What Can Be Done: Mecklenburg-Strelitz is one of the easiest of the world’s countries to complete. There are only six stamps that were issued by that country. Mecklenburg Strelitz was an unimportant Duchy that maintained an uneasy independence from the more prominent Mecklenburg-Schwerin (A story that underscores Mecklenburg Strelitz’s unimportance was that when Britain’s George III was looking around for a bride, the big selling point for Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was that she came from such an unimportant place, that she brought no geopolitical entanglements). Many countries of uneasy independence have issued postage stamps as a way of asserting sovereignty, and Mecklenburg-Strelitz is one of them. The stamps were available for postage before Confederation into the German Empire in 1871. The stamps were seldom used on mail and some sell for thousands of dollars in genuine used condition. After Confederation, the stamps that remained in the post offices were demonetized and sold to stamp collectors. Even today, 150 years after they were issued, the entire country of Mecklenburg Strelitz can be purchased mint for less than $250. Only buy used stamps with proper certification by experts.
Specialty Catalogs: The Michel catalog is the gold standard for all of the German area, but the Scott Classic catalog is very good too and has the benefit of being in English.
Specialty Albums: Like most of the German area, Lighthouse is the best with the Scott specialty series being a credible and far less costly choice.
Availability of Material: There are only six stamps that were printed and after Mecklenburg-Strelitz joined the German Empire, these stamps were sold as remainders to stamp dealers. Mint stamps are quite common and used stamps are quite rare.
Expense: The entire country mint catalogs by the 2015 Scott catalog for about $1000, and can be bought for $150-250 depending on quality.
Overall Grade: C