Stage and film actress model for postage stamp in 1900

From January 1, 1900, a series of stamps was issued by the German Imperial Post featuring an image of 'Germania with Imperial Crown'. Who was this 'Germania'? Some catalogues state that the German stage and film actress Anna Führing served as the model for the design of the image.   Anna Führing was born in Hamburg on March 6, 1866, and died in Berlin on November 2, 1929. She received her training as an actress in Berlin. On stage, she often played the role of Germania. In 1891, a festival took place in Düsseldorf that was attended by Emperor Wilhelm II. The series of stamps, designed by P. Waldraff, consisted of 10 values, printed using letterpress. The low values ​​were produced in a single color: 2 Pfennig in gray in various shades, 3 Pfennig in olive brown to sienna, 5 Pfennig in various shades of green, 10 Pfennig in carmine pink, red to carmine red, and 20 Pfennig in ultramarine to bright blue. Three denominations were printed on light-colored paper with the image, value, and the text Reichspost in black. The 25 Pfennig in orange and black on yellow paper, the 30 Pfennig in orange-red and black on very light brown paper, and the 80 Pfennig in carmine red and black on pink paper. The values ​​of 40 Pfennig in carmine red and black, and 50 Pfennig in purple-lilac and black. The intention was to make the stamps available on January 1, 1900, but the values ​​of 30 Pfennig, 40 Pfennig, and 80 Pfennig could already be purchased at some post offices in December 1899. The remaining values ​​appeared as follows: the 10 Pfennig on January 1, 1900; the 20 Pfennig on January 8, 1900; the 50 Pfennig in February 1900; the 25 Pfennig on March 25, 1900; the 3 Pfennig and 5 Pfennig in April 1900; and the lowest value, 2 Pfennig, in July 1900. The 2 Pfennig, 3 Pfennig, and 10 Pfennig values ​​were also put into circulation unperforated. To ensure that one is not dealing with cut perforations, the stamps must have broad margins. The entire series exists with the overprint 'specimen'. Furthermore, the two-colour values ​​exist with the bolder text REICHSPOST, but these are rare. A number of values ​​were used by German post offices abroad. These can be identified by the stamp impressions of the German field post offices and imperial post offices in the war zone in China. The German post offices were in operation from 1886 to 1917 in a large number of cities, including Shanghai, Tianchin, Guangzhou, Amoy, Nanking, Peking, etc. One collects the stamp impressions on complete postal items or fragments thereof, depending on preference. Later, the German stamps were overprinted with the China overprint. Here too, people like to collect these stamps on complete pieces or fragments. But even then, the collector made his presence felt, given the many cancellations applied 'on request', such as the Weihsien impression. German post offices were also active in Morocco. The German office in Tangier was opened on December 20, 1899. I will show only a few examples of the use of German stamps bearing the inscription REICHSPOST here, as the procedure is similar to that in China. The difference with China is that the imprint concerns not only the country name but also a change in the value denomination to Centimos and Peseta. And there are even two typefaces for those. Finally, regarding the German stamps with the inscription REICHSPOST, the post offices in Turkey, or the Levant. The first German post office in Istanbul, the former Constantinople, was opened on March 1, 1870. The stamps were overprinted in Para and Piaster. The series with the inscription REICHSPOST did not have a long life, because from April 1, 1902, the values ​​were replaced by Germania stamps with the inscription DEUTSCHES. The stamps with the old inscription lost their validity in Germany itself on December 31, 1902.