A white square with a light grey "3" printed on it. Not exactly the most thrilling design to ever grace a German envelope - and according to some collectors, the ugliest ever to have been put on an envelope.
The new stamp - dubbed the Weißer Dreier, or white three-er - was never going to be popular. It was released January 1st solely to make up the awkward three cent price rise in sending a standard letter weighing up to 20 grams from 55 cents to 58 cents.
Together with the supplementary stamp, customers will be able to use up their old 55 cent stamps.
But for stamp enthusiasts on the www.philaseiten.de website the new release is not just inconvenient, but ugly, with an uncreative and lazy design.
"For me it's the worst stamp that's ever been made," one forum user wrote.
"With this design Deutsche Post has surely secured the award for the ugliest stamp in the world," wrote another disappointed philatelist.
"It's absolute crap," Josef Kratzer, head of the Young Stamp Collectors Association in Eckersdorf told the regional Soester Anzeiger news website on Thursday.
Yet some hope that despite the small face value of the stamps and the derision their design has attracted, they might be worth more in the future.
One dealer hoping the 'ugly stamp' market may hot up has already put five strips up on Ebay for €20.
The Local/jlb
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