cddstamps on stamps

my thoughts on stamps, stamp collecting, philately in general and maybe a few other topics !

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

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

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