During the "Lock Down."

 Hi everyone,

In this era of social distancing, I cannot share my stamp collection with friends. This blog is my substitute for socializing with friends who also collect.

I'm a living antique. I started collecting in a 1937 Scott Modern Album, progressed to the Blue Scott International, volumes 1 and 2, then to the old Brown International Albums. Along the way I developed separate collections for Austria, France and Germany. I have a very specialized collection of Frankfurt am Main postage during its independence. I have a neglected album of World War One material. Can you tell, I just like to collect stamps?

So I'll show you 'bits' of my collection. I hope you enjoy this blog. Your comments are welcome. 

Oh, the blog title? I outgrew the Blue Scott International Albums decades ago. Hence, the title.

German Empire

Revenue stamps were issued some weeks before the first postage stamps. I include Deutscher Wechsel Stempel revenues in my collection because they're were used to pay tax on currency exchange and are  often found on postal money orders to or from the German Empire.

These are the issue of 1871 valued in Groschen. At unification Northern German States used Groschen, Southern States used Kreuzer. These are valued in Groschen.

These were printed in shades of violet with number of value in brown 

with values from 1 to 300 Groschen. As you can see, there are many shades.

The 60 Groschen, bottom right, is so pale that it won't

successfully scan.

Stamps of this are also found with the number of value in black.

If you know more details, please leave a comment.