526B 529A Found In Old Circuit Book ?

In my Postal Service Guide to US Stamps and Scott Specialized I don't see a 526b as labeled here on stamp found in an old circuit book.

There is a 529a but in the used value it is a - (dash)

A - (dash) in a column means the item is known to exist but information is insufficient for establishing a value.(Is what US Stamp Guide says.)

So anyway thought I would post them here to share/analyze.

Went back to a 1973 Specialized and 526 has no subtypes there either.

The 2c looks to me like a type Va (528); the 3c has the gap in the separator between the P and O of "POSTAGE" hence 530.

[Are you sure they were using Scott numbers?]

I don't see a 526b sub listing.
The 529a is listed as "double impression" with no used value given.

The short answer is that you have old catalog numbers.

The long answer is that sometime between the 1954 and 1959 Scott Specialized catalogs, #526 went from having a lot of subtypes to the modern 526, 527, 528, 528A and 528B, the major number listings of today. So your old 526b is now 528, a type Va.

Similarly 529 has its sublistings split into 529 and 530. Your old 529a was listed as a 3 cent purple, type IV, now listed as 530.

I figured Scott numbers used here,all in order as Scott would be.None of this stuff I know for sure.

Here is a scan of the 1961 Scott Specialty catalog for the heck of it, remembered I had it, same thing I guess as mentioned so far no 526b.

Here is a scan of the 1940 Scott Specialized listing of #526, complete with 9 subtypes, including 526b..Double Print. Looks like it had been moved as it is listed after a, d, e, and c.

Ok I see makes sense numbers or listings may change over the decades.

This old circuit book is kinda historical then lol.

As you can see just above, in 1940, pure #526 was type V and type IV was relegated to a subletter.

By 1954, in the scan below (and referenced above in my first post), the subletters had been rearranged to give the type IV the main listing and shift the other subletters and offset types around - which matches the numbering you have found on these 2 stamps. (A similar renumbering took place with the imperforate offset issues.)

Thanks everyone for posting the old catalog pictures! You know, I've probably handled hundreds of pre-1945 Scott catalogs, but I never really looked through them (other than to maybe take a glance at what a Scott 1 or Scott 245 cataloged.) I honestly had no idea all the various 2c offset types were originally under one main number!

I guess that goes to show that even if you do this full time, for a LONG time, you still can learn something new every day!