Wappen-Sammlung

Wapen-Sammlung

Album information :

• Issued by : A. Weller's Verlag, Kahla in Thüringen, Germany
• Date of issue : 1898/99-1920 (?)
• Number of stamps/cards : ? over 8000 (I have 7900 images so far)
• Image variants : none, but there have been some mistakes described, which collector's should change with remarks in their albums, see the example below from 1901.

Some images have been published twice when the arms were changed, see the different subsections.

Background

This is a huge collection of stamps with the arms of countries and families, issued around 1898-1920. The total number is not known, but I know of 7900 images. The stamps were issued in sheets of 25 each, which were numbered, but the stamps itself were not numbered.

The sheets were not always properly perforated, resulting in a number of different formats for the stamps. The actual format should be 4x5.5 cm, but can differ up to 1 cm in width.

The stamps could be glued on pages, which were then kept in boxes, see image above.

An example of a sheet :

The company also issued indexes, normally per 1000 arms per section. The indexes have quite a number of mistakes in the numbering though. The best numbering is by the sheets themselves.

The actual date of issue is not clear. The first advertisement I know of dates from 1900, see image below, where already 1350 arms have been printed. The index 1-1000 of the city arms (Section 2) is dated 1913. But most index booklets are not dated.

Early 1900 the box and 100 empty sheets for the collection costed 28 Mark (see image above). 28 Mark in 1900 is the equivalent of around 200 Euro in 2018, so a rather expensive book. Especially as at least 2 boxes were needed for the whole collection. The book could also be paid in monthly terms as stated in the ad.

In a second advertisement (September 1900) the price has increased to 30 M for the box. It is also stated that the stamps are 2 pf. but can only be sold in sheets of 25.Sheets could be bought at the publisher, I do not know if they were for sale elsewhere.

A third Christmas advertisement from 1900 indicates which series have been published at the time. The whole set of 1750 arms plus box was now 39 Mark, but as an action only 29.

According to the advertisements people could ask for their arms to be included. Similarly, the company searched heraldic books and journals for images to be included. Curious is also an ad from 1900 with a request for photos of arms to be included from buildings of graves.

On a few sheets the silver and gold were printed in a metallic look, see text below, but this practice was not continued.

Series and stamps issued

I have no idea how many were issued. I have based the numbers shown here on the largest numbers I have seen on sheets.

• Series 1: Rulers and Countries (at least 300 stamps)
• Series 2: Cities and regions (at least 1225)
• Series 3: Nobility (at least 3550) The third series shows the arms of the higher and lower nobility (mainly German). The series is only numbered on the stamps up to 150, other numbers are based on the numbering on the sheets and the index files. Stamps were issued in series of 25, but could be glued on the pages randomly. As there are too many stamps issued in this series the series have been split:
  • Series 3: Nobility 1-1000
  • Series 3: Nobility 1001-2000
  • Series 3: Nobility 2001-3000
  • Series 3: Nobility 3001-3550

• Series 4: Bishops and commoners (at least 2650)
  • 4 Bishops and commoners 1-1000
  • 4 Bishops and commoners 1001-2000
  • 4 Bishops and commoners 2001-3000

• Series 5: Guilds and associations (at least 275)