Old German states

Old German States or Old Germany is a collective term in philately for those states that carried out postal sovereignty in their countries before the Reichspost : Baden , Bavaria , Bergedorf , Braunschweig , Bremen , Hamburg , Hanover , Helgoland , Lübeck , Mecklenburg-Schwerin , Mecklenburg -Strelitz , Oldenburg , Prussia , Saxony , Schleswig-Holstein , Thurn-und-Taxis-Post (on behalf of various states), Württemberg and the northern German postal district .

Although the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , the Empire of Austria and the Principality of Liechtenstein belonged to the German Confederation until 1866, these three collecting areas do not belong to the old German states in the philatelic sense. It should also be noted that the Duchy of Schleswig was an imperial fiefdom of the Kingdom of Denmark until 1864 and was subject to an Austro-Prussian condominium from 1864 to 1866 . It was never a member of the German Confederation.