Description: This steel-blue definitive stamp was issued by the German Democratic Republic (DDR) as a provisional surcharge. The underlying artwork displays three determined metallurgical steelworkers or industrial foundry laborers conferring on the shop floor, illustrating the communist regime's glorification of the proletariat. A small circular crest at the lower right frames the numeral 5 intertwined with a hammer, compass, and rye grain wreath. The original face value of 12 (Pfennig) at the top center has been boldly crossed out with a black "X", while a prominent black overprint assigns a new, lowered denomination of 10. The base margin states the country name "DEUTSCHE DEMOKRATISCHE REPUBLIK". This postally traveled example is struck by two thin, curved mechanical cancellation lines.
Circa: 1950s
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