Need help on some German stamps

Wayne Buza

Can anyone help me decipher the differences in some German stamps? Are these Scott numbers 157-160 or 200-203 and why? And a second question would be your thoughts on whether the two used ones are legitimately postally used or CTO's?

Ted Tyszka

Wayne,

157-160 has wmk 125; the 200-203 have wmk 126

I would assume they are CTO because those postally used large stamps of that period always seem to have 2 or 3 CDS's covering the entire face.

Wayne Buza

Thanks Ted, I missed that altogether. They are all Wmk 126.Any thoughts on the cancelations?

Greg Doll

Yup and they are usually very easy to see without fluid.

Don Leischner

157-160 is watermark 125 (lozenges) and 200-203 is watermark 126 (network). I doubt they are CTO's, but I dont do postmarks much. To me they are either cancelled or not cancelled. They do look like many postmarks that are on my German stamps.

Wayne Buza

Thanks all

Greg Doll

There are actually a lot of fake or favor cancels on these little fellers. Many look legit and if it is a real concern, expertization is necessary for the cancel. A lot of these issues have much higher value with a postally used cancel if I recall correctly.

Richard Pauls

Postally used copies of German inflation period stamps are generally worth more than CTO examples, with some worth a lot more. That means that CTO examples are very common while actual postally used examples are much less common. Scott suggests that an expert opinion may be needed to accurately differentiate between the two.

For the few used copies from this period that I have for sale, I assume that all are CTO examples and price them as such (their catalog value in actual used condition isn't sufficient to justify authentication). When I come across a used stamp that has a sufficiently high catalog value to justify the expense of an expert opinion, I will submit it for authentication.