German post offices abroad

The German post offices abroad were an extraterritorial network of German post offices in foreign countries with a significant German commercial interest to provide mail service where the local services were generally deemed unsafe or unreliable,[citation needed] such as China, Morocco, Ottoman Empire and Zanzibar.

[citation needed] The cancellation mark of the mail processed by the German system in the early period are the only means of identifying the point of use; such stamps are known as "Vorläufer" (forerunner) stamps.

[1] Later stamps are identified by overprints of the place of issuance even when not for postal use.

[citation needed] Stamps from German post offices abroad are popular with collectors and some can be valuable.

In a 2006 auction, a 40 Pfennig Germania hand-stamped "China" (Tientsin issue) stamp from 1900 realized 100,152 Euros.