The Gniezno “5” Overprint

When the Second Republic was reconstituted on November 11, 1918, the need for postage stamps necessitated the production of provisional issues. A provisional is a stamp or stamps issued to fill a temporary need until official government issues become available. There are seven provisional issues during this period in Poland. In the Warsaw District they are the First and Second Warsaw issues;in the former Austrian administered area they are the First and Second Lublin issues and the Kraków issue; and in the Poznań District they are the First and Second Poznań issues, the latter known as the Gniezno issue. Of all these,the Gniezno issue is the most controversial.

The Gniezno issue is a set of two simple overprints, a bold red “5” and a bold green “10” on very common German stamps. (above)  Both were overprinted in sheets of 100 (10×10).  There is some dispute about the necessity of this issue with some claiming it is purely a philatelically contrived issue. A total of 20,000 sets were printed. While it is true that the majority of the Gniezno issue exists on philatelic covers or pieces, some exist on rare commercial correspondence and because of this they deserve the catalog listing.

In the course of overprinting the “5”, the numeral in position 21 was inverted.  This was soon discovered and corrected.  Only two examples of the inverted “5” are recorded in a pair with a normal, and the example shown in Figure 2 is the most outstanding because it clearly shows the position of the invert.  The current Fischer Katalog values a hinged inverted “5” at 80,000 zł and an unhinged at 150,000 zł. The inverted “10” does not exist, except as a forgery.

We do not know how many inverted “5” exist, but a conservative estimate is five or six.  However, one has to be mindful of the so called “Poznań-find.”  Sometime after World War II, a box was unearthed that contained sheets of the Gniezno issue. Because of the length of time these were in the ground, they were all in terrible condition due to dampness and humidity.  Among these were several inverted “5”.  When these appear on the market, they bring significantly lower prices because of their inferior condition.

It is unfortunate that the vast majority of Gniezno issues in the market are forgeries, and this includes the inverts. I would say that 99% of those offered on eBay are fakes.  Recently a “10” in RED was offered and sold for $49.00!  Only purchase this set from a reputable dealer together with a certificate from a recognized expert.

The productions of fakes began at the very beginning of the issue. A very resourceful postal clerk, Mr. Wilhelm Heinze, worked at the Poznań 1 and Poznań 5 post offices.  After the original issue was exhausted, he created his own stamps with forged overprints which included not only the inverted “5” but also an inverted “10”.  These forged overprints are very close in color to the originals and therefore, very difficult to distinguish from the originals.  But the story gets even better.  Mr. Heinze’s daughter Margarete worked at the Berlin #112 post office.  Mr. Heinze prepared letters with his forgeries, normal and inverts, affixed to them along with other current postage stamps. He cancelled them with genuine but back-dated cancellers and sent them through the mail to his daughter in Berlin, whereupon, she back-stamped them with a genuine “Berlin 112” postmark.  An example of one such letter with an inverted “5” and “10” from my collection is shown in Figure 3 (below).

Finally, just let me add that many of the fake Gniezno stamps have a guarantee mark of “W.H.” or the German expert “Richter” on the back. I have seen some with these marks with certificates of the Royal Philatelic Society of London.  All these are fakes.