The Stamps and Postal History of German States

German States Stamps - The Prussian influence to unite Germany into a single empire began in the 18th century under the leadership of Frederick the Great (1749–1786). In 1818, Prussia was the originator of the Zollverein or Customs Union which, by 1844, included all of northern Germany. This led to the ease of transfer of goods but inevitably towards postal union which was finally agreed upon with Austria and most German states in 1850.

Stamps were issued by 16 different German States, the first stamp being the Bavaria 1849 1k black. In 1868 the stamps of the North German Confederation replaced those of Bremen, Brunswick, Hamburg, Lubeck, Mecklenburg, Oldenburg, Prussia and also Saxony. Although Bavaria and Wurttemberg continued to issue stamps into the 1920s, stamps for the unified German Empire commenced on 1st January 1872.

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German States Stamps