Allenstein- a closer look at the stamp issues

1920 Scott 2 10pf carmine

Stamps of Germany 1906-1920, overprinted

Into the Deep Blue
The 2011 Scott Classic Specialized catalogue has, for Allenstein 1920, 28 overprinted German stamps.  Of those, 23 are CV <$1-$1+, or 82%. Clearly, a representative collection can be gathered without high cost.

Allenstein (In Gray)

A closer look at the stamps and issues
100 Pfenning = 1 Mark

1920 Scott 8 50pf purple & black/buff

First Overprinting

As Allenstein had both Polish and German inhabitants, a League of Nations plebiscite was to be  held on July 11, 1920 to determine if East Prussia or Poland would retain the territory.

In April, 1920 two types of overprints were applied to German stamps as propaganda/ publicity.

Shown above is the first type of overprint with Plebiscite/ Olsztyn/ Allenstein script. (Olsztyn is the Polish name for the district.)

1920 Scott 11 1.25m green, overprinted

On July 11, 1920, 97% voted for East Prussia. Apparently, some Poles boycotted the election, and other Poles voted for Germany in fear that Poland might fall to Soviet Russia.

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1920 Scott 12 1.50 yellow brown, overprinted

But, the overwhelming 97% vote does seem "odd", considering that in 1910, 52% of the population was German, and 44% of the population was Polish.

920 Scott 19 20pf blue violet

Second Overprinting

The second overprinting is shown here. The stamps were valid until August 30.

1920 Scott 23 75pf green & black, overprinted

All values have a reasonable CV, no doubt because there was interest among collectors at the time for these stamps. But, the 15pf violet brown was issued after the other stamps, and has a higher CV: $5+ & $20 for the two overprinted types.

1920 Scott 28 3m black violet, overprinted

Ultimately, after WW II, the territory was absorbed into Poland.

Deep Blue

1920 Allenstein Scott 1-14 issue

Deep Blue (Steiner) has two pages for Allenstein, and has a space for the major numbers. Of interest, Scott lists minor number color variations, and, if one wished to collect Allenstein at that level, additional pages would be needed.

Out of the Blue

A plebiscite and German stamps- what's not to like?  ;-)

Note: This blog post is an update for the original Allenstein post. The material presented here has been incorporated into that post.

Note: Map appears to be in the public domain.

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