1949 ‘Blue Flea’ postal tax stamp difficult to find

Apr 2, 2025, 8 AM

Stamp Market Tips by Henry Gitner and Rick Miller

After being defeated in World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones. The United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union each had a zone.

The Western Allies considered France to be an equal partner in the defeat of Germany and pushed for an occupation zone to be administered by France. The Soviets considered the French to have been defeated and occupied, and a de facto ally of the Nazis. But they acquiesced to the United States and Great Britain carving off part of their respective occupation areas and turning them over to France to administer.

As a result, the French occupied the German states of Baden, the Rhineland Palatinate and Wurttemberg. France also administered Saar as a protectorate, but that was a special case that they hoped to permanently detach from Germany.

France pursued a vigorous stamp program for the areas of Germany that it occupied. Initially in 1945-46 there were 13 stamps issued for general use in the entire area of French occupation. Beginning in 1947, separate stamps were issued for Baden, the Rhineland Palatinate and Wurttemberg. French occupation stamps for Germany are of interest to collectors of both France and Germany.

In 1948, West Germany issued the famous 2-pfennig “Blue Flea” stamps. These “Notopfer Berlin” issues were tiny postal tax stamps required on almost all types of internal mail in West Germany. The tax was to relieve harsh conditions in Berlin, which was suffering greatly from the devastation of the war as well as from the Soviet blockade while it was in place.

On July 1, 1949, the French occupation of Wurttemberg began overprinting Blue Flea stamps “Wohnungsbau abgabe” in red ink to produce postal tax stamps used to raise funds for the “Social Housing Program.” The program provided interest-free loans for housing construction and renovation for disadvantaged families in Wurttemberg.

The first two stamps, Scott Nos. 8NRA1 and 8NRA2, were identical, except the first is imperforate and the second is perforated either gauge 12 or gauge 14. Both were printed by lithography on paper watermarked “D P” multiple with the overprint measuring 18.7 millimeters wide.

The imperforate stamp (Scott 8NRA1) is uncommon and difficult to find. The Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue values the stamp at $225 in unused, hinged condition; $350 in used condition; and $575 in mint, never-hinged condition. This stamp is a good buy at around 75 percent of Scott catalog value. But expertization is a must.

The basic stamp (Germany Scott RA1) used for the overprint is common and valued at the Scott catalog minimum, so plenty of material is available for producing fake overprints. Beware of examples of the perforated version that have had the perforations trimmed off. Also, used examples must be expertized for legitimate contemporaneous use.

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