New Scott Numbers

Hope it is alright to post this in this area.
I got this in infomation in my Lins email.



The Scott editors announced July 6 that the following Scott numbers have been assigned to recently issued United States stamps.

Scott Number Description

4822b (49c) Navy Medal of Honor, dated 2015

4823b (49c) Army Medal of Honor, dated 2015

4986 (49c) Special Olympics World Games

4987 (49c) Help Find Missing Children

4988 (49c) Air Force Medal of Honor

a. Horiz. strip of 3, #4822b, 4823b, 4898

4989 (22c) Emperor Penguins, serpentine die cut 10¾

4990 (22c) Emperor Penguins coil stamp, serpentine die cut 11 vert.

4991 (35c) Coastal Birds – Red knot, serpentine die cut 11¼x11

4992 (35c) Coastal Birds – King eider, serpentine die cut 11¼x11

4993 (35c) Coastal Birds – Spoonbill, serpentine die cut 11¼x11

4994 (35c) Coastal Birds – Frigatebird, serpentine die cut 11¼x11

b. Block or vertical strip of 4, #4991-4994

4995 (35c) Coastal Birds coil stamp – Spoonbill, serpentine die cut 9½ vert.

4996 (35c) Coastal Birds coil stamp – Frigatebird, serpentine die cut 9½ vert.

4997 (35c) Coastal Birds coil stamp – Red knot, serpentine die cut 9½ vert.

4998 (35c) Coastal Birds coil stamp – King eider, serpentine die cut 9½ vert.

a. Horiz. strip of 4, #4995-4998

4999 (71c) Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

5000 (71c) Wedding Cake

5001 (71c) Flowers and "Yes, I Do"

5002 (71c) Tulip and Heart

5003 (93c) Flannery O'Connor

U692 (49c) Help Find Missing Children stamped envelope

Note: Nos. 4823b-4823c in the 2016 Scott catalog have been changed to Nos. 4823c-4823d. All of the numbers appear in the Catalogue Update section of the July 2015 Linn's Stamp News.

I know there's been a lot of talk (squawk) about how the Medal of Honor stamps were catalogued. The two existing designs from last year (since only the date changed) are suffix letters (4822b and 4823b) but the entirely new design featuring the Air Force Medal of Honor stamp gets an entirely new number in the catalog (4988).

I suppose one can understand the rationale because of existing designs with only a date change versus an entirely new stamp image, but it creates something of a dilemma for those collecting single stamps, since the stamp numbering sequence is so far apart from each other in terms of Scott numbering even though they were contained on the same "prestige folio".

It is indeed unfortunate that the Scott editors didn't leave 4824 open for eventual use by the AF Medal of Honor. I suppose they could have used 4823A for the AF medal, but that would likely have made the numbers even more difficult to keep straight. Some designation on the stamp itself indicating which war was being memorialized would have caused all of the stamps to have major numbers, thereby simplifying the number assignments.