Bavaria Bayern postage stamps year 1920 Farming – Coat of Arms

Bavaria Bayern postage stamps year 1920 Farming – Coat of Arms set

The stamps are a part of the very last series of definitive stamps issued directly by the State of Bavaria (Bayern) before its postal services were fully merged into the German Reich (Deutsches Reich) on April 1, 1920.

This period in 1920 is critical in Bavarian philately and involved a complex series of issues, including new designs and later, overprints.

Bavaria (Bayern) 1920: Final Definitive Issues

The stamps from early 1920 feature two primary designs before the central Reich postal system took over:

I. “Farming” Design (Landwirtschaft, Michel Nos. 178–187)

This set, depicting a farmer and his family, or simply a rural scene symbolizing Bavarian agriculture, was issued in February 1920 and consists of 10 different values (though only three are frequently listed in short sets).

A shorter, commonly traded sub-set of the farming design includes:

• 20 Pfg. (violet) (Mi. 182)
• 30 Pfg. (blue) (Mi. 183)
• 40 Pfg. (brown) (Mi. 184)

II. “Coat of Arms” Design (Wappen, Michel Nos. 188–195)

These stamps feature the stylized Bavarian Coat of Arms (often a crowned shield with lozenges) and represent the higher-value definitive stamps of the time, issued on February 14, 1920.