Australia Megafauna Issue October 2008

Hello. I arrived back in Sydney today and was catching up on stamps and various philatelic magazines. I read an interesting article by David Mallen in the December issue of Stamp News Australasia which I thought I'd share with you.

It included a piece about the number of variations there were with the October 2008 Australia Megafauna issue. David is a specialist on variations and writes a good piece regularily I might add on this topic - Variations.

Variations exist for so many stamps these days and often we forget that, and if we collect stamps, as in say new issues, we often forget, or perhaps dont know, how many variations there are to the, lets say, "basic issue'

Take this issue.

Interesting stamps by many accounts I am sure. Cost would be $4.40 Australian (AUD) for a set. Ok. I can manage that, but a full set including all variations would set you back $53.20 AUD. Big difference. Why? Well there are variations for perforations, blocks, strips, and pairs, gutters, minisheets and self adhesives as well as the regular "lick and stick" gummed issue.

For example, and using what David tells in his article, there were 10 different formats of blocks, strips and pairs of the gummed stamps and 2 different perforations. And the last 8 pages of the prestige booklet contained 8 different minisheets. There is more but I think you get the idea.

So moral here, or why am I sharing this with you, is if you want to collect new issues and want a complete collection the cost these days is significantly more than you might at first think.

I'll have to check if David wrote a piece on the August Aviation issue, as I know there are so many variations there, especially of the $2 stamp which featured the Qantas A380.

What is it like in your country? Same, worse or not too bad? Write me and I'll share with others. Enjoy your stamps, watch your budget :-)

Best wishes.......... Michael

PS don't forget my new blog Airplanes and Aerophilately - http://cddstamps.wordpress.com/