I was just sorting through a packet of Berlin stamps and it gave me some questions:
1. Why did Berlin need its own stamps separate from West Germany?
2. A percentage seem to be CTO full gum with Frankfurt (Frankfurt am Main) cancels. Was there a German philatelic bureau selling them from Frankfurt instead of Berlin?
"West Berlin under the jurisdiction of the three western powers started to release its own stamps on September 3, 1948. It continued to issue stamps under the Deutsche Bundespost Berlin label for 42 years, a total of over 800 different stamps, until the reunification in 1990. Many West Berlin stamps were similar to the stamps of West Germany. West Berlin and West German stamps could be used in either jurisdiction."
" 1. Why did Berlin need its own stamps separate from West Germany?"
Basically, for political and juridical reasons. West Berlin remained under the ultimate jurisdiction of the Western allies, making it essentially an entity unto itself. While cooperation with the Federal Republic was close, some things had to remain separate, at least on paper. Hence the "Landespostdirection Berlin", and mutual recognition of their stamps was suject to an agreement between Berlin's Landespost and Deutsche Bundespost.