Deutsche Post releases its stamps for the Federal Republic of Germany in batches with several different issues at the beginning of most months in the year. For January, there were eight different designs issued on the 5th day of the New Year. All of these came in gummed sheets of 10 stamps for each design. There were also self-adhesive coil rolls for each of the five definitive stamps.

The World of Letters definitives were designed by Bettina Walter of Bonn. Deutsche Post describes them by stating,

Artistic, imaginative, surreal – this is how the motifs of the new permanent postage stamp series “World of Letters” can be described in a nutshell. In a playful way, she connects the most diverse worlds with the letter, the most personal ambassador in the world, and thus creates an original overall picture that invites you to collect and awakens the joy of writing to new life.

Unconventional solutions for transporting letters or goods are always required where the circumstances are extremely adversary. While skis can be used in mountainous regions, the inhabitants of the North Frisian Halligen Loren have built themselves to travel on rails to the mainland at low tide. The village of Supai, located in the Grand Canyon, on the other hand, likes to use mules. The “world of letters” makes a creative contribution to coping with all the “mountains of letters”: the postal lorries could become a “letter railway” by adding loops. Above the village of Supai you could also jump out of an airplane and enjoy the view by “stamp glider”.

Deutsche Post

Date of Issue: January 5, 2023
Denominations: €0.30, €0.33, €0.38, €0.48, €0.61
Designer: Bettina Walter, Bonn
Printer: Bundesdruckerei GmbH, Berlin except €0.33 and €0.61 printed by Royal Joh. Enschede, Haarlem (Netherlands)
Printing Process: Multi-Colour Offset Lithography
Format: Wet-adhesive sheets of 10 on coated white and fluorescent postage stamp paper DP II; Self-adhesive coil rolls of 500 and 5,000
Size (Stamps): 31.80 x 30.13 mm; (Gummed Sheets): 83.60 x 170.00 mm

€0.30 Letter Web

Wet adhesive stamps of €0.30 each in a sheet of 10 and self-adhesive stamps of €0.30 each on a roll of 500, suitable for franking postcards. Design: Roller coaster whose cars consist of letters

€0.33 Mountains of Letters

Wet adhesive stamps of €0.33 each in a sheet of 10 and self-adhesive stamps of €0.33 each on a roll of 5,000, suitable for franking standard mail up to 20 grams. Design: Mountain landscape consisting of letters and pens

€0.38 Wing Pens

Wet adhesive stamps of €0.38 each in a sheet of 10 and self-adhesive stamps of €0.38 each on a roll of 5,000, suitable for franking standard mail 21 grams to 50 grams. Design: Flying pens with wings

€0.48 Rainbow Letter

Wet adhesive stamps of €0.48 each in a sheet of 10 and self-adhesive stamps of €0.48 each on a roll of 500, suitable for franking large sized mail up to 50 grams. Design: Rainbow that comes from a letter and consists of pens

€0.61 Stamp Gliders

Wet adhesive stamps of €0.61 each in a sheet of 10 and self-adhesive stamps of €0.61 each on a roll of 500, suitable for franking large sized mail 51 to 100 grams. Design: Stamps used as paragliders

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On January 5, Deutsche Post issued two stamps in its Sights in Germany series, both designed by Jennifer Dengler of Bonn. The postal administration explains that,

The new special postage stamp series, which was opened last September with the motif “Neuschwanstein Castle” and whose aim is to present important cultural or technical achievements as well as interesting places, landscapes or regions and special buildings, is now being continued with the two stamps “Insel Mainau” and “Zeche Zollverein”. They convey a vivid impression of the diversity of sights in Germany.

Deutsche Post

Date of Issue: January 5, 2023
Denomination: €0.85
Motif: A bird’s eye view of Mainau Island ©Harald Tedesco – stock.adobe.com
Designer: Jennifer Dengler, Bonn
Printer: Bagel Security-Print GmbH & Co. KG, Mönchengladbach
Printing Process: Multi-Colour Offset Lithography
Format: Wet-adhesive sheet of 10 on coated white and fluorescent postage stamp paper DP II
Size (Stamps): 55.00 x 30.003 mm; (Sheets): 130.00 x 170.00 mm
Our tip: Scan the matrix code of the stamp in the Post & DHL App. Under “Information about the stamp” you can watch a nice video showing the island from a bird’s eye view. We wish you a lot of fun!
Wet adhesive stamps of 0.85 EUR each in a sheet of 10, suitable for franking standard letters up to 20 g.

Mainau is an island in Lake Constance on the Southern shore of the Überlinger See near the city of Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is maintained as a garden island and a model of excellent environmental practices. Administratively, the island has been a part of Konstanz since December 1, 1971, when the municipality of Litzelstetten, of which Mainau was part, was incorporated into Konstanz. Mainau is still part of Litzelstetten, now one of 15 wards (administrative subdivisions) of Konstanz.

The island belongs to the Lennart Bernadotte-Stiftung, an entity created by Prince Lennart Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg, originally a Prince of Sweden and Duke of Småland. It is one of the main tourist attractions of Lake Constance. Beside flowers there is a park landscape with views on the lake. There is a greenhouse as well with tropical climate and thousands of butterflies.

Mainau Island is 610 metres (2,000 ft) long from North to South and a 1,050 meters (3,440 ft) wide from West to East. The island’s circumference is about three kilometers (1.9 mi). The shortest distance between the downwelling molasse slice and the lake’s shore is about 130 meters (430 ft).

Few people inhabit Mainau Island. Due to its small amount of inhabitants, it is considered a hamlet. Meyer’s Lexikon’s issue of 1888 declared that 28 people lived on Mainau Island. During the census of 1961, a population of 123 was verified. Count Björn Bernadotte lives in the castle on the island.

Mainau features an almost year round warm climate that allows the cultivation of exotic trees like banana trees many kinds of palm trees. Besides this subtropical vegetation, Mainau is also home to Central European trees like the lind. The cultivation of the gardens have a long history in Mainau and attract thousands of tourists from all over the world each year.

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Date of Issue: January 5, 2023
Denomination: €1.10
Motif: The winding tower of the colliery in atmospheric evening lighting © Jochen Tack
Designer: Jennifer Dengler, Bonn
Printer: Bagel Security-Print GmbH & Co. KG, Mönchengladbach
Printing Process: Multi-Colour Offset Lithography
Format: Wet-adhesive sheet of 10 on coated white and fluorescent postage stamp paper DP II
Size (Stamps): 55.00 x 30.003 mm; (Sheets): 130.00 x 170.00 mm
Our tip: Scan the matrix code of the stamp in the Post & DHL App. Under “Information about the stamp” you can watch great time-lapse shots of the colliery grounds. We wish you a lot of fun!
Wet adhesive stamps of 0.85 EUR each in a sheet of 10, suitable for franking standard letters Europe and World up to 20 g.

The Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex (Zeche Zollverein) is a large former industrial site in the city of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The first coal mine on the premises was founded in 1847, and mining activities took place from 1851 until December 23, 1986. For decades, starting in the late 1950s, the two parts of the site, Zollverein Coal Mine and Zollverein Coking Plant (erected 1957−1961, closed on June 30, 1993), ranked among the largest of their kinds in Europe. Shaft 12, built in the New Objectivity style, was opened in 1932 and is considered an architectural and technical masterpiece, earning it a reputation as the “most beautiful coal mine in the world”.

Because of its architecture and testimony to the development of heavy industry in Europe, the industrial complex was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on December 14, 2001, and is one of the anchor points of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) bought the coal mine territory from the RAG immediately after it closed down in late 1986 and declared Shaft 12 a heritage site. This went along with the obligation to preserve the site in its original state and to minimize the effects of weathering. In 1989, the city of Essen and NRW founded the Bauhütte Zollverein Schacht XII that would take care for the site and which was replaced by the Stiftung Zollverein (Zollverein Foundation) in 1998.

After it closed in 1993, the coking plant was to be sold to China. The negotiations failed and it was subsequently threatened to be demolished. However, another project of the state of NRW set the coal mine on a list of future exhibition sites resulting in first gentle modifications and the cokery also became an official heritage site in 2000. On its 25th session in December 2001, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared both the sites of Shafts 12 and 1/2 and the cokery a World Heritage Site.

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Julia Warbanow of Berlin designed the €2.75 stamp issued on January 5 commemorating organ building and organ music which were included by UNESCO in the nationwide register of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Germany in 2014 and in the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2017. With around 50,000 organs, Germany is the country with the highest density of pipe organs. The regionally very different designs and sound patterns also ensure an astonishing variety of instruments.

Date of Issue: January 5, 2023
Denomination: €2.75
Motif: Various elements of organ building and organ music
Designer: Julia Warbanow, Berlin
Printer: Giesecke + Devrient Currency Technology GmbH, Leipzig
Printing Process: Multi-Colour Offset Lithography
Format: Wet-adhesive sheet of 10 on coated white and fluorescent postage stamp paper DP II
Size (Stamps): 55.00 x 30.003 mm; (Sheets): 130.00 x 170.00 mm
Wet adhesive stamps of 2.75 EUR each in a sheet of 10, suitable for franking maxi letters up to 1,000 g within Germany.

The organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more pipe divisions or other means for producing tones. Organs have usually two or three, up to five manuals, for playing with the hands, and pedalboard, with the feet. With the use of registers, several groups of pipes can be connected to one manual. Pipe organs use air moving through pipes to produce sounds. Since the 16th century, pipe organs have used various materials for pipes, which can vary widely in timbre and volume. Increasingly hybrid organs are appearing in which pipes are augmented with electric additions. Great economies of space and cost are possible especially when the lowest (and largest) of the pipes can be replaced.

Organ building is the profession of designing, building, restoring and maintaining pipe organs. The organ builder usually receives a commission to design an organ with a particular disposition of stops, manuals, and actions, creates a design to best respond to spatial, technical and acoustic considerations, and then constructs the instrument. The profession requires specific knowledge of such matters as the scale length of organ pipes and also familiarity with the various materials used (including woods, metals, felt, and leather) and an understanding of statics, aerodynamics, mechanics and electronics. However, although in theory the builder is responsible for all facets of construction, in practice organ-building workshops include specialists in pipes, actions, and cabinets; tasks such as the manufacture of pipes, metal casting, and making rarely-used components are often delegated to outside firms.

After manufacture of all parts of a new organ, the pipes must be pre-tuned and voiced to the desired pitch and sound characteristics. The instrument is then usually partly or wholly assembled in the workshop, dismantled, and reassembled on-site, after which the pipes receive a final tuning and voicing.

Organ builders also provide regular maintenance, which includes adjustment of pipes and maintenance of the action, and repairs necessitated by wear and tear, unforeseen problems or rough treatment (including inappropriate temperature and humidity). A complete overhaul of an organ consists of disassembly of the pipes and thorough cleaning of all components and maintenance where needed; changes and additions may also be made to the instrument at the same time. Older organs may also be restored to a previous state, including re-creation of damaged and missing parts using historically accurate materials and techniques.

In some countries, including Germany, Switzerland, and Norway, organ building is a regulated handwork profession.