Wandering girls, youth hostel — 20 + 3 Pf
Piece details
Identity
- Piece codeStamp code YYYY.ENT.SS-PP — series code plus stamp order (e.g. 1900.CGH.01-02).
1952.DEU.01-02- SeriesThe set this stamp belongs to.
- Jugendmarke — youth hostels
1952.DEU.01· piece 2 of 2 - EntityPostal authority that issued the stamps (country, territory, or historical entity).
Germany (DEU)- Year / date
- 1952-09-17
- Face valueDenomination on the stamp; +n is a charity surcharge when present.
- 20 + 3 Pf
- Format
- Stamp
- TypeIssue kind. Charity issue = postage + voluntary surcharge (e.g. 6+4), not an overprint.
- Charity issue
- Colors
- Carmine red
- CollectionIn collection if you have it; Purchased if it is bought but not yet received (do not buy again); Wanted otherwise.
- ✓ In collection
Production
- PerforationsHole gauge between stamps (e.g. 12, 13½). Higher ≈ finer.
- Comb 13¾ × 14
- Printing
- Recess
- Size
- 28 × 33 mm
Catalog numbers
- ScottScott catalog number (Americas).
- DE B326
- MichelMichel catalog number (Europe / DE).
- DE 154
- YvertYvert & Tellier catalog number (FR).
- DE 40
- Stanley GibbonsStanley Gibbons catalog number (UK / Commonwealth).
- DE 1081
Notes
Hiking girls with rucksacks and guitar before a youth hostel, inscribed JUGENDMARKE 1952. Watermark multiple BP. AFA DE 1118, Unificato DE 40. Print run 1,500,000. Valid until 30 June 1954.
Series history
On 17 September 1952 the Deutsche Bundespost issued a pair of semi-postals inscribed JUGENDMARKE 1952 — the first of what became the Federal Republic's annual youth-stamp series. The surtax went to the federal government's second Bundesjugendplan and the youth-hostel work carried out under it, which is why the sheet reference files list the pair as «Charity Stamps for Youth Hostels».
Both designs are by Max Bittrof and show hiking youngsters with rucksacks in front of a youth hostel: the 10 + 2 Pf in blackish green-olive shows wandering boys (Michel DE 153, Scott DE B325), the 20 + 3 Pf in carmine red wandering girls with a guitar (Michel DE 154, Scott DE B326). The Bundesdruckerei in Berlin printed both in recess, 28 × 33 mm, comb perforation 13¾ × 14, on paper watermarked multiple BP, in print runs of 1,500,000 each — small for a Bundespost issue, which is what makes the pair scarce today. They were valid for postage until 30 June 1954. Further catalogue references are Yvert DE 39–40, Stanley Gibbons DE 1080–1081, AFA DE 1117–1118 and Unificato DE 39–40.
The pair enters the Scout and youth-movement catalogues through the hiking-and-hostel theme rather than through an organised Scout body: the Deutsches Jugendherbergswerk grew directly out of the German youth movement, and the Wandervogel-style figures on both values are its emblematic subject. Both values are catalogued in rising face-value order and are in the collection.


