What Can Be Done: Brunswick is one of the more interesting and manageable of the German States to collect. It has a limited number of stamps and, though several of them are scarce, none are rare. There are some forgeries, but they don’t present nearly the problem that they do for several of the other smaller German States. (Interestingly, it is the smaller German States with the fewest issues that present the greatest problem with forgeries. There are many forgeries of Bergdorf and Lubeck, for instance, and very few for Bavaria, Prussia, and Wurttemberg. I’ve never seen this written about, but my speculation is that the German States that remained administrative districts after German Confederation in 1871—such as Bavaria and Prussia—exercised some criminal control over counterfeiting of their former stamps. This didn’t exist for the stamps of the smaller states that got folded into the larger states, and so there are more counterfeits of those stamps.)
All told, Scott lists fewer than thirty stamps for Brunswick, making it a country that can easily be completed for less than a thousand dollars. Collectors should exercise caution with the roulette issues, which were an early trial separation method that the Brunswick post office applied to the first issue of stamps. Some of them are very rare. Because of the problem of forgeries and fake roulettes on genuine stamps, the postage stamps of Brunswick should only be purchased from reputable sources. Like most German States, most of the stamps of Brunswick, being over 150 years old, are found with small faults. Nice appearing stamps with small faults such as little thins and creases can be bought for between 10-20% of Scott catalog.
Specialty catalogs: The Scott Classic catalog is very good for Brunswick and has the advantage for American collectors of being written in English. Michel is the standard for all the German area but it is written in German. German is a language that years ago many more Americans were familiar with than are today. As a second language in schools, German competed with French for the language most Baby Boomers took when they were in high school or college. Today, German is offered much more rarely, and far fewer educated Americans can make their way through a Michel catalog than could forty years ago.
Specialty Albums: The Scott German States album is good, and there are three main German published German States albums of which Lighthouse is my favorite.
Availability of Material: Stamps of Brunswick are among the more plentiful of the German States. Remember that these stamps are all over 150 years old, so they are harder to find than yesterday’s commemoratives. But collecting Brunswick has the advantage of being challenging enough to be interesting without being so daunting that collectors lose interest.
Expense: Brunswick is among the more moderately priced of the German States to collect.
Overall Grade: B