Catalog Question - Clarification Needed

I need clarification regarding the "eagle/shield" National Types category of the Bureau Precancel Catalog 5th Edition. I'm referring to the listing on page 227 and 228.

What is the difference between 3794 and 3798 (both blue on gold) of the 2003 series? I'm thinking that 3798 is a misprint and should be "gray on gold" to correspond to the like order of the 2004 series below it. And if it is "gray on gold", then it'll be a repeat of 3792.

Likewise, the 2004 series 3844 and 3850 (gray on gold) are repetitious.

Am I misreading the catalog or are these legit errors?

Frankie

Frankie: I can't answer your question but while you are waiting for someone to do that I would like to ask you this - given your cartographic background that you mention in your profile do you have a keen interest in "map" stamps or just precancels?

I can't help you as far as the precancel catalog listings, but let me share the following from a standard postage stamp catalog on the color issues you question:



According to the catalog listing, the #3794 is "dull blue" and the #3798 is "Prussian blue" as shown above.

On Scott #3844, the color is cited as "gray" background and on #3850 it is on a "green" background.

I don't actively collect all of these varieties but I suspect the varieties between the 2003 and 2004 series rely on the microprinted date in the lower left corner to tell them apart.

There is also a noticeable difference in the perforation:

2003 are perf 11.75
2004 are perf 9.75

There is also 2005, which is perf 11.5.

No further explanation is needed to understand why so many long-time US collectors dropped out of collecting recent mint US stamps.

Thanks for the clarification wt1. That color chart is a big help as I'm color blind and you'll be surprise to what my brain interprets through my eyeballs!

Cynical: I am retired - been making maps (charts) for the federal government for almost 33 years. I don't collect stamps in general. Precancels is just an offshoot hobby and very much a geography related collection.
I'm not a serious precancel collector and never intended to be, but have accumulated enough precancels in the past to warrant ordering the catalogs. I say "offshoot", because I'm a serious collector of current U.S. "spray-on cancels" with the current design being the holiday snowman issue. I now have over 11,000 different ones all cut to 2x4 inch format. Whatever I collect, it keeps me off the streets and out of trouble!

Frankie,
this is an interesting thread, you may wish to
change the title of the thread to something like
"US eagle-shield types" or similar, so collectors
in the future can access this thread when searching,
otherwise it gets lost in the dross of non searchable topics.
Cheers

Thanks for the advice Rod222. Makes perfect sense. Will do with upcoming posts.

Frankie