Content of Michel Catalog Feuerwehr – Ganze Welt 2020

Over 2'000 Stamp issues from around the world on the topic of the equipment of firemen and their tasks and actions as well as fires, their causes, consequences and, last but not least, how to prevent fires, based on the data of the MICHEL Online Catalog Database.

• The first edition that is dedicated to a globally popular collection area
• Even the Antiquity already saw organised fire departments, and the fire hose was invented as early as in the third century before Christ!
• This new MICHEL volume presents issues that depict the equipment of firemen and their tasks and actions as well as fires, their causes, consequences and, last but not least, how to prevent fires.
• For the selection of the stamps included in this first edition of the new motif volume, the MeinMICHEL technology that customers also have access to and that is part of the MICHEL Online Database was applied for the first time.
• Over 200 collection areas that include issues starting in 1937 feature this theme!
• More than 2000 colour photos and approx. 15,000 price appraisals
• Includes novelties up to MICHEL Rundschau 3/2020

The dangers that come with fire have been a fundamental issue all over the world since the early days of human evolution. Since urbanization – or even before – volunteers and professional firemen have had an important social function. For that reason it is hardly surprising that stamps with motifs that focus on these rescuers in need are found all over the world.

Yet warnings concerning the prevention of fires have already been motifs featured in many of the 200+ collection areas contained in this new volume that focuses on motifs. The first issue of the permanent series “Jederzeit Sicherheit“ (“Always Safe“) or “Unfallverhütung“ (”Accident Control“) was also dedicated to this topic. MICHEL No. 694 from 1971 warns about fires caused by matches. Thus one of the most elementary dangers makes for the starting point of this well-known permanent stamp series and is the focus of this new MICHEL motif volume.

Target Group:

Stamp collectors specialized in stamps on firemen, experts, dealers, thematic collectors, study groups, teachers

Title: MICHEL Catalog Feuerwehr Ganze Welt 2020
Edition: 1st edition, in color.
Pages: 200
Format: 148 mm x 210 mm, paperback
Publisher: Schwaneberger Verlag GmbH
Publication Date: 19 June 2020
Language: German

MICHEL provides top-quality information for collectors

Thanks to decades of experience and constant revision, the MICHEL catalogs are unmatched in terms of lay-out, comprehensiveness, accuracy and production. MICHEL catalogues provide all key information on stamps, postal stationary and coins. The systematic collection of data on collectable items, a well-organised system and detailed illustrations ensure easy use and a quick way to find required information. Each new edition of a MICHEL catalog is completely revised, updated and expanded so that it always reflects the latest situation on the market.

Users of the MICHEL catalogs value the comprehensive and detailed listings of collectable items. The MICHEL catalogs are among the best in the world when it comes to details, comprehensiveness and illustration. MICHEL products have been awarded well over 600 medals (including 31 gold), diplomas and honorary prizes in the course of the company’s history. The expertise of the Schwaneberger publishing house’s staff is outstandingly represented in the MICHEL catalogs.

The colourful, varied range of products includes standard and special-edition catalogues for Germany, Europe and overseas. There is also philatelic literature, the MICHEL-Exklusiv album, the MICHEL Colour Guide, the MICHEL-Lux examination lamp and the MICHEL-Rundschau monthly magazine. More than 85 different products in total.

MICHEL also enjoys a good reputation in electronic publishing thanks to various software programs, websites and e-catalogs. It is no wonder that the MICHEL catalogs have been known for years as the “philatelists’ bible”. However, bearing this accolade brings with it the responsibility of always remaining at the top with regard to quality.

The 669,000th MICHEL catalog number was issued recently. A look at the most important of the 85 different MICHEL catalogs reveals that the catalogues for Europe and overseas alone make up some 25,000 catalog pages. They contain 314,000 pictures and 1,800,000 price quotations. Most of this information is stored in powerful picture and text databases and is consulted, revised and corrected for each new edition of a MICHEL catalog. And of course that also applies to each individual page, irrespective of which MICHEL catalog it comes from. MICHEL goes to great lengths on its customers’ behalf. MICHEL’s editorial team spends an average of 45 minutes on research for each new set of stamps. Around 18,000 new stamps appear each year, which are then catalogued and published in the MICHEL-Rundschau, as well as in the relevant MICHEL catalog and online catalogue.

100 years of the MICHEL catalogue

It is more than 100 years since the stamp dealer Hugo MICHEL from Apolda in Thüringen published the first MICHEL stamp catalogue in 1909. He thereby created a product that would be continually be improved, but never surpassed. In the same year, publisher and philatelic editor Hugo Schwaneberger founded a publishing company that bore his name. The philatelist, who was well known in his field, created the Schwaneberger Album, the first album to adopt a scientific approach.
Owing to the great demand for MICHEL catalog, Hugo MICHEL was no longer able to dedicate himself to his career as a stamp dealer. He therefore sold the rights to the publisher Schwaneberger. The catalogue, which had only covered Europe until that point, was expanded by the new publishing house to include overseas countries.

Hugo MICHEL continued to edit the catalogue supplement, which is today known as the MICHEL-Rundschau. The company was then bought by the publisher Eugen Berlin. He moved it to Munich in 1950 where he came across a company, the Carl Geber printing works (now the Gerber Satz und Gerber publishing house) that was able to draw up the complicated catalogue typesetting. The publishing rights went to the Hohenester/Gerber families who assigned them to the publishing house, now trading as the “Schwaneberger Verlag”.

At the turn of the century other stamp catalogues had already appeared, but the remarkable success of the MICHEL catalog was attributed to its sophisticated and comprehensive cataloguing system. The stamps were numbered successively from the first number for each country, yet at the same time organised according to various sub-categories and genres, and described as fully as possible. This system was refined over the years and adapted where necessary - but never had to be changed! In fact, the MICHEL numbering system has become standard in Germany. This is underscored by the numerous licence contracts that the Schwaneberger Verlag has concluded with other publishers. All stock lists of German dealers are organised according to the MICHEL numbering system. Collectors exchange, buy and sell using MICHEL numbers.

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Press Release:

As the issues contained in this new MICHEL motif volume “Fire Department“ show, the greatest progress of fire departments, which are often a voluntary association of private citizens, and their equipment came about in the 19th and 20th centuries. The growing urbanization, however, has led to the fact that an ever increasing number of objects has to be protected from fires.

On the one hand, the MICHEL Fire Department – The Whole World presents issues that depict the equipment used by firemen as well as their tasks and actions. On the other hand, many stamps feature fires, their causes and consequences. How to avoid fires, particularly those in forests, is also the topic of many stamp issues. The disasters in large parts of Australia that occurred around the end of the Year 2019 and the start of 2020 are a tragic confirmation of this danger.

The issues featured in this Fire Department motif volume were selected by using the method provided by “MeinMICHEL“, which we applied for our own product for the first time. It enables customers to conduct a quick search for key words and facilitates a check of the relevance of the listed results. It therefore also allows for individual compilations of unusual motifs or themes obtained in easy steps.

All stamps issued up to March of 2020 have been included in this new MICHEL volume Fire Department insofar as they have already been recorded. You will find any future issues in our monthly MICHEL Rundschau or on MICHEL Online.

The fire department is part of our daily lives – whether it puts out fires or rescues children in dire straits. Therefore it is a theme that is definitely worth any stamp collector’s time.

Schwaneberger Publishing House
The Editorial TeamCheck also some pins from our pinterest board Fire Department on Stamps to give you an idea of the variety of stamps that exist: