Hello From Maine

I collected stamps as a kid starting around 10 years old. I collected till the mid 70's and than stopped. Now just over 50 I'm just getting started and wow things have changed. Most of my stamps as a kid came from my grandfather and the local Woolworths store by the bag. Not worth all that much but I still have most of my old collection. Starting again I find my interest in US Mint sheets. I have a lot to catch up on and I have a lot of questions. I hope to find some answers here. I'm sorry I'm not much of a blogger but I'll do my best. My question is on understanding my Scott catalogue The Great American Issues 1980-85 Dorothea Dix 1844 there is a listing (b.Vert.pair,imperf. btwn. And with natural straight edge at bottom) I need help understanding what that means. As a sheet should the bottom be cut straight or not. Thanks for looking at my first blog.

Hello Wayneskow, welcome to Stamp Community!





The sheet has a straight edge on three sides, so no problem there.

The other words, abbreviated, are 'Bottom pair imperforated between'.

So, a vertically-oriented pair of stamps, separated from the bottom of the sheet, only imperf. between the two stamps, is diffeerent than than a pair from, say, the above pictured ordinary type sheet.

No Scott cat. here, but I did have before, and I think the abbreviations are described in the front or back of the catalog.

Thank you Puzzler. I do have to spend more time reading and understanding my catalogue.

Welcome waynesko! I think having the first stamps you started
your collection are worth a lot to you and will become more valuable
as you age. You should be able to get most of the modern sheets at or below face. This site has a great search engine and there are a few experienced experts here that are more than happy to help.

wayneskow all the way from Northern Mich. Your collecting story is like many of our other SCF members. Started young, Life got in the way and now as oldsters picking the hobby back up.