Galerie

 

TRENDS IN DANZIG STAMP PRICES-

Some observations on the Michel Deutschland 1996 catalogue Danzig section
by PGH duBoulay

The latest Michel specialised catalogue of Germany has recently been published. It is interesting to compare the Danzig section with that of previous editions. For the purpose of this review, I have compared it with both the 1993 and the 1978/9 catalogues.

The total prices (in DM) of the basic stamps, including Dienstmarken, Portomarken and Port Gdansk, have risen as follows:

1978/9                            1993                        1996
unmounted mint                             17,982.85                   31,053.25              31,119.00
postally used                                      24,831.50                   55,887.50             63,575.25

From the above, it can be seen that from 1978 to 1996 prices for unmounted mint stamps have risen on average by 73% whereas genuinely postally used stamps have appreciated by 156%. There has been negligible movement in mint stamps since 1993, whereas postally used stamps have continued to rise, overall, by 14% since then. Clearly the genuinely used stamps, which must be expertized in most cases, are the ones which are out-racing inflation, although that does not hold true for every set.

Staying with postally used stamps, and looking at price rises since 1978 of the various categories, we find that the basic Free State stamp sets have gone up by 120%, whereas Dienstmarken have risen by 385%; however, Portornarken have climbed by a spectacular
1336%

Port Gdansk has been much more sluggish at only a 53% increase, hardly keeping pace with inflation over the last 18 years. Much of the considerable increase in genuinely used Dienstznarken and Portomarken values has been seen since 1993.

Unmounted (NH) mint stamps have generally increased in line with inflation, although once again, Dienstznarken and Portomarken have done better, as have the Port Gclansk sets to a lesser degree.

To illustrate the above, it may be useful to look at a few examples of individual stamps and sets.

Again staying with genuinely postally used stamps, the early “Germania” overprints have shown steady increases, particularly the first set (Mi.1-15), although there has been a slight downwards revision on the used stamps of this particular set since 1993. The 1921 air stamps (Mi.66X-71X) and the first Free State design definitives (Mi.73-89) have shown above-average increases when genuinely used. The “tuberculosis” set has risen

 

Danzig Report Vol. 1 - Nr. 94 - January - February - March - 1997, Page 16.