(wm-pcp) The title page of the upcoming 230th auction of the auction house Rauhut & Kruschel, which will take place on 25 January 2025 in Mülheim an der Ruhr, may have left some people a little perplexed. Because there is talk of the ‘last stamp of the Third Reich’, the so-called ‘Victory Stamp’. However, a glance at the MICHEL Spezial 2024 (volume I, p. 484) shows that the last stamps of the Third Reich catalogued are the MiNo. 909/910 from 21 April 1945, i.e. the SA and SA stamps. In addition, two planned but never issued stamps are listed under MiNo. X + XI (12 + 28 pf. National Socialist Motor Corps <NSKK> and 12 + 28 pf. National Socialist Air Corps <NSFK>), each with the note that these come from presentation boxes.
Harald Rauhut describes his cover with the words: ‘The last stamp of the German Reich in 1945, 12 + 38 pfennigs brown-red, so-called “victory stamp” with a picture of Hitler next to a JU 87, a submarine and the “Tiger” tank, which was planned for issue after the final victory, and after the NSFK and NSKK stamps. But it was not realised as a single print by the designer Milo Barnas in intaglio printing, produced for the Wiener Staatsdruckerei. Only two essay proofs of this stamp are known to exist; according to the certificate, the present one was last offered in the 5th ÖPHILA auction in 1989. Soecknick certificate ‘genuine and flawless’. One of the great rarities of the Third Reich…
With an exclamation of 8,000 euros, interested parties are on board, although it should perhaps be considered that the term ‘brand’ could be expanded to ‘Essay for a planned brand that never appeared!’ Because the last ‘brand’ (in the sense of a valid postage stamp) of the Third Reich is not the ‘Siegesmarke’ named by Rauhut.
Translated with DeepL (www.deepl.com)
