Gallery

 

4th issue

The lowest value in normal format, the higher values in large, horizontal., rectangular format. Design as before, but now with the large format also perforated 14. Watermark horizontal webbing. No.17 in sheets of 101) the rest in 50’s.

Serial No.                 Michel No.                        Value                            Colour
17                                       133                             25 Mark                       Light blue
18                                       134                             50 Mark                       Orange
19                                       135                            100 Mark                      Red
20                                       136                            250 Mark                      Sepia
21                                       137                            500 Mark                      Carmine

Numbers issued:
No.17       2,895,400               No.20             967,850
No.18          989,500                No.21             984.000
No.19       1.150,800

5th issue

18th October 1923
New design aeroplane in posthorn. horizontal format, normal size, watermark horizontal webbing, perforated 14. Sheets of 100 stamps. Valid until 2nd November 1923. Because of the then advancing inflation the two highest values were made up by overprinting the lowest values.
Serial No.                  Michel No.                   Value
22                                     177                          250.000 Mark
23                                     178                          500.000 Mark
24                                     179                          2 Million on 100,000 Mark
25                                     180                          5 Million on 50,000 Mark

The colour of all the stamps is red and the overprint black.

Numbers issued:
No.22               936,900                   No.24             1,180,000
No.23               948.900                   No.25             1,184.900

The high numbers issued and the short period of use (only until 2nd November 1923) led directly to a widespread incidence on this issue of favour and forged cancellations. Genuinely used stamps are as scarce on cover as they are loose, on flown covers they are an outstanding rarity.

The known printing error 5 Million on 10,000 Mark (position 73 in the sheet) came into being because of the insertion of an incorrect cliché in the printing plate. As this only occurs once in each sheet, there were 11,849 examples of this. It was avidly collected in blocks of nine. The likelihood of getting a genuinely used example is however quite hopeless.

The clichés for the overprint on Nos. 23 and 25 were made of very inferior material, and thus many breaks and plate faults arose. This issue is thus very interesting.

 

Danzig Report Vol. 1 - Nr. 62 - January - February - March - 1989, Page 11.