Coat of arms of the states of the Federal Republic of Germany

First day postmark of the series from Bonn

The coat of arms of the federal states of the Federal Republic of Germany was a special series of postage stamps of the German Federal Post Office that appeared between 1992 and 1994.

Issue occasion

"This series of stamps in particular is intended to draw the public's attention to the recent and recent history and the federal structure of the Federal Republic of Germany ."

- Post Minister Wolfgang Bötsch : in a press release from the BMPT on January 10, 1994

description

A total of 16 brands - one for each German state - came out. The brands show a political map of Germany, highlighted is the respective federal state with the corresponding state coat of arms.

Each stamp had a face value of 100 pfennigs and thus corresponded to the fee for a standard letter within Germany and Europe.

The postage stamps have a size of 35 × 35 millimeters and were produced in offset printing in sheets (BDB) of 5 × 5 stamps each with a comb perforation of 13 3/4. The designs come from the Munich graphic artist, Professor Ernst Jünger . The circulation fluctuated between 8.1 and 32.55 million pieces. On average, there were around 25.226 million pieces of each brand. A total of 403,616,000 stamps were printed.

Territorial exchange between Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

With the issuance of the stamp for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , the map of Germany was changed and now took into account the interchange of territory between the states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg in the Lenzen on the Elbe area .

validity

Originally, all stamps issued had unlimited postage validity . With the introduction of the euro as a common European currency on January 1, 2002, this regulation became obsolete.

However, the stamps could be used until June 30, 2002. An exchange was possible until September 30th in the branches of the Deutsche Post , after that until June 30th 2003 centrally in the Philately branch of Deutsche Post AG in Frankfurt.

list

brand	state	Issue date	Edition	ETB	ETB edition	Michel no.
	Baden-Württemberg ( coat of arms description )	January 9, 1992	31,235,000	5/1992	416,800	1586
	Bavaria ( coat of arms description )	March 12, 1992	32,000,000	13/1992	416,800	1587
	Berlin ( coat of arms description )	June 11, 1992	29,660,000	25/1992	408,800	1588
	Brandenburg ( coat of arms description )	July 16, 1992	31,200,000	29/1992	408,800	1589 (→ 1941)
	Bremen ( coat of arms description )	August 13, 1992	32,550,000	34/1992	416,800	1590
	Hamburg ( coat of arms description )	September 10, 1992	28,940,000	39/1992	408,800	1591
	Hessen ( coat of arms description )	March 11, 1993	24,350,000	11/1993	361,400	1660
	Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania ( description of coat of arms )	17th June 1993	8,100,000	25/1993	371,600	1661
	Lower Saxony ( coat of arms description )	July 15, 1993	23,235,000	28/1993	371,600	1662
	North Rhine-Westphalia ( description of coat of arms )	August 12, 1993	23,800,000	32/1993	369,600	1663
	Rhineland-Palatinate ( coat of arms description )	September 16, 1993	24,730,000	39/1993	369,600	1664
	Saarland ( description of coat of arms )	January 13, 1994	18,500,000	4/1994	337,600	1712
	Saxony ( coat of arms description )	March 10, 1994	25,200,000	11/1994	337,600	1713
	Saxony-Anhalt ( coat of arms description )	June 16, 1994	24,800,000	21/1994	326,000	1714
	Schleswig-Holstein ( description of coat of arms )	July 14, 1994	25,436,000	24/1994	326,000	1715
	Thuringia ( coat of arms description )	September 8, 1994	19,880,000	32/1994	326,000	1716

First day letters

As usual, there were first day cancellations for the respective stamps from “1000 Berlin 12” and “5300 Bonn 1” or after the conversion to the five-digit postcode “10619 Berlin 12” and “53111 Bonn 1”. Special stamps in the respective state capitals were also common. Since there were no official first day covers , stamp dealers could design their own envelopes and collectors could also use normal envelopes for the first day. First-day letters that actually ran are valued higher among collectors than those that didn't. In the following example, only the first day cover with the Hamburg stamp was actually sent by post.

• 

  First day cover Baden-Württemberg with Bonn cancellation

• 

  First day cover Bremen with Berlin cancellation

• 

  First day cover really used: Hamburg with Berlin cancellation

Matching stamp

Because of the flood of the Oder in 1997 , a special stamp with a surcharge (110 + 90 Pfennig) based on the Brandenburg stamp was issued at short notice. The stamps appeared in miniature sheets of 5 × 2 stamps and were printed in multi-color offset printing at Bundesdruckerei GmbH in Berlin on coated white fluorescent postage stamp paper DP 2 in the same size as the original series.

brand	description	Issue date	Edition	ETB	ETB edition	Michel no.
	Flood aid in Brandenburg	August 19, 1997	3,760,000	28A / 1997	270,200	1941 (→ 1589)

See also

Commons : Series Wappen der Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Postage stamps issued in 1992 by the Deutsche Bundespost
• Postage stamps issued in 1993 by the Deutsche Bundespost
• Postage stamp year 1994 of the Deutsche Bundespost
• Postage stamps issued in 1997 from the Federal Republic of Germany

literature

• BMPT press release of January 10, 1994
• Michel catalog
  • Junior Catalog 1998
  • Germany special 1999
  • Germany-Special 2004, Volume 2: From May 1945 (Allied occupation up to FRG)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Changeover of stamps from DM to € ( Memento of October 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ BGH, 11.10.2005 - XI ZR 395/04. Legal character and validity of postage stamps
3. ↑ According to a press release from the Federal Post Office of January 10, 1994, a circulation of 25 million was originally planned
4. ^ Deutsche Post: Flood Aid 1997 with a surcharge