Bremen Stamps

What Can Be Done: Bremen is a city in the north of Germany near the North Sea. It was a part of the Hanseatic League and was its own city state before the confederation of Germany. The stamps of Bremen are very difficult to collect and to specialize in. There are a total of 16 stamps as listed by Scott, and they consist of a few basic issues that were issued imperf, perf, and rouletted. When identical plates and printers were used for issues over a period of years that only differ in the separation method for the stamp, it makes for uninteresting philately.  In the case of Bremen, this issue is compounded by the fact that depending on the stamp, sometimes the perf is more valuable than the imperf, and again depending on the stamp sometimes the roulette is the best. Add in the confusion of the used stamps of Bremen being worth far more than the mint and this being further compounded by over twenty different forgers having tried their hand at producing Bremen forgeries, collectors have found this a fairly unrewarding country to specialized in. 

Specialty Catalogs: The Scott Classic catalog does a decent job with Bremen. The best catalog for all of the German area, and Bremen is no exception, is the the Michel catalog.

Specialized Albums: Like for the other German States, the Scott Specialty album is very good. There are three main German produced specialty albums of which Lighthouse is the best.

Availability of Material: There are very few issued stamps of Bremen, and they are not offered with great frequency. Bremen has always attracted philatelic forgers probably because their stamps were crudely designed and printed by typography, not engraving. It is far cheaper to print using typography than engraving, but it is an economy that leaves a country’s stamps open to being forged. Typography is a process that can be reproduced by photography, and many of the forgeries use variations of this process. Most of the other German States printed their stamps by engraving, countries like Bavaria and Prussia, and for them forgeries are not a problem. Engraving requires a handmade metal plate be made for each issue. The raised lines on the engraved stamp and the fineness of the printing have traditionally acted as the greatest hurdle to counterfeiting. Countries that engraved their stamps in the nineteenth century have few forgeries. Countries that printed their stamps by typography have many.

Expense: Even though the stamps of Bremen are rare, their relative unpopularity makes them relatively inexpensive. Only buy Bremen from reputable sources.

Overall Grade: C-