The collection of Jewish stamp dealer Julius Goldner—provenance research at the Museum for Communication Berlin and in the Philatelic Archive in Bonn

From December 2014 to March 2015, provenance research was carried out in the collection of the Museum for Communication Berlin and in the Philatelic Archive in Bonn. The aim of the project was to examine the collections in Berlin and Bonn and identify the Heligoland printing blocks, plates and stamps belonging to the Goldners, a Jewish stamp dealer family from Hamburg. These items were to be newly declared.

The Julius Goldner stamp dealership in Hamburg was expropriated and dissolved at the beginning of 1939. On August 17, 1939, in the course of selling off the company, a delivery arrived at the Reichspost museum in Berlin. It consisted of Heligoland and Romagna printing plates that the Hamburg State Police had previously seized from Goldner, along with 160 printing stamps and eight sacks of bogus postage stamps. This event could be conclusively evidenced with a delivery list from 1939. Using this source material, provenance research was carried out on the 340 Heligoland and 84 Romagna printing blocks in the collection in Berlin. As a result, it was possible to conclusively identify all the Romagna printing blocks and 223 of the Heligoland printing blocks as belonging to Goldner. Another 40 objects in the collection aroused strong suspicions and these may be researched further. However, the effort involved in this research would be immense. By contrast, 77 printing blocks in the Heligoland collection duly turned out to be the property of the Reichspost museum.

No property belonging to the Goldner family was detected in the collection of the Philatelic Archive in Bonn. Although it can certainly be considered the case that confiscated stamps were incorporated into the former Reichspost museum collection, it remained unclear precisely which stamps these were. Firstly, a large number of the Goldner company’s Heligoland stamps were sold at an auction in 1939. From today’s perspective, it is difficult to understand what was delivered to Berlin in eight sacks as bogus stamps and declared in 1939. Secondly, no sources could be found for verifiable identification.

During the search for eligible heirs it transpired that the Goldner family had emigrated to Mexico in the year of the expropriation. This became apparent from a series of compensation claims made by the Goldner family between 1949 and 1980. How far the Heligoland printing blocks and plates are affected by the payments already made is a matter that needs to be investigated legally.

Overall, the provenance research in the collection of the Museum for Communication in Berlin and in the Philatelic Archive in Bonn can be regarded as successful. The route taken by the printing blocks and plates can be traced very well: from their sale by the British governorate on Heligoland to Goldner in 1879, through expropriation in 1939 to the delivery to the Reichspost museum.

(c) Museum für Kommunikation Berlin