(BPP) In April 2024, the BPP was able to acquire the archive of German postmarks, estimated at 500,000 to 600,000 postmarks, which had been collected over decades in the “Post & Telekommunikation” museum foundation and brought to Berlin from various storage locations throughout Germany. On January 30 and 31, 2025, twelve BPP members (and the wife of the Vice President) actively helped to lift this treasure and pack it for transportation.
A look at the ever-fuller pallets
By the end of the second working day, almost 600 boxes had been stacked on a total of twelve Euro pallets, labeled according to area and content and recorded on the computer. The project manager, board member Josef Bauer, was visibly relieved that the project went off without a hitch: “The colleagues did a great job and worked with the utmost care, there were no problems whatsoever. What’s more, everyone was delighted to gain a first insight into this unique stroke of luck for the testing industry.”
Happy faces while packing the stamp inserts
A big thank you goes to the responsible employee at the foundation, Mr. Thomas Kahlbom, who helped with advice and support at all times on both days. The head of the foundation, Dr. Veit Didczuneit, was also an interested observer of the goings-on in his depot and fortified the team with an afternoon coffee, which everyone gratefully enjoyed.
The BPP has thus taken the first step on the long journey towards the complete digitization of its stamp collection. “We will now carefully consider which sub-area we want to start digitization with. With the help of AI-based individual software, we hope to find a feasible and, above all, affordable way to scan and read the stamps and store them in a database in such a way that our examiners can easily find all the stamps they are interested in and use them for their work,” said President Christian Geigle in his closing address to the somewhat tired helpers.
The participants all agreed on one thing: these two days together were great fun. Even if the arms got longer and longer at the end…
The team (from left to right): Andreas Schlegel, Michael Haslau, Michael Ehrig, Carsten Brekenfeld, Ariane Provinsky, Christian Geigle, Dr. Peter Provinsky, Dr. Michael Jasch, Thomas Kahlbom (Foundation employee), Oliver Estelmann, Josef Bauer, Hans-Dieter Schlegel, Dr. Karsten Ruscher (Andreas Rolle is missing)