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"FUTCHES REICH" (ruined empire) Hitler Death Mask REPRODUCTION / FAKE souvenir sheet of four 12 pfennig stamps with text "WE EIN VOLK RETTEN WILL / KANN NUR HEROISCH DENKEN". NH VF. This is a "fantasy", a fake of a fake; no such souvenir sheet originally existed. The original propaganda forgery stamps were made by Allied Forces in support of Operation Cornflakes. An interesting and creative philatelic item. Based on the collection this came from, I am guessing that it was created in the 1960s or 1970s. I have not seen this s/s before and have not found it offered anywhere. The genuine examples of such items sell for around $25,000. CANNOT BE SHIPPED TO COUNTRIES WHERE SUCH ITEMS ARE PROHIBITED.
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Reference
For reference only. NOT for sale.
This item has sold but is shown for reference purposes.
240857
FORGERY OF A FORGERY: Forgery imperforate souvenir sheet of four of U.S. OSS "Operation Cornflakes" Postal Forgery of orange-red 12 pf Hitler Head stamp with the text "FUTSCHES REICH" (ruined empire) and the jaw partly exposed showing the teeth. The original postal forgeries were created ca.1942-1943 by the U.S. OSS (Office of Special Operations; precurssor to the CIA) in the design as shown on this item, but with perforations and printed in large sheets. The original postal forgery is listed in Michel as #17 of such postal forgeries -- it is costly and sought after. Text from the Henry Gitner hgitner.com website: "These stamps were key part of a high level clandestine plan to undermine the morale of the average German citizen. The Allies felt that if many German people started receiving Anti-Nazi propaganda in their morning mail delivered punctually at breakfast time by the mailman, they would feel that their "German Empire" was falling apart from within... The OSS decided that the best way to smuggle the mail into the regular German postal system was to bomb mail trains. In addition to bombs to possibly destroying the trains, they dropped sacks of mail containing Anti-Nazi propaganda. During the confusion of cleaning up the wreck, the false mail sacks were mixed with the damaged German mail. The OSS re-created all aspects of the German Postal system from real business return addresses to many thousands of names and addresses pulled from the telephone directories. They even replicated the mail bags, postal markings and every other detail of the postal system. Every letter was franked with a 12pf stamp or two 6pf stamps. On opening the letter, they would find it filled with anti-Nazi propaganda including the 12pf "Futsches Reich" stamp." This, however, is a later -- I am guessing from the 1960s or perhaps the early 1970s; it is not a more recent reproduction which also may exist -- imperforate, gummed, souvenir sheet of four stamps reproduction / forgery of the original postal forgery. Over the years, I have seen dealers successfully selling this for around $20. NH VF souvenir sheet of 4; small natural paper inclusion far out in the margin away from the stamps. CANNOT BE SHIPPED TO COUNTRIES WHERE SUCH ITEMS ARE PROHIBITED.
Reference
For reference only. NOT for sale.
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248298
1948 German Olympic fundraising and promotional label for German participation in the 1952 HELSINKI, FINLAND OLYMPICS. Dark green on white paper. Design and text in reverse (white): hand holding Olympic Torch. Due to plate layout vs perforation machine layout, the centering varies a lot and VF centering is quite hard to find. No-gum (and damaged) examples are fairly easy to find, but NH examples seem to be hard to find. The lowest cost NH example I have recently seen offered was $14. NH VF Single.
12.00
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248301
1948 German Olympic fundraising and promotional label for German participation in the 1952 HELSINKI, FINLAND OLYMPICS. Dark green on white paper. Design and text in reverse (white): hand holding Olympic Torch. Due to plate layout vs perforation machine layout, the centering varies a lot and VF centering is quite hard to find. No-gum (and damaged) examples are fairly easy to find, but NH examples seem to be hard to find. The lowest cost NH example I have recently seen offered was $14. NH VF Upper Right Corner Margin Single (corner selvage segment creased) with Serial Number.
15.00
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248299
1948 German Olympic fundraising and promotional label for German participation in the 1952 HELSINKI, FINLAND OLYMPICS. Dark green on white paper. Design and text in reverse (white): hand holding Olympic Torch. Due to plate layout vs perforation machine layout, the centering varies a lot and VF centering is quite hard to find. No-gum (and damaged) examples are fairly easy to find, but NH examples seem to be hard to find. The lowest cost NH example I have recently seen offered was $14. NH F-VF Single.
9.00
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248302
1948 German Olympic fundraising and promotional label for German participation in the 1952 HELSINKI, FINLAND OLYMPICS. Dark green on white paper. Design and text in reverse (white): hand holding Olympic Torch. Due to plate layout vs perforation machine layout, the centering varies a lot and VF centering is quite hard to find. No-gum (and damaged) examples are fairly easy to find, but NH examples seem to be hard to find. The lowest cost NH example I have recently seen offered was $14. NH F-VF BLOCK OF FOUR.
29.00
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248300
1948 German Olympic fundraising and promotional label for German participation in the 1952 HELSINKI, FINLAND OLYMPICS. Dark green on white paper. Design and text in reverse (white): hand holding Olympic Torch. Due to plate layout vs perforation machine layout, the centering varies a lot and VF centering is quite hard to find. No-gum (and damaged) examples are fairly easy to find, but NH examples seem to be hard to find. The lowest cost NH example I have recently seen offered was $14. NH Fine Single.