Danzig
Die ehemalige Hansestadt in Polen blickt auf eine Ereignisreiche und lange Geschichte zurück. Vor allem die Hansezeit hinterließ deutliche Spuren. Danzig zählte zu den bedeutendsten Mitglieder der Hanse. Bereits seit 1361 nahm Danzig regelmäßig an den Hansetagen teil. Mit der Stadt werden jedoch auch andere geschichtliche Ereignisse verbunden. So zum Beispiel der Beginn der Arbeiten 1701 am Bernsteinzimmer.

Danzig bietet auch sehr viele Sehenswürdigkeiten, die die Touristen anlocken. Besonders beliebt bei Besuchern ist das Schiffsmuseum, der Neptunbrunnen, der Artushof, die Große Mühle, aber auch einige religiöse Bauwerke, wie die Marienkirche, die Katharinenkirche, oder die Königliche Kapelle. Aus Danzig stammen sehr viele berühmte Persönlichkeiten, darunter auch Günter Grass, der in seinem Buch „Der Blechtrommel“ ein Stück alte Postgeschichte lebendig werden lässt. Die Postgeschichte beginnt bereites im Jahr 1793, die Briefmarkengeschichte nimmt 1920 seinen Anfang die letzten Briefmarken wurden 1939 herausgegeben. Während dieser Zeit erschienen in Danzig 400 verschiedene Briefmarken, viele davon sind unter den Sammlern sehr begehrt und auch sehr teuer. Im Ankauf werden von Briefmarkenhändlern für diese Briefmarken z.T. sehr hohe Ankaufspreise bezahlt.

Die Motive der Briefmarken sind sehr unterschiedlich. Neben Schiffsmotiven, berühmten Persönlichkeiten werden auch die schönsten Bauten und Sehenswürdigkeiten der Stadt auf den Briefmarken abgebildet. 1939 wird Danzig ins Deutsche Reich zurückgegliedert. Die Briefmarken werden mit „Deutsches Reich“ überdruckt und somit endet auch die Briefmarkengeschichte Danzigs.

You may be wondering, "Why do people collect stamps?" Initially, British children saw collecting as a fun game, since stamps were inexpensive to buy and had vivid pictures. These days many people are prompted to collect because a relative passed down the tradition or bought them a souvenir sheet of stamps. Today over 20 million Americans engage in postage stamp collecting, making it one of the most popular type of compilations.

Initially the hobby began in 1840 England with the issuance of the first collecting stamp — a portrait of a young Queen Victoria, called "One Black Penny." Much in the same way kids trade baseball cards in the US, kids exchanged new postage stamps with their peers. Postage stamp collecting was so popular, they dubbed it "Timbromania" (meaning "stamp madness"). The hobby hit the United States in the 1920s where the rising value of the stamp made older stamps instantly more valuable. However, unlike money, stamps are not necessarily worth a lot simply because they're old. Many people still have older stamps and they're available at affordable rates. 

It became the misprints that became the most coveted in the world of collecting postage stamps. Most serious collectors will try to seek out a rare stamp resulting from a printing error. For instance, the "Inverted Jenny" is a US postage stamp from 1918 featuring a photo of a Curtiss JN-4 airplane where the plane was mistakenly printed upside-down! Only 100 were ever printed and a block of four just sold at an auction for $2.7 Million! The US-made "Benjamin Franklin Z Grill" stamps were made with a waffle pattern embossed into the paper supposedly to prevent the ink from running. Only two were printed before they realized this process was impractical. Now one stamp could get as much as $3 Million!

Internationally, collecting postage stamps often equates with big bucks. For example, the "Treskilling Yellow" stamp from Sweden was misprinted in the wrong color, placing its value at over $2 Million. Historically, Britain's "Penny Black" (the first official adhesive stamp) sold for $200 in the year 2000, and unused went for as much as $3,000! Or imagine owning the "British Guiana Magenta," a rare stamp with a face value of one cent but an estimated value of $935,000! There is much controversy surrounding this stamp. Since there is only one known copy in existence, some say that it was an altered 4-cent stamp, however these claims were disproved. Others speculate that another copy was discovered but was purchased by Arthur Hind, who owned the original and who quietly destroyed the copy so he wouldn't lose the value. In 1999 a forged copy was found in Bremen, Germany.

Postage stamp collecting is a fun and relatively inexpensive way to collect historical artwork. You may begin by browsing a catalog such as Scott catalog (for US postage stamps), or check out KenmoreStamp.com and MysticStamp.com for stamps online. If you're looking to seriously collecting stamps as an investment, you should begin your quest at the National Philatelic Society.

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