The history of stamp collecting 17, Germany in 1862

Inspired by a series of articles by K. Kouwenberg that appeared in the monthly magazine Philatelie in the late 1970s, Rob Smit re-examines the history of stamp collecting in biweekly installments. This is part 17, Germany in 1862. As we saw earlier, philately boomed in 1862, particularly in Paris, London, and Brussels. But what about Germany? At that time, Germany was not yet a unified nation but a federation of federal states. Despite the fact that the federal states issued their own stamps and there was already considerable variety, stamp collecting in Germany seems to have taken off somewhat less quickly. Nevertheless, the virus is beginning to spread to Germany as well. On October 8, 1862, the first volume of a series titled 'Briefmarken und Briefmarken-Sammlungen' appeared in 'Der Bazar', a fashion and family magazine published by Louis Schäfer in Berlin. This 23-volume series is a very freely rewritten adaptation of the articles by Natalis Rondot in the 'Magasin Pittoresque'. In the final volume, published on March 15, 1864, the author states that stamp collecting is nothing more than a temporary fad. The identity of the author of this series has remained unknown. In the 'Illustrierte Zeitung', published by von Weber in Leipzig, issue 1014 of the volume 1862 contains an essay entitled 'Die Briefmarken-Sammlungen'. In this article, forgeries are already discussed. The first German catalogue also appeared in 1862, although to this day it is not entirely certain which one it was. In any case, an edition of the Dürr'schen Buchhandlung appeared in the autumn, entitled 'Handbuch für Briefmarken-Sammler'. Possibly earlier or perhaps later, a catalogue entitled 'Übersicht aller bekannten von 1849 bis 1862 emittirten Franco-Marken' appeared, also in Leipzig. The year 1849 on this catalogue published by Zchiesche and Köder is, of course, a printing error and should have been 1840. The catalogue was merely an eight-page list. It was only later editions of this publication that achieved somewhat larger print runs and were certainly of importance for the development of collecting in Germany. Zschiesche and Köder were the owners of a well-known coin and antiquities dealership in Leipzig, with stamps as a sideline. We will encounter them again later in this series. To be continued on December 10. The image of the piece from the Illustrierte Zeitung is from Google Books. The two catalogue images are from the book 'Milestone of the Philatelic literature of the 19th century', W. Maassen, V. Schouberrechts 2013.

Published so far:

1. Introduction and start 2. The first collectors 3. The first catalogueOscar Berger Levrault is the first to provide an overview. 4. Alfred Potiquet, The first commercially published catalogue. 5. Booming 1862, The most turbulent year in philatelic history. 6. Edard de Laplante, the first to live exclusively from the stamp trade. 7. Natalis RondotThe first true philatelic literature appeared in a family magazine. 8. Henri Justin Lallier, Publisher of the first stamp album. 9. Frederick W. Booty, The first catalogue in English. 10. Mount Brown, A successful English catalogue. 11. Dr John Edward Gray, Inventor of the postage stamp, the very first collector, or merely a good cataloguer? 12. The first stamp magazineFirst a failed attempt, but then a sheet of stamps after all. 13. Edward Pemberton, Active philatelist with descendants in philately. 14. Dr. C.W. Viner, Father of English philately. 15. Jean Baptiste Moens, The greatest trader of all time. 15. Moens' publishing house, of great importance in the early days of philately.