(C) Mourning the Ancient

[Below: Envelope with stamps bearing sheet tabs - (circa 1941)]

[Below: Two envelopes with stamps bearing sheet tabs - (circa 1941)]

[Below: A set of stamps with cancels celebrating five years of the General Government. Click to enlarge!]

[Below: A philatelic folder bearing all of the original Polish stamps which were overprinted by the Germans after the surrender of Poland. The cancel celebrates the 1940 birthday of Adolf Hitler. Click to enlarge all three pages!]

[Below: Envelope bearing partial souvenir sheet - Note it is addressed to an 'SS Obersturmfuhrer' at 'Buchenwald' - (circa 1941)]

[Below: 1943 General Government (Poland) souvenir sheet featuring the image of Copernicus. Click to enlarge.]

[Below: Eagle close-up]

[Below: Front - Postcard #1 'Day of NSDAP in General Government' - (circa 1941)]

[Below: Back - Postcard #1 'Day of NSDAP in General Government' - (circa 1941)]

[Below: Close-up]

[Below: Front: Postcard #2 celebrating 'Two Years of NSDAP in General Government' - (circa 1942)]

[Below: Back: Postcard #2 celebrating 'Two Years of NSDAP in General Government' - (circa 1942)]

[Below: Front: Postcard #3 celebrating 'Day of NSDAP in General Government' - (circa 1943)]

[Below: Back: Postcard #3 celebrating 'Day of NSDAP in General Government' - (circa 1943)]

[Below: Postcard 'Day of German Police in General Government']

[Below: Postcard used in the General Government with Bitkow and Krakau cancels. By Gottfried Klein and published by Hoffmann.]

[Below: - (circa 1940)]

[Below: - (circa 1941)]

[Below: Note the overprinted Polish stamp.]

[Below: This has a rare combination of a German and Polish stamp used together with a German cancel.]

[Below: Note the overprinted Polish postcard and stamps.]

[Below: Another Polish postcard and stamps.]

[Below: Note the overprinted Polish stamps.]

[Below: This postcard advertises an art exhibition in Krakau.]

[Below: This postcard shows a flattering caricature of Winston Churchill.]

[Below: This shows a rather rare 1942 cancel commemorating Galacia.]

[Below: This is another rather rare 1941 cancel of Lemberg. This is what the Germans called it, it is now called 'Lviv' and is in western Ukraine.]

[Below: A special Mozart cancel from 1941.]

[Below: A government sent envelope which says 'Hauptabteilung Wirtschaft Bewirtschaltungsstelle für chemische Erzeugnisse' (Department of Economy Administration Office for chemical products).]

[Below: A government envelope sent to the 'Militärversorgunssamt Krakau' (Military supply office in Kraków). It was sent registered mail (einshreiben), but was returned to sender (Züruck), November 22, 1943. Click to enlarge.]

[Below: Reverse. Click to enlarge.]

[Below: This prepaid envelope (the stamp is actually printed on the envelope) bears the 1942 cancel 'Zwei Jahre NSDAP im General Gouvernment' (Two years of NSDAP in the General Government).]

[Below: Close-up.]

[Below: Prepaid postcard.]

[Below: This German postcard bears a postmark of Posen, a hotly contested region between Germany and Poland. After WWI it was stripped from Germany by the Versailles Treaty, however, Adolf Hitler later took it back. But only to be lost again after WWII. Will Germany ever reclaim Posen? Time shall tell.]

[Below: This German postcard bears the name Wartheland (what the Poles called Posen and was later changed by the Germans).]

[Below: Revenue stamps from Wartheland.]

[Below: Revenue X-ray examination card from Wartheland.]

[Below: Wartheland postcard. Ostdeutsche Kulturtage 1941 - Reichsgau Wartheland (East German Culture Days in Wartheland). Front.]

[Below: Wartheland postcard. Ostdeutsche Kulturtage 1941 - Reichsgau Wartheland (East German Culture Days in Wartheland). Reverse.]

[Below: 1940 official stamps.]

[Below: These stamps were never fully finished. They are very rare to find in this state.]

[Below: These stamps were also never fully finished. They are missing their denominations.]

[Below: This is a very rare sunken die proof of a postage stamp from 1943. The design was by Dachauer.]

[Below: Very rare presentation ministerial folders containing sets of postage stamps. These were presented to government officials and other important individuals. You can imagine how rare these are. This is from 1940 and contains Official postage stamps (MiD1-D15).]

[Below: Very rare presentation ministerial folders containing sets of postage stamps. These were presented to government officials and other important individuals. You can imagine how rare these are. This is from 1942 and contains Adolf Hitler's birthday commemoration stamps (Mi89-91) with special cancels.]

[Below: Very rare presentation ministerial folders containing sets of postage stamps. These were presented to government officials and other important individuals. You can imagine how rare these are. This is from 1943 and contain stamps celebrating the 3rd year of National Socialist rule in Poland (Mi105-109).]

[Below: Very rare unissued postage stamp set (1943).]

[Below: Even rarer, here are color trial proofs of the 6 stamp (oil wells) above .]

[Below: The rarest of all of the unissued stamps of the General Government (Poland). This was made in 1943 but was never issued. It is known as the 'Gorale 12gr green', it depicts the legendary 'Panjewagon'. In 2016, this stamp sold for $11,000!]

[Below: A charity stamp for the Winterhilfswerk (Winter Help Work).]

[Below: This is a ration stamp for vodka!]

[Below: Here is the perforated version.]

[Below: Another vodka ration stamp.]

[Below: A court fees document stamp.]

[Below: court fees document stamp sheet.]

[Below: A court fees document stamp overprinted 'D'.]

[Below: A court fees document stamp sheet (50 Gr - groszy).]

[Below: A court fees document stamp sheet (1 ZL - Zloty).]

[Below: A court fees document stamp sheet (3 ZL - Zloty).]

[Below: A court fees document stamp sheet (5 ZL - Zloty).]

[Below: A court fees document stamp sheet (10 ZL - Zloty).]

[Below: Court fees document stamp.]

[Below: Court fees document stamps.]

[Below: Court fees document stamps (1940-1943).]

[Below: Butcher revenue stamps for the General Government - 1940-1943]

[Below: Court fees document stamps but with overprints.]

[Below: Here is a postcard with an interesting and seldom seen combination of official stamps and a fee stamp (far right).]

[Below: Here is a motor vehicle license from 1943. It is made from a robust material commonly called 'oilskin' and was used throughout the Third Reich. While this falls under the General Government, it is actually from the District of Galicia (Ukraine), an administrative unit of the General Government established by Germany on August 1, 1941. Let's just include this here in this section since the tax stamps are fleshed out here. It says:

'Kraftfahrzeugschein
"Zentrosojus" Mittelstelle der
Landwirtschaftlichen kreis und
Bezirks handels genossen schaften
in Lemberg'

(Motor vehicle registration certificate
"Zentrosojus" Central Office of the
Agricultural circle and
district trade cooperatives
in Lviv.)

Note that 'Zentrosojus' is a Russian/Ukrainian term meaning central office.

Further it says:

ist das amtliche kennzeichen
Ost - 112 o29
für das umfeitig befchriebene kraftfahrzeug zugeteilt
worden.

(is the official mark
East - 112 o29
assigned to the vehicle described on the following page)

[Below: This contains technical details of the vehicle. The stamps themselves say 'Gebührenmarke' which means 'fee stamp' and the overprint across the stamps says 'Ungültig' which just means 'invalid'.

[Below: A close-up of the stamps.]

[Below: This is a railway revenue.]

[Below: Railroad stamp for the General Government.]

[Below: Block of four railroad stamps overprinted '1944' for the General Government.]

[Below: Railroad stamp overprinted '1944' for the General Government.]

[Below: NSDAP membership revenue quarter year dues stamp with 1943 overprint. This stamp would go in a membership book and is for the NSDAP in the General Government.]