Sheet of stamps

On November 13, 1994, the Deutsche Post changed the format of its emissions to sheets of ten stamps each, due to reasons of efficiency.

The edges of these sheets are specially designed, making them a novel field of collecting.

At the post office counter, only the four separated printing sheets are sold.

[2] The empty fields connecting the single counter sheets are called gutters.

Normally they are separated in the middle after printing in order to obtain four counter sheets.

A specific characteristic of the gutters is the heart of the printing sheet, where all four panes are connected.

Gutters and hearts are very popular with collectors and reach high catalog prices, especially for classic issues.

To be able to distinguish between the single sheets better, the stamps were printed rotated 180° to each other along the separation line.