GERMAN EMPIRE
OFFICIAL POSTCARDS
Please note the following for this website. Official Postcards are defined as:
1. Postcards of the German Empire issued by the Official German postal Authority, from 1873 until 1945.
2. Postcards that were generally available throughout the entire country and have a pre-printed (Indicia) stamp to cover the cost of postage.
The vast majority of official postcards have no printing on the reverse side so no image of the reverse side is provided, except in the few instances where there was something printed on the reverse of the card.
P44, P46, P49, P51 and P55
P44, P49, P51 are the only postcards along with replycards P46 and P55 that were issued with 2Pf grey-blue Germania stamps inscribed "REICHSPOST".
P44
(POSTCARD)
Issued: 1900. Local postcard with either Wohnungstype I or a Wohnungstype II and a 2Pf Germania stamp inscribed 'REICHSPOST'. The print date can have no dashes, one dash or two dashes. This card does not have a watermark.
P44 I a: Wohnungstype I, grey
P44 I b: Wohnungstype I, light-blue
P44 II a: Wohnungstype II, grey
P44 II b: Wohnungstype II, light-blue
A P44 must have the following characteristics:
(1) 2Pf Germania stamp inscribed 'REICHSPOST'. And
(2) 'Deutsche Reichspost | Postkarte' at the top and in the middle of the card. And
(3) 'An' further left than 'in'. And
(4) Print control date with or without dashes. And
(5) No watermark.
P44 II b
POSTCARD
POSTCARD
Valid Print Dates:
P44 a I: 400 or 500
P44 a II: 300, 400 or 500
P44 b I: 400-, 400--, 500- or 500--
P44 b II: -, --, 300--, 400-, 400--, 500, 500- or 500--
P46
(REPLYCARD)
Issued: 1900. Local reply card with either Wohnungstype I or a Wohnungstype II and a 2Pf Germania stamp inscribed 'REICHSPOST'. The print date can have no dashes, one dash or two dashes. This card does not have a watermark.
P46 I a: Wohnungstype I, grey
P46 I b: Wohnungstype I, light-blue
P46 II a: Wohnungstype II, grey
P46 II b: Wohnungstype II, light-blue
A P46 must have the following characteristics:
(1) 2Pf Germania stamp inscribed 'REICHSPOST'. And
(2) 'Deutsche Reichspost | Postkarte' at the top and in the middle of the card. And
(3) 'An' further left than 'in'. And
(4) Print control date with or without dashes. And
(5) No watermark.
P46 b I
REPLYCARD
REPLYCARD
Valid Print Dates:
P46 a I: 400
P46 a II: 400 or 500
P46 b I: 300-- or 400--
P46 b II: 300--, 400--, 500- or 500--
P49
(POSTCARD)
Issued: 1900. The same design as P44 but without the print codes and now with a watermark type 2 (numbers and letter) and only with Wohnungstype I. The watermark is often only very faintly visible and the only sure distinguishing feature is the wohnungstype.
A P49 must have the following characteristics:
(1) 2Pf Germania stamp inscribed 'REICHSPOST'. And
(2) Only Wohungstype I. And
(3) 'Deutsche Reichspost | Postkarte' at the top and in the middle of the card. And
(4) 'An' further left than 'in'. And
(5) No print control data. And
(6) Type 2 watermark.
P49
POSTCARD
POSTCARD
Valid Watermarks:
P49: 1 S, W or Z and also with 'S' inverted
P51
(POSTCARD)
Issued: 1900/1901. Without any control notes, i.e. without printing mark, without watermark, without gaps in the dotted address lines. Only found with Wohnungstype II. There are two minor versions: P51 a which is grey and P51 b which is light-blue.
A P51 must have the following characteristics:
(1) 2Pf Germania stamp inscribed 'REICHSPOST'. And
(2) Only Wohungstype II. And
(3) 'Deutsche Reichspost | Postkarte' at the top and in the middle of the card. And
(4) 'An' further left than 'in'. And
(5) No print control data. And
(6) No watermark.
P51
POSTCARD
POSTCARD
P55
(REPLYCARD)
Issued: 1901. The same design as P51 above. There are two variations of this reply card but they are quite difficult to differentiate. For P55 there is a gap between the first two lines of the text "Die angebogene | Karte is für die | Antworte | bestimmt." but for P55I there is almost no gap between the two lines.
A P55 must have the following characteristics:
(1) 2Pf Germania stamp inscribed 'REICHSPOST'. And
(2) Only Wohungstype II. And
(3) 'Deutsche Reichspost | Postkarte' at the top and in the middle of the card. And
(4) 'An' further left than 'in'. And
(5) No print control data. And
(6) No watermark.
P55
POSTCARD
POSTCARD
MAIN REFERENCE SOURCES
1. MICHEL GANZSACHEN DEUTSCHLAND 2018. ISBN: 978-3-95402-225-02. BOREK GANZSACHEN-SPEZIAL-KATALOG DEUTSCHLAND ab 1933. ISBN: 3-87091-060-7
3. MICHEL BILDPOSTKARTEN- UND MOTIVGANSACHEN KATALOG DEUTSCHLAND 1997. ISBN: 3-87858-631-0
4. GANZSACHEN-HANDBUCH DES "DITTEN REICHES" 1933-1945 by FRECH. ISBN: UNKNOWN
