The One kreuzer black, or Schwarzer Einser, was the first

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

issued in the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

, and the first anywhere in the territories making up modern

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It was issued on 1 November 1849. 832,500 copies were printed on handmade paper in the printing shop of the University of Munich. In October 1851 the stamps were removed from sale, but remained valid for postage until 31 August 1864. The stamp was designed by

Johann Peter Haseney Johann Peter Haseney (1812, Mehlis, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg – 1869, Munich) was a German engraver. Haseney came to Munich in his young years, where he worked as an engraver with the Seitz company. There he made different designs for stamps. He ...

, engraved by F.J. Seitz, and printed by J.G. Weiss; their initials 'PH', 'S', and 'W' are hidden according to Joseph de Heselle in the floral pattern of the numeral as a safety precaution against forgery. The stamp is black and in the center is a large numeric denomination. Later engraving was moved from wood to plaster, which has led to distortions in the size of the print. Different varieties of the stamp also emerged due to the damage to the engraving press and engraving itself, such as color dots and damaged angles. Subsequent stamps of Bavaria followed the same general layout, though with the numeral framed in a complete or partial circle. This stamp is valuable but not especially rare. The 2002

Scott catalogue The Scott catalogue of postage stamps, published by Scott Publishing Company, now a subsidiary of Amos Media, is updated annually and lists all the stamps of the world that its editors recognize as issued for postal purposes. It is published in f ...

values an unused copy at US$600 and a used copy at $1,600.''Scott Catalogue'', 2002.

References

{{Authority control Postage stamps 19th century in Bavaria Postage stamps of Germany