Hello, I wrote a few weeks ago how important it was to have a good catalogue. Some have disagreed with me saying that a catalogue is not necessary.  What is the point when there are various online catalogues, and what is the point if you just want to collect one copy of each stamp. For example, this stamp.  One copy of a 19p GB Machin.  OK, pretty straightforward and I guess you do not need a catalogue.

But what if you have many stamps, or you want to have one of each that was issued, for say this 19p value?   From the image below, how many different stamps are there?  and the answer is not 20 !! a random selection form the hundreds we have.

Impossible to tell if you do not have a catalogue, and I should also say a magnifying glass, a perforation gauge and a UV light.  And, to be honest I am simplifying this because I am ignoring papers, gums, printers and any other type variations that may exist.

I enjoy collecting one of each stamp issued for a particular value. In this case there are the following: 4 basic stamps, and using SG numbers for this example:

SG X914 -  with 2 phosphor bands issued September 1988.

SG X956, on phosphorised paper and in booklets issued August 1988

SG X1013 also on phosphorised paper but issued in October 1988, and finally 

SG X1052 also on phosphorised paper issued by a different printer in April 1989 with a different perforation to the other three.

Of course, perhaps you have the one copy you want and you are swapping the others. It might be a shame if you kept X956 with a catalogue value of 60p and swapped on SG 1052 with a catalogue value of £3.  Just a thought, although if that doesn’t matter then no problem either.

I also use this as an example for those who ask for help identifying stamps. Sometimes just seeing an image is not enough, as in this example with GB Machins. Can you tell which is which in the above?

Have fun with your collecting at whatever level pleases you. 

Michael  cddstamps.com     and if you are looking to complete some gaps in your GB Machin collection, we have over 2,500 Machins  listed in our online store:  copy this link to go direct to the store.  https://www.hipstamp.com/store/cddstamps     In the store you can search all new listing by SG and Scott catalogue references, or better still just type the face value in teh Search Keyword field, eg 9p for all Machins with a face value of 9p.  It is that easy to fill a few gaps in your collection.    https://www.hipstamp.com/store/cddstamps

Hello and welcome to cddstamps. Today I found this nice block and thought I would share. Also nice because the sender of the mail to me took the time to keep the margins on the stamps. Very thoughtful.

They are SG 2904 ( sorry do not have Scott catalogue for these) and were also issued in a Miniature Sheet of with two other values for the 1994 World Cup Football Championship in the USA.

Enjoy your philately, Michael cddstamps.com  

and, if you are looking to fill some gaps in your collection please give us a chance to help you. just one chance please, as we are confident you will be very pleased by our service. Perhaps we have a selection that will help you.

From over 34,000 stamps now in our online store. with what we think is a pretty good selection of Great Britain and many British Commonwealth countries (mostly pre 1970 - we don't really do anything later than 1970 I might add)   

Enjoy browsing our store. Easier to find more recent listings as we are now including the stamp issue title / subject description in the title field so you can search by a keyword, and, we are now starting to add Scott numbers where we can.  Fill a gap in your collection this weekend, place an order with a total value including P&P of USD $5 and send me an email to cddstamps@gmail.com mentioning this blog post and you will receive a free pair of cddstamps tweezers with the order.    Have a Have a great weekend    Michael  

 

Hello, We had feedback that because so many visitors to Hipstamp, and hopefully our store, cddstamps,  use Scott numbering, then we should use Scott. With over 30,000 items in stock listed with SG numbers it really is not possible to change and since Hipstamp only allows us to use one catalogue reference we will stay with SG 

However, listening to our customers we are trying something else; this past week we have loaded a few more stamps to our store. AND used Scott catalogue numbers in the Description Field - so, for example, if you are looking for say PNG Scott 198 (which is also found typing SG71 in the search field) you will find it - well you should do !!!!    If you like teh stamps above then this is where to find them  https://www.hipstamp.com/store/cddstamps .....   Left SG 70 and Right SG 71.. or  Scott 197 and 198

So far we have some 200 lots listed - GB and Papua New Guinea (PNG). AND we also added the word SPECIAL in the Description field. so perhaps you can try searching by Scott number or SPECIAL in the SEARCH KEYWORDS box on our home page, 

All feedback welcome of course. If this helps search by Scott we will continue adding Scott numbering (where we can)

Perhaps make this a special philatelic weekend :- by visiting our store https://www.hipstamp.com/store/cddstamps  and fill a few more gaps in your collection at special prices :-) 

Best wishes Michael   cddstamps.com

Hello,  seems there was some interest to the piece I wrote yesterday so just one more and this time to show two more watermarks, and a few other comments.  As I mentioned upfront yesterday, I am not showing these because of any value but to demonstrate how one cannot comment on value, let alone correctly identify a stamp, unless one has all the details about the stamp(s), which one does not have from just a scanned image of the front and perhaps even the reverse, of a stamp.

These three are obviously GB George V. The first two (left to right) are GV SG 372 from the 1912 – 24 issue. They have the watermark Simple Cypher which I hope you can see on the reverse of the stamp. This time I added a copy of the watermark as shown in the SG catalogue.  Hope that helps see it. The third, right hand, stamp is SG 422 from the 1924 – 26 issue and has watermark Block Cypher.

All very straightforward really but still, I think, nice to know which issue you have if you are collecting GB. I am using GB as my example because that is easiest for me.

But is that the end of it?  No, because the 1912 – 24 issue has 19 catalogued shades of blue and the 1924 issue has 4 shades of blue.

While I do not expect many people will even be bothered to know this, I point it out because it does show that just by seeing a single scan of a stamp – using this example  - although I could show watermarks and shades for many other countries stamps to make the point  -  one cannot necessarily determine the stamp accurately AND,  I think, just my view of course, it makes collecting stamps so interesting and enjoyable, especially if you are looking through stamps in a box lot you picked up. Keep asking those questions by all means but know why you might not get a definitive (pun intended!) answer.

Enjoy your philately, and especially enjoy vising cddstamps.com

Regards    Michael

Hello, tonight I hope you will find the following of interest even though these are pretty common stamps with no real value.  I am using them to make a few points. I read lots of posts on various boards / stamp groups asking for a value of some stamp or stamps. That is impossible to do just from an image, and wisely such requests are politely referred to stamp clubs or the like.   

Let’s use these as example as I have seen posts asking for a value for same or similar stamps.  There are some things you can see from the image and some you cannot.

The first (left)  stamp is inverted watermark. You cannot see it from the image obviously, but there is a hint it might not be a regular (upright watermark)  stamp since it has short ( of clipped)  perfs on the right margin. So when sorting your GB perhaps you will see this type of short perf and decide to have a closer look at the watermark.

What about the second (middle)  stamp?   Another boring copy of SG 462, albeit it is mint unhinged, but again you cannot see that from the image. And, it is quite well centered.  To see that centering look at the third (right) stamp, which has a very thin right margin. Not that well centered. You might also think the right margin perfs are short, they are, but this is a regular upright watermark copy.

These aspects are very basic of course but perhaps start the thinking about asking for a value of stamps just from an image. And, there are many more aspects;  I have not tried to address one very obvious difference; perforation differences, which also cannot accurately be determined from a standalone image.

Big hint: get a decent catalogue and learn about the stamps for the country / period or whatever you are collecting. It will add so much pleasure to your philatelic adventure.

Enjoy your philately

Michael    cddstamps.com

Hello, two more stamps showing different postal cancel dates. I show these as an introduction to this topic that I wrote about last week. I had quite a few comments on this topic so thought just one more from me.

Let me say upfront that I am not saying there is a right and wrong position to take regarding postally used stamps and the cancellation / usage dates.  I just happen to like stamps with usage dates from about the period they were issued.  Perhaps 1997 is close to 1996 J   but whatever, the 1996 cancel is from the year and in this case, Christmas, that the stamp was issued for.  Both stamps are of course very collectible but I like my stamps, using these Christmas stamps purely as an example, from 1997 to be 1997 issued Christmas stamps.

Enjoy your philately...............  Michael    cddstamps.com

Hello

A few words tonight on the subject of cddstamps online store and the topic of stamps with postal cancels that are for the year in which the stamp(s) were issued, or close to the year in which they were issued.

First the online store - July was a busy month for us, many orders, lots of stamps to be packed and also many more stamps added to the store. Hopefully many happy customers and many gaps filled their collections.  FYI, we now have over 32,000 lots available in the store. Many more GB, now over 12,000 including over 2000 Machins,

As for postal cancels -  when we list stamps in the store we try to select stamps from our stock that have postal cancels that are current for the year of issue, or close to it.  Above top, SG 1808, issued 1994 and right  SG 1639, issued 1993, with a 2001 cancel.

Perhaps like us, you like your used stamps to have been postally used during the period they were available for release. I say this because we find on mails to us that many people these days are using “older” stamps for postage.  We received a letter the other day and the stamps used for postage were issued in 1999.  Yes they were “postally used” but we prefer postally used to mean postally used in the period they were issued.  Your thoughts?

Enjoy your philately, and especially enjoy visiting cddstamps.

Regards    Michael    cddstamps.com