POSTAGE STAMPS
(1933)
This page was last updated
20-Feb-2023 10:17
MICHEL 503
GERMAN WELFARE FUND (DEUTSCHE NOTHILFE)
RICHARD WAGNER
8Rpf
BACKGROUND: This series of 9 stamps depicts various scenes from operas by Richard Wagner (1813 to 1883) and were the first stamps to feature a swastika watermark. Changing the watermark from the previous waffle type to a swastika design was one of the first steps in the Nazification of the postal system and it was a subtle sign of the Nazi's beginning to move into all aspects of German life. Later stamps were to feature Nazi Swastikas and party symbols much more overtly.
This fifth stamp in the series was valued at 8Rpf with a donation of 4Rpf going to the welfare fund and features a scene from the opera "Die Walküre" - The Valkyrie, the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen" - 'The Ring of the Nibelung'. It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on 26 Jun 1870, and received its first performance as part of the Ring cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 14 Aug 1876.
The stamps were available throughout Germany at post office counters until 1st Feb 1934. They were then made available again during the Richard Wagner Festival in 1934 at counters in Munich and Beyreuth.
VALIDITY: 1st Nov 1933 to 30th Sep 1934
VALUE: 8Rpf + 4Rpf
COLOUR: orange-red
WATERMARK: Swastika
PERF: K14:13 (sheets) and K14 (booklets).
AVAILABILITY: Engraved sheets (5x10) and booklets.
QUANTITY PRINTED: 2,643,286
NOTE: Beware of forged stamp with cancellation "STUTTGART 15.11.33"
VARIATIONS
ABOVE LEFT: Sheet variant (perf K14:13)
ABOVE RIGHT: Booklet variant (perf K14)
PLATE FLAWS
There are no major plate flaws.
STAMPS FROM MY COLLECTION
All stamps shown from here until the end of the page are from my personal collectionMINT / UNUSED
USED/ CANCELLED
