Bavaria (Bayern in German) had its own postal service and issued its own stamps from 1849 until it joined the German Empire’s unified postal system in 1920. If you have used Bavarian stamps from the period 1870-1916, here are some details:
1870-1911 “Numeral” Issues:
- Simple design with just the numeral value in a oval frame
- Issued in denominations from 1⁄2 kreuzer to 90 kreuzer
- Printed in various color shades – blues, greens, browns, oranges
- Different watermarks used over the years (lozenges, crossing lines)
- Higher values (18kr and up) sometimes pen-cancelled
1914-1916 “Germania” Definitives:
- New allegorical design depicting “Germania” seated with imperial eagle
- Values from 3 pfennig to 20 marks
- Issued in different colors for each denomination
- Some values (3pf-80pf) overprinted “BAYERN” in 1920 for interim use
Cancellations:
- Town circular date stamps were the standard postmark
- Variety of auxiliary markings like railroad cancels also found
- Higher values may have pen or crayoned cancels
Values and Varieties:
- Common used low values are inexpensive
- Better postmarks, shades, paper/watermark varieties can be scarcer
- Higher denominations above 3 marks tend to be pricier used
