Gallery

 

FIGURE 1 - John Neefus has sent in several examples of the out-of-the-ordinary stamp anomalies, including this copy of ML 212a, with an attempt by the clerks to fill in the white space at the left and at the bottom (over the words Freie Stadt Danzig) with the old grease pencil trick. As we showed in DR-40 with the Neptune stamps, this move is necessitated by poor registry of the black and orange plates.

FIGURE 2- The second example sent by John illustrates a problem with the final e in the overprint -- it possibly got flattened 45 degrees by a wayward hammer. This is No. 182 in Michel and is one of the 12 pro visionals released in October and November 1923 for the currency reform after the high inflation. Note also the red ink shift (misperf) on a 50-Mark stamp that was obsolete before it was issued.

FIGURE 3 - On this example of Michel Dienstmark 45, the color is shifted because of misperforation. The comb perf at the bottom is a couple of millimeters too low, causing the vertical combs to stop short of the top horizontal row. The result gives the appearance that two holes are missing on the sides. The original stamp, no. 196, issued on January 26 1924, is apparently the culprit, since the oblique overprint was printed on its full sheet, already perforated.

 

Danzig Report Vol. 1 - Nr. 97 - October - November - December - 1997, Page 23.