Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
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The Stanley Gibbons Great Britain Specialised Catalogs list number printed or sold, but I don't see that listed in the Concise. I don't know of an online resource.
Geoff
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Thanks for the word on the Stanley Gibbons specialized catalogues.
Jim
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SG publish a useful booklet, Great Britain Numbers Issued 1840 to 1910, which lists the numbers of sheets and stamps issued in this period where these are known:
https://www.stanleygibbons.com/gb-numbers-issued-1840-1910-specialist-stamp-handbooks-r2726.html
My old Michel Europa-Katalog gives numbers issued for British issues up to the end of 1994.
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I use a set of three Michel Europa-Katalog volumes from 1998/99 that cover the whole of Europe and they list numbers of stamps or sets issued for most countries and issues.
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Stampworld (www.stampworld.com) has distribution figures for a number of nations, including Great Britain. For Canadian stamps, the Unitrade specialized indicates the number of stamps produced in a run. I would assume other specialized catalogues do as well.
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Thanks for the additional good leads. StampWorld is useful though it doesn't have numbers for many issues. I wasn't familiar with the Michel Europa-Katalog and will pursue that as well.
Jim
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Stamp Smarter lists 'Quantity Issued' (if known) for all US stamps
http://www.stampsmarter.com/1847usa/1847Home.html
Plus, it is free. 
Don
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That's a great link, Don!
It looks like a lot of the 19th Century quantities are there. For early 20th Century I depend on Max Johl's book.
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You have to be careful how you use this information. Some references show number printed, some number sold - that is number printed less those returned and/or destroyed. Only the latter indicates subsequent scarcity. Even this does not indicate relevant scarcity of mint to used.
As a general rule you can only make a comparison with mint stamps. The use and survival of used stamps is a whole different ball game. In general more stamps per 1000 mint will survive for commemoratives as opposed to definitives, and for low quantity definitives mint can be quite scarce. However whatever the survival rates for used stamps tends to be irrelevant as the number ( as opposed to percentage ) of used definitives is usually far in excess of that required by collectors.
Of course having put down these sweeping generalisations - it is important not to generalise !!
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Case in point would be the USA Zeppelin stamps. The sales were a small fraction of anticipated sales because nobody had the 4.55 face value to spend on a set. Note that you could buy a new car for $455 back then, to appreciate what those stamps cost! Thus the majority of the printing was returned and destroyed. So if you look at the printing numbers they appear fairly common, but look at units sold and it's quite another story!
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What sources can I turn to find out how many stamps were printed for any particular issue? I'm most interested in the stamps of Great Britain, but any insight into general resources not limited to GB would be of interest. I apologize if this is a topic that's been dealt with elsewhere on Stamporama (the search function for the Discussions isn't very "surgical" so I don't know).
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08:24:51pm
re: Number printed per issue
The Stanley Gibbons Great Britain Specialised Catalogs list number printed or sold, but I don't see that listed in the Concise. I don't know of an online resource.
Geoff
1 Member
likes this post.
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re: Number printed per issue
Thanks for the word on the Stanley Gibbons specialized catalogues.
Jim
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this post
re: Number printed per issue
SG publish a useful booklet, Great Britain Numbers Issued 1840 to 1910, which lists the numbers of sheets and stamps issued in this period where these are known:
https://www.stanleygibbons.com/gb-numbers-issued-1840-1910-specialist-stamp-handbooks-r2726.html
My old Michel Europa-Katalog gives numbers issued for British issues up to the end of 1994.
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this post
re: Number printed per issue
I use a set of three Michel Europa-Katalog volumes from 1998/99 that cover the whole of Europe and they list numbers of stamps or sets issued for most countries and issues.
Login to Like
this post
re: Number printed per issue
Stampworld (www.stampworld.com) has distribution figures for a number of nations, including Great Britain. For Canadian stamps, the Unitrade specialized indicates the number of stamps produced in a run. I would assume other specialized catalogues do as well.
Login to Like
this post
re: Number printed per issue
Thanks for the additional good leads. StampWorld is useful though it doesn't have numbers for many issues. I wasn't familiar with the Michel Europa-Katalog and will pursue that as well.
Jim
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this post
re: Number printed per issue
Stamp Smarter lists 'Quantity Issued' (if known) for all US stamps
http://www.stampsmarter.com/1847usa/1847Home.html
Plus, it is free.
Don
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re: Number printed per issue
That's a great link, Don!
It looks like a lot of the 19th Century quantities are there. For early 20th Century I depend on Max Johl's book.
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10:50:14am
re: Number printed per issue
You have to be careful how you use this information. Some references show number printed, some number sold - that is number printed less those returned and/or destroyed. Only the latter indicates subsequent scarcity. Even this does not indicate relevant scarcity of mint to used.
As a general rule you can only make a comparison with mint stamps. The use and survival of used stamps is a whole different ball game. In general more stamps per 1000 mint will survive for commemoratives as opposed to definitives, and for low quantity definitives mint can be quite scarce. However whatever the survival rates for used stamps tends to be irrelevant as the number ( as opposed to percentage ) of used definitives is usually far in excess of that required by collectors.
Of course having put down these sweeping generalisations - it is important not to generalise !!
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this post
re: Number printed per issue
Case in point would be the USA Zeppelin stamps. The sales were a small fraction of anticipated sales because nobody had the 4.55 face value to spend on a set. Note that you could buy a new car for $455 back then, to appreciate what those stamps cost! Thus the majority of the printing was returned and destroyed. So if you look at the printing numbers they appear fairly common, but look at units sold and it's quite another story!
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