(wm-pcp) ‘Unadorned premiere’ was the headline Christoph Renzikowski chose for his almost full-page article in the Rheinische Post on 30 October 2024, alluding to the first so-called square issues in Bavaria, which were available from 1 November 1849. In his article, he provides a technically sound description of the development that this innovation made possible at the time. Thanks to good research and contact with Peter Zollner, the chairman of the Bavarian branch of the German Philatelic Federation (BDPh), he knows that the first day of issue was All Saints’ Day, a public holiday when almost all post offices were closed. This resulted in the stamps used on this first day being rare. In 50 years, only 31 Zollner stamps have been known. The greatest rarity – this is also mentioned by Renzikowski – is likely to be the complete first day cover from 1 November 1849 with the 1-Kreuzer franking, which was auctioned on 27 September 2024 and climbed to 440,000 euros.
If one wants to interpret this as an acceptable optimal result, the author then loses himself somewhat in interpretations. He quotes Zollner, who is of the opinion that issues after 1956 are as good as worthless and is said to have said literally: ‘You can wallpaper your wall with that.’ But he also refers to Zollner’s comments on the reduction in the number of members of the BDPh, which today is barely a third of what it was at the turn of the millennium. Last but not least, Renzikowski points to the closure of Deutsche Post branches, the fact that fewer and fewer letters are sent with stamps and, when they are, it is usually with self-adhesive stamps, which are unpopular with collectors. His conclusion: ‘All these are signs that the age of stamps is coming to an end.’
But is that really the whole story?
Translated with DeepL (www.deepl.com)
