Famous through a stamp
It was only recently made public that the former German Minister of Traffic and Postal Services, Kurt Gscheidle (°1924), died in Saarbrücken on the 22nd of February.
Philatelists will know the name Gscheidle because of the so-called Gscheidle-Irrtum. Gscheidle, as Minister of Postal Services, received a sheet of every stamp which was issued in Germany. This was also the case wth the 1980 Olympic Games stamp. Eventually, however, this stamp was not issued because of the German boycot of the 1980 Games. Unfortunately, mrs. Gscheidle forgot about this and simply stamped her letters with the stamps which her man abundantly was keeping on his desk. That's how stamps, which were never issued, got spread; these 'non-émis' are now anxiously wanted and paid high prices for. Gscheidle is dead but his name lives on, thanks to philately.
More info:
Maandblad Filatelie
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