The people who make this crap are beyond reprehensible . The sellers are complicit , feeding this perverse image of the Third Reich as somehow glorious . I collect genuine philatelic material for study and belong to the Third Reich Study Group . The serious examination of stamps as historical propaganda . This fake stuff makes my.skin crawl . This would could be a good topic for IDPA , getting the word out on how this stuff is skyrocketing ( sorry for the rant).
The good news is that there are good reference materials out there that the British and American collecting community put out in the late 50's and 60's. Robert Jones put out an amazing ( but expensive) work. (. https://www.amazon.com/Philately-Third-Reich-Germany-1933/dp/0976516535 ) . During the post war era, many veterans collected and studied this. With the advent of the digital age and the ease of reproduction, all sorts of crazy things have been produced. Governments in Eastern Europe. ( and Europe) have lifted restrictions on contraband stuff. I have found items out of Ukraine, Latvia, Romania, Poland, so thats where some of it was hoarded. BUT the fake stuff seems also to be coming out of there also. I have communicated with sellers in Britain who just try to urinate on you when you question them ( you can tell they know it's fake). Greg, I will contact the Study Group to see if a good piece can be written. I think it is time.
Agree Kris, they are producing fake stuff faster than we can keep track of it...from the bizarre overprints, to the concentration camp overprints to the counterfeit ( not fake ) Afrika Corp stuff. Then there are the Hitler-Mussolini fraudulent "cinderella" like stamps issued by no country that are popular. The gullible and ill-informed are quickly taken in. Reference material is still out there but becoming a bit more scarce. The Jones book that the StudyGroup "sponsored" 12 years ago is pretty detailed, but has little on the fakes. It is a beautiful work, but economically out of reach for many.
Hi Rene, had this in my collection for a long time, I know the Germans used whatever they could find to writte home, but for some reason it does not smell right, Since you mention you belong to the Third Reich study group, just want to get your thoughts on it. thanks in advance
That is interesting, let me work on it. First thing I notice is the Soviet Postcard, no problem there. Handwriting seems all congruent, but the ink shows in two tones, suggesting being penned at different times. A translation would be useful, but the "yours truly" using the "heil Hitler" seems a bit over the top for a German POW in Soviet camp. Feldpost ( military mail postmarks are accurate, but the censor (?) postmark is a bit too perfect...I see what you mean. German soldiers on the Eastern Front in 1942, fighting in Crimea and Sevastopol were often taken and kept in horrible conditions...
Feldpost number is a mail unit designation , NOT a censor number. 34378 (Mobilmachung-1.1.1940) Verwaltungstrupp II/16, (28.4.1940-19.9.1940) gestrichen, ( cancelled) (30.7.1941-28.2.1942) Heeresunterkunftsverwaltung 303, ( 303 Infantry Division) (23.4.1944-24.11.1944) 10.8.1944 gestrichen. ( cancelled)
I'm not fluent, but here's the gist. "Dear [?]! Once again a short postcard greeting for you, your dear family, and the [?]. My health is good, and, though this sounds like a fairy tale, I will go on leave within a few months. I hope that you have [?] [ausländiges = foreign? strange?] weather at home. Here we've had hail, so it is unusually cold for the month of July. So, here's hoping for a healthy reunion."
Well, Phil that is an interesting theory. There are no Soviet cancellations, and they even cancelled the Russian imprinted stamp on the card. The "Feldost" seems to be looming largely. Initial German cancel on Russian card, multiple German cancels and labels. No Red Cross or Swiss indicia indicating handling or prisoner mail. A POW would not be telling his relative about going on leave. Phil, your theory aligns.
Well, I would like to thank both Rene and Phil for helping me with this one, my hang up was the address, it looks like the Soldier was able to fill out the address correctly on the red lines, even crossing out some Russian under Berlin, but I don't read German or Russian. It could be he was just underlining Berlin. Thanks to both for your help, I do feel better about the card.
I checked with a leader with the TRSG and he believes that German soldiers DID use Soviet postal cards in occupied territories to send home communications. He will confirm.
The information I found related that 303rd was formed at the end of January. 1945. It participated in the battles before Berlin and surrendered after being surrounded in April.
I would suggest that there may be gaps in information about the feldpost unit. The card is dated in July, 1942. I'm not sure that I'm reading Rene's information correctly but I think it shows a gap from early 1942 until 1944 for 34378. There may be missing information. Also, there might be some mistake in nomenclature. This "division" may not be the same as that one.
I'm still waiting for more data, but the feldpost number was likely shifted from unit to unit, so it was not a static number. Doesn't rule out authenticity. I personally don't see this as inauthentic, just interesting. Fakesters tend to try to glamorize and historize items to make them valuable.
And getting back to that. This gentleman is in Quebec and has a store with about 300 items. Sudetenland fakes don't dominate his stock, but nothing he has really stands out, not to me. He was offering about 15 of these on piece with the blue canel. I'll show it again to remind us
Check how every "E" is different. The blue letters all look very amateurish. All of the items offered by this gentleman were auction format, and currently no more blue cancel items are being offered. He does show a few Sudetenland fakes and a good handful of French Resistance/ Liberation fakes. There certainly are many legitimate Liberation overprints, but my spidy sense tells me that these ain't them. Reason dictates that someone offering 50c and $1-2 items at auction is just not gonna have 20+ real unsigned or certed French Liberation overprints.
In fact, this guy offers quite a few "local" overprints from different nations and he quotes a catalog abbreviated "Sw" for numbers (Stan-Gib World?). It ain't Scott. A lot of these overprints were applied with just too much carelessness. He does sew some spice with what seem to be real Spanish Civil War items, but 90% of them were almost fake to begin with.
I won't give the store name now. He has been doing this a while, but he isn't the worst offender we have seen, and you should be able to find him with the clues I've given. I would also encourage you to read the note in Scott-Czechoslovakia about the real Wir Sind Frei overprints.
PS: You can find great images on the web at real auction houses. There really is a huge variety and no consistency, which the bad guys capitalize upon. From what I have seen so far I don't want to be an expert at this. The topic is just too weedy. Alot of my judgement on these is based on where I find them. I mean, if these guys were experts, wouldn't they act like experts?
So, now that we have coughed all that up, I would submit that these fellows are certainly not experts. This guy in Quebec offers no information about these items he appears to have found in the bottom of a magic cigar box. No background. No provenance. No expertization or certification what so ever. He does not even offer refunds.
Thus he is not an expert and he makes no professional effort to backup the material he offers. He does have an over-inflated ego, as he knows so many of us will swallow his bait.
Like stuff that runs through a bull after digestion , these types wish to not be proven false . I personally have no qualms with listing who they are because of the type of reprehensible garbage this is . They are selling glorious impersonations of a Nazi government SO evil that it unified enemies to destroy it . We should always take note of those who fail to see or understand that .
Comments
Greg, I will contact the Study Group to see if a good piece can be written. I think it is time.
Reference material is still out there but becoming a bit more scarce. The Jones book that the StudyGroup "sponsored" 12 years ago is pretty detailed, but has little on the fakes. It is a beautiful work, but economically out of reach for many.
34378
(Mobilmachung-1.1.1940) Verwaltungstrupp II/16,
(28.4.1940-19.9.1940) gestrichen, ( cancelled)
(30.7.1941-28.2.1942) Heeresunterkunftsverwaltung 303, ( 303 Infantry Division)
(23.4.1944-24.11.1944) 10.8.1944 gestrichen. ( cancelled)
"Dear [?]!
Once again a short postcard greeting for you, your dear family, and the [?]. My health is good, and, though this sounds like a fairy tale, I will go on leave within a few months. I hope that you have [?] [ausländiges = foreign? strange?] weather at home. Here we've had hail, so it is unusually cold for the month of July. So, here's hoping for a healthy reunion."
The 303 Infantry division wasnt formed until 1944, so that card might not be legit.
I would suggest that there may be gaps in information about the feldpost unit. The card is dated in July, 1942. I'm not sure that I'm reading Rene's information correctly but I think it shows a gap from early 1942 until 1944 for 34378. There may be missing information. Also, there might be some mistake in nomenclature. This "division" may not be the same as that one.
Quebec and has a store with about 300 items. Sudetenland fakes don't dominate his stock, but nothing he has really stands out, not to me. He was offering about 15 of these on piece with the blue canel. I'll show it again to remind us
Check how every "E" is different. The blue letters all look very amateurish. All of the items offered by this gentleman were auction format, and currently no more blue cancel items are being offered. He does show a few Sudetenland fakes and a good handful of French Resistance/ Liberation fakes. There certainly are many legitimate Liberation overprints, but my spidy sense tells me that these ain't them. Reason dictates that someone offering 50c and $1-2 items at auction is just not gonna have 20+ real unsigned or certed French Liberation overprints.
In fact, this guy offers quite a few "local" overprints from different nations and he quotes a catalog abbreviated "Sw" for numbers (Stan-Gib World?). It ain't Scott. A lot of these overprints were applied with just too much carelessness. He does sew some spice with what seem to be real Spanish Civil War items, but 90% of them were almost fake to begin with.
I won't give the store name now. He has been doing this a while, but he isn't the worst offender we have seen, and you should be able to find him with the clues I've given. I would also encourage you to read the note in Scott-Czechoslovakia about the real Wir Sind Frei overprints.
Thus he is not an expert and he makes no professional effort to backup the material he offers. He does have
an over-inflated ego, as he knows so many of us will swallow his bait.
Search in stores for "hell."
This is not a joke.
https://www.hipstamp.com/listing/untied-states-100-bank-of-hell-note-printing-by-ngan-hang-dia-phu-bank-unc/46340196