Starting price 250,000 euros? Why a letter to Hengersberg is so valuable

One of the oldest examples of the first German stamp is going under the hammer. The Wiesbaden auction house Heinrich Köhler is auctioning off a so-called first day cover of the Bavarian “Black One” on September 27th, as it announced. The starting price for the completely preserved cover, on which the stamp was used on the first day of its validity, November 1st, 1849, is said to be 250,000 euros.

The auction house says this is the only known complete first day cover. It was sent in Lower Bavaria, from Wegscheid near the Austrian border to Hengersberg near Deggendorf.

Bavaria was the first country in Germany to introduce postage stamps almost 175 years ago on the orders of its King Maximilian II. The face values ​​at the time were one, three and six kreuzers. All three were launched on November 1st, and the auction house considered the lowest face value to be the oldest stamp in these cases.

The world’s oldest postage stamp is the “One Penny Black”, which was launched nine years before the “Black One”.