POSTAGE STAMPS
(1923)

This page was last updated
04-Mar-2023 06:36

MICHEL 321
REGULAR ISSUE NUMBER IN CIRCLE WITH ROSETTE

The design of stamps Mi 313 to 330 are referred to as 'Basket lid' or denomination in circle with rosette. The stamps are printed typography on waffle watermarked paper and most of them were produced either flat plate printing or rotary press printing. In addition some of them exist perf comb 14 x 14¼ and rouletted 13.

The stamps exist with a large number of errors: damaged letters, numbers or posthorns, flattened numbers, shading errors, shifted print etc, but only the most common of these are described below.

Mi 321 was produced using flat plate (either perf comb 14 x 14¼ or rouletted 13) and rotary press printing.



VALIDITY: 26th Oct 1923 until 31st Dec 1923
VALUE: 50 Millionen MARK
COLOUR: dark green olive to black green (variations)
WATERMARK: Waffle
PERF: comb 14 x 14¼ and roulette
SIZE: 22 x 26mm
PRINT TYPE: Typography
AVAILABILITY: Sheets
QUANTITY PRINTED: Unknown

MAJOR VARIATIONS

There are three major variations



ABOVE LEFT: Mi 321 A P - comb 14 x 14¼ - flat plate printing
ABOVE CENTRE: Mi 321 A W - rotary press printing
ABOVE LEFT: Mi 321 B P - rouletted - flat plate printing

Flat plate printing and rotary press printing examples can be determined by the size of the stamp: Flat plate 17.7mm x 21.5mm and rotary press printing 18.0mm x 22.0mm.

COLOUR VARIATIONS

There are no major colour variations but there are shades

UPPER EDGE PIECES: (Flat Plate Printing Upper Margin Copies - P OR). There are two types of upper edge piece.



Mi 321 A P a OR A (Plate A - upper margin only with row values)
Mi 321 B P OR A (Plate A - upper margin only with row values)

UPPER EDGE PIECES: (Rotary Press Printing Upper Margin Copies - W OR). There are four types of upper edge piece.



ABOVE LEFT: Mi 321 A W a OR: - / 0'7'0 (left) and - / 1'5'1 (right)
ABOVE RIGHT: Mi 321 A W a OR: - / 1'5'1



ABOVE LEFT: Mi 321 A W b OR: - / 0'7'0
ABOVE RIGHT: Mi 321 A W b OR: - / 1'5'1

COMBINATION , PLATE ON ROTARY P/W OR

321 A P/W a OR: 1'11'1
321 A P/W a OR: 2'9'2

HAN: There are four different HAN

Mi 321 A P: H5885.23
Mi 321 A P: H5885
Mi 321 A P: H5885.23 / W
Mi 321 B P: H5885.23

OTHER VARIANTS

Mi 321 A P U: imperforate
Mi 321 A W K: inverted denomination

'CRACK' PLATE FLAWS

There is a crack on the left side of the rosette as well as other anomalies. Besides the crack (HT), the other most common flaw is fraying of the margin beneath the posthorn (PE 1). These two faults always appear together on a sheet in fields 43, 48, 93 and 98.

Mi 321 A P HT: crack
Mi 321 B P HT: crack
Mi 321 A Pe 1: frayed margin
Mi 321 B Pe 1: frayed margin



ABOVE LEFT: Mi 321 A P HT 1 Cracked plate flaw
ABOVE RIGHT: Mi 321 A Pe 1 Cracked plate flaw

PLATE FLAWS

There is only one major plate flaw



ABOVE: Mi 321 PF II - upper part of '0' in '50' strongy nicked (field 93)

STAMPS FROM MY COLLECTION

All of the stamps from here until the end of the page are from my collection

MINT / POSTALLY UNUSED

ABOVE LEFT: Mi 321 A
ABOVE RIGHT: Mi 321 B

UPPER / LOWER MARGIN PIECES - P OR

Mi 321 A P a OR A (Plate A - upper margin only with row values)
Mi 321 B P OR A (Plate A - upper margin only with row values)



Mi 321 A P a UR A - lower margin piece
Mi 321 B P UR A - lower margin piece

UPPER / LOWER MARGIN PIECES - W OR

ABOVE LEFT: Mi 321 A W a OR: - / 0'7'0 (left) and - / 1'5'1 (right)
ABOVE RIGHT: Mi 321 A W a OR: - / 1'5'1



ABOVE LEFT: Mi 321 A W b OR: - / 0'7'0
ABOVE RIGHT: Mi 321 A W b OR: - / 1'5'1



ABOVE LEFT: Mi 321 A W UR - Lower margin piece
ABOVE RIGHT: Mi 321 B W UR - Lower margin piece

CRACK PLATE FLAWS

ABOVE: Mi 321 A P HT 1 Cracked plate flaws (stamps on the right)

REFERENCES:

1. MICHEL Deutschland-Spezial 2022 Band 1: 1849 bis April 1945. ISBN: 978-95402-401-8.
2. www.colnect.com
3. Plattenfehler Katalog Deutsches Reich 1872-1945 inkl. Dienstmarken, 4th Edition 2003. Thomas Schantl Verlag. ISBN: 3-932769-25-2