EDITION D'OR

The inflation in Germany from 1914 to 1923 was the most radical devaluation that an industrialised nation had ever seen up to that time. It concerned the German reichsmark, which from its introduction in 1875 until the beginning of the First World War on 4 August 1914 was a stable currency. One reason for the “stable reichsmark” was its link to the gold standard. This obliged the Reichsbank to offer metallic currency or gold in exchange for the equivalent in paper money at any time. With the beginning of the First World War, the “emergency redemption obligation” of the Reichsbank was lifted. Then many war bonds were issued which were subscribed to by the population. Significantly more money for the financing of the war effort was printed in mid-1916, and was made available to the population. And so it was that consumers had more money to spend, which they required for the purchase and consumption of all the available goods. To obtain these increasingly scarce goods they were willing to pay increasingly high prices - the beginning of inflation. In his collection “German Reich 1923 hyperinflation” Horst Jaster shows by means of a number of postal items of all kinds the dramatic impact of hyperinflation on postal customers, companies and authorities who had relied on the “written letter” for communications even in difficult times. He represents with documentation, but also a warning, the incredible and most terrible chapter of German economic and financial history.

169 pages, of which 145 are full-colour plates showing pages from the collection, hardbound with dust jacket, bilingual in English and German

Dr. Wolfgang Leupold shows an almost inexhaustible variety of stamps of the R.S.F.S.R in his collection; old stamps were overprinted, perforations were changed, different types of paper and watermarks, stamps withdrawn soon after their issue and replaced by others, pre-revolutionary stamps used again - partly with overprints due to inflation, also essays and proofs often come on the market. A civil war from early 1918 until 1921 shaped the lives of people in the fledgling R.S.F.S.R. And so it was that the first stamps of the R.S.F.S.R. were issued in late 1921 at the end of the civil war, nearly four years after the establishment of the state. Ordinary stamp issues were immediately supplemented with many commemorative stamps, hunger tax stamps for the victims of the 1921 drought as well as charity stamps, the famous consular stamps and even exchange stamps for controlling the export of postage stamps that was a state monopoly. All of this defines the field of activity of Dr. Wolfgang Leupold, who represents in his collection this incredible postal-political muddle on the basis of stamps, covers and specialities and who has put together the most important collection of this area.

160 pages, of which 129 are full-colour plates showing pages from the collection, hardbound with dust jacket, bilingual in English and German

On the eve of the founding of the German-Austrian Postal Union, there were more than a dozen independent postal administrations in Germany alone, which had arranged their exchanges of mail and communications by means of greatly differing treaties. For items of mail in transit through several postal areas, postage was added with each new area that was entered. This collective confusion was first harmonised in 1850-51, by the creation of the DÖPV between the German states. The contractual arrangements with foreign postal administrations remained initially unchanged. The choice of different routes enabled the postal customers to choose the optimum route for them. In the course of his growing preoccupation with postal history, Dr. Karl Zangerle developed the idea to study the foreign postage rates of the southern German states with “guilder” or “kreuzer” currency. The necessary research work in all the archives of the individual postal areas leads to a systematic record of the postal routes from 1850 to 1875 with the sometimes complex charges and postage rates. Several publications are the result, also the collection of “Foreign letters of the South German states 1850-1875”. In addition to numerous frankings of mail sent abroad, the collection is also supplemented by incoming mail from abroad. For these the charges paid on each letter are explained in detail.

175 pages, of which 151 are full-colour plates showing pages from the collection, hardbound with dust jacket, bilingual in English and German

Joseph Hackmey documents in his collection the various issues, printings, colours and papers of ‘Cape triangulars’ from the first issue of 1853 to the last printing from badly worn steel plates by the printer De La Rue in June 1864. Joseph Hackmey has succeeded as never before in the history of Cape philately to bring together virtually all the great rarities of the Cape triangulars in one collection: the error of colour of the ‘woodblocks’ unused and used, in pairs and blocks with ‘normal’ adjacent stamps as well as its use on covers. In addition having to the ‘classic’ rarities of Cape triangulars, the collection is also certainly regarded as the most important collection of Cape triangular postal history. The great Cape rarities from the collections of Ferrary, Hind, Pack, Caspary, Stevens, Burrus, Hall, Stevenson, ‘Maria de la Queillerie’, Sir Maxwell Joseph, Dale Lichtenstein, ‘Maximus’, ‘Bonaventure’, ‘Salisbury’, Mrs. Ad Indhusophon and ‘Lady Hope’ are to be found today in the collection of Joseph Hackmey.

172 pages, of which 143 are full-colour plates showing pages from the collection, hardbound with dust jacket, bilingual in English and German

In 1860 all the Caribbean mail intended for France was carried by private vessels or British steamers. In 1861 the “Companie Générale Transatlantique” was founded. Mail steamer lines were established serving several islands and cities. Incoming and outgoing French mail of the West Indies is much less common than the comparable British or Spanish mail. Especially Great Britain has always played a major role in the carrying of mail and other goods in the Caribbean. Dr. Federico Borromeo d’Adda shows many rare covers in his collection. Of particular interest are items representing Franco-British postal relations.

196 pages, of which 172 are full-colour plates showing pages from the collection, hardbound with dust jacket, bilingual in English and German

Jochen Heddergott documents with his India collection the historical developments in India with stamps, covers and postmarks. The collection begins with the earliest known letters in private hands from the Portuguese (1624) and British (1632) in India, and with the earliest postmarks used in India. The first postage stamps of India, the “Scinde Dawks’, are shown on many covers; the lithographed issues are represented in the greatest variety with blocks, rare covers and frankings. In particular the overseas frankings show a large number of the most important covers of this area. Of particular importance is the fact that many postal routes are documented in both directions. Jochen Heddergott is one of the first collectors to take both directions into consideration in his collection.

270 pages, of which 242 are full-colour plates showing pages from the collection, hardbound with dust jacket, bilingual in English and German

Austria 1867: after the defeat of Prussia in the war of 1866 and the loss of Veneto to Italy, the kingdoms and crown lands increasingly demanded independence. Hungary was recognised as an independent state in 1867; Emperor Franz Joseph was crowned in Buda as Apostolic King of Hungary. The postal system was also divided with effect from 1 May 1867. The trade ministries of in Austria and Hungary first of all agreed on a stamp issue with the same design for the two independent states - with the image of his Majesty Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, but without reference to the country and with a value expressed in “Kr”, the abbreviation of the currency “kreuzer” in both languages. During this period the expansion of rail and ship communications led to rapid growth in international trade. The result was a rapid increase in postal traffic with nations around the world. The Werner Schindler collections documents this historical and economic development between 1867 and 1884 with superb covers and important frankings from Austria to abroad, but also from abroad into Austria.

340 pages, of which 312 are full-colour plates showing pages from the collection, hardbound with dust jacket, bilingual in English and German

The Emil Capellaro collection documents the postal service established by the D.D.S.G., with steamers on the Danube between Austria-Hungary and the Danube ports in Romania, Serbia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, the territory of Dobruja and Russia. It is probably the most important collection of this area put together as yet. It shows, in a degree of completeness that has probably never previously been attained, the various ships’ postmarks of the D.D.S.G. steamers, the various D.D.S.G. postal agents in the countries along the Danube, as well as the various other postmarks in use.

108 pages, of which 97 are full-colour plates showing pages from the collection, hardbound with dust jacket, bilingual in English and German

The collection shows the many and varied usages of the Bavarian rectangular issues in detail. Types of cancellation, frankings (in particular, the handling of foreign letters to their destinations), special types of postal item, as well as the telegraph service are represented with many clearly-described examples.

164 pages, of which 142 are full-colour plates showing pages from the collection, hardbound with dust jacket, bilingual in English and German

Detailed documentation of the first stamp issues of Venezuela. Description of the various issues, cancellations and types of usage, with many blocks which enabled the collector-author to achieve a partial plate reconstruction. Many rarities of the philately of Venezuela are included in the collection.

236 pages, of which 213 are full-colour plates showing pages from the collection, hardbound with dust jacket, bilingual in English and German