New stamps. May income: Danzig, Gindenburg, Baden-Württenberg, and more

Four wartime stamps from Austrian empire last days; K&K stands for 'Kaiserliche und Königliche', and field post means 'military'.

The stamps are decorated with a portrait of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I, who became the longest-ruling head of state in the world. The story of his 68 years of reign is a fascinating period of the New Age, when Austria faced a number of challenges in international politics. All of this is extremely interesting. The Triple Alliance of Russia, Austria and Prussia gave way to confrontation, the vector of European politics turned against Russia, which had grown excessively strong under Nicholas II, but ultimately hit Austria itself, which lost its supreme role as the unifier of the German lands... Everyone knows how the peoples of Europe came to World War I. If it were not for Austria (and if it were not for Prussia...), perhaps World War I would not have happened - at least in this form. The map of Europe could have been completely different, as could the world we live in. The contradictions between the players on the political map of Europe did not appear overnight - this flimsy, confusing, skewed and full of mistakes and instability building was erected over decades, starting with the Congress of Vienna.

I slowly collect Dutch stamps - every now and then I see a design that I can't pass by, I jump on it! This time I got a cancelled stamp from 1906, of high value: 1 guilder. Queen Wilhelmina can be seen on most Dutch stamps from the turn of the century. I have no idea if this stamp is part of a long series or not.

The pale blue stamp next to it, with floral design style, is from Imperial Japan, 1883, "5 sen" - probably a low denomination. It was a bit pricey, costed me 1 USD (I prefer to obtain cheaper stamps...) This is the first and only Japanese stamp in my album. I couldn't resist the unusual color of the cancellation! Imagine - what if this brown ink, real sepia as it should be - was extracted from the natural cuttlefish? You'll never know...

After WWI, within the Versailles system, Germany and Austria lost some of their lands - including economically important cities: Danzig, Rijeka (Fiume), Trieste. They were proclaimed "Free Cities", but in fact were governed by administrations created by the Entente. I will definitely return to the topic of Danzig marks, and tell you more about Fiume. This is a huge territory that will require a separate post or even two.

Mourning stamps were released in 1934 to commemorate the death of German President Paul fon Hindenburg. Mourning stamps design is traditionally well distinguished by a black field; they do look impressive. The full series consists of six stamps, good copies without cancellation and in perfect condition are very expensive - up to 70 USD per set. I collect this set in parts, and now I have added a stamp with a face value of 6 pfennigs.

And finally, the cherry on a cake: Old German Principalities! This is a big (and very expensive, hehe!) topic, which I am afraid to approach. But I am inexorably drawn here and drawn in like in the Maelstrom.

Until now I could only boast of German stamps from the 1900s-1920s, and I actually started filling my album with the Weimar Republic. Today I am taking a decisive step, and the album is getting a new page: stamps of individual German principalities. So far I have acquired one Baden stamp and two Braunschweig stamps. Each of them cost me 3USD - for me these are expensive stamps.