Country of production Germany Face value 5 Pfennig | Date of production 1948 | |
 | ||
Nature of rarity unissued, nearly all printed copies were destroyed No. in existence 103
(1 sheet of 100 and 3 single stamps) | ||
The Yellow Cathedral (German Gelber Dom) is an unissued stamp produced by the Deutsche Post. Beginning on September 1, 1948, a new stamp series, the so-called "building series", was introduced in the American and British Occupation Zones of Germany. A planned design was the Cologne Cathedral in yellow, with a nominal value of five Pfennig. The stamp was intended to be used as a surcharge stamp for airmail delivery.
The actual issued stamp was blue (Michel catalogue number 75) and all but a few copies of the yellow printed stamps were destroyed. There have been only three known auctions of single stamps.
Between September 20 and 22, 2007, the only complete sheet of stamps was on display at the Cologne fair Philatelie und MünzExpo (Philately and Coin Exposition). The displayed copy was from Bonn's Archive of Philately. The insured value of that sheet is one million euros.