OFFICIAL POSTCARDS
(1938)

This page was last updated
27-May-2024 07:28

P274 / 03
DEZEMBER

VALIDITY: 1st Dec 1938 to 30th Jun 1939

BACKGROUND: The following series of 6 postcards was issued at various stages from 14th Oct 1983 through to 21st Feb 1939 with a valid date up until 30th Jun 1939. 4 Rpf of the proceeds from the sale of each card went towards the Winter Relief Fund.

The cards are labelled from Oct to Mar, with each card representing a different month. Each of the cards depicts a tradesperson going about their work. The official theme of the cards was "flowers from the Ostmarke" and the designs were from prolific artist von Axtler-Heudlass. The design of the cards closely matches the design of the door plaques that were being used during this period.

The pre-printed value stamp features two Eidelweiss flowers and 6 Rpf was for postage whilst the remaining 4 Rpf was donated to the WHW.

Similar sets of six cards with a different theme were also issued in 1939 and again in 1940.

The six cards are as follows:

P274/01: October - Issued 14th Oct 1938
P274/02: November - Issued 18th Nov 1938
P274/03: December - Issued 1st Dec 1938
P274/04: January - Issued 29h Dec 1938
P274/05: February - Issued 1st Feb 1939
P274/06: March - Issued 21st Feb 1939

In addition to the offical cards there were also several examples of privately printed cards as below

VARIANTS TO COLLECT

The following are suggested variants that might make good additions to a collection:

1. Cancelled on first day of issue 14th Oct 1938
2. Cancelled with "WHW" handstamp
3. Cancelled with "WHW Ein Volk hilft sich selbst" machine stamp
4. As a land or rural cancellation
5. As a domestic long-distance card without any special features
6. As a foreign used card with 10 Rpf to CSR
7. As a foreign used card with 10 Rpf to Hungary
8. As a foreign used card with 15 Rpf
9. As a Registered Delivery card
10. As a local delivery Express Delivery card
11. Cancelled as a Hamburg Straβenbahnpost
12. Used as a Rohrpost (pneumatic) card in BERLIN
13. Domestic Airmail usage
14. European Airmail usage
15. Airmail usage to the USA
16. As a Zeppelin post card
17. Postally unused
18. Domestic Bahnpost usage
19. Invalid Usage - either after expiration date or with incorrect postage applied
20. With additional private printing
21. With Special slogan cancels

POSTALLY UNUSED

CANCELLED on FIRST DAY of ISSUE

Cancelled on the official issue date 1st Dec 1938

CANCELLED WITH "WHW" HANDSTAMP

CANCELLED WITH "WHW Ein Volk hilft sich selbst" MACHINE STAMP

2. The following card was domestically used and sent from BERLIN to RADEBEUL on 11th Dec 1938. There card also has the accompanying special slogan cancel inscribed "WHW | Ein Volk | hilft sich selbst" - "WHW a people helps itself"

AS A LAND OR RURAL CANCELLATION

DOMESTIC LONG DISTANCE WITHOUT SPECIAL MARKINGS

1. Domestic usage sent from KASSEL on 10th Dec 1938. With additional "Adler | Eing 12 DEZ 1938" rectangular stamp.




2. The following card features an 'AURBACH | LAND' CDS (the LAND referring to the fact that the card was handled by a rural post office rather than the main post office in AURBACH), dated 12th Dec 1938. It was destined for the town of GRIMMA in SAXONY, central Germany.




3.




4.

FOREIGN USE WITH 10 Rpf to CSR

FOREIGN USE WITH 10 Rpf to HUNGARY

FOREIGN USE WITH 15 Rpf

ITALY

1. This first example of international use was sent from DILLINGEN on der DONAU in BAVARIA to ROMA in ITALY on 6th Mar 1939. To cover the addtional postage two self-adhesive stamps from the 1938 Winterhilfswerk series have been added for a total of 15 Rpf, the correct postage fee,

REGISTERED DELIVERY CARD

EXPRESS DELIVERY CARD

HAMBURG STRAβENBAHNPOST

Cancelled as a Hamburg Straβenbahnpost

POSTED AS ROHRPOST IN BERLIN

DOMESTIC AIRMAIL

EUROPEAN AIRMAIL

AIRMAIL TO USA

ZEPPELIN POST

GERMAN BAHNPOST

INVALID USAGE

1. The next card was sent from DRESDEN to CHEMNITZ on 14th May 1940. This was after the card's official validity period had expired (up until 30th Jun 1939), hence the red "Nachgebühr" - 'Additional Charge' handstamp, and the large blue '9', indicating that the recipient had to pay 9 Rpf to receive the card. The card also has a circular military handstamp but the details are not clear.

SPECIAL SLOGAN CANCELS

1.




2.




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MAIN REFERENCE SOURCES

1. MICHEL GANZSACHEN DEUTSCHLAND 2018. ISBN: 978-3-95402-225-0
2. BOREK GANZSACHEN-SPEZIAL-KATALOG DEUTSCHLAND ab 1933. ISBN: 3-87091-060-7
3. MICHEL BILDPOSTKARTEN- UND MOTIVGANSACHEN KATALOG DEUTSCHLAND 1997. ISBN: 3-87858-631-0
4. GANZSACHEN-HANDBUCH DES "DITTEN REICHES" 1933-1945 by FRECH. ISBN: UNKNOWN