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.
There are only two postcards, P45 and P53 along with a single replycard, P48 that have a 10PF, carmine, Germania pre-printed stamp inscribed "REICHSPOST". P45 and P53 can be differentiated by the print control date at the bottom right-hand side: P45 has a print control date in numbers, P53 does not have any print control date.
P45
(POSTCARD)
Issued: 1900. Local postcard with a 10Pf Germania stamp inscribed 'REICHSPOST'. The print date can have no dashes, one dash or two dashes. This card does not have a watermark.
A P45 must have the following characteristics:
(1) 10Pf Germania stamp inscribed 'REICHSPOST'. And
(2) Continuous border with 'Deutschland' at the top in the centre of the border. And
(3) Inscription 'Postkarte - Weltpostverein | Carte Postale - Union postale universelle'. And
(4) Inscription 'nur für die Adresse' vertically along left hand side of the card. And
(5) Print control date only numbers. And
(6) No Watermark.
P45
POSTCARD
POSTCARD
Valid Print Control date:
P45: 999 or 300.
P48
(REPLYCARD)
Issued: 1900. There are two versions of P48, P48/01 which has a bordertype (b/c) and P48/02 which has a bordertype (b/d)
A P48 must have the following characteristics:
(1) 10Pf Germania stamp inscribed 'REICHSPOST'.
P48
REPLYCARD
REPLYCARD
P48/01: 899, 999, 1299, 300
P48/02: 999, 1299
P53
(POSTCARD)
Issued: 1900/1901. This postcard does not have any form of print control data, no numbers, no letters, no gaps in the dotted address lines and no watermark.
A P53 must have the following characteristics:
(1) 10Pf Germania stamp inscribed 'REICHSPOST'. And
(2) Continuous border with 'Deutschland' at the top in the centre of the border. And
(3) Inscription 'Postkarte - Weltpostverein | Carte Postale - Union postale universelle'. And
(4) Inscription 'nur für die Adresse' vertically along left hand side of the card. And
(5) No Print control date. And
(6) No Watermark.
P53
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
