(wm-pcp) Under a similar title, Christian Wapler published his study with the Research Community Postage and Sender Freeposts as early as the 1990s. These were first used by the IPOSTA in Berlin in 1930. Volker Köppel, who will be the chairman of the History Study Group of the German Philatelic Association until autumn 2024, took up this thread in consultation with Wapler, but expanded the template considerably. For example, he added postage paid impressions of dealers in philatelic supplies and numerous other illustrations not included by Wapler. What makes this study really useful is the catalogue Köppel has included in the appendix, which rates these postmarks on postage-paid, used covers. He values courtesy covers at 25% of these prices, special forms of dispatch at a premium of 50%, and exceptional destinations or carriers at collector’s prices. Some of the items are anything but cheap (for example, he values the first postmark for IPOSTA (with a ‘J’ instead of ‘I’ in the stamp image) at 80 euros.
Brief details: 68 pages, DIN A5 format, numerous illustrations, in colour, card cover, price: 7 euros + 4.50 postage/packaging. Available from: Günther Korn, Tucherstr. 10, 90562 Heroldsberg, Tel. 09 11/56 79 31 30, E-Mail: korng@gmx.de
Translated with DeepL (www.deepl.com)
