1970 Germany

Issued in 1970 as part of West Germany's annual Wohlfahrtsmarke — welfare stamp — series, this pair depicts two marionette figures from the traditional German puppet theater tradition. The 10+5 pfennig stamp shows a jester marionette in the classic harlequin costume of bells, diamonds, and motley colors, while the 30+15 pfennig stamp depicts a clown marionette in an equally elaborate costume of ruffles and floral decoration. Both figures are shown suspended on their strings, bringing an immediacy and playfulness to the designs that set them apart from more conventional stamp subjects. The surcharges on each value went to benefit German social welfare programs.

Germany's annual welfare stamp series, issued every year since 1949, has become one of the most beloved and consistently collected stamp programs in European philately. Each year a different theme is chosen — dolls, fairy tales, flowers, musical instruments — and the four or five values in the set are designed as a cohesive series. The 1970 puppet theater set is among the most colorful and whimsical of the postwar welfare issues. Marionette theater has deep roots in German folk culture, with traveling puppet shows entertaining both children and adults for centuries, and the jester and clown figures depicted here draw on that long tradition.