News – EN

“No ticky, no washy” – that’s the saying. This is true not only in general or for the hobby of stamp collecting, but especially for youth work. The youth membership is also dwindling, which has a noticeable effect on the already tight budget. Therefore, the Stamp Youth South-West has asked itself the justified question:

What to do?
Together with our partner, the Southwest Regional Association, the idea of a charity auction was born. This is to be carried out as a pilot project within the framework of the International Stamp Fair Ulm 2023 for the benefit of youth. “We are very pleased that we have found a way to finance youth work in South-West that can work,” postulated Christian Helfert, project manager of the benefit auction. Dr. Markus Kohler, 2nd Chairman of the South-West Regional Association, can hardly imagine organised philately in the South-West without youth (work) and had the idea for this benefit auction: “For sustainable association work, in addition to the committed activities in the adult sector, there also needs to be functioning and professional youth work.”

How will the charity auction work?
Every collector has one or two covers in his or her collection that he or she has long since replaced with a better cover or that come from a philatelic field that no longer fits into his or her own collection. At the same time, one can seldom get up the nerve to put individual covers up for auction or even to put them up for sale on Ebay. Now would be the opportunity to consign these covers or stamps (with a retail value of at least 50 €) for the benefit of youth work for the charity auction.
A participation form can be downloaded from https://auktion.lrsw.de. Alternatively, the information can be requested via Christian Helfert or Dr. Markus Kohler (see below for contact details).
The charity auction is to be held live at the IBB in Ulm on 26 October 2023 at 11:30 am. Everyone is invited to participate on site and bid for the youth. An auction catalogue will be created in advance.
The website https://auktion.lrsw.de will serve as the primary communication channel and will be successively expanded to include auction conditions, the presentation of selected lots and the auction catalogue (in October 2023). Every interested party can register for the newsletter and be informed about news.

What do you as a consignor get out of the charity auction?
Besides the good feeling of having supported young philatelic talents, you will receive a tax-deductible donation certificate for sold lots after the auction, which must be based on the market value at a real auction (hammer price minus 20%), together with the DPhJ Christmas stamp.

The Landesring would like to thank all consignors and participants in the charity auction in advance.

Contact person:

Christian Helfert
Berliner Str. 51
88499 Riedlingen
Phone: +49 7371 909884
Mail: auction[at]lrsw.de

Dr. Markus Kohler
At the bastion 5
72818 Trochtelfingen
Phone: +49 172 7523149
Mail: auction[at]lrsw.de

The IBRA 2023 Grand Prizes were announced at the Palmares dinner on Saturday evening, 27th May:

• Grand Prix d’Honneur: Walter Britz (Uruguay), “Uruguay: Early issues of the XIX century (1856-1862)”
• Grand Prix International: Julio Cesar Ponce Lozada (Peru), “The mail system in the Viceroyalti of Peru”
• Grand Prix National: Alfred Schmidt (Germany), “Prussia – The first three issues 1850-59”

(wma) Many thousands of visitors from Germany and abroad flocked to Messe Essen from 25 to 28 May 2023, where the 33rd International Stamp Fair and the IBRA World Stamp Exhibition were held in Halls 7 and 8. The 12,000 sqm event offered everything a collector’s heart could desire. Especially on the first two days, but also on the Whitsun weekend, the stands of the approximately 110 dealers, auction houses, publishers as well as postal administrations and agencies from all over the world were densely crowded. Turnover clearly exceeded expectations, and the suppliers were correspondingly euphoric. Classic and modern stamps were in demand, whether individually, in lots or in collections and part collections. The trend towards letters and other covers to enrich postal history and thematic collections was once again confirmed.

A crowd puller was the treasure chamber with the unique Bordeaux letter with a Red and a Blue Mauritius, at which there were waiting times. Legends of German philately were also on display there, such as the letter with the Baden misprint, the unique first day cover with the “Black One”, the first German stamp, or two “Hepburn” stamps, the most expensive modern stamp in the world. The small exhibition of the Germania definitive series from 1900 with unique designs and proofs also attracted visitors.

The great interest in the 799 exhibited collections from 70 countries was striking. Rarely were so many visitors to be seen at the frames, studying the exhibits in detail, taking notes and photographing pages and pages. The desire to learn more about the hobby and the individual collecting field was also reflected in the almost 70 information stands of working and research communities, the generous reading and literature area as well as the advisory stands of the associations.

For young collectors, there was a large area with games and activities. In the popular stamp pool, one could search for stamps from all over the world free of charge. Beginners were given a basic set of album, tweezers and stamps to start collecting.

(esc)On 3 January 1923, the Luxembourg Post was the first postal administration in the world to issue a souvenir sheet, i.e. a sheet on which – in this case – there was only one stamp. The motif shows a view of Luxembourg City and is coloured green, the souvenir sheet is therefore also called the “Grénge souvenir sheet”. The engraving was by Henry-Lucien Cheffer, a French artist from Paris. To mark the occasion, Luxembourg Post is issuing a new edition at EUR 5. The souvenir sheet will be available at IBRA. There is a matching special postmark.

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On the part of the Romanian Post there is a miniature sheet, a souvenir sheet and a corresponding postmark:

(Witkowski/BDPh) IBRA 2023 has already begun for the set-up team. On Saturday morning, the last exhibition frames were delivered. There were a total of eight articulated lorries that travelled for us from Le Mans in France, Simmern in the Hunsrück and from Essen.

The dismantling of the previous event in Hall 7, the German Medical Congress, is still in full swing at around 11.30 a.m. and should be completed by Sunday noon. On Sunday afternoon we will be able to move into our trade fair office and will then place the markings for setting up the exhibition frames on the hall floor. On Monday morning, more than 60 helpers will start setting up the frames from 8.00 am.

During IBRA there will be guided tours of individual exhibits. Participation is free of charge and requires no advance registration. The meeting point is always at the first frame of the respective exhibit:

Date	Time	Exhibit no.	Title	Exhibitor	Language
25.05.2023	13:00 – 13:30h	10.8	The Yugoslav Inflation 1989 – 1994: Influence on Postal Rates	Milic	ENG
25.05.2023	14:00-14:30h	3A.41	The postal infrastructure in German East Africa	Should	DEU
25.05.2023	15:00-15:30	German-American Salon No. 13	The fiscal philately of German East Africa	War	DEU
25.05.2023	16:00-16:30h	3A.40	German South-West Africa, the development of the Reichspost documented with postmarks and postal documents	Merting	DEU
25.05.2023	17:00-17:30	3A.26	History of the postal service in German Southwest Africa	Siebert	DEU
26.05.2023	10:30 – 11:00h	11.21	Stars on Ice	Steinbach	DEU
26.05.2023	11:30 – 12:00h	3D.27	Morocco Postal History: The Local and Cherifien Posts (1891-1913)	Hadida	ENG/FR/SPANISH
26.05.2023	13:00 – 13:30h	7B.17	Chess – the Game of War	Lubianist	ENG
26.05.2023	14:00 – 14:30h	5.16	Uruguayan Air Mail (1929-1947)	Lewowicz	ENG/SPANISH
26.05.2023	14:00-14:30h	3A.26	History of the postal service in German Southwest Africa	Siebert	DEU
26.05.2023	15:00 – 15:30h	2B.10	The fabrication & the Postal Usage of the Large Head of Hermes of Greece (1861-1901)	Fanchini	ENG/FR
26.05.2023	16:00 – 16:30h	4.2	The official postal stationery with postmark “Bundespräsident Heuss” and its use	Reiners	DEU
26.05.2023	17:00-17:30h	3A.24	The beginnings of the Reichspost in German South-West Africa (1888-1987)	Müller	DEU
27.05.2023	10:30 – 11:00	3B.7	Swedish Postal History – “The Swedish Mail and the War”	Nilson	ENG
27.05.2023	11:30 – 12:00h	7B.9	Jewish Homeland, our struggle for survival	Fisher	ENG
27.05.2023	13:00 – 13:30h	3B.82	Reply Cards in International Mail	Scherer	ENG/DEU
27.05.2023	14:00-14:30	3D.24	The Postal History of Pre-Colonial Samoa	Mountain	DEU
27.05.2023	15:00 – 15:30h	3A.24	The beginnings of the Reichspost in German South-West Africa (1888-1987)	Müller	DEU
27.05.2023	16:00-16:30	3A.40	German South-West Africa, the development of the Reichspost documented with postmarks and postal documents	Merting	DEU
27.05.2023	17:00-17:30	3A.41	The postal infrastructure in German East Africa	Should	DEU
28.05.2023	10:30 – 11:00h	3B.10	Aland – the postal hub in the Baltic Sea – from early courier mail until UPU	Aushra	DE/ENG
28.05.2023	11:30 – 12:00h	2D.2	A Study of the First Issues of India 1852-1854	Jain	ENG
28.05.2023	13:00 – 13:30h	3B.42	Luxembourg Prephilatelic – Histoire Postale 1459-1852	Mr	DE/FRA
28.05.2023	14:00-14:30h	7C.2	Ancient Greek Mathematics, its Development and Impact	Egelriede	DE

 

The Croatian Post is also represented at IBRA and offers a special postmark.

If you don’t get the magazine directly to your home, you can download it here and read it online!

https://shop.deutschepost.de/MEDIA/PROD_ProductCatalog/Postfrisch_3_2023_postfrisch_03_2023.pdf

(Reinhard Küchler/BDPh/pcp) Julia Jacob’s joy at this appointment is evident. The 1st Mayoress of the City of Essen is having the special stamp for the upcoming IBRA explained to her in detail. “Anyone who talks to philatelists quickly realises that there are many exciting stories to tell about stamps and letters,” she says in her speech during the presentation at Essen City Hall a few weeks before IBRA opens on 25 May. So it stands to reason that the new stamp should also convey this fun and passion. The mayor recalls that she used to collect stamps herself. Even today, she still uses stamps for her mail, she said. It was “a beautiful thing” that the city of Essen was the location for IBRA and that it was held in conjunction with the stamp fair.

Together with the city of Essen and the Bund Deutscher Philatelisten e.V., Deutsche Post AG, the main sponsor of IBRA, has now presented the colourful stamp for the World Exhibition with a face value of 0.85 euros. It was designed by Jan-Niklas Kröger and shows three people looking at a collection. At the same time, the motif can also be interpreted as the viewer of the stamp being looked at through a magnifying glass. “Philatelists love coming to Essen,” Mayor Julia Jacob knows. The time spent waiting during the pandemic was worth it, she says. During IBRA, she says, there is a lot to see, and in addition, the city offers its visitors a wide range of leisure activities. “With this outlook, I already wish all IBRA visitors pleasant days in Essen and the World Philatelic Exhibition a successful course overall.”

The President of the Bund Deutscher Philatelisten e.V. (BDPh), Alfred Schmidt, is also convinced that IBRA will be a “very successful advertisement for philately”. The umbrella organisation of organised collectors hopes for many visitors, not only from the Ruhr area. Schmidt thanks the many sponsors, supporters and helpers who have been working tirelessly for the World Exhibition for many months.

“Discover, marvel, exchange with like-minded people” – this is the motto of the new special stamp, says Dr Alexander Plum, Head of Philately at Deutsche Post AG. “The Ruhr region is an ideal catchment area for IBRA,” he emphasises. There is an active collector scene here in particular, and Essen has been a centre of German philately for decades.” With a view to the stamp, he also referred to the matrix code. Here he referred to interesting content on IBRA. Österreichische Post AG will have a large stand at IBRA and there will be numerous special postmarks on offer. For Österreichische Post AG, supporting IBRA is a “matter of course”. The stamps are part of the “DNA of the Post”, said Plum. They are ambassadors of the country of issue and draw attention to themes and events every year. “We are looking forward to IBRA. Let’s be surprised by the colourful variety of stamps during the World Exhibition.”

The stamp for IBRA is available at post offices, in the online shop (https://shop.deutschepost.de/philatelie-neuausgaben-2023) or by calling Deutsche Post’s order service (tel. 0961/3818-3818).

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(Rainer von Scharpen/pcp)Somebody knows what he is talking about. Lindner worked as a teacher for the blind for over forty years, including more than twenty years as head of the von Vincke School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Soest. Thus, his book is about more than just writing a “philatelic-scientific” work. His aim is to address as wide an audience as possible in a comprehensible language and with a catchy presentation and to familiarise them with the blind and their care, without neglecting the philatelic aspect or foregoing accuracy in the information. And the advanced collector should also get his money’s worth. To say it in advance: the author has succeeded in this balancing act!

The general introduction informs about the basic communication possibilities of blind people and sheds light on the position and importance of blind people in antiquity through the Middle Ages to the establishment of the first schools for the blind in the late 18th century. The path from the first tactile relief writings to the invention of Braille in 1825 was a long one. At the age of three, Louis Braille went blind as a result of an injury he sustained while playing with an awl in his father’s shoemaker’s workshop. It was not until he was sixteen that he developed his own Braille. He was inspired by a “night writing” system introduced by the military, which enabled soldiers to feel texts in the dark. Braille skilfully reduced this system to a six-dot code, with the help of which 63 combinations for all letters, numbers and punctuation marks could be represented. However, it took another 25 years for Braille to achieve a breakthrough, which he did shortly before his death when his script was officially approved for teaching in schools for the blind. Today, it is the common system in all countries of the world and is used for a wide variety of languages and scripts, including Arabic, Japanese and, most recently, Tibetan. Sabriye Tenberken developed this version for her students. After studying in Marburg and Bonn, she and her husband founded the first school for the blind in Lhasa in 1998.

The introductory cultural-historical outline leads to a detailed description of the postal treatment of cecograms [< Latin caecus = blind], the international term for items sent to the blind in the postal language. When the UPU was founded, the fee was still the same as for ordinary letters. In 1886, items sent to the blind were treated as printed matter, which for the first time amounted to a reduction in the fee. At the UPU Congress in Madrid in 1920, it was decided to introduce a special charge for items sent for the blind, with a maximum weight that gradually rose to 7 kg. The 1952 Congress in Brussels recommended that items for the blind be sent postage-free, which some countries did.

(wm-pcp) This issue of the philatelic magazine from Heinrich Köhler, Wiesbaden, is entirely dedicated to the world exhibition IBRA 2023, but especially to the appearance and offers of the auction house. For example, a “groundbreaking innovation in philately”, the ProFi (Provenance Finder), which will be seen in action in Essen from 25 to 28 May, is described in more detail for the first time. Using search queries or image recognition for originals, the digital archive provides provenance information (images, descriptions, surcharges, etc.) from more than 100 years of auction history in a matter of seconds. And this not only for top rarities, but also for objects in the mid three- or four-digit range. At present, there are already about 1.5 million data records available; by the end of 2024, there should already be 4 million data records, which will then shed more light on the “development history” of special pieces.

The VSC 8000 on the stand of the auction house Heinrich Köhler is similarly innovative and the ultimate in quality inspections. It can be used to make everything visible on original originals that UV to infrared can see far better than the human eye. Damage of all kinds, but also the authenticity of an object for comparison.

The collection “Germany since 1872”, which will be auctioned in a special Erivan auction on 24 May, is the subject of a contribution, as is the Hiroshima letter, which will find a new owner on that day. Further articles report on the special show “German Inflation”, but also on the “Treasury room” with its German world rarities as well as the “Germania Show” in the Treasury and the book programme of the house and – last but not least – ‘IBRA Chief Organiser’ Alfred Schmidt, President of the BDPh and a top international exhibitor, is introduced.

How extensively Auktionshaus Heinrich Köhler is involved in this world exhibition is not only made clear by the activities mentioned above (for the company was directly involved in organising, supporting and promoting them), but also by the overview of lectures on the third cover page. This, too, has probably never been done before to this extent.

This issue 01/2023 with its 28 pages is excellently produced, written and illustrated, so that we can only recommend everyone to order a copy in advance or to take it with them at the IBRA in Essen at the stand of the auction house in Hall 8. Contact: Auktionshaus Heinrich Köhler, Hasengartenstr. 25, 65189 Wiesbaden, Tel. 06 11/34 14 90, E-Mail: info[at]heinrich-koehler.de

On Saturday 27 May, Members, Fellows and interested guests of the Royal Philatelic Society London will meet at 3pm for a champagne reception sponsored by Köhler Auction House in the Ruhr Room (1st floor) at IBRA. The President of the Royal, Peter Cockburn, will welcome the participants, otherwise there will be time for the participants to exchange ideas.

(wm-pcp) The subtitle “Postal History and Historiography in Context” makes it clear that this is a very unusual book. The foreword by Klaus Weis, president of the Deutscher Altbriefsammler-Verein, also bears eloquent witness to this when he writes:

“I had the privilege of getting to know Hans-Joachim Büll as a postal historian who dedicates his research work to topics not many dare to tackle. Some of these challenges go back as far as messenger mail in the Middle Ages and the accompanying intensive study of sources, including the often indispensable archival work, is certainly no foreign concept for this expert. Hans-Joachim Büll now presents a publication of several hundred pages on one of his special fields with a complex treatment of the Napoleonic era against the background of postal historical relevance.

(Old) letters are contemporary witnesses – this is vividly illustrated in this work. The close connection between postal history and contemporary history illustrates interesting and individual facets of the events of the time, the consequences of which reordered the structure of states in Europe, especially by taking letter contents into account. The access to the collections of prominent postal historians favours helpful illustrations and the professional realisation facilitates an easy entry even for philatelists who have not been able to develop an affinity to the Napoleonic period so far.”

The result is 400 pages in which Büll covers a wide range of topics, namely the developments that have shaped the direct relationship between power, supremacy and postal dominance since the times of the von Thurn und Taxis. France’s annexation of the Austrian Netherlands, Holland in the hands of France and French rule on the left bank of the Rhine are meticulously described in their concrete effects on postal traffic. Chapters are then devoted to the conflicts between Prussia and Napoleon, the Dictate Peace of Tilsit as well as the Grand Duchy of Berg and the Hanseatic Départéments and their consequences for cross-border postal traffic. Others – this goes without saying – are devoted to the collapse of the Napoleonic empire in 1812-1814, the 100-day reign of the French emperor in 1815, which was followed by the Allied occupation of France until 1818. Such topics are also dealt with thoroughly and in a way that is exciting to read in terms of contemporary history, but in each case also with a view to the post, censorship and changes in the postal system. This is also impressively demonstrated in the last three chapters, which deal with the Thurn und Taxis interim period in the Rhineland 1814-1816, the Prussian postal service in the Rhineland and the Dutch postal connections 1814-1815.

Unlike many previous authors, Büll never treats all these aspects in isolation from their political and contemporary historical context, which gives the book almost a unique selling point. Impressive is the immense number of colour illustrations of covers, each of which is described in detail with a high degree of competence and comes from the collections of other renowned experts as well. If the author was honoured for his outstanding work in postal history with the important SAVO medal more than 30 years ago, today it is fair to say once again that he deserves this and perhaps other honours. The book is the proof worth reading.

Format DIN A4, 400 pages, in colour, hardcover, Phil*Creativ Verlag, Schwalmtal 2023, VP: 65 Euro (plus postage). ISBN 978-3-949591-05-1. The book is available at IBRA 2023 at the Phil*Creativ Verlag stand or by parcel order from: Phil*Creativ GmbH, Verlag & Agentur, Vogelsrather Weg 27, 41366 Schwalmtal, Tel. 0 21 63/48 66, E-Mail: faktura[at]philcreativ.de, www.phil-shop.de

(hk/pcp) The Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Sammler Deutscher Kolonialpostwertzeichen e.V. (Working Group of Collectors of German Colonial Postage Stamps) will publish a second edition of the Michel special catalogue “German Colonies” in cooperation with Schwaneberger Verlag GmbH after eight years, just in time for IBRA in Essen.

This catalogue consists of the German foreign post offices and colonies section from the Germany Special Catalogue 2023 published in May, the cataloguing of these areas from the postal stationery catalogue Germany, the colonial section of the Michel Coin Catalogue as well as the entire occupation issues from the respective current overseas catalogues. For the first time, the cataloguing of the fiscal stamps of German East Africa and German Southwest Africa will be included. This was done by Harald Krieg and describes for the first time all known fiscal stamps and their variants.

In detail, the following areas are included:
– German foreign post offices and colonies from Germany Special 2023
– Ship’s Mail from Germany Special 2023
– Fiscal Stamps of the German Colonies (by Harald Krieg) 2023
– Postal stationery German foreign post offices and colonies
– Coins German Colonies
– Northwest Pacific Islands (N.W. Pacific Islands)
– Nyasaland Field Force
– G. E. A. overprints
– Mafia
– Kionga
– Belgian Occupation of German East Africa
– South African Occupation of German South West Africa
– French Occupation of Cameroon
– British Occupation of Cameroon
– Japanese Occupation of the Marshall Islands
– Australian occupation of Nauru
– New Zealand Occupation of Samoa
– French Occupation of Togo
– British occupation of Togo

This catalogue thus completely summarises the territory of the German colonies on approx. 180 pages.

This catalogue is available exclusively from the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Sammler Deutscher Kolonialpostwertzeichen e.V. (Working Group of Collectors of German Colonial Postage Stamps). Sales will start at the ArGe stand in Essen, advance orders will be delivered after Whitsun.

Due to the sponsoring of advertisements in the catalogue by several auction companies, all of which are members of the ArGe, the sales price of 29 euros can be kept constant as in 2015. For members the catalogue will be available at a special price of € 25,- plus shipping costs if applicable.

Please send orders to the Managing Director of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Sammler Deutscher Kolonialpostwertzeichen e.V., Tilmann Nössig, Koppenstr. 16, 10243 Berlin, Geschaeftsfuehrer[at]kolonialmarken.de

(wm/pcp) It may sound a bit trite, but it cannot be dismissed out of hand: From 25-28 May 2023, philatelists from all over the world will meet during IBRA in Essen, holding conferences and meetings or inviting associations and societies to receptions for their members. A good overview is already provided by the exhibition’s website, which anyone can access at www.ibra2023.de.

After the editorial deadline for the IBRA exhibition catalogue, three more events have now been announced.
The APHV, the professional association of the German stamp trade, invites its members to this year’s general meeting on 25 May 2023 in Essen. The Annual General Meeting, followed by dinner, will take place from 7 p.m. to presumably 10 p.m. in the rooms of the restaurant Marktschänke Steele, Dreiringplatz 6, 45276 Essen (reachable by S1 from Essen HBF to the stop ‘Essen Steele’, then by foot approx. 700 m). So not – as usual in the past – in the fair itself, which did not seem justifiable this time for cost reasons.
Two renowned international clubs will also be inviting guests. For example, the Club de Monte-Carlo, for which the newly elected President Olivier Stocker extended an invitation to members and their accompanying persons on Sunday, 28 May 2023, at 1 pm. The Club’s lunch will take place at the Casino Zollverein, Gelsenkirchener Str. 181, in 45309 Essen.

Last but not least, the Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) invites members, but also other interested guests, to a reception on Saturday 27 May at 3 pm in the Saal Ruhr (Messe Essen, Congress Centre, 1st floor). Prior to this, the IBRA special auctions of the firm Heinrich Köhler from Wiesbaden will take place in this hall from 10.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m.. Dieter Michelson, Managing Director of the company and RPSL representative for Germany, has cleared the way for this. Guests are therefore expressly welcome!

(esc) Some postal administrations are offering special stamp issues or souvenir sheets in Essen for the IBRA and the stamp fair. The Åland Post is issuing the special “Peace” stamp at its stand. There is no special postmark, but there is a regular postmark.

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The Norwegian Post will be present at IBRA with its own special postmark to draw attention to the topic of “wind power”.

(Zurich/pcp) With the upcoming auction series of auctions 298 to 307, the team of Corinphila from Zurich presents the most extensive and varied offer in years. The auction, originally planned for five days from 5 to 9 June 2023, even had to be extended, so that the “auction week” will already start on Friday and Saturday of the previous week (2/3 June 2023). In the run-up to the announced viewing of all individual lots at the IBRA in Essen, the interest of the consignors was exceptionally high. A total of nine special catalogues and one main catalogue with philately and postal history, including numerous outstanding special items, will be offered in the June auction series in Zurich.

Top collections and philatelic treasures from Europe to overseas – international philately that inspires
Rarely has an auction programme shone with such a variety of top-quality collections and individual lots from all continents as in the upcoming Corinphila auction series. Part 2 of the sale of the incomparable collection “Australian States and Commonwealth of Australia – the DUBOIS Collection” again presents valuable rarities from “Down Under”, to start with one of the most “distant” collecting areas. By the way, lovers of Australian philately can also look forward to two other collections – “Australian States unused” by Peter Campbell (Part 1) and “Australia – George V’s reign” by Steve Butcher – which will be proclaimed as special parts of the main catalogue.
For South America, the third and last part “Ecuador 1865 – 1872 – The GUAYAQUIL Collection” will be launched, an outstanding collection of the first issue of Ecuador with one of the key pieces of the field: a 36 souvenir sheet of the 4 Reales stamp, which could be assigned to the Philippe von Ferrary Collection (1925) after extensive provenance research was completed. After the extraordinary success of the first part in June last year, the eagerly awaited second part, “British West Africa” from the ‘BESANCON’ collection, is now being called out, focusing on Gambia as well as the provisional overprints of the Nigerian “Oil Rivers Protectorate”.
The collection “Chateau du Soudun” comprises two collections, Great Britain and St. Lucia”, whose lots were collected under the highest standards and captivate by their exceptional freshness and quality. The Great Britain collection also stands out with the international large gold collection “Die Stahltiefdruck-Ausgaben 1840-1870” by Ake Rietz. The guiding theme of this collection was to tell the story of the invention of the postage stamp from the “One Penny Black” and its blue sister “Two Pence Blue” of 1840 to all those successor issues produced by the leading printer in the world at the time: Perkins Bacon & Co. of London. Besides uncancelled and cancelled units, covers with high frankings and rare postmarks are offered. The top item is a block of four of the unissued One Penny Black stamp with the letters ‘V’ and ‘R’ in the upper corner squares, whose provenance can be traced back to 1899 and already enriched the collection of the Earl of Crawford (1911).
The “philatelic arc” from South America to Europe is once again spanned by the selection of lots from the estate of engineer Pietro Provera. Collectors can expect a magnificent compilation of almost exclusively rare covers from various European collecting areas as well as from South and Central America. The second part of the Waldviertel collection with valuable offerings from Austria and Lombardy-Venetia offers especially interesting pieces from a postal history point of view.
The second part of the “Zeppelin” collection from the unique philatelic estate of the entrepreneur Erivan Haub is also eagerly awaited. One of the highlights from this part of the ERIVAN collection is a spectacular disaster cover of the zeppelin HINDENBURG, which was recovered in 1937 after the crash in Lakehurst. Last but not least, the special catalogue “Switzerland” should be mentioned, which also offers an extremely varied range. The cantonal issues and the international gold medal collection “Ziffermuster 1882-1899” by Dr. James Johnstone are particularly well represented.
The main catalogue “All the World” follows on seamlessly from the diversity offered and presents a high-quality range that has something in store for almost every collector. Especially outstanding are the numerous special parts, including “Nepal Postal History”, the gold medal collection by Robert Wightman, or “Greenland 1721 – 1938”, the extraordinary collection ‘POLARLIGHT’ (Part 1), which was built up over 30 years and is one of the largest existing collections in this field of collecting. Austria stands out with a collection of Prince & Emperor letters from 1500 onwards as well as the 1st issue 1850 from the Habsburg Collection (Part 2). The same applies to a research collection of the newspaper cancel stamps of Austria and Lombardy-Venetia by Anton Theodor Gube and Part 1 of the gold medal collection “Hungarian Post Offices in Romania” by Dr. Geza Homonnay, to name only selected examples.

Viewing lots at IBRA 2023 – complete offer on the Internet
Visitors to IBRA 2023 in Essen (25-28 May 2023) can view all the individual lots of the June auction at Corinphila’s large joint stand. The team is looking forward to many interesting technical discussions.
The entire auction offer will be available from the end of April at www.corinphila.ch in the online catalogue with several tens of thousands of images, including numerous collections and lots. Participation in the auction is possible from the comfort of your own home via the tried and tested online live bidding system. It is worth registering in good time.

For further information, please contact: Corinphila Auktionen AG, Wiesenstrasse 8, 8032 Zurich/Switzerland, phone: + 41 (0)44 389 91 91, fax + 41 (0)44 389 91 95, e-mail: info[at]corinphila.ch

(dw-dphj/pcp) The IBRA World Stamp Exhibition will take place from 25 to 28 May at Messe Essen. To ensure that as many young collectors as possible find their way to Essen, the booklet shows many great reasons to visit the World Stamp Exhibition. Not only the participants in the DPhJ Youth Meeting or the German exhibitors of the Youth Class will enjoy the days in Essen full of offers. The magazine is also an invitation to the Ruhr metropolis Essen for the readers of the youth magazine.
Have you brought your friends to Essen? Then you have good reason to win the IBRA game. The game is in the new issue of Junge Sammler. The popular Young Collector Quiz and the election of the most beautiful music and aviation stamps invite you to participate. Reports from the national rings show activities from Munich to Berlin.

Those who prefer reading will find entertaining articles on the film Avatar, the postal newspaper service and the fight against malaria. An article on a new stamp issue from the Channel Islands takes you around the world in 80 days. And the new boy collector poster with two cuddly cute kittens should also find a place in the room – eye candy not only for stamp fans.

Sadly, the German Philatelic Youth mourns the loss of the head of its office. Gaby Lennartz was also part of the editorial team and was always a helpful contact person for readers and interested parties of the magazine.

(esc-bdph) Stamp collecting is fun, stamp collecting educates and invites research, stamp collecting connects. These points unite the essence of our hobby and are the basis for the motif of Deutsche Post’s special stamp on the occasion of IBRA, which will be issued on 4 May 23. For once, such a stamp does not show another stamp or a postal history document but puts us, the collectors, in the centre. The motif shows three people looking at a stamp and being inspired by it. This is exactly what we want to achieve at IBRA: We want to encourage visitors to get excited about stamps and philatelic covers and to share their enthusiasm. The design of the postage stamp and the first day cancel was done by Jan-Niklas Kröger, Bonn. Mr Kröger will be on the IBRA stage on Thursday, 25.5.23, from 15-15:45h and will be available to answer questions. The stamp has a value of 85 cents.

(BDPh) The author hardly needs an introduction. He was editor-in-chief of “philatelie” for almost 28 years and is the author of countless book titles and articles. In 1996, his publishing house published Wolf J. Pelikan’s book “Aufgebaut auf Ruinen” (Built on Ruins), in which he described the first 50 years of the history of the Bund Deutscher Philatelisten (BDPh) e.V.. The book was Maaßen’s idea and the last chapters were also co-edited by him, as Pelikan’s cancer forced him to put down his pen more and more.

Now, 25 years later, Maassen presented a book on the more recent history of the federation, on the exciting last 25 years as a continuation. In 26 chapters and 202 sub-chapters, he described the development of this association: the ups and downs and the changes. He spared hardly anything. Following the periods of four presidents (Michael Adler, Dieter Hartig, Uwe Decker and Alfred Schmidt), he meticulously described the experience of three International Exhibitions (IBRA 1999 Nuremberg, IBRA 2009 Essen, IPHLA 2012 Mainz), of five NAPOSTA events (1997 Stuttgart, 2001 Wuppertal, 2005 Hanover, 2009 Essen, 2020 Haldensleben), but then also paid tribute to 20 “German Philatelist Days” and 15 “Bundestages” (General Assemblies). He even has bilateral exhibitions in mind. But it is not only events that he has in mind. On the many hundreds of pages, he focuses on people and their achievements for philately. He outlines who was responsible for which ideas, who really rendered great services to the BDPh, but also who had to be said goodbye to in mourning. Almost 130 portraits recall these special personalities, many of whom are still alive today. He does not even shy away from the so-called “difficult” topics, especially those by which he himself was famously affected, be it the abolition of the annual “German Philatelists’ Day” or the events in the last phase of the “Decker era”. Instead of making hasty judgements here, he allows others to have their say, to comments that are still worth reading today with the benefit of hindsight. In this way, it becomes very clear how this association has changed over 25 years, how the austerity dictate intervened more and more in the service portfolio of a formerly very active association and Corona brought almost everything to a standstill that was previously dear to the association philatelists.

What makes the book even more worth reading is the abundance of photos, primarily those by Wilhelm van Loo. Around 1,000 (!) photos put the written word into the picture and many will recognise themselves in them. But also worth mentioning is the low price compared to the volume, which barely covers the production costs. This was made possible by the extremely generous sponsorship of the auction house Heinrich Köhler, Wiesbaden, known as the “patron” of the BDPh and its predecessor associations since Heinrich Köhler’s time in Berlin (from 1913). Since then, countless German Philatelic Days have been sustainably supported by the house in Berlin and later in Wiesbaden. The BDPh and the Stiftung für Philatelie und Postgeschichte (Foundation for Philately and Postal History) also contribute a considerable amount to the promotion of this book.

For only 49,80 Euro (plus 6 Euro domestic parcel shipping, if not taken along at IBRA 2023) this book is available at the BDPh office and will be delivered by Phila Promotion GmbH for the publisher BDPh in Bonn.

Contact e-mail for advance orders is info@bdph.de – Bund Deutscher Philatelisten e.V. / Phila Promotion GmbH, Mildred-Scheel-Str. 2, 53175 Bonn, Tel. 02 28/308 58-0, Fax 02 28/308 58-12, e-mail: info[at]bdph.de. The book is also available at the IBRA 2023 Philately Centre.