With older USA, you may want to collect "Face Different". A lot of the Scott numbers listed are the same stamp with different perforations, very minor varieties etc. Think the Washington / Franklin series.
And in the 19th Century we have stamps with and without grills, grill varieties... in fact some of the stamps with different Scott numbers came off the same sheet. Ignore it all!
I have the HE Harris catalog, mine a few years old. It's hard cover with spiral binding and all the illustrations are in color. It shows each face different stamp, and lists the Scott numbers under it. You only need to collect the cheapest variety for your collection!
I wish I had just collected face different on the early US stamps. I have been trying to reach the PSE organization as they list album pages for so-called US Design based album pages on their web site although they have been difficult to reach. If suitable pages can be located (or, as a long shot, created on Scott blank pages using Album Easy or similar applications) I think I am going to sell off the duplicate issues and concentrate on the missing stamps that I don't have and/or replace the issues with unused stamps as a goal. That should keep me busy for quite a while! I did some checking and it looks like I would be looking at replacement of around 160 stamps. At least I think it would be a possibility unless I change my mind. It is definitely the case that the US collection has taken a back seat to collections for other areas over the past several years in terms of interest and this would be one way to reactivate this collection area.
Like Harvey, I have been acquiring a few back of the book issues during the last year with my largest growth in cut squares filling in only the International album items for now.
I'm an old fashioned collector, so "face different" doesn't really appeal to me. I'm just content to fill the odd early US space as I can afford to. And there's always going to be affordable BOB to find. I recently changed my mind and decided that I actually DID want to collect the dated reds and greens, I picked up a large number on E-Bay with pages. That alone will keep me busy for years. The album spaces really don't bother me! I decided to be a smart ass the other day and added a space on my air mail page for the Inverted Jenny - thank God I don't collect blocks! If you have ever checked out my profile you know I collect many areas, I just picked up a nice group of the four early overprinted Ireland coils the other day. Actually with a bit of effort it is actually possible to complete Ireland up to my cut off. Tricky, but possible! I've finished a couple areas and that last stamp always feels good - like when I found Nyassa #125. I decided to not try for the two surcharges of the 1921 series since it seems impossible to tell the difference anyway! I have a couple more areas I can possibly complete, I guess the US is just not one of them, or Canada either - unless one of you has a spare #32 to sell or copies of the Port Hood Provisionals at a fair price. We can always dream!
I just picked up a copy of US #676, the last Nebr. overprint I needed. With my US cut off of 1977, I am now complete from #1702 back to #614 which is the 1 cent "New Netherland" stamp. And since #613 (a perf 11, 2 cent black Harding memorial stamp) has a 2010 price of $45 000, I think I am back as far as I can go. I'm missing about 135 regular US stamps before #613 and about half of those are very expensive. I think it's time to really concentrate on US BoB, especially the revenue stamps. The only airmail I need is the higher valued Zeppelin stamp, so I guess I'm getting there!!
re: Gone back as far as I can go!!
With older USA, you may want to collect "Face Different". A lot of the Scott numbers listed are the same stamp with different perforations, very minor varieties etc. Think the Washington / Franklin series.
And in the 19th Century we have stamps with and without grills, grill varieties... in fact some of the stamps with different Scott numbers came off the same sheet. Ignore it all!
I have the HE Harris catalog, mine a few years old. It's hard cover with spiral binding and all the illustrations are in color. It shows each face different stamp, and lists the Scott numbers under it. You only need to collect the cheapest variety for your collection!
re: Gone back as far as I can go!!
I wish I had just collected face different on the early US stamps. I have been trying to reach the PSE organization as they list album pages for so-called US Design based album pages on their web site although they have been difficult to reach. If suitable pages can be located (or, as a long shot, created on Scott blank pages using Album Easy or similar applications) I think I am going to sell off the duplicate issues and concentrate on the missing stamps that I don't have and/or replace the issues with unused stamps as a goal. That should keep me busy for quite a while! I did some checking and it looks like I would be looking at replacement of around 160 stamps. At least I think it would be a possibility unless I change my mind. It is definitely the case that the US collection has taken a back seat to collections for other areas over the past several years in terms of interest and this would be one way to reactivate this collection area.
Like Harvey, I have been acquiring a few back of the book issues during the last year with my largest growth in cut squares filling in only the International album items for now.
re: Gone back as far as I can go!!
I'm an old fashioned collector, so "face different" doesn't really appeal to me. I'm just content to fill the odd early US space as I can afford to. And there's always going to be affordable BOB to find. I recently changed my mind and decided that I actually DID want to collect the dated reds and greens, I picked up a large number on E-Bay with pages. That alone will keep me busy for years. The album spaces really don't bother me! I decided to be a smart ass the other day and added a space on my air mail page for the Inverted Jenny - thank God I don't collect blocks! If you have ever checked out my profile you know I collect many areas, I just picked up a nice group of the four early overprinted Ireland coils the other day. Actually with a bit of effort it is actually possible to complete Ireland up to my cut off. Tricky, but possible! I've finished a couple areas and that last stamp always feels good - like when I found Nyassa #125. I decided to not try for the two surcharges of the 1921 series since it seems impossible to tell the difference anyway! I have a couple more areas I can possibly complete, I guess the US is just not one of them, or Canada either - unless one of you has a spare #32 to sell or copies of the Port Hood Provisionals at a fair price. We can always dream!