Here are some very rare Vichy government issues. These stamps were ordered for internal use only. However when they were ready, it was decided that official Government mail did in fact not need postage stamps. The stock was put somewhere in warehouse and never issued. After the war these stamps became embarrassing. They bore a huge FRANCISC which was the symbol of Vichy and linked to collaboration, so it was decided to destroy the entire stock by dumping them in acid.
Fortunately, one of the workers was a collector and managed to hide a few sheets under his clothes every day. The copies with orignal glue are extremely rare. The worker sold the surviving stock to a stamp dealers and this is how they came on the market. Over the years i have managed to get about half of this collection.

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No selling either?

Indeed, there are more things which raised funds for the volunteers.

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It's the only copy I have so I will keep it for now. However If you go to stamp dealers in Belgium they sometimes have them. I don't know how much they would sell for. I will try to find out.

Here are some occupied Estonia issues with billingual text with German and Estonian. The name sof the Estonian towns have been Germanized too (the medieval Teutonic knight names)

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Thanks and beautiful ESTLAND!

I'll look for poststamps too for you I know sometimes that a guy sells many.

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You're welcome Sturm. Let me check about the value first. If we know what these stamps are worth, we'd be in a better position. The main problem however is to find them, because they are not easy to spot. By the way have you checked your helping the enemy thread lately? I've posted a new pic for you.

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And what about this one? Did you know some parts of France were still occupied in May 1945. This is a SAINT Nazaire Pocket Registred letter from the last days of the war. It is obvious philatelic, but it is a very intersting use of Petain stamps many months after the Vichy government fled to Germany. Note the special wink from the sender who has glued the stamps sothat they make a tricolor combination! It has the mention POCHE DE L'ATLANTIQUE . ILOT DE ST. NAZAIRE

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I leave some threads on here to 'mature' a bit without looking at 'em as I know they'll be good ones.
Great stuff Skipper!

Particularly the post VE day and Vichy ones; the overmarked V for victory marking is marvellous.
And as for the tricolor...

Cheers,
Adam.

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"Wars cannot be fought with dream stuff" - Sir Percy Hobart.

Thanks Adam, I will keep posting more. It takes a lot of time to scan them because I have to remove some from the albums first. I have more to come, including Corsica, Soviet zones etc..

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German occupation of the Channel Islands (Jersey) . Notice that the occupation troops have respected the recommended universal postal Union colors (red = priority 1st class , green = postcard rate or second class. There is no blue for abroad for obvious censorship reasons). These are also the fists local stamps issued on the Island. These stamps were used on the island or for inter Island connections.

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Here some General Gouvernement issues (Occupied Poland) with the mention GROSSDEUTSCHES REICH. There were quite a few, so I picked a samples and a nice Wehrmacht cancelation from THE HEERES VERWALTUNG RADOM (Military administration RADOM). The stamps are Polish cities with their German names LEMBERG = LVOW

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A sample of the many Böhmen und Mahren stamps I have (Bohemia and Moravia)
The overprint celebrates the third anniversary of the occupation of the Czech Republic by Hitler's troops. (15 III 1939 - 15 III 1942) This is also shortly before Heydrich's death and the massacre of Lidice.

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And here a reminder that our Baltic friends have been occupied by the Soviets a year before Barbarossa: 1940 Soviet occupation overprints on lithuanian issues.

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Some more nice temporary overprints on Hitler stamps when the Soviets occupied Glachau. The kinds of stamps you don't see eveyday! I have not identified the FELPOST Overprint the currency is KG or is it a kriegie issue from a Stalag?

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This is one of my favorites

This LUFT FELDPOST LETTER actually travelled from the OstFront (if somone knows the Felpost codes the exact location would be welcome) to France(or Germany, I would have to check the destination Feldpost nummer too) . It took about a month to get there . The lette ris from March 1944.
It has a great cancelation.

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Not very pricey but I "love" my mannerheim stamp series....

Attached Images

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A nice addition Kai. it the first time I see those actually.

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Here is an official Reich charity set to support the army. All Branches are there. UBoote, Luftwaffe, Heer, Waffen SS etc... Lok at the details they are high quality engravings and very interesting from a historical point of view. I will let you identify the vehicles!!

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A nice U.S War stamp used for airmail The stamp itself is very common. What's interesting here is the cancelation that was used by the Army while it was stationed in Europe. You can clearly read the text.

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A few other German Reich issues:

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31966 FP?

Where's the special Stamp ? Can't wait.

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