Kaffee Hag albums : Deutsche Ortswappen

Heraldry of the World Heraldic collector's items catalogue > Heraldic albums

Kaffee Hag : Deutsche Ortswappen

Album information :

• Issued by : Kaffee Hag, Bremen, Germany
• Date of issue : 1913-1939
• Number of stamps/cards : >3500 in two series
• Image variants : Over 150 variations in image, text or both

Company

For information on the company, see the overview of Coffee Hag albums.

Albums

The history of the German issues of the Kaffee Hag albums is complicated, due to two wars and the changes in the political situation in Germany.

Between 1913 and 1939 two series of albums have been issued.
The first series was started in 1913 and not finished due the First World War. In 1927 a second series was started, which was also not finished, due to the Second World War.

Although both series supposedly would contain around 3000 stamps, only 703 and around 2820 were actually published (not counting the numerous reprints and variations).

Old series 1913-1918

The first series was issued between 1913 and 1916 as Die Deutsche Ortswappen, but this name does not appear on the albums itself. The albums were issued as albums, not as loose pages as in the second series. Each album dealt with one or more Prussian provinces or other States. The albums were reprinted several times, there were 6 albums and 12 different editions:

The following albums were printed:

1: Ostpreussen

Issued 1913, reprinted and revised in 1913, 1914 and 1916, and printed in 10, 18, 11 and 4 thousand copies respectively.

Contains numbers 1-69 with coats of arms of Ostpreussen (now mainly Poland and Russia).

The first edition contains three additional texts; one preface by the Brücke association, one about the Brücke and Kaffee Hag and one with 5 press references to the arms. The Brücke was an organisation that, among other things, promoted the use of advertising and the owner of the Kaffee Hag Company (Roselius) was one of the first to issue stamps in the uniform size system promoted by Die Brücke.

The second edition only contains a text about advertising as a means to spread culture as well as 4 press references.

The third and fourth editions contain three texts by Prof. Hupp on heraldry, general remarks and the history of the arms of Ostpreussen. The sequence of the images in these last editions has also changed; in the first two editions the towns in Regierungsbezirk (district) Allenstein were placed among the two other districts, in the third edition the district was placed after the other two districts.

2:Westpreussen
Issued 1913, reprinted 1915, with 10.000 copies in each edition

Contains numbers 70-126 and 282 after number 82.

The first edition has three texts; one on the stamps of Kaffee Hag, and two about different aspects of coffee.

The second edition has the additional stamp and two texts from Prof. Hupp, on the sources of the arms and on the history of the arms of Westpreussen.

3: Brandenburg
Issued 1914 and reprinted in 1915, with 20 and 5 thousand copies each

Contains numbers 127-281, the second issue also the additional numbers 477-479. Number 477 is placed between 158-159, 478 between 160-161, and 479 between 136-137. Number 281 is placed at the end of the series in the first edition, and between 164-165 in the second edition. Due to these additions, the sequence of the arms per page changed considerably. The second edition also has additional geographical information on the first page of the arms.

Both issues contain two texts on the history of the arms.

4: Ober- und Niederbayern
Issued in 1914 and reprinted in 1916 in 20.000 and 4.000 copies

Contains numbers 320-476

Both issues are identical and contain 3 texts frorm Prof. Hupp on the history of the arms.

5: Pommern
Issued in 1915 in 20.000 copies

Contains numbers 283-319 and 480-518

Also contains two additional texts, one on the heraldic language, and the other on the history of the arms. Although there is officially only one edition, there are differences in the back page, indicating at least two different prints of this edition.

6: Posen
Issued in 1915 in 20.000 copies

Contains numbers 519-663

Has one additional text on the history of the arms.

Album number 7, Schlesien, was planned, but never issued. Planned were 188 stamps, of which only 40 (664-703) have been published.

According to the texts on the back of the stamps a total of 3000 arms were planned.

It is not known how many stamps were actually issued, but a number of 68 million has been mentioned.

The stamps are marked with the initials of the author, OH, for Prof. Otto Hupp. The initials are printed in black, with the exception of numbers 192-223 that show either initials in blue, or no initials at all.

On the backside of the stamps the name and description of the arms, as well as the number of inhabitants was given. The latter was taken from the census of 1910. All stamps also have a small advertising for Kaffee Hag. In many cases, when the description of the arms was short, additional (advertising) texts were published.

There are 6 variations of the arms known (Liebenwalde, Strasburg, Hengersberg, Wollin, Jaratschewo, Jarotschin), as well as several small changes on the decorations, the letters and the texts on the back.

All books were published by B. Heller in München.

The books were not for sale in the bookshops, but had to be ordered at Kaffee Hag in Bremen in exchange for a number of stamps. Stamps were packed in the pre-packed coffee sold all over the country.

The stamps were issued in sheets of 32 (8x4) stamps, see image below.