POSTAGE STAMPS
(1923)

This page was last updated
16-Jan-2026 11:16

MICHEL 318
REGULAR ISSUE NUMBER IN CIRCLE WITH ROSETTE

The design of stamps Mi 313 to 330 are referred to as 'Basket lid' or denomination in circle with rosette. The stamps are printed typography on waffle watermarked paper and most of them were produced either flat plate printing or rotary press printing. In addition some of them exist perf comb 14 x 14¼ and rouletted 13.

The stamps exist with a large number of errors: damaged letters, numbers or posthorns, flattened numbers, shading errors, shifted print etc, but only the most common of these are described below.

Mi 318 was produced using flat plate printing and exists in either perf comb 14 x 14¼ or rouletted 13.



VALIDITY: 19th Oct 1923 until 31st Dec 1923
VALUE: 10 Millionen MARK
COLOUR: dark to blackish vermillion (shades)
WATERMARK: Waffle
PERF: comb 14 x 14¼ / rouletted
SIZE: 22 x 26mm
PRINT TYPE: Typography
AVAILABILITY: Sheets
QUANTITY PRINTED: Unknown

MAJOR VARIATIONS

This stamp was only produced using flat plate printing but there are two major variations



ABOVE LEFT: Mi 318 A P - comb 14 x 14¼ flat plate printing
ABOVE RIGHT: Mi 318 B P - rouletted flat plate printing

COLOUR VARIATIONS

There are no major colour variations but there are shades

UPPER EDGE PIECES: (Flat Plate Printing Upper Margin Copies - P OR). There are six types of upper edge piece.

Mi 318 A P OR A (Plate A - upper margin only with row values)
Mi 318 A P OR B (Plate B – upper margin with bar of dashes and row values)
Mi 318 A P OR C (Plate C – upper margin with thin line and row values)
Mi 318 B P OR A (Plate A - upper margin only with row values)
Mi 318 B P OR B (Plate B – upper margin with bar of dashes and row values)
Mi 318 B P OR C (Plate C – upper margin with thin line and row values)



ABOVE LEFT: Mi 318 A P OR A (Plate A - upper margin only with row values)
ABOVE RIGHT: Mi 318 A P OR B (Plate B – upper margin with bar of dashes and row values)

MARGIN COPIES (left or right) with rouletting

Mi 318 A P dgz

HAN: There are six different HAN

Mi 318 A P: H5887.23
Mi 318 A P: H5887.23 / H (black bar) .23
Mi 318 A P: H (space).23 (misprint)
Mi 318 B P: H5887.23
Mi 318 B P: H5887.23 / H (black bar) .23
Mi 318 B P: H (space).23 (misprint)



ABOVE: Mi 318 A HAN H5887.23

OTHER VARIANTS

Mi 318 A P Uu: bottom imperforate
Mi 318 A P Uzw: vertical imperforate
Mi 318 A P Udr: bottom perforatio only
Mi 318 A P F: without denomination
Mi 318 A P DD: double denomination

'CRACK' PLATE FLAWS

There is a crack on the left side of the rosette as well as other anomalies. Besides the crack (HT), the other most common flaw is fraying of the margin beneath the posthorn (PE 1). These two faults always appear together on a sheet in fields 43, 48, 93 and 98.

Mi 318 A P HT: crack
Mi 318 B P HT: crack
Mi 318 A Pe 1: frayed margin
Mi 318 B Pe 1: frayed margin



ABOVE LEFT: Mi 318 A P HT 1 Cracked plate flaw
ABOVE RIGHT: Mi 318 A PE 1 Cracked plate flaw

PLATE FLAWS

There are no other major plate flaws

STAMPS FROM MY COLLECTION

All of the stamps from here until the end of the page are from my collection

MINT / POSTALLY UNUSED

ABOVE LEFT: Mi 318 A P - comb 14 x 14¼ flat plate printing
ABOVE RIGHT: Mi 318 B P - rouletted flat plate printing

UPPER MARGIN PIECES - P OR

ABOVE LEFT: Mi 318 A P OR A (Plate A - upper margin only with row values)
ABOVE RIGHT: Mi 318 A P OR B (Plate B – upper margin with bar of dashes and row values)

HAN

There are six different HAN



ABOVE: Mi 318 A HAN H5887.23

CRACKED PLATE FLAWS

ABOVE LEFT: Mi 318 A HT 1 Cracked plate flaw on left stamp
ABOVE RIGHT: Mi 318 A PE 1 flaw



ABOVE LEFT: Mi 318 B HT 1 Cracked plate flaw on left stamp
ABOVE RIGHT: Mi 318 B PE 1 flaw

REFERENCES:

1. MICHEL Deutschland-Spezial 2022 Band 1: 1849 bis April 1945. ISBN: 978-95402-401-8.
2. www.colnect.com
3. Plattenfehler Katalog Deutsches Reich 1872-1945 inkl. Dienstmarken, 4th Edition 2003. Thomas Schantl Verlag. ISBN: 3-932769-25-2