Austria D.D.S.G.

The Donau Dampfschiffahrt Gesellschaft (D.D.S.G) was established in 1829 by John Andrews and Joseph Pritchard, two British engineers in Vienna. 

The Austrian government granted them exclusive commercial navigation rights on the Danube.
In 1846 the DDSG agreed to carry mail between Austria and the Consular P.0.s in the Levant, and in 1866 the DDSG formally took responsibility for mail handled by its agents along the Danube. 

A uniform letter fee of 17k was charged (reduced to 10k in 1867) and the first DDSG stamps were issued.

The stamps were lithographed by H. Engle & Sohn, Vienna, in sheets of 100 formed by repeating smaller transfers of usually ten units, thus permitting easy plating. 

Printings and Usage

Genuine stamps are very scarce in used & mint. So  why are there so many on auction sites? - forgeries and vast amounts of unauthorized reprints that are very difficult to distinguish from the genuine.

Characteristics of the genuine

1. The letters are uniform and none touch the outer fine frame line

2. There is a pronounced dot bottom right of the oval

3. There is a dash between the 2 rings above the first k

NOTE - this is not foolproof as some reprints have the traits also

2 Dies were used;

Die I: this die was used in preparing all values of the D.D.S.G. stamps except

the last issue of the 10 kreuzer green in 1878.

Die 2: this die was only used for the 1878 10Kr Green

The characteristic features of Die I above are: 

1. A small coloured scratch between the two coloured oval lines above the first k of the k.k. in the inscription.

2. Two dots of colour in the background of wavy lines, below and toward either side of the central oval.

3. The heads of all the letters f in the inscription are wide and angular. 

Die II: used for the last printing of the 10 kreuzer green stamps in 1878. The features of this die are:

1. The absence of the scratch and small coloured dots.

2. The heads of all the letters f in the inscription are rounded and narrower than those in Die I.

Forgeries

Three forgery types exist for all values and colours. Engelhardt Fohl and Francois Fournier both sold forgeries of DDSG stamps, but probably neither designed or printed DDSG forgeries themselves.

FI Forgery

Forgery Type F1

Both the 17 and 10 kreuzer values appear in this type which is the same as the first described forgery in Earee's

Album Weeds. These are most likely Engelhardt Fohl of Dresden forgeries

1. All of these F1 have a white border around the stamp due to the printing process.

2. The first D of Dampfschiffahrt is poorly shaped & no dots after the numerals

3. It also appears most if not all are cancelled with a central pen stroke

There are 5 sub types each of each that can be plated.

FII Forgery

Forgery Type FII

Roughly lithographed on smooth white paper; perforation 13, also imperforate

The main characteristics are

A thin white line has been left between each stamp.

Almost all of the taller letters of the inscription touch the coloured lines above and below them.

Some may have two dots instead of one after the numerals denoting the value

There are numerous shades of both the 17 and 10 kreuzer stamps.

Bogus illegible cancellations have been found on these forgeries.

FIII Forgery

Forgery Type FIII

Lithographed on faintly toned paper, perforation clean cut 11.5 or imperforate.

The design is well executed and the printing is of good quality.

The main characteristics of these forgeries are:

1. The letters in the inscription are slightly larger than in the original stamps.

2. Each f the cross bar extending only to the right

3. The foot of the 7 curves to the right.

There are many color varieties

Only one cancelled example has been recorded

Torres Forgery

Placido Torres Forgery

A well done forgery

1. The C in SCHI is broken

2. The key feature is the hook on the end of the 7

"Fournier Forgeries"

Forgeries sold by Fournier from different sources

From the Fournier Geneva Collection

NOTE - see the large Fournier blocks in the Addendum

Reprints

By the time the use of stamps ended in 1880, there was sufficient collector demand for the stamps to be reprinted, and various reprints were made between 1880 and 1900. 

All values and colours were reprinted, and fall into three categories. In general, reprints are on thicker paper than originals, but paper of the last original issue (10k green Die II) is close to that of early reprints. 

Reprint Type I

Reprint Type I

Original 17

The first reprint was apparently made from the same stone used to print the scarce original 10 kreuzer, green, Die II stamps.

They are known imperforate (scarce) and perforated 9.5, and in pale and bright green, pale violet, pale red, and black (imperforate only).

For the 17 kreuzer it appears the printers prepared a new printing stone from the original matrix of 20 types, and altered the 10 to 17

All the f’s have very round tops and the base of the 7 and the serif on the 1 are different from the original stamp.

The secret marks are also gone

Reprint Type II

Reprint Type II

This reprint is the really dangerous one as it covers all values and was made from the stone for the original stamps from Die I.

These reprints show the secret marks of the original but perhaps not as clearly

The only certain way to check is by examining the paper. In the originals, the paper is always very thin hard white wove, while the reprints it appears on a somewhat thicker and softer paper.

The gum used on the originals was rather thick and pasty and practically colorless, while on the reprints it is thin, smooth, and hardly visible.

The stone used for these reprints was the same one used for the originals.

By the time it was employed for the reprints, however, it had picked up some additional characteristics, mainly prominent scratches. 

Reprint Type III

Reprint Type III

The two dots in the lower part of the background, have disappeared, making the identification of these reprints simple.

They retained most of the original characteristics and also picked up new ones which indicate the five new types of each value. 

A certain amount of retouching was probably done at this point, too, as in a number of copies there seem to be definite indications that certain small flaws characteristic of the various types of the originals and earlier reprints have been deliberately removed

It was also at this stage that the two dots of color in the lower background disappeared.

In many copies the small scratch of color above the first "k" of "k.k." seems to have been partially or wholly erased.

The 10 kreuzer can be found in red, lilac and green

Addendum

Fournier Geneva Collection blocks