place all colonial 
 stamps, as well as those specially sur- 
 charged for the foreign offices main- 
 tained in China, Morocco and the Turk- 
 ish Empire, on sale in Berlin. The rea- 
 son for this step was said to be "the 
 desire to facilitate the beginning of com- 
 mercial relations of the Empire with the 
 colonies. When making enquiries or 
 sending offers to commercial houses, it 
 is generally considered good policy to 
 enclose the first few times stamped ad- 
 dressed envelopes for the reply ; further- 
 more, small amounts can be remitted 
 in the easiest possible manner by unused 
 stamps." 
 
 The sale of stamps to commercial 
 houses desiring to enclose return post- 
 age with their communications was a 
 perfectly legitimate one, of course, but 
 it is open to doubt that the government 
 would trouble to maintain an office for 
 a restricted trade of this sort. The real 
 reason for the establishment of the 
 office was that a lucrative trade with 
 dealers and collectors was expected and 
 in this the officials were not disappointed 
 for the stamps sold for "philatelic" pur- 
 poses in Berlin far exceeded the postal 
 revenue obtained by selling the stamps 
 in the various colonies. 
 
 "The Disgrace of Germany." 
 
 Under this heading numerous articles 
 appeared in the philatelic press some 
 ten years ago dealing with a somewhat 
 unsavoury scandal in connection with the 
 Postal Museum at Berlin. This Museum 
 as doubtless most of my readers are 
 fully aware, contains, as all Postal Mu- 
 seums should — a very fine collection of 
 postage stamps. This collection was 
 formed, to commence with, from the 
 stamps distributed as specimens from 
 the Postal Union headquarters at Berne, 
 and from sets of current and obsolete 
 stamps obtained from the Postal depart- 
 ments of other countries. Many stamps, 
 too, were obtained from dealers in ex- 
 change for duplicates of various kinds 
 which came into the possession of the 
 Director of the Museum. At one time 
 the Museum was fortunate in possessing 
 a large stock of some of the issues of the 
 German States and the North German 
 Confederation and these were not only 
 a valuable source of entire sheets, etc. for 
 the Museum itself but through the dis- 
 posal of the duplicates many additions 
 were possible to the official collection. 
 So far all was perfectly right and proper 
 but the stock of remainders coming to 
 an end and the Museum authorities, 
 having acquired a taste for rare items 
 like the "Post Office" Mauritius and 
 Hawaiian "Missionaries", for which they 
 neither had the funds to purchase or 
 
duplicates to offer in exchange, went 
 beyond their legitimate rights and 
 foisted numerous doubtful varieties on 
 the philatelic public through certain 
 dealers in Berhn. Not only were the 
 Museum authorities instrumental in cir- 
 culating certain "errors" which had been 
 carefully gleaned from the Printers' 
 waste basket, but in some cases "errors" 
 were made to their specific order. A 
 committee, appointed by the Berliner 
 Philatelisten Klub in 1904 succeeded in 
 elucidating the history of some of the 
 doubtful varieties and I append a few 
 notes, culled from their "findings", re- 
 lating to the "philatelic" nature of cer- 
 tain errors in the colonial issues. 
 
 German Levant. — The scarce variety 
 of 1884, the 20pf surcharged 1 piaster 
 in blue, was reprinted though the com- 
 mittee were unable to find definitely by 
 whose orders this was done. At any 
 rate they were made some time after the 
 stamp had been out of issue and the 
 color is dark blue instead of the ultra- 
 marine of the issued stamps. The blue 
 of the surcharge does not differ materi- 
 ally from that of the originals. Two of 
 the 25pias on 5 marks, both listed in 
 Scott's catalogue, were circulated with 
 double surcharge. One sheet of 20 of 
 the 1900 variety was actually sent to 
 Constantinople and two were sold there 
 but the balance were returned to Berlin 
 and handed to the Museum authorities 
 with other waste sheets of a similar 
 nature. 
 
 German East Africa. — A few sheets 
 of the 2 pesa were ordered from the 
 printers in imperforate condition for 
 "exchange purposes." 
 
 German South-West Africa. — Origin- 
 ally only 1000 of each of the unissued 
 25pf and 50pf of the first type were 
 made but before the second issue was 
 
 ready the Museum ordered an additional 
 5000 of each from the State Printing 
 Works so' that an ample supply should 
 be available for trading purposes. 
 
 German New Guinea. — The 25pf value 
 of the first issue with inverted surcharge 
 recorded in Scott's catalogue, is from a 
 waste sheet sent to the Postal Museum 
 with other waste material from the 
 printers. 
 
 Marianne Islands.— The 25pf inverted 
 surcharge of this colony is also a 
 printers' waste variety. 
 
 Marshall Islands.— All values of the 
 first series were reprinted but in what 
 nurnbers and whether it is possible to 
 distinguish them from originals or not 
 we are not told. 
 
 Kiautschou. — A number of the "spoilt" 
 sheets, showing defective and bad print- 
 ings of the provisionals of 1900 were 
 sent to the Museum by request of the 
 authorities and these ultimately found 
 their way into certain dealers' hands. 
 
 When the surcharged stamps were 
 about to be produced for the various 
 colonies in_1897, trial sheets were printed 
 with the different names side by side on 
 the same sheet to show the effect. These 
 proof sheets were, presumably, handed 
 to the Museum, and later on they had 
 similar sheets made to order so that all 
 sorts of fancy varieties in pairs and 
 blocks were available for exchange. 
 
 Errors and varieties of German colo- 
 nial stamps are, therefore to be looked 
 on with suspicion in the main. As Gib- 
 bons' catalogue pithly puts it, "These 
 were never issued for use, or even re- 
 tailed in Berlin to collectors or dealers, 
 but are from waste sheets of the 
 printers, which should have been de- 
 stroyed, but were retained, and after- 
 wards leaked out into the hands of 
 certain dealers." 
 
 65 
 
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 A permanent and authoritative treatise that 
 every stamp lover should own. 
 
 PRICE lOc 
 
 The Stamps of Egypt 
 
 Now a British Protectorate you will want 
 this book. Special cover design by W. G. 
 Birdseye. Beautifully illustrated and text by 
 R. E. R. Dalwick. PRICE 12c 
 
 Dalwiclc's "Gambia' 
 
 The stamps of this interesting British Col 
 ly are fully written up and illustrated. 
 
 PRICE lOc 
 
 Poole's "Coolc Islands" 
 
 A complete history of the stamps of these 
 islands and fully illustrated. ^ PRICE 1 Ro 
 
 We believe that every stamp collector should have a library even though 
 it be but a modest, one. No one can properly collect stamps without some 
 books of reference and these we now offer may properly form the nucleus of 
 a philatelic library. Price of each book is given. Sent post free.