If a person new stamp collecting were looking for an area to collect..Bavaria might be a choice. Including the back of book and officials there are probably less than 400 stamps,they are readily available and not expensive.The kingdom of Bavaria issued its own stamps until 1918 when Bavaria became a republic overprinting its stamps Volksstaat Bayern..peoples state of Bavaria and Freistaat Bayern free state of Bavaria. Within 2 years Bavaria began transferring its postal authority to the German Reichpost and Bavaria stamps over printed Deutsches Reich were issued in 1920. Bavaria stamps then became obsolete and German stamps were used from then on. I like the used overprints !
re: Looking for a new collecting interest ? Perhaps Bavaria 1849-1920 ?
"...they are readily available and not expensive."
Hmm... up to a point, Lord Copper! Some of them are a bit expensive. It's the old problem of how each of us defines that term.
Eager new Bavaria collectors had best steer clear of the following numbers: 2, 2b, 2c, 7 and 15. That little group will set them back £25,000/$35750, and there are more to come cataloguing at over £1000/$1430 each.
To be fair, these are all 19th century stamps, and those from the 20th century do come cheaper than that, as long as you collect mint. The basic stamps from 1914-1920 catalogue at £144/$206, but be prepared to pay up to a hundred times that amount if you want used. (Your dealer's usual CV-divisor applies, of course.)